“Blockbuster!” SURPRISE UPDATE at state Supreme Courts

In a major surprise just before Labor. Day weekend, we have two cataclysmic. rulings that were handed down by state. supreme courts both in Missouri and. Maryland. Both of them very different. But Mark, I wanted to get your opinion. on both of these. So, let's start off. first and foremost with some news out of. Maryland. Can you explain what just. happened from the Maryland State Supreme. Court and the impact that it'll have on. elections moving forward? >> Yeah, I mean this is a huge deal. The. Maryland Supreme Court is not a. particularly liberal court, but. nevertheless, it restored to the ballot.

a initiative that Democrats have put. forward to allow for a redraw of the. congressional map uh come uh uh 2027. 2028, assuming this passes, it will. change the state constitution and pave. the way for a new map. Now, for those of. you who didn't uh uh didn't watch every. one of Brian and Z and I's last uh uh uh. episodes of Democracy Watch, you'll know. that Brian and I spent a lot of time, you know, urging Maryland to just go.

forward. Uh and uh uh you know, Brian, you wound up covering a lot around the. uh certain primary elections in that. regard. But it looks like we're now at. least on uh you know on the on the. ballot measure side full steam ahead uh. with a uh with something that'll appear. on the November ballot that will pave. the way assuming it passes for Democrats. to take much more aggressive action. >> And just to note, this is an example of. how even though a certain candidate. might not win, I was advocating for.

Bobby Le Pin who was running against. state senate President Bill Ferguson in. Maryland. kind of an obscure uh state. legislative level race, but because. Bobby Lein was running and pushing Bill. Ferguson to the left on this issue in. particular, Bill Ferguson was the. impediment to getting this thing uh. advanced and moving forward so it can. get on the ballot so that the. Constitution, as you said, could be. amended. Even just having Bobby Lein run. against Bill Ferguson pushed Bill. Ferguson to ultimately accept this. And. now here we are where the process has.

moved forward and now the state. constitution is on the verge of being. amended. So that instead of a seven to. one map in Maryland, it can be an 8 to. nothing map and Democrats can finally. fight fire with fire on this issue. So. it's not just independent redistricting. commissions and good governance only in. blue states while red states continue to. gerrymander the hell out of out of. states like Texas and Florida where we. have gerrymanders on top of. gerrymanders. So look, I think Mark, you. and I are in agreement that that this is.

absolutely a race to the bottom. But the. last thing that that Democratic states. should do, that blue states should do is. unilaterally disarm in deference to good. government solutions that only one party. is following. >> I totally agree with that. I mean, you. know, you and I have talked about this a. lot. You know, the fact is we're all in. favor of both of us are in favor of a. nationwide standard that would bar. partisan gerrymandering. Um both of us. would agree that you know there are a. number of ways to implement that if it. was done you know by Congress in a in a.

law that applied overall but but that's. not what we have right the choice is not. whether whether you know all the states. are going to abide by a good government. solution. The only question is whether. the Republican controlled states are. going to continue to, you know, maximize. every seat through aggressive. gerrymandering and Democratic states sit. by and and sort of bank on the goodwill. and praise that comes from uh from from. unilaterally disarming or the Democrats. are going to fight uh fire with fire as.

you say. And we've been clear cleareyed. that we need that Democrats need to do. everything within their power to match. and exceed frankly what Republicans are. up to. I do I do want to not miss the. opportunity, Brian, to talk briefly. about one of the states you mentioned, which was Florida. You know, we we've. talked a lot about how the Texas. gerrymander may wind up backfiring or at. least not performing uh at the level. We, you and I talked about this at the. time that California was redrawing that, you know, the California redraw was five.

seats, the Texas draw was five seats, but that in reality this probably would. be more real for the Democrats in. California than it was for the. Republicans in Texas, >> especially especially given the fact. that we're seeing 40, 50, 60 point. swings to the to the left when it comes. to Latino populations. >> Yeah. But the big news this week was a. report uh you know out of Florida that. suggests that that Republicans in. Florida are very worried that that's not. going to perform either. And you know. they tried to pile a jerry mander out of.

jerrymander there. So I think we're. seeing in a number of places uh. Republicans starting to brace for the. fact that what they thought they were. doing uh because Donald Trump is so. profoundly unpopular is just not going. to not going to work out. But Brian, this is a reason why it's important for. people to subscribe to your channel and. and and hit the bell to make sure you're. alerted because frankly, you know, everyone, Brian and I cover these. redistricting stories. I mean, we cover. the a lot of voting and election court.

stories generally, but you know, you. will learn from episode to episode. You. know, what not just what is happening in. this moment, but like what is likely to. happen next? And I don't think that. there frankly was a more definitive. source that was more accurate in the. redistricting arc of things than the. episodes, frankly, uh, Brian, that you. and I did. >> Yeah, I I completely agree and I would. highly recommend for folks who aren't. yet subscribed. I'm going to put a link. right here on the screen and also in the. post description to subscribe to see. more episodes of Democracy Watch. And.

the outlet that I get all my information. from is yours is Democracy Docket. Uh, the outlet that you founded to focus on. everything voting and elections. It is. the premier outlet when it comes uh to. everything that we're facing as we head. toward midterm. So for folks who are. watching right now, if you're not yet. subscribed to Democracy Docket, please. do yourself a favor. Uh don't just. subscribe because it's accurate, up-to-date, uh breaking news on all. things voting rights and democracy, but. it's a great way to support the work. that Mark does as well. So I'm going to. put that link right here on the screen. and also in the post description. I had.

mentioned at the top of this video that. we were also going to talk about. Missouri. While we have um some pretty. definitive good news in Maryland, we. also have good news in Missouri and I. want you Mark to explain what happened, but things get a little bit more. complicated in terms of the steps moving. forward. So, can you explain the. situation in Missouri? >> Yeah, Brian, this is a blockbuster of. all blockbusters. I mean, people who. thought it was time to throw in the. towel and give up to Republican. shenanigans around uh redistricting, well, they were proven wrong because the.

Missouri Supreme Court, the Missouri. Supreme Court, conservative court, has. reversed a lower court decision and. ordered the state of Missouri to put on. hold its latest gerrymander and instead. to operate for the 2026 elections under. the prior maps. What that means, Brian, as you know well, since you and I have. covered this now for a year, we've been. covering this, is that that will be uh a. net loss of a seat for Republicans.

versus what they thought they were. achieving. Right? This puts Emanuel. Clever's district back, frankly, into. what is almost certainly a Democratic. seat. Uh so, uh Democrats wind up. holding two districts in Missouri rather. than one. Again, he was still a. gerrymander before this, but boy, this. goes to show, Brian, I think more than. anything else, better than any other. example, that you got to keep fighting. You know, you just got to keep every day. putting one foot in front of another,

and not let the the the news cycle get. you down, not let a bad court decision. get you down, not believe the naysayers. when they say it's too late or there's. no chance or, you know, you'll never win. before the Missouri Supreme Court. like. you just can't let those things get too. into your head. You need to make the. best arguments you can. You need to. engage in the best tactics that you. have. And at some level, Brian, you have. to make your own look. And that's that's. not just true in court. I mean, I would.

argue that that is the the successes. that we see campaigns achieving, that we. see candidates achieving, that we see, you know, the the anti-Trump movement. achieving, is not giving up, but just. constantly pushing forward. Yeah. And. and the the organization that was. responsible for this was uh a group. called People Not Politicians. They. spearheaded a referendum petition, gathered over 300,000 signatures, which. if I'm not mistaken is 10 times what. they needed, and they were successful in.

this effort to convince uh a red state. supreme court to side with them as. opposed to, you know, the state uh. secretary of state who is a Republican. and the Republican governor and the. Republican attorney general. To that. end, we've already heard from the rep. Republican attorney general and other. Republican officials in that state that. this thing is going to be appealed. And. you might be asking, how can you appeal. it? This is the state supreme court who. just ruled it's the highest court in. Missouri, but they're looking to appeal. this to the United States Supreme Court. So, what do you presume uh is the.

likelihood of success of both the. Supreme Court hearing this thing and. then once they do hear it, how they. might rule? >> Yeah. So, the thing that in Missouri the. Republicans are going to try to angle. for is effectively a redo of the. independent state legislature doctrine. They're going to essentially say, "Look, um the ballot initiative process can't. be used to throw out a legislatively. enacted map. Uh it can't be used to hold. put it on hold. That this is uh this is.

this sort of exceeds their power." I. think that'll be their central argument. I mean, far be it from me to to make the. arguments that Republicans will make, but I I I I think that's probably where. they'll they'll lean. The problem is. that they recently made that a few years. ago, uh, in a case called Morvy Harper. Actually, my law firm and I who. represented Becky Harper, who was the. the, um, the lead plaintiff below who, uh, who who wound up winning um, and and. they didn't win. And so, look, you know, we always have to take these things. seriously. uh and certainly on a shadow.

docket case, you and I have seen lots of. instances in which the Supreme Court. gives us that emergency docket or shadow. docket to achieve sort of temporary. rulings that have consequential results. for an entire election cycle. Uh so you. know I don't I don't ever say you know. put it in ink and you know like don't. you know close the drawer uh on. something like this but it certainly. shifts the momentum in favor of uh the.

the pro-democracy forces. And look, Brian, the other thing is, and you know, you and I should do an entire episode on. this, the like people are starting to. lose track of how many cases this. Supreme Court is being asked to in rapid. fire uh, you know, rule in to bail the. Republicans out. I mean, there was. another case that you and I have not. covered uh out of Michigan where the. Republicans went to the Supreme Court to. try to get uh reinstated a ballot. initiative, a ballot measure uh to put I.

think it was proof of citizenship on the. ballot and they failed. That that was. today as well. That was a ruling of the. Supreme Court where the Supreme Court. said they're not going to do that. But. if you tallied up all of these voting. and election cases that the either the. Republicans or their allies are running. to the Supreme Court with uh and then by. the way on top of that you put the other. ones that DOJ is running to the Supreme. Court with you know that that involve. like the ballroom you know the the vital. the vital ballroom that the Supreme.

Court had to take up. I mean, that's. that's to say nothing of the fact that. Trump is even trying to appeal his his. payments that he has to issue to to to. Eugene Carol up to the Supreme Court. >> Correct. It's it's quite a crowded uh. emergency dock. It's quite a crowded. shadow docket. So, I I think that one of. the problems that I think the. conservatives are going to have here, the state of Missouri will have here, like DOJ will have in in their case, like another case that my law firm won. in the Fourth Circuit involving how much. money television stations charge.

political parties for advertisements. Not a high-profile case, huge case if. you're involved in campaigns. Like all. of these cases are hitting the emergency. docket kind of in rapid succession while. the justices are off doing whatever it. is they do in whatever you know European. cities or spa centers around the world. Uh so. >> and that's just Clarence Thomas the. challenges. >> Yeah. And I was going to say and that's. just Clarence Thomas. >> right. And so I think that that's one of. the challenges that uh that we need to.

keep our eye on. I must say it is ironic. that in the state of Michigan, Republicans are asking the Supreme Court. to accept a ballot measure, but in the. state of Missouri, they're asking. Republicans to reject the notion that. ballot measures can be taken into. effect. So there's there's no. consistency. It's just whatever is going. to help them in each individual state, whatever's right in front of them. With. that said, we will of course stay on top. of all of this and this stuff is very. fast moving as we head toward midterms. So again, for those who are watching, make sure to subscribe to this channel. and please make sure to subscribe to.

Democracy Docket for the most up-to-date. and accurate news on all things voting. and elections. I'm going to put both of. those links right here on the screen and. also in the post description of this. video. I'm Brian Taylor Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.