“Worst possible news!” Trump gets what he deserves in court

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, you and. your team have turned into a nightmare. for Republicans. Can you explain what. just happened in the highest court, the. Supreme Court in Virginia? >> Yeah, so this is probably the worst. possible news for Donald Trump's effort. to rig the 2026 election to date. Everyone focused on Texas and what they. did there to try to gain five seats. Everyone focused on the response from. California where Democrats did gain five. seats. But very few people have paid. attention to what's been going on in. Virginia where the Democratic.

legislature said it was also, like. California, going to. uh essentially suspend the non-partisan. redistricting process via ballot. initiative and allow. uh the legislature to draw a new map. that would be a 10-1 map which would. gain Democrats four seats. Well, Republicans went to court and they. thought they had the upper hand. They. filed a lawsuit in Tazewell County, Virginia, which is in the southwestern. county. It is a very Republican area of.

the state. And they got a trial judge. there to put a hold on things. Meanwhile, my law firm has been. representing the Democratic elected uh. leadership of the state uh the in the. legislature uh saying, "Hey, we should. be allowed to go forward." Well, the. State Supreme Court dealt a near fatal. blow to the Republican gambit by saying. that in fact the referendum can go. forward uh on April 21st, that the. Supreme Court will take this case up in.

the ordinary course which will extend. past that deadline. And that has sent. the Republicans of Virginia into a. stone-cold panic because let's be. honest, Brian, once the people have. voted, if in fact the people vote uh in. favor of this 10-1 map, you can put it. in the books in ink and close them. That's going to be the map for 2026. >> So, this is a case that was that that. was a huge victory at Virginia's highest. court. Is there a way that Republicans. can try to appeal this thing to the US.

Supreme Court? Often times they'll try. and have state cases jump into the. federal court system because that would. be their last recourse. >> So Brian, let me put up on the screen. this quote from the former Republican. Attorney General of Virginia and Eric. Cantor who's a former Congressman from. Virginia, both Republicans involved in. this. Quote, though we firmly believe. this referendum is illegal, the court. has allowed it to move forward before. final judgement. There will be further. legal action on this matter. So Brian,

what do they have in mind? I think it's. one of two things. They're either going. to file a new lawsuit in Virginia. You. know, we saw that game played by. Republicans in California. We saw how. badly that worked out. That's not going. to be any hope for them. Or or they're. going to try to go straight to the US. Supreme Court, which we also saw the. Republicans in California try and they. lost. And as you know, my law firm was. involved in those California cases. and are involved here in Virginia. And. I'd add one more thing, at the same time. this is going on in Virginia, the.

Republicans in New York have gone to the. US Supreme Court after my law firm. kicked their ass there. And so you know, they're finding the path to the US. Supreme Court, but but they're not. finding any success there. >> I should note for everybody who's. watching, not only is Mark covering all. this stuff in the media and in fact I. couldn't find coverage of this specific. story which is a massive story anywhere. else but democracydocket, which is the. news outlet Mark founded. He's also arguing these cases in court. and winning in court. So a small step.

that everybody right now who's watching. can take to support his work both in the. media and in the court system is to. subscribe to democracydocket. That link. is right here on the screen and also in. the post description of this video. Again, a very tiny step that we can all. take to show some support for the. democracy saving work that Mark and his. team are doing right now. So Mark, now that we're at this point in. the process, what is the next step in. Virginia? >> Well, let me just start with the first. thing, which is that this thing has to. pass in Virginia. >> Right. >> And, you know, we have a vote coming up. in the Commonwealth.

of Virginia on April 21st, and let me go. ahead and put the on the screen the. question that Virginians will be asked. to vote on. Should the Constitution of Virginia be. amended to allow the General Assembly to. temporarily adopt new congressional. districts to restore fairness in the. upcoming elections while ensuring. Virginia's standard redistricting. process resumes all future redistricting. after the 2030 census. So, you know, I. wanted to start here, Brian, because, you know, we say it's a done deal, and. it really is for court purposes, but we. need everyone in Virginia who's watching.

this to turn out and vote. And we need. those of you who are not in Virginia to. contact people you know in Virginia and. make sure they know that on April 21st. they have to go vote, and they need to. vote yes on this question. And Brian, you know, you did amazing work in. California in bringing attention to. this, and helping raise money for it, and I hope that you and I maybe can do. the same here in Virginia. >> Yeah. And and in fact, I'm looking. forward to it. And and look, I I should. also note Virginia, this what a what a. gift this was because Republicans wanted.

against every. protest from the left wanted to engage. in this process where they could. scientifically engineer themselves a. permanent majority in the house, and. Democrats told them don't do it, don't. do it, don't do it, and they decided to. go on anyway because Trump said that he. felt entitled to five seats in Texas, and now look at the position that. they're in where they're they're pretty. much guaranteed five seats in in. California as a way to neuter what. happened in Texas. And now, given what. we saw in Texas's Senate District 9, where the Democrat won by a 30-point.

swing from 2024, that gerrymander may. very well turn into a dummymander. So, Texas's five seats that Trump felt. entitled to, so now we might be in a. position where we can net more seats. than before Trump even sparked off this. whole process. But, Mark, as we look. toward the rest of of country, can you. give some insight here, aside from. Virginia, where there might still be. changes in other states as we head. toward midterms? >> Yeah, so look, I think you did an. excellent job of California. and Texas. And And the way I look at.

those two, everyone, is I think that. probably nets Democrats one seat. That. may be conservative, by the way. But I think, you know, at least I don't. think Texas I think all five seats in. California will be Democratic. And let's. just say, for the sake of argument, that. four of the five in Texas are. Republican. So that nets Democrats one. You then have. the Republicans redistrict and. gerrymandered in New North Carolina, Ohio, and and Missouri. But honestly, of. those, you know, at most they're going.

to wind up netting two. And I think. right now, I would say they wind up only. netting one, which is the seat probably. in Missouri. But I think Don Davis. probably survives in North Carolina. And. I think all the Democrats survive in. Ohio. So that That puts us back at even. Then you go to Utah, where Republicans. got their asses kicked. Let's be honest. Like Republicans tried to violate the. law, tried to violate their state. constitution. They split up. Salt Lake City. The courts there said.

they couldn't do that. They're. desperate. They're now also trying to. run a federal court case quickly to go. to the US Supreme Court, but I don't. think that's going to work for 2026, either. So that's a Democratic seat. So. now you're back with Democrats yielding. one a plus one. Then you've got New. York, which I mentioned, the case that. my law firm's involved in, where the. court has ordered a redraw of Staten. Island, which is a Republican district. So that would flip a seat there because. they discriminated against minority. voting rights in violation of state law.

in New York. So that's Democrats plus. two. Then you've got Virginia plus four, so that's Democrats plus six. So what. that leaves, Brian, then is Florida, right? And what is Ron DeSantis doing. Florida? And here he's got a few. considerations that I think we have to, you know, noodle through. The first is, you know, this is already a state that. he gerrymandered really aggressively, so. there's not a lot of running room here. without running a foul of both the state. constitution's prohibition against.

partisan gerrymandering, but also, Brian, even if you set that aside, you. know, he's got to worry also about what. happens if he spreads these Republican. seats too thin. So, does he try to gain. three? Does he try to gain four? He's. certainly not going to gain six, right? So, to your point, I think at the end of. this day, Donald Trump opened up a can. of worms that is now perhaps going to. turn into the biggest political disaster. of his entire administration. You could.

argue that the Epstein files is like the. biggest message disaster and like the. biggest uh problem for him that he. hasn't been able to overcome, but if you. just look at the outcome of the 2026. elections, the biggest political. disaster may wind up having been his. effort to try to stretch uh his majority. by by going to Texas, and now watch as. Democrats have kicked his ass, and I am. proud that my law firm has been involved. in that in the California case, in the. Virginia case, in the New York case. We.

also filed a lawsuit against uh. uh against the state of Florida already. to try to prevent that state there. And. also, we've got litigation going on in. Missouri. So, there's a shot that that. this will get better than I just. described, but I don't think it'll get. much worse. >> All right. Well, and and again, I I do. have to note that to your exact point, this would not have happened without the. work that you and your team are doing. So, I know that I speak on behalf of. myself and folks who are watching this. right now and thanking you for for the. work that you all um are doing on these. cases. Mark,

there is still one giant variable in all. of this, and that is the Supreme Court. dropping a decision on the Cale case, which is Section 2 of the Voting Rights. Act. That's what mandates these black. opportunity districts or brown. opportunity districts, these minority. majority districts. And those are centered primarily in. these Republican states like. Louisiana and Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Texas. We've seen We've seen. that be kind of the bulwark against. Republicans redrawing these maps so that. they're completely red. We don't know. when the Supreme Court is going to do.

this. You have actually announced on on. social media a few decision days for the. Supreme Court. Do you have any. indication as to as to when this might. happen or or what the drop-dead date. might be in terms of when it no longer. applies or could apply to the 2026. midterms? >> Yeah, Brian, that's an excellent point. The Supreme Court has announced that. they're going to issue new opinions. on February 20th, 24th, and 25th. And. so, look, we don't know what's going to. be in them. I mean, the people who are. focused on the tariff cases say which.

one of them will be the tariff cases. The people who are focused on the. birthright citizenship cases say which. one will be the birthright citizenship. date. And of course, for me, I'm very. interested in those, but I'm. particularly interested in the Cale case. as well as another case I argued in the. US Supreme Court in December, the. so-called National Republican Senatorial. Ca- Campaign Committee case that I. opposed. So, there's a lot of cases that. it could be, and we don't know whether. any of those cases will be decided in. February or will wait until later in the.

term. Historically, the most significant. cases get decided in June. or even early July. And there's no. question Cale is one of the most. significant cases. On the other hand, there's no question that those people on. the Supreme Court, the justices, know. that every day that goes by it becomes. harder for Cale to impact the 2026. elections. And there's no one. bright-line date where kind of that. happens. It's a rolling schedule. There. are some states that have early.

primaries, and for those states, frankly, it's already too late, right? I. mean, if you have a spring primary, it's. too late to redraw your maps. On the. other hand, some states have very late. primaries. You know, you have states. that have primaries over the summer, going as late as August. And for those. states, they may say it's not too late. So, every day that goes by, some more. states fall off the board. And the. question is whether the Supreme Court is. going to try to rush this decision to. get as many of those as possible, or. whether they're holding it to the end.

and say, "You know what? We're just not. going to affect anything for 2026, and. all of this will become operative for. 2028." The good news is that as days go. by, it seems less likely that they are. rushing it, right? We talked a lot in in. early. January that they might actually try to. front-run this case as one of the first. decisions of the term, and that didn't. happen. So, we'll wait and see. I don't. know for sure, but I can promise the. Republicans this, if if that case comes. out and it comes out against uh.

democracy, as many of us fear, and you. think you're going to pass new maps, and. you're going to get a free ride, you've. got another thing coming to you. The. fact is, my law firm and I have 85. voting and election cases right now. pending in 40 states, and that is a lot. That is the historically the most that. my law firm has ever had, but we always. have room for more when it comes to. fighting the Republican vote suppressors. and election deniers. So, if you think, Republicans, you're going to try to. sneak one by, you've got another thing. coming. >> And that right there is why you are the. biggest fighter for democracy on the.

left. So, again, a small step that. everybody who's watching can take to. support the work that Mark and his team. are doing in the courts and in the media. space. Please sign up for Democracy. Docket. That link is right here on the. screen, and also in the post description. of this video. And of course, to see. more episodes of Democracy Watch with. Mark and I, that link is on the screen. as well. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].