Veteran federal prosecutor sues Trump admin over abrupt firing

• Maurene Comey — a veteran federal prosecutor and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey — sued the Trump administration, alleging she was unconstitutionally fired without cause because her father is a longtime enemy of the president.

Missourians could block the GOP gerrymander with a referendum vote

• Missourians fighting the gerrymandered congressional map passed last week by Republican state lawmakers are laying the groundwork for a ballot referendum that could give voters the power to block the map from going into effect. 
  
  
• A coalition of the map’s opponents filed a referendum petition Friday with the Missouri Secretary of State. If they gather enough signatures, voters will get the chance to reject the Republican gerrymander before next year’s midterms. 

Right wing groups press election agency on citizenship proof rule for voter registration

• Right-wing groups are pressuring a top federal voting agency to mandate proof of citizenship for voter registration. The effort could revive a court-blocked provision of Trump’s anti-voting order and keep large numbers of potential new voters off the rolls.

A loss for Texas voters

• A federal court denied Black and Latino Texas voters' motion to block Tarrant County’s new district map for electing county commissioners. This means the map's implementation will not be temporarily blocked while litigation continues.
  
  
• The new precinct boundaries were created by the national GOP’s top map-drawer and a right-wing law firm, as Democracy Docket reported. The map intentionally suppresses minority voices and will make it much easier for Republicans to win a seat currently held by a Democrat, expanding their majority.

Court finds OPM abused power in firing federal workers

• A federal court in California ruled that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated the Administrative Procedures Act by directing which probationary federal employees to fire and instructing agencies to cite poor performance.
  
  
• The court recognized reinstatement of the former employees isn’t feasible, but did order the government to issue formal corrections to affected employees’ records and prohibited OPM from interfering in future termination decisions. An appeal from the Trump administration is expected.

As we head into another week… 

• “Unlike others, I will not pretend to offer solutions or even a proper diagnosis of how we arrived at this moment. Here’s what I can say with certainty: the threats of more violence and of more extreme responses increase with every passing day,” Marc writes.

Coming up tomorrow 

• The 11th Circuit will hear arguments over an Alabama law that makes it illegal for individuals and organizations to assist voters in submitting their absentee ballots.