“BLOCKBUSTER!” Huge loss in court SCREWS Trump in midterms

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we just. got the ruling that we have been waiting. for in one of the states that's going to. determine who has control of the House. come 2026. Can you explain what just. happened in court? >> Yeah, a complete blockbuster victory for. Democrats and pro-democracy forces in. the state of Utah where Republicans last. minute hail Mary pass. Well, it fell to. the ground. Nobody caught it. This is a. state in which Republicans have been. trying to gerrymander themselves uh. almost like nowhere else. They divided. Salt Lake City like a pizza into all.

these different slices and the state. court said, "Nope, you can't do that. It. violates the uh state constitution.". They litigated that up and down the. state court system. And then they. thought they'd go to federal court and. they thought that a conservative federal. court would say, "Okay, we're going to. put this on hold for 2026." And they. failed miserably. >> Okay. So, to that end, Mark, you know, the next question I'm going to ask is, "What about the appeals process?". Obviously, with each passing day, we get. closer and closer to midterms, but where. can uh the Republicans appeal this to?

And will they be able to rule in time. for this to even count for the 2026. election? >> The Republicans are out of time. The. state of Utah told the federal court and. actually had told the state courts that. today, February 23rd, was the last day. that the state of Utah needed to know. the answer to the question of what map. would be used. And here we are on. February 23rd. The clock has struck. midnight. You can put it in ink for.

2026. The map that is going to be used. is the one that creates a Salt Lake City. district and a real opportunity for. Democrats to take control of seat. >> Okay. So, how does that that reality. impact the fact that they're still. engaged in a process right now to. collect signatures to invalidate this. whole process? >> Yeah. Look, they can collect signatures. they can commit fraud in collecting. signatures as there have been some. reports. I know that is a shock to you. that and it's a further shock that.

somehow Don Jr. may have some connection. to all of this. Um but it's not going to. matter for 2026. I mean the state was. absolutely clear that this was a hard. deadline. In fact, the three judge panel. says in their very first paragraph, quote, "The lieutenant governor takes no. position on the merits of plaintiff. claim. However, she represents to the. court that she must know by February. 23rd, 2026 which redistricting map to. implement. That is because they have a. relatively early process. The filing.

period begins on March 9th. And the the. lieutenant governor who oversees uh the. elections there has said this is this is. the end of the road. You know, starting. presumably midnight tonight or first. thing tomorrow morning, they're going to. start the process of uh necessary to be. ready for that March 9th deadline. >> Okay. Well, there's also an effort by. Republicans to pack the Supreme Court. And obviously, the Supreme Court in the. state of Utah was responsible for this. decision. And so, what are the. implications of a packed Supreme Court.

going to have on not just this election. in 2026, but moving forward as it. relates to redistricting? >> Right. So, I think you hit the right. question here, which is what does this. mean for 2028 and beyond? And I know. everyone right now is focused on 2026. I'm focused on 2026. You're focused on. 2026. You know, there's a part of the. Republican party that is playing the. long game. Yeah. And they're saying, "Okay, well, if we can't do this for. 2026, let's not let up. Let's keep. pushing for 2028. Let's push for 2030. Let's push for the next census." You.

know, there are two lawsuits in this. country that have been filed that, you. know, my law firm's been fighting. against, uh, one we actually won already. in Florida that where they're trying to. screw around with the census. You know, I mean, they're they're they are the. Republicans are are they are fighting. the fight in front of them because they. know they're going to lose control of. the House if they don't cheat. But they. are also preparing to fight what it. looks like when when Donald Trump is not. on the ballot in the next presidential. election, what it looks like after that, because their party is in a shambles.

Like, it's very unpopular. People focus. all their attention on the Democratic. party and its problems. Well, Donald. Trump has destroyed the Republican. party. They are underwater on almost. every issue and so they are doubling and. tripling down which is why you see the. SAVE act in moving forward in Congress. why you see all these reditioning. efforts but they're not going to end in. 2026 and for those of us in the. prodemocracy movement we need to be. aware of that and Brian you know if I. can if I can offer you know one. criticism of Democrats in some of these.

states including you know in California. where I've given folks a lot of credit. about their redistricing effort what. happens in 2031 everything snaps back. >> Yeah. >> Right. Like the Republicans, they're. playing for that. And and and I fear the. Democrats, we're going to again be. talking in 20, you know, in 2028, we're. going to be talking about reditioning. In 2030, 2032, we'll be we'll still be. in the middle of this. And Democrats. need to understand we're we need to. settle in for the long game, too. >> Yeah. Well, look, no one is fighting. harder in terms of, you know, making. sure that we can win these battles right. now than you and your team. You are.

litigating these redistricting cases in. Texas, in Virginia, in Wisconsin, in. Florida, and on and on and on. you have. more than 80 cases that you're. litigating across the country. So, a a. step that everybody watching right now. can take to support Mark's work, not. just in the courts where of course it. matters a ton, but also in the media. space where we need to elevate his. voice. A small step we can all take to. uh to elevate his voice is to subscribe. to Democracy Docket. I'm going to put. that link right here on the screen and. also in the post description of this. video. Again, Mark and his team are the. ones who are fighting these battles. right now. So, this is our way to give.

back a little bit. So, again, that link. is right here on the screen and also in. the post description. Mark, to that end, and I had just alluded to this right. there, where else can we expect. decisions that have not yet been handed. down that are going to impact the 2026. election as far as maps are concerned? >> Yeah. And so, I want to start by saying. I hope everyone's subscribed to this. channel because the reason you know. about this what's happening in Utah is. because you're watching this video. And. if you're not subscribed to this. channel, you may not get it the next. time there is a development. And there. are going to be a lot of redistricting.

developments. I mean, there's going to. be a lot of non-redisting developments, but a lot of redistricting developments. between now and the election. So, make. sure you're subscribed to this channel. and then hit the bell because what that. will do is alert you when there are new. videos, so you'll know re in real time. what the hell is going on. So, look, uh, we have litigation in New York, uh, uh, which right now, uh, we have won and. which would add another, uh, Democratic. seat on Staten Island. The Republicans. have gone to the US Supreme Court. We. are awaiting any day now for an outcome.

from the US Supreme Court. And again, I'm going to tell you when that happens, you're going to hear it on this channel. with Brian and I talking about it. Okay? That's where you're going to hear about. it. You'll read about it in Democracy. Docket as well. So, you should subscribe. there. But if you get your content in. video and you want this kind of. analysis, you got to subscribe to this. channel. All right? So, that's New York. Uh we are uh litigating as you mentioned. in Florida. So that is Florida has not. yet begun its process, but we're already. trying to head that off. Virginia, there's a number of cases right now in.

the courts in Virginia where Democrats. are are pushing forward with a ballot. measure that if successful would gain. four seats uh for Democrats. There is. litigation still pending in Wisconsin. that we have brought. Uh you mentioned. uh you mentioned Texas. Missouri, you. know, everyone is sort of passed on. Missouri, but there's a lot of cases. going on right now in Missouri over the. Republican power grab there. So, we're. we're still waiting uh on outcomes uh in. a number of those cases. So, you know, that's just a handful of them, but of. course, Brian, you know, the big one,

right? You and I have talked about this. before. We did a video recently, which I. keep sharing and I keep telling. everyone, they got to go back and watch, including everyone who's watching this. video, which is about the big Supreme. Court case in Clay. Yeah. Right. This is. the Louisiana case that could invalidate. section two of the Voting Rights Act, which means we then have what, Brian, another dozen seats in play across, you. know, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, you know, you. go on on where Republicans will could. redraw maps that could fundamentally. shift things. So, I cannot stress for.

people now's the time to pay attention. to what's happening to democracy in. court. And no better place to do so than. by what? By being part of this video. series that Brian and I do. So, please. subscribe. >> Last question here, Mark. On that point. of Calala, what do you think the. likelihood is as we get, you know, one. day closer, one day closer, one day. closer to midterms that this decision is. going to have an impact on the 2026. midterms? >> So, look, I think we're at a very, very. important and sensitive part of the.

cycle because right now, the Supreme. Court is prepared to issue new decisions. this week. Okay? New Supreme Court. decisions are going to come down this. week, including tomorrow. That's right. The day that Donald Trump will give the. State of the Union, the Supreme Court. will be deciding cases. Now, I'm not I. have no more insight than you do. I have. no crystal ball. I have no inside. information. Nobody tells me anything. that that the rest of the public doesn't. know. But if it doesn't come this week, okay, if it doesn't come like in the.

next couple of days, then it starts to. get really really almost too hard. anywhere for Klay to have bite. And then. my then my um my bet is that we don't. see it until the very end of the term. Okay? We don't see it till June or July. So, like I said, if ever there were a. time that you wanted to subscribe to any. one YouTube channel at any one moment in. history, it is literally subscribing to. this channel and hitting the bell to be. alerted when there's new content because.

if that if that collade decision comes. out, or frankly, if it doesn't, you. know, you know, Brian and I are going to. jump on here and get a video out to you. and give you the context of what you. need to know about what's happened. Undoubtedly, Donald Trump's also gonna. say some preposterous things about. voting in the State of the Union. And I. have no doubt, Brian, you and I will be. discussing that as well. >> Yeah. And we'll make sure to bring that. to you as soon as it happens. So again, for everybody who's watching, these are. the kind of voices we need to elevate. Mark and his team who are fighting these. battles, making sure uh to protect.

voting rights in the face of a. Republican party that's perfectly. content to just barrel through all of. this stuff. So again, I'm going to put. the link to Democracy Docket right here. on the screen and also in the post. description of this video. Please. subscribe if you're not yet subscribed. And if you'd like to see more episodes. of Democracy Watch, the link to this. channel is on the screen as well. I'm. Brian Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.