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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

David Nir @davidnir.com · 17h

The gaslighting—from NC Republicans and many others—is really something else. They're just outright pretending that California launched this year's redistricting wars, even though it started with Texas. bergerpress.medium.com/general-asse...

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 14h

Surely better but still dire. The GOP would’ve held the House regardless, & Dems needed a 3-point swing for the Senate in this scenario.

2018’s Senate map was so bad the GOP could’ve won 60 seats & a big House majority. What would that & possibly Scalia’s vacant SCOTUS seat do to the 2020 primary?

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 17h

Although the Callais case at SCOTUS involves a high-profile congressional redistricting dispute, important to remember that most Section 2 cases (2/3!) continue to involve local government bodies like city councils & school boards. - mostly challenges to at-large systems.

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 15h

Pretty wild stuff here reported by the @kansasreflector.com.

GOP leaders are pushing their members to convene a special session to gerrymander the KS House map, but now they say there's an even more important reason: stopping trans Kansans from changing gender markers on their driver's licenses.

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 16h

I really doubt they're risking anything more with a new map compared to the current map. They were deterred somewhat last time by the risk of a racial gerrymandering/VRA lawsuit, but the Supreme Court is poised to make that even less of a concern for them this time

Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 17h

North Carolina Republicans proposed an 11-3 gerrymander in 2023, but they instead passed a 10-3 map with one swing district that Dems won.

Trump won all 11 red districts below by at least 10 points, & the GOP could even draw something a bit stronger for 2026 davesredistricting.org/join/803b9fe...

Image of a congressional map proposed by North Carolina Republicans in 2023 that was drawn to elect an 11-to-3 Republican majority in this swing state. The districts are colored by the 2024 presidential winner's margin. Donald Trump won the 11 red districts by 10-to-18 point margins while Kamala Harris won the 3 blue districts by 38-to-46 point margins.

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 17h

North Carolina Republicans proposed an 11-3 gerrymander in 2023, but they instead passed a 10-3 map with one swing district that Dems won.

Trump won all 11 red districts below by at least 10 points, & the GOP could even draw something a bit stronger for 2026 davesredistricting.org/join/803b9fe...

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 17h

North Carolina Republicans just announced they plan to pass a more extreme congressional gerrymander for 2026.

Republicans re-gerrymandered this swing state's congressional map just last cycle to turn what had been 7 Dem - 7 Rep split into a 10-4 majority. Now they're going for an 11-3 edge

General Assembly Heeds President Trump’s Call to Thwart Blue State Attempts to Take Congress

Raleigh, N.C. — Today, legislative leaders agreed to hold votes during the previously scheduled October legislative session to block the…

bergerpress.medium.com

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 1d

How I Expect the Supreme Court to Kill Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Callais (If It Does So): Not By Direct Overruling but By Pretending They Are Simply Reinterpreting the Meaning of Section 2 electionlawblog.org?p=152471

How I Expect the Supreme Court to Kill Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Callais (If It Does So): Not By Direct Overruling but By Pretending They Are Simply Reinterpreting the Meaning of Section 2...

I’ve written of good reason to believe the Supreme Court is going to sap Section 2 of its power in the Louisiana v. Callais case, being argued on Wednesday. I won’t rehash those arguments here. Instea...

electionlawblog.org

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 23h

The Treasury Secretary declares himself to be pro-monarchy, and promises to punish the entire country if the people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Bessent: "No Kings means no paychecks. No paychecks and no government."

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Lee Drutman @leedrutman.bsky.social · 1d

New study finds Democrats represent public opinion better than Republicans: "the quality of statehouse democracy, here meaning the dynamic relationship between opinion and policy, is substantially weakened by Republican Party control of state government."

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is supposed to be Putin here, but things famously did not work out well for another Russian autocrat who tried to force the Duma into submission.

Just saying … it would be fitting if mass protests on International Women’s Day were what finally brought down Trump’s regime too

David Nir @davidnir.com · 1d

"Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an 'iron fist,' according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial."

From Josh Dawsey at the @wsj.com.

Trump, Feeling Emboldened, Pushes Agenda Into Higher Gear

Recent moves by the president reflect a commander in chief who has seemingly faced little resistance to his agenda.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 1d

An Adverse Ruling Against Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in the Callais Case Could Also Doom State Voting Rights Acts electionlawblog.org?p=152469

An Adverse Ruling Against Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in the Callais Case Could Also Doom State Voting Rights Acts #ELB

I have written about the dangers of the Court killing off or significantly weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, via the surprise reargument in the Louisiana v. Callais case. If the Court rule...

electionlawblog.org

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Jon Walker @jonwalkerpdx.bsky.social · 1d

Really just giving the game away. There is no legal logic to what they are doing and they never want it to apply to any future Dem president but they need to give Trump whatever he wants.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 1d

"Look at the picture... One of these is a member of a private militia that supports the President and was involved in a violent effort to overturn the election, the other is an agent of the state. Can you tell the difference?" donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 1d

The "plaintiffs" seeking to dismantle the Voting Rights Act (in a case this week at SCOTUS) include:

-a member of the "Trumpettes," a group of women who ardently support for the president
-a retiree who said he didn’t remember signing up to be involved in a lawsuit.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/u...

One woman made national news when she protested the Covid-19 vaccine at her local City Council. Another is a member of the Trumpettes, a group of women united in their ardent support for the president. A third is a retired grocery salesman who said he didn’t remember signing up to be involved in a lawsuit.

The three are among the 12 Louisiana voters at the center of a case set to be heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday that could gut what remains of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the landmark civil-rights-era legislation.

In January 2024, the group filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana’s congressional district map, arguing state lawmakers had discriminated against them as white voters by impermissibly taking race into account when they drafted the map after the 2020 census.

Since then, they’ve been referred to in court filings merely as the “non-African-American” voters.

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

Purge, Merge, and Surge

Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 2d

The end of the French first republic too

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

vought's view is that the president is an elected dictator and lo and behold he is seizing outright the power of the purse

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 2d

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The Office of Management and Budget sent a notification to Congress about their intent to use research and development funds to pay members of the military, two sources with direct knowledge tell NBC News.

A spokesperson for the OMB confirmed to NBC News that it plans to use the research and development funds and that there are two years' worth of funds available within the Department of Defense.

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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 2d

Dems floated a narrow bill to fund the military, which can’t move because the House isn’t in session. Meanwhile, DoD is now going to spend funds not appropriated by Congress to ensure military paychecks continue.

POTUS now both commands and provisions the military. Unconstitutional and SO dangerous

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

Tech industrial complex replacing the military industrial complex

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 3d

Well, I mean..

www.salesforce.com/news/press-r...

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Stephen Wolf @stephenwolf.bsky.social · 3d

Looking forward to when the next #NoKings protest in Portland looks like this

A photorealistic computer-generated image of Kermit the Frog leading a large crowd of protestors through a city street. The protesters are all muppets of various colors. Kermit is holding up an American flag in his right hand.

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 4d

This video is everywhere because it's a hilarious visual refutation of Portland being on fire. You can't get a mass movement going without convincing the masses

so yes, this does do something actually

Post

Dallas Steele

@Cherrykickstart

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This literally does nothing. You are not beating fascism by dressing up in inflatable suits and dancing

Quote tweeting Claude Taylor @TrueFactsStated

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Portland is leading the way. This is how you (non violently) beat Fascism. Humor and ridicule are key.

Stillframe from a video of Portland protesters dancing in inflatable suits

9:17 AM 08 Oct 25 758K Views

13:01 09 Oct 25 32.6K Views

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11 Quotes

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Michael Li (李之樸) @mcpli.bsky.social · 4d

It looks like Louisiana Republicans have changed their mind on drawing a standby congressional map to take effect if the Supreme Court strikes down the current map and instead will move the date of the state’s new primary.

www.nola.com/news/politic...

Plans have changed for an upcoming special legislative session in Louisiana. See how.

Gov. Jeff Landry had ambitious plans when he notified legislators two months ago that he planned to call them into a special session beginning on Oct. 23. He has now scaled back those plans.

www.nola.com

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 3d

this is correct. and while you would get a nontrivial one off sum from a billionaire tax (not enough for a welfare state, but a lot), the ongoing point of that tax would be prevent billionaires from existing

Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 4d

“The problem with billionaires isn’t that they’re hoarding money that would otherwise pay for a Scandinavian social utopia. It’s that their money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.”

Billionaires Are Hoarding Power, Not Money

Billionaire money has become a source of wildly distorted political power that allows a few men with extremist views to wreak havoc on the rest of us.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Reposted by Stephen Wolf

Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 3d

Wrote about ship money, the English Civil War, and Donald Trump:

Trump Is Following in the Footsteps of a Failed English King

Our Founders’ designs were studiously informed by the mistakes of King Charles I. Our president seems to want to repeat them.

newrepublic.com

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