Win! SCOTUS allows California to use new congressional map in 2026

Wednesday, February 4

SCOTUS allows California to use new congressional map in 2026

In a win for voters, the Supreme Court allowed California to use its new voter-approved congressional map in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats could pick up as many as five more seats in Congress under the new map and counter the GOP gains made in Texas.
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Steve Bannon says ICE will ‘surround the polls’ as Trump doubles down on taking over elections

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon announced “we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November” and told Democrats they’re not going to “steal the country again.” The comments come amid rising concerns that Trump is plotting to interfere in this year’s midterms.
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Speaking of Trump taking over voting, here’s how he’ll do it

President Donald Trump has made it clear he wants to call off the midterms. He wished he had seized ballot boxes after he lost the 2020 presidential election, and turned the DOJ into an extension of his political will. We need to realize it's up to us to defend free and fair elections, Marc writes.
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‘Our Constitution itself is at stake’: Fulton County officials challenge FBI’s seizure of 2020 election records

Fulton County demanded in court that the federal government return all of the 2020 election-related materials the FBI seized from its central election hub last week. One county official stated “our Constitution itself is at stake over this fight.”
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Virginia Supreme Court gets chance to revive Democrats’ redistricting plan

In a procedural win, a Virginia appeals court sent a case challenging Democrats’ redistricting effort to the state Supreme Court for review. The move makes for a quicker ruling from the state's highest court and gives them the chance to overturn last week's ruling blocking the effort to counter GOP gerrymanders nationwide.
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New Epstein files expose Trump and break MAGA

Rick Wilson of The Lincoln Project joined Marc to break down how Trump’s inner circle is testing the system ahead of 2026, why the Epstein files are uniquely destabilizing his base, and how corruption and chaos are reshaping the midterms.
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Coming up tomorrow

A court will hear student voters' motion to block North Carolina election officials from closing on-campus voting sites at three universities during the early voting period for the March 2026 primary election.
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DEMOCRACY FOOTNOTES

Here we share noteworthy briefs on all things voting rights and democracy. Have a footnote for us? Send them to [email protected].

Two members of Utah’s congressional delegation sued in a federal district court, claiming the congressional map selected by a state court is unconstitutional on "independent state legislature" grounds.
Regarding the California win, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) says take that!