WOW: Marc Elias DEFEATS Stephen Miller’s firm in HUGE COURT WIN

This is Democracy Watch, Mark. We have a. clash right now between two titans, uh. left and right, between you and Steven. Miller's law firm. And I think people. want to hear what actually came out of. this case. Can you explain what. happened? >> Yeah, Republicans in Florida sued the. Census Bureau trying to rig the count. Uh and we fought them tooth and nail. We. intervened on behalf of a group of. individuals and organizations that that. said they're not going to stand by this. and we won before a three-judge panel uh.

in the state of Florida in federal. court. Uh we we we defeated this effort. to essentially disenfranchise college. students, disenfranchise uh Democrats, disenfranchise young voters. And we did. not allow Steven Miller's law firm the. the organization he created uh or the. Republican Party to get along with to. get away with this. And Brian, it is a. good example of what I oftentimes say, "When we fight, we can win." And so. people cannot go into the the fights.

that we have with the Trump. administration, in this case with the. Republican Party, with a defeatist. attitude. We have to always insist that. the courts do the right thing. And in. this case, in a two-one decision, we. prevailed. >> Talk to me about the importance of the. census, because I know that there's a. lot of issues that we're contending with. right now. And and frankly, oftentimes. people will say, "Oh, what do you think. about the 2028 election? Who do you. think is going to be the standard-bearer. of the Democratic Party?" And I'm like, "We don't have the luxury of talking. about something, you know, 3 years in. the future. We got to we got to focus on. midterms right now, which are under.

attack." But I actually think the issue. of the census is really important. So, can you explain why? >> Yeah, so first of all, you need to. realize this is a lawsuit going on in. the middle of the 10-year period between. censuses, right? So, Republicans don't. stop challenging the things like the. census or redistricting. We saw this. with mid-cycle redistricting. We're. seeing it with this lawsuit in in. uh with the census. They their motor is. always going and it's always going hard. to try to gain an advantage, to try to. figure out a way to disenfranchise a.

group, or to skew a results, or to rig. an election in even the smallest way. possible to gain an advantage. And we in. the pro-democracy movement have to be as. vigilant and as committed to these. things. And you know, you and I talked. about this a lot in the context of. redistricting. But the reason why it. matters in the area of the census is. because the census is actually. foundational to even redistricting, right? The census is the enumeration, the count of people that go into the.

allocation of congressional districts. and electors for the Electoral College. to the states. Now, it's also used for a. whole bunch of other things like. distributing benefits to to states and. people. But just in the electoral. context, it's what is used to decide how. many electoral votes this state has. versus that state, how many members of. Congress this state has versus that. state. And what the Republicans are. trying to do through the courts. is try to shave off, you know, a little. bit here and a little bit there to flip.

a seat, to move an elector away from a. blue state into a red state. And we're. going to see more and more of this as we. get closer to the next census uh uh uh. that will take place uh in 2030. And. Donald Trump and his administration are. providing aid and comfort to this. The. Republican Party is obviously involved. as they were in this lawsuit. Stephen. Miller's former law firm, you know, uh. from center here. And we just need to be. in this fight every single day.

>> Here's why I think this is so important. Republicans are really good about. figuring out and executing on plans that. Democrats don't even realize. that they're fighting against for 10. years. Like Republicans started their. whole redistricting effort in about. 2010. And look, it's 2026 and we're. still in a position where we're not able. to fight back uh to the extent that we. need to be fighting back. This is the next iteration of what these. Republican fights are going to look. like. This is the next battlefield that.

Republicans are going to be fighting on, which is to make sure that, you know, whereas California had, I can't remember. if it was 53 or 54 uh electoral votes, that it's fewer and instead some of. those electoral votes go to some of. these red states. So, instead of having. a narrow path to victory by getting XYZ. states in the presidential election, well, suddenly, even if you have a path. to victory that runs right through uh. you know, uh Michigan, Wisconsin, uh and. Pennsylvania, that might not even be. enough because they're able to carry out. these plans. And so, look, Mark, I think.

you deserve a lot of credit because. often times, like I said, we don't even. recognize that this is the battlefield. we're fighting on until it's far too. late. But, the fact that they're. fighting on this battlefield right now. and that you're not only recognizing it, but litigating against it and winning is. really important. So, I just want to let. folks know that this is the work that. Mark and his team are doing behind the. scenes. And if that's something that you. want to support, an easy way that you. can show some support for their work and. amplify their voices is to subscribe to. Democracy Docket, the news outlet Mark.

founded to focus on everything voting. and elections. It is exploding in. popularity and it's something that I use. on a daily basis to figure out what's. going on in the voting rights world, legal world, and democracy world. So, I'm going to put that link right here on. the screen and also in the post. description. >> And Brian, increasingly, the work we are. having to do is to step into cases where. there is either collusively litigation. or something that looks like it's. collusive. So, in this case, you know, the Republican the college Republicans.

in Florida sued the US Commerce. Department. Okay, so like literally it's. Stephen Miller's former law firm, the. law firm he created on behalf of a. Republican organization suing the Trump. administration. And so, we jumped into. this case to make sure there was. actually going to be. a a a party that was going to genuinely. fight against the Republicans in this. case. Not I'm not disparaging the good. lawyers at the Census or Department of. Commerce, but but I think people out. there get what I'm saying. And this was.

the same situation we faced in the case. that we just won in the US Supreme Court. in Mississippi, where, you know, after. years and years of Republicans trying to. disenfranchise voters who cast ballots. by mail, have them postmarked by. election day, but they received it. afterwards. Republicans just spent tens. of millions of dollars, I estimate, certainly millions of dollars, to try to. disenfranchise those voters by going to. court. Um, you know, they finally. brought a lawsuit against Mississippi. The RNC sued Mississippi. And once. again, we had to intervene to defend.

voters in Mississippi to make sure that. there was a a pro-democracy. party in that case and defending that. We went all the way to Supreme Court and. won that case. And Brian, I think that. this is, like you said, part of the. problem of when people are not paying. attention. The Republicans are setting. these things up when not as many people. are paying attention as they should, and. it is critically important work. And not. to embarrass you, Brian, but, you know, you and your publisher and your editor. have agreed that you will give a portion.

of the proceeds of a book that you've. just written, um, that is coming out, that I wrote the forward for, and that I. hope everyone buys. You're going to. dedicate a portion of those proceeds to. the Free Election Fund, which is a 501c3. organization that helps support exactly. the litigation I'm talking about. Okay? The cases I've just talked about are the. cases that this fund is used to help. support to make sure these cases can be. defended. Uh, and so I want to thank you. for uh for doing that, and uh pass on my. thanks to your publisher and your.

editor. >> Well, I appreciate that. And look, I. think in terms of the Free Election. Fund, it's important not just to talk. the talk, and obviously, you know, we we. do that on a daily basis, but to to walk. the walk a little bit, and so with every. book sold, um uh uh proceeds from every. single book are going to be going to the. Free Election Fund, that 501c3 that does. this essential uh election litigation. that that really we rely on to make sure. that that our system of government is. protected, that democracy is protected, that our elections stay free and fair.

So, I'm going to put a link for those. who want to pre-order the book. Um. the the proceeds only get sent over to. the Free Election Fund within the. pre-order period, and that ends on July. 13th. So, if you have the opportunity to. pre-order the book, I'm going to put. that link right here on the screen, and. also in the post description of this. video. Uh you can grab a copy, support. independent media, but also support the. invaluable work that Mark and his team. are doing. Mark, you had you had said something. that I think sent uh a little bit of a. chill down my spine, and that was that. this kind of litigation is not only. being supported by, you know, Stephen.

Miller's law firm, but also the DOJ. itself, like the Trump administration. itself, the federal government is. participating in this stuff. And so, to. what extent does the fact that we have. the federal government, the DOJ with. unlimited resources fighting these. battles to undermine democracy, how much. more difficult does does it make it when. you have law firms like yours, obviously. who are constrained by by resources, that are trying to fight these fights? >> Yeah, so, you know, it boils into a.

couple of different categories. A case. like this actually the Department of. Justice stayed on our side, so that's. great. Like, I think the fact that we. were there made that made that. a reality that they couldn't avoid. But, in other cases they've switched sides, and they they join the other side, and. now we're fighting the private plane of. and the Department of Justice. And yet a. third category of cases, which you and I. have talked a lot about, they're. actually the ones bringing the cases, right? The Department of Justice is the. one right now initiating 30 lawsuits. that we're litigating against them to. access people's sensitive voter. information. So, this is an unseen.

world. I mean, this is something that I. would not have imagined I'd ever see. The Department of Justice systematically. not just not standing up and fighting. for democracy, but actually joining the. other side. And we are seeing that in. way too many of these cases where they. are challenging the constitutionality of. federal laws like they did in the. Supreme Court in the case I argued. there. Like they they have done. in the mail in ballot case. involving Mississippi that I mentioned.

where they they they sided with the. Republican Party and and we were able to. defeat both the Republican Party and DOJ. there. But also these cases where where. they are the initiator, you know, where. they're the ones bringing the cases. And. and Brian, it it reminds me of a. conversation that you and I have been. having on and off. both on video and in private now for you. know, four years. And it has to do with. like. what does it mean that there is a norm?

That the Department of Justice acts this. wrong way. You know, what did it mean in. the Biden era. that there was a norm? That the Department of Justice wanted to. seem non-political so that if there was. a case for example that I was litigating. on behalf of voters, DOJ might be like, well, we don't want to get too close to. that because we don't want to look like. we're putting a thumb on the scale even. if they agreed with the that that we. were right on the law. And so like we. talked about it in in that context, we.

see what it is now. But I but you know, part of that conversation is what comes. next. And the book you have written that. I was just thanking you for contributing. for helping support with pre-sale. orders. You know, really goes at that. And and I think it's an important. conversation to continue to have. And so. I hope people buy the book. I hope. people read it. And I hope that in the. days and weeks and months to come, they'll participate you'll all. participate in this back and forth as.

Brian and I and others have this if. you're in Washington D.C. Um you know or in the D.C. region. uh you can start that by coming to an. event that um. Brian will be at around his book. Uh Jim. Acosta great journalist is going to be. on stage with Brian uh in Washington. D.C. to to sort of begin that dialogue. in the nation's capital among people who. who you know can can come show up in. person. So there are tickets still.

available for that event. I will be. there in person. Uh hopefully I'll raise. my hand and ask a question. Uh and so if you're there I'll be happy. to say hello to you as well but I'm sure. you'll be there for Brian and. uh and Jim. Uh but I think it's really. important but if you're in D.C. it's. Tuesday it's 7:00 p.m. Uh and uh like I said tickets are still. available. >> Well I appreciate that. I'm going to put. the link uh to that event right here on. the screen and also in the post. description along with the link to. pre-order. It's all going to be on the. same page so you can either go to. pre-order or you can scroll down to the.

book tour and grab tickets there. Um and. I'm going to put a link as well on the. screen to Democracy Docket. Um I I I. think it's going to be especially. important right now as we see so many uh. elements of the Republican Party and the. right-wing movement um continued to line. up against democracy that we elevate the. the the the voice of Mark and his team. uh amplify the work that they're doing. because this is I mean this is the. epitome of the the the little engine. that could against this behemoth that is.

the right-wing movement a really. well-funded movement and the federal. government itself which has endless. resources and not only. is Mark and his team fighting against. them but he's winning against them as. well. And so uh again a small step that. we can all take to elevate his voice in. this ecosystem and make sure that more. people know the invaluable work he's. doing is to subscribe to Democracy. Docket. So that link is in the post. description as well. And uh and please. make sure if you're not yet subscribed. to subscribe. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch.

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