A Texas gerrymander made in D.C. targets minority voters

• Tarrant County, Texas teamed up with a leading anti-voting group and the GOP’s top mapmaker on a gerrymander that reduces the power of minority voters. Helping lead the scheme was the conservative attorney who, Democracy Docket reported last week, just became the top voting lawyer at the Trump Justice Department.
  
  
• In response, a group of minority voters in Tarrant County filed a lawsuit alleging the map is racially discriminatory.
  
  
• “Our ancestors faced poll taxes and fire hoses. Today it’s data manipulation and digital gerrymandering.” Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr. raised the alarm in Tarrant County in this powerful op-ed.

RNC intervenes to back Trump anti-voting order

• The RNC intervened in federal court to defend Trump’s anti-voting executive order. The RNC argues that more accessible voting hurts Republican candidates — a revealing admission.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

• The Trump Administration is detaining and threatening students with deportation in retaliation for speaking out on issues they care about.
  
  
• The government cannot punish anyone for their speech or viewpoint — citizen or not. Demand Congress take action.

ALEC sets sights on new anti-voting bills in states

• ALEC — a right-wing think tank known for drafting controversial anti-voting legislation like the SAVE Act — is launching a new task force that will focus on pushing a new slate of state-level voter suppression bills.

Court temporarily blocks part of Florida anti-democracy law

• A federal court temporarily blocked part of Florida’s anti-direct democracy law. The court granted a motion for a preliminary injunction with respect to the vagueness claim challenging the law’s expanded definition of “racketeering activity.”
  
  
• A coalition of advocacy groups in Florida sued the state last month over Florida’s new law, which they argue makes it harder to participate in the ballot initiative process because it subjects people to steep fines and criminal penalties, in violation of the First and 14th Amendments.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The Trump Administration's actions are the biggest threat to freedom of speech since the Red Scare. If the government can come after one of us for speech the administration disagrees with, they can - and will - come after any of us. Join the ACLU and tell Congress to defend our right to free speech.

A federal court dismissed a Democratic lawsuit to block Trump from taking complete control of the Federal Election Commission

• The court granted the Trump administration's motion to dismiss the Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit challenging an order, which purports to give Trump and his administration complete control over the executive branch, including independent agencies like the Federal Elections Commission.
  
  
• The judge dismissed the DNC’s lawsuit due to lack of standing and ripeness, but did not rule on the merits of the claim.

On this day 106 years ago…

• Congress passed the 19th Amendment to protect women's right to vote. Now Congress is considering the SAVE Act, which threatens to undo that progress by making it harder for eligible Americans, especially married women, to register to vote.