Young Mike Young

Fairy tales don't tell children the dragons exist. They already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. ~G.K. Chesterton

[Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire]

“This week, the Roberts Court made clear that when it comes to drawing congressional districts, Black voters have no rights that anyone is bound to respect” https://t.co/Wl7q5gePSu

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Trump announced a baseless investigation into legal California vote counting yesterday. The Washington Post editorial board ran a piece amplifying the premise that slow counting undermines faith in elections.

No coordination needed. The framing just serves the same function. That is how media capture works in practice - not through orders, but through incentives and ownership.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

After Trump's meltdown on Meet the Press today, I wrote an analysis of why California has become the new front line in his war on free and fair elections — and what's really at stake in 2026.

Exclusively for Democracy Docket subscribers. Sign up now: https://t.co/0StGlWz45f

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

The shadow docket count alone should end the debate about whether this Court is operating normally. Over two dozen emergency wins for the Trump administration since January 2025. Zero explanations issued. Each ruling allowed something a lower court had already found unlawful to proceed anyway - renditions, military purges, suspicion-less detentions.

Shaw's point is precise: The Court gets to decide which questions it answers. It chose to take Trump v. United States on presidential immunity. It could have let the D.C. Circuit stand. It didn't, and the opinion it wrote has been used by the administration's lawyers as a structural justification for 16 months of conduct seemingly uninterested in legal constraint. The Court set this in motion. It may not realize it has also made itself vulnerable to the same logic.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

SCOTUS gutted the Voting Rights Act, alleging the landmark law no longer needs to correct for historic voter suppression.

But did you know…

It came to this conclusion using a faulty data methodology that erroneously claimed Black voters turnout more than white voters.
https://t.co/vrt4L6ZgEg

[Rob Pyers @rpyers]

mail, how does it work?

[Rob Pyers @rpyers]

Counterpoint: No, it didn't.

There have been 9 updates from L.A. County since 8PM on Tuesday. Pratt's percentage in each update:

6/2 - 20:27 - 27.95%
6/2 - 22:00 - 19.66%
6/2 - 22:26 - 17.19%
6/3 - 00:22 - 26.79%
6/3 - 00:58 - 36.54%
6/3 - 01:41 - 40.59%
6/3 - 02:49 - 37.57%
6/3 - 16:12 - 20.78%
6/4 - 16:22 - 20.20%

[Leslie Proll @LeslieProll]

Last night’s democracy-destroying decision by SCOTUS makes one thing perfectly clear. We need a new Court. And everyone—elected officials, advocates & people who care about democracy—needs to be talking about transforming this Court into one of justice & equality. Starting today.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

This cartoon isn't an exaggeration—not even 1% an exaggeration.

Weeks ago it seemed this far-right Supreme Court would still block any map intentionally authored to be racist.

We just learned that that's no longer true.

We have reentered Jim Crow, and it's a national disgrace.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the court’s conservative majority for a ruling that “debases the democratic process” by allowing Alabama to use a congressional map that the justices had previously found intentionally discriminated against Black voters. https://t.co/ahoPNpCSNd

[Mark Warner @MarkWarner]

It seems there is an entirely different set of rules for Republicans and Democrats.

[Kareem Crayton @KareemCrayton]

Now we know: Today is the day the SCOTUS took the remaining life out of the VRA. Despite the clearest evidence of intentional race discrimination by AL — that two conservative justices credited, the Court now rewards a state that openly defied a court order. Cold work.

[Matt Royer @royermattw]

Every time the shadow docket has touched a contested map, the outcome favors Republicans.

Texas gerrymander: allowed.

New York Democratic flip: blocked.

Louisiana: VRA gutted.

Virginia Democratic map: refused to save it.

Alabama: a Black district erased.

Same direction every time.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Republicans don't just admire different people from Democrats. They have lower opinions of almost everyone.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

🚨BREAKING: All I can say is this is fucking so cynical I have no words. https://t.co/y3fgOAbLRJ

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

The damage done by the Supreme Court’s decision to gut the Voting Rights Act won’t end with redistricting for the 2026 midterms. We will feel its effects into 2028 and beyond, Sara Rohani writes.

“The decision doesn’t just redraw maps, it erases the promise of equal representation.” https://t.co/mNA50JQNKl

[Paul Mitchell @paulmitche11]

Open-ended comments from voters for @XavierBecerra @TomSteyer @SteveHiltonx and @ChadBianco broken into columns for those who say the Top Two calculations impacted their votes, and those who say it didn't.

These are a sample of the 3,500 total open-ended responses from this survey. didn't

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

We got some ominous news this week about President Donald Trump’s dangerous bid to crack down on mail voting ahead of the midterm election. https://t.co/JQb6e4dYZd

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

ABC paid Trump.
CBS paid Trump.
NBC's parent paid Trump.
WaPo, CBS and CNN all pull punches.

When Trump sued me, I fought and won. It's the spirit I brought to Democracy Docket. Fearlessly independent and pro-democracy. Help it grow by subscribing now. https://t.co/0StGlWz45f

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Samuel Alito’s son has worked as a lawyer inside Trump’s Treasury Department since early last year. The administration hid it.

No public resume, no LinkedIn, no mention on the Treasury website, outdated bar listings. Four former officials confirmed it.

The public was never told.

Here is why that matters.

Philip Alito served as an attorney-adviser in Treasury’s general counsel office, briefed on department matters across the board, while the Supreme Court took up a case in which the Treasury Department was a named defendant.

The department never disclosed the connection in court.

Justice Alito did not recuse.

The federal recusal law is plain. A justice must step aside in any case where his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

That is the test.

Not whether anyone can prove influence but whether a reasonable person looking at this would doubt it. A justice ruling on cases involving the very agency that employs his son fails that test on its face.

And Treasury sits at the center of many upcoming issues, including the fight over Trump’s $1.776 billion dollar fund to reward the January 6th rioters he pardoned. That fight could be headed to the Court too.

This is exactly why the honor system has failed.

The Supreme Court is the only court in America with no enforceable code of conduct. I support withholding funding from the Court until the justices adopt a binding code with real recusal review.

Congress holds the power of the purse.

We should use it.

https://t.co/t2aZrXpaoU