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Amanda McDaniel, a member of the preservation alliance, is rooting for Jordan’s speaker bid — seeing in him the same principles she holds. It is not an approach that builds consensus — a previous Republican speaker to brand him a “legislative terrorist” — even as he has steadily parlayed it into political success. Mr. Jordan embraced right-wing populism long before the Tea Party or Donald Trump made into a national force. Eric Forson, 50, said that when he wrote to his elected representatives during the 2013 government shutdown, Mr. Jordan was the only one who responded. Ms. Esch and her husband, Mike, 57 were both hopeful that Mr. Jordan would drum up the votes needed to take the speaker role on Wednesday.

Persons: Jim Jordan, Amanda McDaniel, ”, McDaniel, Jordan, “, Katie Porter, Porter, Mr, Jordan’s, Donald Trump, grimaces, Jim wasn’t, Brian Seaver, Eric Forson, Forson, he’s, Missy Esch, . Esch, Mike, Mike Esch Organizations: Champaign County Preservation Alliance, Ohio, Ohio General, Caucus, Tea Party, Lima Correctional, State Senate, Urbana Brewing Company Locations: Champaign, Urbana, Ohio, Washington, Lima, Jordan’s

☆ Nancy Mace's quest to 'create headlines for herself' is giving her Democratic opponent fresh hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-14 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementYou've probably heard about Nancy Mace by now. But there's far more to Moore's campaign than simply not being Nancy Mace. In January, a federal district court in South Carolina found that Mace's district had been unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered. Republican state lawmakers appealed that ruling, kicking the final decision up the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, where oral arguments were heard on Wednesday. "I think [voters] look at Nancy Mace and believe that she is probably more motivated to get on national TV and create headlines for herself than to actually work for the people," said Moore.

Persons: Nancy, Michael B, Moore, Mace, —, Nancy Mace, strode, Nathaniel Hawthorn's, Kevin McCarthy, It's, Donald Trump's, she's, Robert Smalls, who've, Brown, Joe Cunningham, Joe Biden's, he's, Steve Bannon's Organizations: Democrat, Service, GOP, of, International African American Museum, Republican, Democratic Rep, Capitol Locations: South Carolina, Washington ,, Charleston, Washington, Mace's

“No, absolutely not,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said when asked at a news conference if impeachment of Justice Janet Protasiewicz was off the table. Impeachment has drawn bipartisan opposition and two former conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justices, asked by Vos to investigate the possibility, told him in the past week it was not warranted. Protasiewicz refused to recuse from the redistricting lawsuit last week and sided with the liberal majority in accepting the lawsuit. Protasiewicz last week rejected those arguments, noting that other justices have accepted campaign cash and not recused from cases. Oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the redistricting challenge are set for Nov. 21.

Persons: —, Robin Vos, Janet Protasiewicz, ” Vos, Protasiewicz, Vos, haven’t Organizations: Republican, U.S, Supreme, Wisconsin Supreme, Wisconsin Democratic Party, Senate, Republicans, Associated Locations: MADISON, Wis, Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s, Associated Press

☆ 1 chart to explain the current dysfunction in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Proof of Congress’ ongoing dysfunction is in its current paralysis. Republicans have a few more votes in the House, but they don’t exactly have a governing majority. The lack of competitive seats makes it feel like we are stuck with a closely divided House and a closely divided Senate for the foreseeable future. Half as many competitive House seatsThe Cook Political Report with Amy Walter assigns a partisan score to every congressional district. The partisan tone he took to placate the ultra-right lawmakers meant Democrats were never going to save his job.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, it’s, Steve Scalise, Donald Trump, Jim Jordan, Joe Biden, Amy Walter, –, Cook, CNN’s Simone Pathe, West Virginia Sen, Joe Manchin, he’s, Biden, didn’t, McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi’s, Pelosi Organizations: CNN, Republicans, Republican, Democratic, Senate Locations: Louisiana, Ohio, ”, It’s, West Virginia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to impeach a recently elected state Supreme Court justice and raised the possibility of doing the same to the state’s election director. A Georgia Republican called for impeaching the Fulton County prosecutor who brought racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump. None of the targets met the bar traditionally set for impeachment — credible allegations of committing a crime while in office. Over the past two years, Republicans also have sought to pry Democrats and nonpartisan executives from office through recalls, legislative maneuvers and forced removals, even when no allegations of wrongdoing have surfaced. They’re upset with her over a legal settlement as voting began in 2020 that eased some rules for mailed ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic beyond what state law permitted.

Persons: Donald Trump, Republicans didn’t, Joe Biden, It’s, ”, Melissa Agard, Janet Protasiewicz, Ben Wikler, “, Robin Vos, we’re, Vos, Larry Krasner, impeaching Krasner, Fani Willis, Georgia’s, Brian Kemp, Sen, Colton Moore, Kemp’s, Ken Paxton, Paxton, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, They’re, Gavin Newsom, Newsom breezed, Brian Kalt, ” Richard Hasen, ” ___ Bauer, Brooke Schultz Organizations: WASHINGTON, — Republicans, Georgia Republican, Republicans, Pennsylvania House, Congress, Democrat, Republican, Court, GOP, state's Democratic Party, Philadelphia, Democratic, Trump, Republican Gov, Caucus, Texas, Representatives, Justice Department, North Carolina Republicans, Michigan State University, University of California, Associated Press Locations: Wisconsin, Georgia, Fulton, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Fulton County, Florida, California, Los Angeles, Madison , Wisconsin, Harrisburg , Pennsylvania

☆ The next GOP speaker will face the same traps that doomed McCarthy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Two candidates, GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, have already launched campaigns. He’s not the first GOP speaker to think so. But in this political climate, any Republican speaker who has to rely on Democratic votes is critically weakened and probably can’t last long. But the only way a Republican speaker will be able to pass aide to Ukraine will be to do so with Democratic help. The lack of such flexibility has been a fatal flaw of GOP speakers for years.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, he’d, Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan of, Kevin Hern, McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, tormentor, Nancy Pelosi, Garret Graves, CNN’s Jake Tapper, ” Graves, Donald Trump, “, ” McCarthy, He’s, John Boehner, shutdowns, –, Paul Ryan, Ryan, Trump, they’d, McCarthy –, Mike Lawler, Biden, ” Lawler, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Lawler, Jordan, CNN’s Manu Raju, Michael McCaul, Raju, Jordan didn’t, Scalise, don’t Organizations: CNN, Republican, GOP, United, Republican Party, Tea Party, Wisconsin Rep, “ America, Democratic, New, Trump, Foreign, Texas Locations: Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Oklahoma, Florida, Garret Graves of Louisiana, United States, New York, reining, Russia, China, Ukraine, Kyiv

Alabama will have a new congressional map that gives Black voters more power and almost certainly, a pickup for Democrats, a federal court ruled Thursday. After a long legal battle that had the GOP-controlled state legislature repeatedly offering maps critics said diluted the Black vote and benefited Republicans, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama directed the state to adopt a map that will include a second Black opportunity district. After a September trial, Georgians are awaiting a ruling by a federal judge over whether that state's congressional district lines violate the Voting Rights Act, which has been invoked to thwart maps that dilute the Black vote. The Supreme Court is set to hear a voting rights challenge to congressional lines in South Carolina. In Florida, people are challenging district lines on state constitutional grounds, arguing that Florida Gov.

Persons: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Dave Wasserman, Jerry Carl, Barry Moore –, Suzan, Jack Pandol, Doug Spencer, Spencer, Ron DeSantis Organizations: GOP, U.S, Northern, Northern District of, Democratic Congressional, National Republican Congressional, University of Colorado, Republican, voters, Florida Gov, Democratic, Republicans Locations: Alabama, Northern District, Northern District of Alabama, Washington, Southern, South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, New York, York

On the heels of that decision, a federal appeals court invalidated a federal law that bars an individual who is subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. A three-judge district court panel struck down the plan in January, saying that race had been the predominant motivating factor. Three years ago, the Supreme Court limited the independence of the CFPB by invalidating its leadership structure. The court’s decision could impact whether the SEC and other agencies can conduct enforcement proceedings in-house, using administrative courts staffed with agency employees, or whether such actions must be brought in federal court. “It’s difficult to think of any other recent First Amendment cases in which the stakes were so high,” Jaffer added.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, ”, Biden, Zackey Rahimi, John Roberts, Taiwan Scott, Thomas, Elizabeth Prelogar, Magnuson, Paul Clement, ” Clement, “, pare, George Jarkesy, Sackler, ” Prelogar, Jameel Jaffer, Jaffer Organizations: CNN, Gun Safety, South Carolina’s Republican, South Carolina State Conference of, NAACP, Democrat, Republican, National Marine Fisheries Service, Chevron, Natural Resources Defense, Stevens Fishery Conservation, Management, Independent, Consumer Financial, Federal Reserve, US, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities, Exchange, US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Social Security Administration, Circuit, Historic Purdue Pharma, Purdue Pharma, Sackler, Purdue, Facebook, YouTube, Columbia University’s Locations: United States, South Carolina, Alabama, Taiwan, Charleston County, Chevron, Florida, Texas

The decision on Tuesday sets the stage for a new map with greater representation for Black voters to be put in place for the 2024 elections. The ruling marks a victory for Black voters in the state who had challenged the existing districts as racially discriminatory. WHAT HAPPENEDJustices denied Alabama's emergency request to keep Republican-drawn congressional lines in place and stop a three-judge panel from drawing new lines as the state appeals. WHAT IS THE REACTIONThe decision was a victory years in the making for Black voters and advocacy groups that had filed lawsuits challenging the Alabama districts. A WINDING PATHThe winding legal saga in Alabama began when groups of Black voters challenged Alabama’s congressional map as racially discriminatory.

Persons: —, Steve Marshall, Barry Moore, Deuel Ross, Alabama's, Plaintiffs, George Wallace's, “, Black, Marshall, ” Marshall, Ross, Kareem Crayton, ” Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Black, Republican, Alabama, Republican Rep, GOP, NAACP Legal, Fund, Gov, Brennan Center for Justice Locations: MONTGOMERY, Ala, Alabama, Black, Louisiana , Georgia, Florida, Louisiana

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision siding with Black voters in an Alabama redistricting case gave Democrats and voting rights activists a surprising opportunity before the 2024 elections. Khadidah Stone, a plaintiff in the Alabama case, said the continuing opposition was “appalling” but “not surprising.” She noted that Alabama is where then-Gov. A similar dynamic is playing out in Florida, where Republicans are appealing a ruling favorable to Black voters to the Republican-majority state Supreme Court. But the continued pushback from Republican legislatures in control of redistricting means there is great uncertainty about whether –- or how soon -– new maps offering equal representation for Black voters will be drawn. Louisiana state Rep. Sam Jenkins Jr., a Democrat, said he is optimistic now that the matter is in the courts.

Persons: It's, “, ”, George Wallace, Shawn Donahue, ’ ” Donahue, general’s, Shelly Dick, Dick, Stuart Naifeh, Sam Jenkins Jr, Sen, Royce Duplessis, ” Duplessis, Ron DeSantis, Al Lawson, DeSantis, Angie Nixon, Nixon, ___ Gomez Licon, Kim Chandler, Kevin McGill Organizations: WASHINGTON, Black, Alabama Republicans, Republican, University of Alabama, State University of New, Republicans, U.S . House, U.S, Louisiana’s GOP, Circuit, NAACP Legal Defense, Educational Fund, Democrat, Gov, GOP, Florida Supreme, DeSantis, Democratic U.S . Rep, Democratic, Associated Press Locations: Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, State University of New York, Buffalo, Black, U.S, Orleans, Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Miami, Montgomery , Alabama, New Orleans

CNN —House Republicans are not only facing resistance from within their own ranks to impeach President Joe Biden, they’re also getting a cool reception from another key constituency: Senate Republicans. Moreover, a number of Senate Republicans liken the Biden impeachment efforts to the two impeachments of then-President Donald Trump that they sharply criticized, even though the situations are markedly different. The issue is just the latest divide between House and Senate Republicans, who are deeply split over spending and their posture toward Ukraine. “I don’t think that Speaker McCarthy’s position,” Cornyn said when asked about his personal view about a potential impeachment inquiry. “I don’t think the House particularly cares what members of the Senate think,” he told CNN.

Persons: Joe Biden, they’re, –, impeaching Biden, Biden, Republicans liken, Donald Trump, Hunter, “, ” Sen, Shelley Moore Capito, Trump, “ I’m, Tommy Tuberville, Tuberville, GOP Sen, Kevin Cramer of North, ” Cramer, Marco Rubio, Rubio, ” Rubio, clamoring, —, Kevin McCarthy, he’s, It’s, holdouts, Mitch McConnell, Republicans inching, ” McConnell, John Cornyn, ” Cornyn, ”, Cornyn, I’m Organizations: CNN — House Republicans, Republicans, Capitol, West Virginia Republican, Alabama Republican, CNN, GOP, Florida Republican, Republican, Senate Republicans, Congress, Texas Republican Locations: Alabama, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Florida, House, Ukraine

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans have enjoyed outsize control of the Legislature in one of the most closely divided states for a dozen years. Maintaining that power is now at the heart of a drama involving the state Supreme Court that has national political implications. “Impeachment is an act of pure power politics,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. In 2020, the state Supreme Court, then controlled 4-3 by conservatives, came within one vote of overturning Democrat Joe Biden's nearly 21,000 vote victory over then-President Donald Trump. The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether it will take either case.

Persons: ”, Ben Wikler, “ It’s, Joe Biden's, Donald Trump, Greta Neubauer, Mark Pocan, Robin Vos, “, ” Vos, Wisconsin Legislature “, Nick Seabrook, Janet Protasiewicz, Protasiewicz, Vos, Tyler August, ” ___ Lieb Organizations: — Wisconsin Republicans, Republicans, Democratic, Wisconsin Democratic Party, Wisconsin Supreme, Donald Trump . Wisconsin Republicans, Republican, Michigan House, Democrat, U.S . Senate, Associated, Democratic U.S . Rep, U.S, Supreme, Wisconsin Legislature, University of North, Wisconsin Democrats, GOP, Legislative Republicans, Democratic Party, GOP . Wisconsin Locations: MADISON, Wis, Wisconsin, Neighboring Michigan, Unlike Wisconsin , Michigan, Wisconsin’s, West Virginia, ” Wisconsin, University of North Florida, Jefferson City , Missouri

☆ Opinion | Wisconsin Republicans Try to Subvert Democracy, Again
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

If Republicans move ahead with this impeachment, it will be for one reason only: because they think they can. (Given the size of their Senate majority, they couldn’t afford to lose a single vote.) But some observers think that even if Republicans impeach Protasiewicz, they have no intention of actually holding a Senate trial. But since the state Constitution is silent on a timeline for that process, Republicans could impeach Protasiewicz and then leave her in legal oblivion indefinitely. “Senate Republicans in Wisconsin are basically saying, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to have a trial.

Persons: ”, Charlie Sykes, Protasiewicz, Tony Evers, ’ ”, Sykes, “ Organizations: Democratic Party, Wisconsin’s, Republicans, Trump, State Senate, Democratic Locations: Wisconsin, State

The state Democratic Party has given liberal Justice Jill Karofsky's campaign more than $1.3 million. In Wisconsin, there is no requirement that justices step down from hearing cases involving campaign donors. Those threats were denounced by Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler as “political extortion." She also cited Democratic Party campaign donations and the campaign comments. The Democratic Party did not bring either of the pending redistricting cases, even though Democrats would benefit from new maps being drawn.

Persons: she's, Ann Walsh Bradley —, Brian Hagedorn, Rebecca Bradley, Jill Karofsky's, ”, Jay Heck, “, Heck, Brennan, Janet Protasiewicz, Dan Kelly, Joe Biden, Tony Evers, Protasiewicz, Robin Vos, Protasiewicz doesn't, Vos, Ben Wikler, Annette Ziegler, Ziegler, Michael Gableman, recusing, Bradley, ” Protasiewicz Organizations: —, — Wisconsin Republicans, Democratic Party, Wisconsin Democracy, Republican Party, Wisconsin Supreme, Brennan Center for Justice, Wisconsin Democratic Party, Republican, Republicans, Gov, Democratic, GOP, Wisconsin Judicial Commission, Wisconsin Democratic, Wisconsin Manufacturers, Commerce, Conservative, United, Constitution Locations: MADISON, Wis, — Wisconsin, Wisconsin, In Wisconsin

☆ Wisconsin Republicans float the impeachment of a new liberal state Supreme Court justice because the court could toss GOP-friendly legislative maps
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Wisconsin Republicans are floating the potential impeachment of state Supreme Court judge Janet Protasiewicz. Republicans are arguing that Protasiewicz must recuse herself from redistricting cases over her comments. Earlier this year, the possibility of Protasiewicz sitting on the court and turning a conservative-leaning court into one with a liberal majority animated Republicans. Republicans now enjoy a 64-35 majority in the state Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the state Senate, despite Wisconsin being a perennial battleground state. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe court has not said whether or not it would take up the redistricting cases.

Persons: Janet Protasiewicz, Protasiewicz, Scott Walker, Walker, Tony Evers, Daniel Kelly, Protasiewicz's, Robin Vos, Vos, I'm, Republican Sen, Ron Johnson Organizations: Wisconsin Republicans, Service, Wisconsin Supreme, Republicans, Democratic Gov, Democratic, GOP, Wisconsin, Democratic Party, Assembly, Republican, New York Times, Wisconsin Democratic Party, Associated Press Locations: Wisconsin, Wall, Silicon

☆ Federal court rejects Alabama congressional map in racial gerrymandering case
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The ruling in U.S. District Court in Alabama is the latest judicial hammer to drop against the Republican-led state legislature, whose prior congressional district map had been struck down by the Supreme Court in June. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and U.S. District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer. A panel of three federal judges on Tuesday struck down an Alabama congressional map accused of being racially gerrymandered against the state's Black voters. After the Supreme Court ruling, Alabama asked for a five-week delay to enact a new plan, which the court granted. "We do not take lightly federal intrusion into a process ordinarily reserved for the State Legislature.

Persons: Stanley Marcus, Anna Manasco, Terry Moorer, Kay Ivey, affirmance Organizations: GOP, Alabama Statehouse, Republican, Circuit, Republican Gov, State Locations: Montgomery , Ala, U.S, Alabama, Black, . Alabama, reconvene

The state population is 27% Black, but the districts are drawn so that white voters are a majority in six of Alabama's seven congressional districts. The judges said they were reluctant to get involved in a task typically left to the states. In Georgia on Tuesday, a judge began hearing a no-jury trial on whether the GOP-controlled state legislature wrongly drew congressional and state legislative lines to dilute Black voting power. Louisiana – which has a Republican state legislature and a Democratic governor – has a population that is about one-third Black. But five of the state's six congressional districts are majority-white.

Persons: didn't, –, couldn't, Purcell, Julie Ebenstein, Ebenstein, Dan Vicuna, Steve Jones, Jones, Charles Bullock, J, Lee Marsh, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Representatives, GOP, Democratic, Peach State, Alabama, Black, Supreme, Republicans, U.S, District, University of Georgia, Leon County Circuit, voters, Florida Gov, Republican Locations: Alabama, Georgia, Peach, Black, Yellowhammer State, Florida, Leon County, In Louisiana, Louisiana, New York

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voting-rights groups moved to dismiss their lawsuit against Ohio's unconstitutional congressional map on Tuesday, arguing that prolonging the legal wrangling over where to draw district boundaries isn't in the best interests of Ohio voters. “Petitioners have no desire to launch another round of maps and challenges, given the recent history of map-drawing in Ohio,” the Tuesday filing said. That history included the court's rejection of two separate congressional maps and five sets of Statehouse maps — describing districts for Ohio House and Ohio Senate in Columbus — as gerrymandered in favor of the ruling Republicans. Political Cartoons View All 1145 ImagesSince the voting advocates' lawsuit was first filed early last year, the political landscape has grown only more conservative. Before Tuesday's filing, the Ohio Supreme Court had asked both sides in the lawsuit to file briefs explaining how a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June involving the Ohio map would impact the state case.

Organizations: —, Ohio voters, League of Women Voters, Ohio Supreme, U.S ., ”, Ohio House, Ohio, GOP, Statehouse, Supreme Locations: COLUMBUS , Ohio, — Ohio, isn't, Ohio, Columbus —, U.S, North Carolina

☆ Opinion | Appeasing Donald Trump Won’t Work
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

There was never any way to remove Trump from American politics through the Democratic Party alone. Rather than remove Trump from American politics by convicting him in the Senate after his second impeachment, Republicans punted their responsibilities to the American legal system. (In his most recent newsletter, my colleague Ross Douthat makes a powerful case that only politics can solve the problem of Donald Trump.) First, there is the simple political fear of losing a House or Senate seat. In polarized, gerrymandered America, all too many Republican politicians face political risk only from their right, and that “right” appears to be overwhelmingly populated by Trumpists.

Persons: Jan, convicting, Mitch McConnell, acquit Trump, “, Trump, Ross Douthat, Donald Trump, ” Trump, podcaster Ben Shapiro, Barack Obama Organizations: Republicans, Trump, Democratic Party, American Locations: America

☆ Opinion | Republicans Won’t Stop at Banning Abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A majority of Ohio voters support the right to an abortion. The Ohio Legislature — gerrymandered into an seemingly perpetual Republican majority — does not. In many states, this would be the end of the story, but in Ohio voters have the power to act directly on the state constitution at the ballot box. With a simple majority, they can protect abortion rights from a Legislature that has no interest in honoring the views of most Ohioans on this particular issue. They defeated the measure, clearing the path for a November vote on the future of abortion rights in the state.

Persons: Eager, Ohioans, Samuel Alito, Roe, Casey, ”, Alito, Antonin Scalia’s, Clarence Thomas, Dobbs Organizations: Ohio Legislature, Republican, Ohio Locations: Ohio, Dobbs, Idaho, Texas, South Carolina

☆ Abortion Drives Ohio Election on Amending the State Constitution
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Michael Wines | More About Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

John Kasich of Ohio, a Republican, wrote on Twitter in April that he had watched voters reject policies that he and his legislative majority had backed. “It wouldn’t have been right then, and it isn’t right now.”Once, Ohio was the quintessential swing state. The 2022 election brought single-party control of the governor’s office and legislature to 39 states, the most in at least three decades. And 29 states, 20 of them Republican, have veto-proof supermajorities that control both houses of the state legislatures. “We can kind of do what we want,” Matt Huffman, the powerful Ohio State Senate president, told the Columbus Dispatch in a 2022 profile.

Persons: John Kasich of, ”, Matt Huffman, — Organizations: Gov, Republican, Twitter, Ohio State, Columbus Dispatch, Alabama Legislature, U.S, Supreme Locations: John Kasich of Ohio, Ohio

☆ Anti-Abortion Republicans Don’t Want You to Notice Ohio’s Issue 1 - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Ohio has been trending right for years, but gerrymandering ensures that the State Legislature is far more extreme than the population. Instead, some anti-abortion lawmakers want even stricter anti-abortion laws, and one, Representative Jean Schmidt, has said she’d consider a ban on birth control. The November ballot initiative to make abortion a constitutional right is a chance for Ohio voters to circumvent their unrepresentative representatives. With this August initiative, the Republicans are working to head off the voters by essentially asking them to disenfranchise themselves. Just last December, Ohio Republicans voted to effectively eliminate August special elections because of their expense and low turnout.

Persons: we’ve, “, Donald Trump, ”, David Pepper, —, Mike DeWine, Jean Schmidt, she’d Organizations: State Legislature, Statehouse News Bureau, Ohio, Ohio Democratic Party, “ Laboratories, Republican, Republicans, Ohio Republicans Locations: Kansas, state’s, Kentucky, Montana, Arizona , Florida , Missouri, Ohio . Ohio, Ohio, . Ohio, Indiana, gerrymandered

☆ Redistricting battles could determine control of US House in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But a series of legal challenges, including a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling, have cast many of those district lines into doubt. Legal experts said the ruling bolsters similar challenges in Georgia and Louisiana, where voting rights groups have argued that Republican-drawn maps marginalized Black voters. In Ohio, the state Supreme Court appears set to alter course after previously finding Republican maps violated the state constitution’s prohibition on gerrymandering. In Wisconsin, the most expensive state Supreme Court election in U.S. history resulted in a new liberal majority. OTHER BATTLESLast month, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments over the state’s Republican-drawn congressional map, which carved Democratic Salt Lake County into four separate districts.

Persons: reconvenes, Leah Millis, –, ”, Michael Li, University’s, “, Kathy Hochul, Janet Protasiewicz Organizations: YORK, House, U.S . Capitol, Republican, REUTERS, Republicans, Census, Supreme, Center for Justice, U.S, Democrat, REPUBLICAN, STATE, Democratic, Ohio’s Republican, DEMOCRATIC, Utah Supreme Locations: New York, Utah, U.S, Washington , U.S, New, Black, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, In Wisconsin, Democratic Salt Lake County, New Mexico

☆ Don’t Be Fooled by the Fake Uproar Over Woke Capitalism - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Lydia Polgreen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Netflix, the once unstoppable juggernaut that seemed likely to eat Hollywood for breakfast, is an interesting case in point. As its growth has slowed and the political climate has changed, it reportedly shelved a plan to produce an anti-racist video series. Our systems of government increasingly favor electoral minorities — like gerrymandered state legislatures in a polarized environment — rather than common-sense compromise. rights, we are tilting ever more toward a system that allows a fanatical minority to impose its views as law. But woke capitalism is a paper tiger.

Persons: George Floyd, Thomas Frank, “, Reagan, ” Organizations: Netflix, Elites Locations: America

☆ He Worked for Years to Overturn Affirmative Action and Finally Won. He’s Not Done.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Lulu Garcia-Navarro | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In addition to this big affirmative action case, you were also behind the landmark voting rights case in 2013, Shelby County v. Holder, which overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Over the years, my outreach has diminished because I guess I’m a more high-profile individual and people contact me. Then if the lawyers believe that there is a cause of action, I go out and try to raise money to pay for the lawyers. I want to understand a little bit about what that matchmaking work looks like day to day. Now that things are online, it’s very easy to look around newspaper articles, press releases, the internet, in which policies are described, new rules and regulations are described.

Persons: Holder, — I’ve, they’re Locations: Shelby County, they’re, Maine

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