The Supreme Court let the Trump administration go forward with mass layoffs at the Department of Education, lifting a lower court order blocking the department from eliminating around half of its workforce.

Monday, July 14

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SCOTUS lets Trump go ahead with gutting education department

- The Supreme Court let ([link removed] ) the Trump administration go forward with mass layoffs at the Department of Education. SCOTUS lifted a lower court order preventing the department from implementing a “reduction in force,” a large-scale federal layoff mechanism, to eliminate around half of the department’s workforce. The court offered no explanation for its decision.

- SCOTUS has so far granted relief to President Donald Trump in 15 of 17 applications. It has written majority opinions in only three, and today's order is the seventh with no explanation provided.

DOJ purge ramps up as Bondi fires her ethics chief

- Attorney General Pam Bondi abruptly fired ([link removed] ) the Justice Department’s top ethics advisor over the weekend, continuing the Trump administration’s ongoing purge of the department.

A win for Wisconsin voters

- The 7th Circuit affirmed ([link removed] ) a district court's ruling requiring the town of Thornapple, Wisconsin to provide at least one accessible voting machine at every polling place. Today's ruling means both the towns of Lawrence and Thornapple must have Help America Vote Act-compliant electronic voting machines that are accessible to voters with disabilities for future elections.



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Texas redistricting contradictions heighten

- After saying it needed to redistrict due to constitutional concerns raised by the DOJ about its congressional map, Texas now argues ([link removed] ) in a new court filing that those concerns are unfounded.

- Today, a judge denied without prejudice the plaintiffs' motion to reopen the trial record to question witnesses about whether they truthfully testified that they drew Texas' congressional map blind to race. This means the plaintiffs could file a new motion to reopen the record to take additional testimony after the special legislative session.

Election officials have been under attack for years. Now the DOJ wants to criminally charge them

- The DOJ is pressuring ([link removed] ) states like Pennsylvania and Arizona over how they manage voter rolls, demanding records and threatening lawsuits. Even more troubling, criminal prosecutors have sent sweeping info requests to election officials in at least two states.

Trump’s Epstein problem

- Trump’s base is turning on him over the Epstein files he once vowed to expose. He now claims they’re forgeries by “Obama, Hillary, Comey and the Losers.” To distract, he’s calling to prosecute his enemies — a familiar and dangerous playbook, Marc writes ([link removed] ) .

Coming up tomorrow

- The 9th Circuit will hear a case ([link removed] ) about stopping two parts of Arizona’s 2023 election law. One part lets the secretary of state approve election results even if some local officials won’t. The other part bans political activity that might intimidate voters within 75 feet of a polling place.

- A hearing is set in North Carolina over a lawsuit ([link removed] ) challenging changes to same-day voter registration under SB 747. State officials said the case should be dismissed because a recent agreement in a similar lawsuit ([link removed] ) stopped the state from rejecting ballots after sending just one undelivered notice.

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