Elon Musk left DOGE to start drama, but the department will continue to wreak havoc on millions of Americans with its new successor, Russell Vought, who Democracy Docket dug into this week. Fund the reporting that focuses on the facts and cuts through the noise.

THIS WEEK

• National GOP operatives set their sights on local gerrymandering in Texas
  
  
• Alabama Republicans put their redistricting efforts on hold
  
  
• RNC intervenes in support of Trump’s anti-voting executive order

TEXAS

Minority voters sue Tarrant County Republicans over gerrymander 

Republican officials in Tarrant County, Texas, approved a new redistricting plan this week to boost their own power in county government, and they insist packing minority voters into one precinct has nothing to do with race. But it’s easy to read between the (gerrymandered) lines: Minority communities now make up a majority of Tarrant County’s population and Republicans don’t want elections to reflect that. 

A group of minority voters quickly filed suit, arguing the new map violates the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

While there’s nothing new about lawmakers – on both sides of the aisle – redrawing maps to their benefit, this case is a little different. Local Republicans brought in Adam Kincaid, the national GOP’s top map-maker, and the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a high-profile anti-voting law firm in Washington, D.C., to lead the redistricting effort. Then they approved an eleventh-hour version of the map that came out after public hearings had already happened.

And that’s not all. As soon as the map was approved, a far-right Republican state lawmaker immediately announced he was running to represent the county precinct that was just redrawn to his party’s benefit. 

Local Democrats are warning this type of coordinated attack from the national GOP won’t end with Tarrant County. And there’s no doubt the plan’s architects have the power to make that happen: In addition to Kincaid’s role, the project was overseen by Maureen Riordan, who was an attorney at the Public Interest Legal Foundation until last month. You’ll never guess where she works now. 

She just became the acting chief of the voting section at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Democracy Docket reported exclusively Saturday. Read more about Tarrant County redistricting here.

ALABAMA

After defying court orders, Alabama backs off on redistricting plan

One thing state lawmakers have in common: They don’t like being put under federal preclearance. That’s a sort of “time out” period for states with a record of racially discriminatory voting practices during which they have to get federal approval before they can make changes to maps, laws or other policies related to elections. 

After a long legal battle, Alabama is now putting off any further redistricting until 2030, after a judge raised the threat that the state could be placed under federal preclearance.  

That warning came after Alabama defied orders from a federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court to add two majority-Black congressional districts – instead doubling down on a racially discriminatory map. A panel of three federal judges ruled unanimously against the state last month. 

“[T]ry as we might, we cannot understand the 2023 Plan as anything other than an intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians’ voting strength and evade the unambiguous requirements of court orders standing in the way,” the panel wrote.

Next, the parties could reach an agreement on a map that can be used for the rest of this cycle – until the whole process starts again after the 2030 Census. If not, a federal court could determine whether federal oversight is necessary. Read more about Alabama redistricting here.

TRUMP 

RNC intervenes in litigation against Trump’s anti-voting order 

This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) teamed up with the White House to defend the Trump administration’s major anti-voting executive order from March.

Opponents called the sweeping order unlawful and vowed to challenge it in court. Now, the RNC is backing up President Donald Trump’s plan to seize authority from states over how they run their elections.

Trump’s order aims to crack down on the threat of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections – which, in reality, is a vanishingly rare occurrence – and it directs the Election Assistance Commission to cut off funds to states deemed to be out of compliance. It also pressures states to reject mail ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive late, and it directs the EAC to re-certify voting systems under new standards.

In some ways, the RNC’s motion in the lawsuit says the quiet part out loud: National Republicans believe that pro-voter policies, like accepting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, hurt their chances of winning. Read more about the RNC’s legal action here.

OPINION

We Will Not Be Drawn Out 

We’re covering the Tarrant County gerrymander from multiple angles. In addition to the reported pieces linked above, we ran a powerful op-ed by Commissioner Roderick Miles, Jr., one of the Democrats on the commission who represents many of the minority voters being targeted by the gerrymander. 

His precinct will become the sole county-level representation for much of the area’s growing minority population. 

“What is happening in Tarrant County is not just a local issue,” Miles writes in an opinion piece. “It is a warning to the nation.” 

Tarrant County Republicans are gerrymandering the map in response to changing demographics, and Miles cautions Americans to pay attention. 

“America is on the brink of becoming a majority-minority nation. The question is whether our democratic institutions will evolve to reflect that future or be manipulated to resist it,” Miles writes. Read more here.

NEW VIDEO

What Democrats Must Do to Win in 2028 | Sen. Claire McCaskill

As Republicans work on betraying the American people, Democrats are finding a path forward. Former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill sits down with Marc to discuss Elon Musk’s failure at DOGE, Trump’s obsession with tariffs, and the future of the Democratic Party. Watch on YouTube here.

What We’re Doing

This may not be standard beach reading, but Democracy Docket Managing Editor Zachary Roth has a recommendation for your summer book list – “Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America” by historian Sam Tanenhaus. One fascinating detail in this new biography of the conservative writer and intellectual William F. Buckley touches on his unfinished book, which was to be called “The Revolt Against the Masses.”

According to Tanenhaus, Buckley argued in the book in favor of literacy tests for voting. That may sound shocking, but views like these about who should get to vote aren’t as unusual as you might think on the right — even in the 21st century. In fact, we learned this week that Josh Divine, who has been nominated by Trump for a lifelong federal judgeship, once also advocated for literacy tests for voters.