MAJOR UPDATE at US Supreme Court

This is Democracy Watch, Mark. We have a. breaking update now at the US Supreme. Court, and it just so happens that you. yourself are at the center of this. storm. Can you explain what just. happened? >> Yeah, so recall we sued the state of New. York for drawing a map that. discriminated against minority voters in. New York City, specifically on Staten. Island, and we won. You know, people. thought that we had no chance of winning. that case. Instead, we won, and now. Republicans are in full-scale panic. mode, and they have gone straight to the. US Supreme Court, not the courts in New.

York, but straight to the US Supreme. Court to try to block this victory, to. try to keep in place an illegal map to. protect their Republican seat in Staten. Island. But, let me tell you something, Brian, I don't think this is going to. work. >> So, can you talk about what other cases, what other rulings from the US Supreme. Court might might tell us about the. likelihood that the Supreme Court. intervenes here on behalf of, I think. it's Representative Nicole Malliotakis?

>> Look, I think the Supreme Court's not. going to take this case for a couple of. reasons. First of all, this was a. challenge to the map under New York. state law. In other words, our argument. was that the map that the that was drawn. by the Independent Redistricting. Commission in New York violated New. York's Voting Rights Act. So, not the. federal Voting Rights Act, but New York. Voting Rights Act. So, let's just start. with the fact that the US Supreme Court. doesn't interpret state law. So, they. have to find a federal constitutional. hook. And and look, the Republicans are.

doing the best they can to try to make. that argument, but I think that that's. one reason why the Supreme Court won't. take this case. But, the second thing, Brian, I mean, this just illustrates the. flat-out panic and terror they are going. on in right now as Republicans in the. state of New York as they are watching. this seat slip out of their hands. They. skipped. the rest of the state court system. Right? I mean, like we won in a court. There is an intermediate court in New. York. There's a high court in New York. Now,

they tried to jump the intermediate. court and go straight to the high court. and the highest court which which. confusingly is called the court of. appeals in New York and they said no, you have to go through the intermediate. court. Some there must be something. about this intermediate court that. Republicans in New York know that they. are worried about because they keep. trying to figure out any way not to go. through the normal progression. And so. going straight from a trial court on a. question of state law in New York to the. US Supreme Court on an emergency basis.

if that isn't the definition of. desperation, I don't know what it is. And I just don't think this Supreme. Court as we sit here in the middle of. February is going to want to jump in. with two feet into something that is. half-baked or even quarter-baked. involving New York state law. So, I. think they're going to tell the. Republicans from New York go back. litigate this up through the normal. process and then if you want to ring us. up, then come back. >> Right. Which of course is even less.

likely because then you get closer and. closer to the election. Purcell kicks in. where you don't want to interfere with. an election as as you're right up on the. eve of it. And so this thing is pretty. much DOA at that point. I should also. say. >> that's what of course why the. Republicans are panicked, right? They. are in this don't go panic because. they're going to lose this seat, right? If as currently as the ruling currently. came out, you know, if minority voters. are have their rights respected, Republicans are going to lose this seat. and they are trying to figure out how to. beat the clock that as you point out the.

Purcell doctrine and other things are. are in the way of. Now, Brian, I do have. to say that if you subscribe to. Democracy Docket, you know this, but. there's another docket on the block. >> Explain here. Well, be before you do, I. just want to I just want to note I have. been speaking to governors across the. country about the need to take an. aggressive posture to fight what. Republicans are doing on the on the. redistricting front. We've had some. governors who've done it. We've had. plenty of governors who haven't yet. stepped up. And I think that in this era.

where we are desperately looking for. fighters, the fact that you have even. stepped in and made sure that that you. brought this case where there will be. another seat for Democrats out of New. York because of your litigation is a. testament to the fact that you are. stepping up and filling the void even. where Democratic governors aren't. stepping up and meeting this moment with. the urgency that deserves. And so a a. step that everybody out here, a small. step that we can all take to show some. support for the work that Mark and his. team are doing is to sign up for. Democracy Docket, which is the news. outlet Mark founded to focus on.

everything voting and elections. I'm. going to put that link on this screen. and in the post description. But Mark, as you were saying, that is not the only. docket on the docket right now. What. what what just happened here? >> Yeah, I have to say, I don't know. whether to be greatly um. flattered. >> Flattered. >> or really annoyed. But the New York. Times, The New York Times just announced. that they are releasing The Docket, a. weekly newsletter about law and the. courts. And they argue that, you know, it's.

written by someone who's been a. practicing lawyer for 14 years and is. going to be giving people updates about. what is happening to voting and. elections in court. And Brian, I just. have to say, you know, that's what. Democracy Docket does. I started in 2020. to do exactly this and I've been. practicing 30 years in this area. So, I. do hope that everyone can keep straight. the difference between Democracy Docket. and subscribe to that. And The New York. Times' new newsletter called The Docket. And I'm fine with people subscribing to.

that as well, but you know, don't fall. for imitators. There's only one original. Democracy Docket. >> Well, I think also in large part the the. benefit of of subscribing to Democracy. Docket is is you are an antidote to, frankly, the impotency and fecklessness. of legacy media that has failed to meet. the moment and has gotten us into this. mess because of both sides-ism or. kowtowing to Republicans or access. journalism, whatever it may be, failing. to hold these people properly to account. or even just frankly acting as.

stenographers for a corrupt. administration and legitimizing what. they do and what they say. And to have. somebody like you and to have a team. like you have actually stepping up and. and not, you know, tinkering around the. edges, not not kind of doing the both. sides-ism so that you can stay in the. good graces of Republicans, but telling. it straight and fighting for democracy. I think all of that should be applauded. That's what's missing in this media. environment. And so again, highly. recommend to support the work that Mark. does and and not allow others in a.

completely different ecosystem to co-opt. that good work. >> Yeah, I mean other otherwise, Brian, I'm. waiting. for them to unleash and and announce. their new video offering, the Brad. Timothy Crone. show, right? I mean, like, you know, Brad will keep you up to date on what is. happening and he'll have interviews and. he'll have. he'll have, you know, commentary and. Brad will do a great job. So.

>> have. Ryan Ryan Taylor. Ryan Taylor Crone, yeah, that's right. So. All right, well, look, back to this. issue of the Supreme Court hearing this. case about New York. It sounds to me. like this is generally DOA, but how. worried should we be that this is still. going to rear its head ahead of 2026? >> Yeah, so one of the things that I think. is really important, Brian, is that we. we make sure that we run through the. tape, right? So one of the things that I. give, frankly, the governor of.

California and everyone involved in the. California initiative is that they ran. through the tape, right? They they came. up with an idea and then they did all of. the various steps necessary to actually. have a new map for for for for 2026. And. we have done an important piece of this. in New York, but there still needs to be. a new map, right? And so we need that. process to go forward. And yes, I don't. think the Supreme Court's going to going. to get in the way. But we need that.

process to go forward. And and the same. in Virginia, right? Like where. there has been real progress made. towards a new map, but that also now. needs to go before the people of. Virginia and people need to vote for it. and then that has to get implemented. So. yes, I don't think that the Supreme. Court is going to be the roadblock in. New York, but you know, you mentioned. the Purcell doctrine. And it's getting. late and I that's not to say it's too. late. It's not too late and Purcell. doesn't apply to state legislatures. So.

so you know, Virginia's not going to run. into a Purcell problem. But I do want to. make sure that we had a lot of momentum, you know, going around this. redistricting stuff being the. Republicans. And I want to make sure. that people don't tune out of that and. move on to other things and that people. continue if you live in New York, you. know, and you've got, you know, elected. officials at the state level like keep. them focused on this, you know, if you. live in Virginia, you know, keep. focusing this. I live in Virginia and I. and I talk about it a lot because we.

need to make sure that we get these. things not just through the courts or. not just through the early phases, but. actually to the point where we have maps. in place in time for 2026. >> And finally to that end, what does it. look like in terms of the still. unresolved maps as we head toward. midterms right now? We've spoken at. length about Texas, about California, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio. On the. Democratic side as I mentioned. California, we also have Virginia.

working its way through this process. right now. Utah as well. There was an a. district added for Democrats there. Are. there are there any other states that. we've yet to see any movement from that. we expect to see movement from? >> Look, I think the big ones right now. uh are Florida for the Republicans. And we've mentioned Virginia for the. Democrats. Like New York will be great. and Utah will be great. That's that's. netting two. You know, we've talked. about those. the other states. And I but I think that. when you boil it down. I think that whether the the the.

mid-cycle registering wars wound up. benefiting Democrats or Republicans. By. the way, the very fact that we're even. having this conversation, that it's an. open question of whether it will benefit. the Democrats or Republicans is pretty. extraordinary. Um but the answer to that. is going to rest really, I think, on two. sets of variables. Number one is Florida. and Virginia, right? Like how is. Virginia, you know, really a plus four. that gets done? Is Florida a minus.

three? Is it a minus four? Is it they don't get. it done in time? Like what happens. there? I think that's like. >> Or or by the way, do they do they try to. do, you know, an R plus three or R plus. four map and it's a gerrymander because. we've seen such huge swings among Latino. populations? >> So this is the other question, right? So. that The first question is that just. like do what do they get through the. process? The second question is how. these districts perform. And, you know, I mean, I think you'd agree with me. if you had only Texas and California.

you're feeling pretty good as a. Democrat, right? Like you're feeling. really good about that plus five in. California. And the Republicans are not. feeling very good about their plus five. in Texas. Like the truth is I'd be. surprised if that doesn't overall net at. least one Democratic seat. Like if you. just take those two states. And then, you know, like I live in Virginia, I. know something about it. That will be a. performing map for Democrats in 20 26. Like you can have all kinds of debates. about what it does over time, but in. 2026 it will be you know, it's drawn to.

be a 10-1 map, it'll be a 10-1 map. You know, is the North Carolina map. really a minus one seat? I don't know. Like, you know, that first district that. Don Davis holds that they targeted. in a good year for Democrats, that could. still perform as a Democrat. Like, that. may not perform. And then, you're. exactly right, Republicans are going to. have to make some big decisions in. Florida. Like, it's not an easy It is. not a simple question for Republicans. about what they do now in a state like.

Florida. Because if they stretch for. four, they are definitely going to. expose some of their incumbents. If they. stretch for three, they may still, by. the way, expose some of their. incumbents. So, you know, like, how that. plays out, I think that the those though. are the two sets questions that are the. reason why everyone needs to be. subscribed to this channel, right? Because we're going to be, over the next. 6 months, coming back to both the legal. question, but also this question of. like, how does this actually likely.

shake out for 2026? And there's no. better place to get that analysis day in. and day out, not just for me and Brian, but from Brian and Glenn, who does a. great job on court issues as well. Brian's commentary videos, he's got some. kick-ass interviews. I mean, he gets. some of the best I'll tell you, as. someone who does. podcast interviews myself and talks to a. lot of people who does, nobody gets. better guests than Brian, and nobody. does better interviewing with them than. Brian. So, make sure you're subscribed. to this channel and hit the bell to make.

sure you are alerted when there's new. content because, honestly, Brian also. turns these videos around really fast, and so the new content really matters. >> Well, I appreciate that, and I'm going. to put the link to this channel right. here on the screen. And of course, as. we've mentioned, very important to. subscribe to Democracy Docket. I'm going. to put that link on the screen as well. So, please make sure if you're not yet. subscribed to go ahead and subscribe. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Marc Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.