REVOLT: Trump dealt DEVASTATING BLOW by his OWN party

We have a major surprise update here as. map redrawing explodes throughout the. US, but especially in the South. The. South Carolina State Senate has voted. against re-adjourning next week for. another special legislative session to. redraw the maps ahead of midterms. That. vote was 29 to 17. That move, being. pushed by Donald Trump, would have. eliminated the state's only Democratic. district currently occupied by Jim. Clyburn in a seat that he's held since. 1993. Now, according to Democracy Docket, with. South Carolina's June 9th primary. election quickly approaching, the Senate.

decided attempting to redraw the state's. congressional map after more than 8,000. absentee ballots had been sent out to. military and overseas voters would throw. the election into chaos. Now, this is an. important point because while the South. Carolina State Senate recognized that. redrawing the state's congressional map. while ballots are already on their way. to South Carolinians, that's apparently. not too much of a concern for the United. States Supreme Court, which ruled in the. Louisiana map redraw case that even. though 104,000 Louisiana voters had.

already voted early, that they were so. okay with interfering in that ongoing. election that they even waived the usual. 32-day waiting period for their ruling. in Calais to be implemented just because. they were that eager to over black. voters in that state. And look, that. would be disqualifying enough on its own. for the Supreme Court, but it's even. more egregious given the fact that this. is the same Supreme Court that ruled not. once, but twice in just the last few. years that no changes can be made near. an election. Here's Marc Elias.

explaining that point on a recent. episode of Democracy Watch. >> Let's just take Alabama, okay? So, as. you say, in 2022, my law firm goes to. court, we win a case on behalf of black. voters in Alabama. That takes place on January 27th. And. the court says, okay, can't use the. illegal unconstitutional map because it. only has one black opportunity district. State of Alabama, we we're going to. oppose a new map for for for 2022.

Okay? They The state of Alabama runs to. Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court. says, "You know what? Geez, it's already. the first week of February. And the. elections are coming up in May. So, it's way too close to that election. to start with a new map because it will. cause chaos and confusion. I mean, the. voters won't know which districts. they're in. The election officials have. to administer this. Uh the candidates will have to run. Uh and and all of that is, you know, is.

way too too complicated. I mean, specifically, the Supreme Court said. that, quote, "Late judicial tinkering. with election laws can lead to. disruption and to unanticipated and. unfair consequences for candidates, political parties, and voters, among. others." The net effect of that was that. black Alabamians voted under illegal and. unconstitutional maps in the 2022. election. Okay? They were deprived their. constitutional rights. They were. deprived their voting rights uh under. federal law.

And, you know, a lot of us were very. upset about it at the time. But, we. filed that away that that's the rule. that in Alabama, you know, by the time. you get to early February, it's too. late. Okay? Purcell doctrine says it's. too late. So, now here we are in 2026. And the Supreme Court decides the case, as you point out, in a different state, Louisiana, not in Alabama, Louisiana. And the state of Alabama runs to the US. Supreme Court and says, "Oh, okay, the maps that you that we are.

operating under with two black. opportunity districts, we don't want to. do that anymore. We want to be able to. use a different map. Like, go back to an. earlier map that we had and strip black. voters of one of the two districts that. they can elect their candidate of. choice." And as you say, we are. literally in the midst of an election. I. mean, candidates, they've they've already been. campaigning. Parties, they've they've already been. spending money. Voters, like I mean, the. election day is in a couple of weeks. Election officials, all the materials.

have been printed, all the districts. have lines have been drawn, the polling. places have been set out. I mean, we are. literally on the eve of the of election. day. Not 4 months out, right? We're not in. February. We're in May. And now, you. know, the conservatives on the Supreme. Court are like, "Well, of course we need. to implement this immediately because. this is because these are otherwise. unconstitutional maps." Well, what. they're really saying is that if black. voters are being deprived their rights, then they can wait. But if white voters,

white voters, are deprived of what the. Supreme Court says are their rights, then those that has to be remedied. immediately. And so, whether you look at. it through the prism of race or you look. at it through the prism of party, which. obviously is very overlapping in this. case, that is the reality of what this. decision says. And as a litigator, like. it's a challenge. I mean, I'll be honest. with you. It is not an easy situation to. know how to navigate the federal courts. when there is one rule that seems to.

apply when it's Democrats, when, you. know, we're probably in the Supreme. Court saying anything that gets changed. now for for for November is probably too. late if if it's me and Democrats who are. saying that something's. unconstitutional. Whereas, I suspect the. Republican Party, the my Republican. lawyer counterparts, they they wind up with a problem with. the way the election is being conducted. in October, not too late. I mean, it's. just not tenable. Now, that said, Brian, I'm not going to give up. No one can. give up. We can't let the courts off the.

hook. We cannot We have to keep. litigating because we can win cases even. in the face of this, but it is it is. impossible to reconcile these standards. >> Now, if you'd like to see more episodes. of Democracy Watch with me and Mark. Elias, please make sure to subscribe to. this channel. But the crux of what Mark was saying is. this. The Supreme Court will bend over. backwards to ensure that even when a. gerrymandered map is ruled illegal, and. even when done so 4 months in advance of. a primary, they are so committed to. protecting the sanctity of elections and.

not doing anything that might even. remotely cause confusion that they'll. allow overtly unconstitutional maps to. stand. But, that's only when the. impacted parties are black voters. Because when the same thing happens with. white voters, then the Supreme Court. takes an entirely different stance. In. that case, the Supreme Court does not. give a flying how many days there. are before an election, or even if. 100,000 voters have already cast ballots. in an ongoing election. They will stop. it and allow maps to re- be redrawn.

because doing so benefits white voters. And at the end of the day, that is the. Supreme Court's priority. Just like the. Republican Party more broadly, they are. there to undermine black and brown. Americans' voting rights while. simultaneously helping white. conservatives, even if it means they. will defy their own stated principles. If these people were capable of shame, it would be impossible for these. justices to show their faces. But, they're not. With that said, going back. to South Carolina, we take the wins. wherever we can get them. It is. objectively good news that South.

Carolina State Senate voted against this. effort. But, let's be clear. If it. didn't happen now, it's going to happen. in 2028. Meaning, this isn't a permanent. victory. It is a crisis temporarily. averted. And importantly, that doesn't. change our job here, which needs to be. this. Recognizing that Republicans will, at some point imminently, gerrymander. all of their maps where they have. control, Democrats in New Jersey, New. York, Maryland, Colorado, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, and on and on, all.

need to start moving right now, today, to redraw their own maps. And look, I. get it. It's not good government. You. know what? If we lean on good government. solutions, we are going to good. government ourselves into obscurity. We. need to be aggressive, creative, and. ruthless because that's the only way. that we emerge from this thing. That is. the only way to contend with an opponent. that is themselves aggressive, creative, and ruthless. We didn't ask for this. redistricting war, but we're sure as. hell not going to roll over and play. dead. So, now is the time to fight back.

And if any Democrats don't have the. stomach, make way for those who do. because we gain nothing by sticking our. heads in the sand and pretending that. none of this is happening. The only way. we actually emerge from this thing is if. we fight hard and we fight to win. Before you go, I'm very excited to. announce that I've written a new book. titled The Day After: How to wield power. in a post-Trump world. The book explores. what is, in my opinion, the single most. important theme that we're dealing with. in politics today and moving forward,

power. Specifically, how Republicans. abuse it and how Democrats refuse to. wield it. This book explains how we got. here and, more importantly, how we. should finally wield power if we're. lucky enough to get it back. It is the. blueprint for progressives who want to. do far more than just restore the status. quo. Please pre-order today by following. the link on this screen. You can grab. yours from any of the major retailers. like Amazon and Barnes & Noble or scroll. down on the page and get a copy from an. independent bookstore closest to you. Thanks so much for supporting. independent media.