When I served as U.S. ambassador in Prague, I had the privilege of getting to know the great Czech dissident-turned-president Václav Havel. Reflecting the Central European lachrymose view of history and the world (something I also know well from my Central European parents), he used to say to me, “Norman, don’t be so optimistic…. But you can be hopeful.”
That exchange came to mind when, as we were going to press Friday evening, democracy groups and state attorneys general secured a preliminary injunction from Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts federal court stopping President Trump’s effort to use the U.S. Postal Service to destroy mail-in-voting. And while I will not venture into outright optimism as a result of the victory, it does give me hope that the Supreme Court will follow suit and protect mail-in voting. And I am also feeling hopeful about another big case that I worked on this week, the Reflecting Pool matter, where we also had important Friday developments. Best of all, you Contrarians played a role in both — thanks to your paid subscriptions.
Let’s start with the rebuff to Trump’s threats against mail-in voting. The Constitution gives him none of the powers he claimed in his executive order directing the postal service to promulgate new and impossible-to-implement rules. This EO purports to bestow upon USPS the power not merely to deliver but to control mail-in and absentee ballots. That command plainly falls outside the scope of the authority the Constitution grants to the president. Congress and the states regulate elections, not him.
This week, we helped litigate those issues across the country, including with an amicus brief that Talwani relied on in her sweeping preliminary injunction. As elections expert Tammy Patrick explained in our filing, “[n]one of the Rule’s requirements can feasibly be implemented before the November 3, 2026, General Election” and that, in her decades of experience monitoring elections, she had “never witnessed USPS impose a change with such a dramatic impact on election administration so close to an upcoming election.” We salute the democracy organizations, including the ACLU, Brennan, LDF, LatinoJustice, AAJC, and state attorneys general, who were or represented the plaintiffs here, and we were proud to help support them.
We filed another brief in the First Circuit on behalf of those same organizations, asking the court to stop the administration’s attempt to impose these rules before the election. And we are pressing our own case forward in the District of Columbia federal courts. We are litigating in all of these cases with clients and colleagues, including the Campaign Legal Center on behalf of LULAC, Secure Families Initiative, the Arizona Students’ Association, the City of Madison, Travis County, and the Travis County Clerk.
Now, I know folks are anxious about where all this is going because the Roberts Court recently lifted a block on Trump’s EO limiting mail-in voting. And the government was attempting to get the court to intervene again even before the preliminary injunction.
But, as I noted last week, I would not make too much of the initial skirmish at SCOTUS. The court did not rule on the order’s legality. It held that the states’ challenge was premature. The decision expressly said, “The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful.” Something very similar happened in our birthright citizenship case at SCOTUS where our allies in a parallel case lost the first go-round on procedural issues but won on the second round at the high court when we got to the merits.
I also feel hopeful because all this late summer activity reminds me very much of 2020. I was on the other side of Trump in many of the more than 60 cases he brought attempting to subvert the election, and we beat him, including at SCOTUS in the Texas v. Pennsylvania suit (one of the cases I worked on). None of that is a guarantee of victory this time around, of course, but it is an inspiration to work ferociously to make sure that voting is safe and fair for everyone reading this and for every American.
No doubt, some of my attitude also stems from our and the democracy movement’s success against Trump over the past year and a half in the courts of law and of public opinion. I was reminded of that when I stood up in court with Davey Hearn, my client in the Reflecting Pool case, Friday afternoon. We were there to argue that the case should be dismissed “with prejudice,” that is, permanently. You will recall that the government asked the court to dismiss the case, but “without prejudice,” which means it could be brought again if the Trump administration so chose.
As our briefs and our argument in court elucidated, if ever there were a candidate for dismissal “with prejudice,” it’s this case. The test includes risk of harassment, and I can’t recall another case where you’ve seen more of a risk of that than here. That’s because prosecutors have admitted there’s no basis to proceed — but the president has attacked them, Davey, and even me, suggesting that the risk of a recurrence is material. The judge boiled it down succinctly at the hearing on Friday, asking prosecutors, “How am I to look at these statements as anything other than statements by the chief executive urging your office to pursue a prosecution that you have told me is meritless?”
I am so proud of Davey for his courageous stance and of our team, including my colleague Joshua Kolb at Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann from the Washington Litigation Group, Steve Levin (who led argument on Friday) and Michael Bromwich from Steptoe LLP, and everyone else who did this work at those institutions. The fact that we forced these devastating admissions by the federal government with our avalanche of motions is itself a remarkable testament to our collective Contrarian might that you make possible through your paid subscriptions.
Of course, those subscriptions also support our award-winning Contrarian journalism — a testament to that same resolve. To see for yourself, check out this week’s usual roundup of the best of the Contrarian.
Turning Tides & Midterm Watch
Americans Reject ICE Hellscape: Trump’s ethnic cleansing and terror backfire
Jen Rubin wrote on the comprehensive backlash against Trump on immigration, from 65 percent of Americans polling that ICE has gone “too far” to a First Amendment loss for the administration in court last week. “The MAGA reign of terror against immigrants has not only been a law enforcement, constitutional, and economic disaster — it has been a political loser.”
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf wrote on a new poll that shows how women’s support for Trump across party lines is collapsing and how a younger generation is stepping up to demand change. “Even among women who voted for him … one in four now disapprove of his leadership and policy priorities.”
Meet the ‘Reluctant Exorcist’ Running for Governor of Colorado
Tim Dickinson wrote on the stranger-than-fiction — or strangely fictional — campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx. “To describe Marx’s full backstory as far-fetched is an understatement…[he] embodies a deepening of post-truth politics on the MAGA right.”
Troy Jackson’s Running for Senate in Maine. Susan Collins Has a Real Reason to Be ‘Concerned.’
Back on Earth, Tim Dickinson spoke with the fifth-generation logger and Maine state senator on why he’s taking on Susan Collins (R-Maine) in one of this year’s most crucial Senate matchups. “She’s giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in this country. And she’s done it on the backs of our healthcare system.”
Foreign Affronts
Trump’s Ill-Advised Divorce Proceedings with Canada
David Bernell wrote on Trump’s baffling, self-harming determination to poison relations with our unstinting ally and literal neighbor. “If the president cannot impose his will on other people and countries — no matter the issue — he seems to view this as weakness, both personal and national.”
When Staying in the Room Stops Being Enough
Brian O’Neill wrote on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine’s tempered advice to Trump on Iran — and when being the “adult in the room” becomes simply complicity. “Why do so many qualified and respected officials remain … when the president’s decisions and rhetoric are plainly at odds with their own judgment and, in some cases, their character?”
To Survive Natural Disasters, We Must Protect Democracy
Josh Levs wrote on the devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet and makes a case for how democracy can — quite literally — save lives when it comes to climate disasters. “The more truly democratic a place is, the more likely it is to protect and save its people.”
The Legal Arena
Karen Attiah’s Victory over the ‘Washington Post’ Matters for All of Us
Jenice Robinson and Susan Corke wrote on representing journalist Karen Attiah, who was fired after refusing to “perform” mourning for Charlie Kirk, and how her vindication in court is about more than wrongful termination. “Democracy requires room for dissent.”
The Tea ft. Rep. LaMonica McIver
On The Tea this week, April Ryan spoke with Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), who faces up to 17 years in prison for doing something that terrifies the Trump administration: conducting oversight in her community. “There is no way to justify their actions other than cruelty is always the point of it all. It is at the top of their agenda. Cruelty, racism, and bigotry is what they aim for.”
Allowing King Trump’s Illegal Ballroom
Erwin Chemerinsky wrote on the Supreme Court’s next “major step toward letting Donald Trump act as a king” — essentially ruling that no one can challenge his unconstitutional demolishing of the East Wing — despite that “none of the justices argued or even suggested that Trump’s actions are legal.”
Fighting Back
Celebrate Labor; Remember Pierre Damas Bel
In our latest Calls to Action, we’ve gathered ways to stand up for workers this Labor Day, fight to restore temporary protected status to Haitians, catch up on Indivisible’s midterm planning, protest data centers, and more ways to make a difference for democracy this week.
The Contrarian Covers the Democracy Movement
This week, we featured coverage of last Friday’s March on Washington as well as anti-Flock umbrellas, veterans against Trump, Tesla Takedowns, action for Haiti, and much more from across the country. Get help organizing from Indivisible, find protests in your area at mobilize.us, and send us your protest photos at submit@contrariannews.org.
Trump’s Latest L’s in Court and a Guide to Fighting Back
I spoke with Democracy Forward’s Skye Perryman this week about recent court battles and her new handbook for democratic activism, which Hillary Clinton called “a manual for people who are tired of wringing their hands and are ready to roll up their sleeves.”
Culture, Cartoons, & Fun Stuff
This week, our cartoonists took on the administration’s tremendous plans to make our elections more secure (Make Voting Hard Again, Nick Anderson) and our maps more honest (Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling). MAGA, indeed.
In light of Trump’s needless trade war and extremely petty geography games, Meredith Blake saluted our neighbors to the north for their ongoing outsized contributions to pop culture, from Celine Dion to Heated Rivalry. “We all wanted to go to the cottage.”
Target Gets a Lesson in Why DEI Matters
Shalise Manza Young wrote on the scandal of a horribly offensive Halloween costume that reveals the cost of Target’s capitulation to the Trump administration on DEI. “Any Black person in the chain of command would have struck it down immediately.”
This, from the Judge preiding over the Reflecting Pool absurdity: “How am I to look at these statements as anything other than statements by the chief executive urging your office to pursue a prosecution that you have told me is meritless?”
How can that not be followed by disbarment of the prosecutors? Or jailing them for contempt?
Can't WE draw a little blood here?
Hopeful news on both the voting and reflecting pool.
What is happening on the effort to stop the Arch de Trump? That may be DJT's greatest single obscenity and they intend to break ground almost immediately