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After handling over 300 pro-democracy legal matters in the era of Donald Trump, it’s clear to me what works to combat the Trump regime and restore democracy: protect the rule of law to constrain autocratic power, fight corruption to restore trust and faith in our democracy, and ensure we have free and fair elections to give the people the power to remove autocrats. This week, my litigation colleagues and I did all three, scoring wins in the Kennedy Center, Trump $1.776B Slush Fund, and USPS cases. And we did it all thanks to perseverance and the help provided by your paid subscriptions, Contrarians.
Rule of Law: On Tuesday, we won our motion asking Judge Christopher Cooper to block yet another illegal attempt to inscribe Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center. Its board, he said in his permanent injunction, “cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.” Shortly after the decision, the board voted to close the center after Trump called in to the meeting, threw a tantrum, and hurled personal attacks at Kennedy Center trustee Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), whom we at Democracy Defenders Action represent in the court case, along with the Washington Litigation Group. Afterward, Trump threatened to demolish the center unless his name was restored to it. He was even seen with a giant poster that appeared to be titled “Kennedy Center Demolished.”
This is, of course, illegal. Congress weighs in on such decisions, and it has authorized no such thing. After the board’s vote, we filed for an emergency hearing; the Justice Department filed a response to this emergency motion; and we filed a reply asking the judge to make crystal clear that the Kennedy Center cannot be demolished at Trump’s whim.
And we won. Judge Cooper issued an order blocking any unlawful attempt to demolish the center without notice so the issue can be fully litigated. (Spoiler alert: Trump will lose.) Not only did the order stop Trump from pulling an East Wing-style snap tear down, but it also granted us discovery into the outrageous demolition threat.
The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people, as was evidenced Friday evening at the lively, peaceful Hands Off Our Arts protest and rally — which The Contrarian broadcast live, on the ground — and we will ensure it remains that way.
Anti-Corruption: We scored another success in our battle against Trump’s corrupt slush fund. You may recall that earlier this year (which feels like eons ago) Donald Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. His own Justice Department then attempted to settle the suit — and in turn created a $1.776 billion slush fund to funnel money from American taxpayers to Trump’s political allies. Fortunately, Judge Kathleen Williams rejected the settlement in its entirety, based on a brief we filed on behalf of a bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges. Our work, fueled by your assistance, helped expose the lawsuit as a sham: Judge Williams concluded that the suit had been brought in bad faith and intended “to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.”
On Monday, Judge Williams reinforced her decision, denying Trump’s attempt to halt enforcement of her order and the sanctions it imposed. She called each of the DOJ’s arguments “unpersuasive” and found that the penalties appropriately addressed their abuse of the legal system. Her decision is a testament to the courts’ vital role in protecting democracy. They have repeatedly stood on the front lines of the fight against autocracy. At a moment when it can seem that Trump and his cronies get away with almost anything, Judge Williams’s order is a powerful reminder that our system remains capable of holding power to account, and that we must fight to maintain those guardrails.
Defending Elections: Finally, we helped secure multiple breakthroughs in our fight to preserve the safety of our elections. We awoke Monday to news that Trump-appointed Judge Carl Nichols of the D.C. Federal District Court ruled that Trump does not have the unilateral authority to use the U.S. Postal Service to undermine our ability to vote by mail. Judge Nichols went further than any other judge to date, including extending the protections against this absurd USPS rule nationwide.
Later that day, we got blockbuster news from the Supreme Court, which left in place a lower-court order blocking the Trump administration from implementing new USPS requirements for mail-in ballots before the midterms. We and the Campaign Legal Center supported that outcome by filing a key amicus brief on behalf of LULAC, with other clients. With catastrophically low approval ratings, Trump’s greatest fear is that the American people will be able to vote freely — and was attempting to absolve mail-in voting to get there. We are thrilled by this victory.
But we are not stopping there. On Friday, we closed out the week by joining with leading civil rights groups, unions, and others to file a landmark case to stop any deployment of ICE or the FBI at or near the polls. As I told the press, “Our laws prohibit intimidation or threats against any person exercising their right to vote. Deploying federal agents to polling places is unlawful and part of a broad scheme to deter eligible voters from making their voices heard.”
So, my fellow pro-democracy allies, it has been another pivotal week for the litigation you make possible — and for our democracy. It is truly thanks to you Contrarians that we’ve been able to hold the line and emerge victorious in so many of these legal battles. With just 45 days to go until the midterm election, your continued support and paid subscriptions are more important than ever. We will stop at nothing, and will only ramp up our efforts to protect our elections and defend the rule of law. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one.
And of course, those invaluable subscriptions also fund our phenomenal, fearless journalism here at The Contrarian. You’ll find some of this week’s must-read highlights below.
Midterm Watch
Can Democrats Seize the Senate?
Our wonderful Senior Political Reporter Tim Dickinson broke down the Democrats’ path to seizing the Senate and asked, once and for all: is the “math” math-ing? “Voters might just show rubber-stamping Republicans the exit from both chambers of Congress come November.”
Putin Revives His War on American Elections
David Corn wrote on the Kremlin’s ongoing meddling in American elections, which has hardly stopped at presidential contests — and this year looks to be no exception. “Putin’s trolls, operatives, and disinformation specialists are gearing up for the midterm[s].”
Four Rural Districts to Watch This November
Natalie Fertig took us to a district Dems could flip for the first time in decades; a newly blue district; a key Latino district; and a long shot that’s still worth watching.
The Three Keys to the Midterms: Affordability, Affordability, Affordability
On the podcast, Tim spoke with candidates trying to flip swing districts across the Midwest by focusing on working-class Americans ignored by the Trump administration: Jake Johnson, a Minnesotan teacher, Christina Hines, a Michigan prosecutor, and Mitchell Berman, a Wisconsin VA nurse.
(More) Legal Wins!
Jen Rubin celebrated recent major wins for democracy at SCOTUS — blocking Trump’s war on mail-in voting, rejecting Missouri’s unconstitutional redistricting — with a side of reality check. “This does not mean that Democrats need to declare the crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court created by its MAGA partisan majority is over. A broken clock is right twice a day.”
How Missouri Is Fighting Back in Its Congressional Redistricting Battle
Jess Piper spoke with Jen on where the redrawn maps SCOTUS rejected — which would have created one Democratic district in the entire state — really came from. “These people are over their skis. They think they can do anything and they’re about to be proven wrong.”
Fresh from Senate testimony on the need for menopause policy reforms, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf wrote on the politics of the possible. “This is what organizing and advocacy now look like. It’s not all resistance. It is a commitment to achieving change where possible and accepting the wins we need and deserve.
New in Bigotry
Charter Cities and the Desire for Social and Ideological Conformity
Katherine Stewart wrote on the MAGA- and tech billionaire-backed plan to create “aligned communities” in Tennessee and elsewhere, as havens for “heritage Americans” — aka radical white Christian nationalists — united in their “desire to create a safe space for themselves apart from the world they are working to demolish.”
A College Football Hype Video Exposed The Hypocrisy of Inclusivity In Higher Education
Carron J. Phillips wrote on the University of Kansas football team’s choice to troll rival Mizzou with a Civil War-themed clip criticizing Missouri’s history as a slave state — a choice dripping in irony given that “neither institution seems particularly committed to supporting its Black students.”
Lawyer to Lawyer: This Is What Exclusion Sounds Like
Alphonso Davis wrote on Mike Davis’s recent deplorable comments on what “Bitching Minorities” and the right’s legal campaign to make Blackness visible only when it is being targeted. “Davis is free to expose his worldview. The rest of us should understand and process what it reveals.”
Fighting Back
Mobilize for the Midterms; Join ‘Hands Around the Kennedy Center’
This week’s Calls to Action featured what you need to know on casting your vote early, how to prep for No Kings 4, where you can grade your members of Congress, Friday’s protest to stop Trump’s wrecking ball at the Kennedy Center, and more.
The Tea ft. Senator Cory Booker and CBC Highlights
April Ryan took us to the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual conference, where she spoke with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) about midterm strategy, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) about where the work must go in November, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) on accountability, and more. “What’s at stake? What’s at stake is the future of this country. What’s at stake is everything that we fought for up until now.”
The Contrarian Covers the Democracy Movement
This week, we saw protests against ICE, Medicaid cuts, the Kennedy Center’s endangerment, and more from Oregon to New Hampshire, Michigan to California to Washington, D.C. Get help organizing from Indivisible, find protests in your area at mobilize.us, and send us your protest photos at submit@contrariannews.org.
Cartoons, Culture, & Fun Stuff
This week, our cartoonists took on Canada’s greener pastures (Marriage Material, Michael de Adder), AI’s darker horizon (Domino Theory, Nick Anderson), and Trump’s ever-dimmer bulb (Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling).
We Watched ‘60 Minutes’ so You Don’t Have To
Meredith Blake tuned in Sunday night for the dubious beginning of 60 Minutes’ Bari Weiss era. “When it came to the substance of the broadcast — the reporting — the show maintained a veneer of plausibility…. But editorially speaking, the broadcast is already showing signs of a rightward shift.”
Meredith Blake also weighed in this week with a wake-up call for singer Ed Sheeran and other artists determined to avoid hot-button issues: even calling yourself “apolitical” is a political choice. “Many of the artists who do opt to speak out in this climate, particularly on Gaza, face severe consequences, disproportionate backlash, and bad-faith allegations.”
Ben Sheehan took a different stance and wrote on Robert Kraft’s decision to ban rapper Macklemore from Ed Sheeran’s tour for activist speech as PR self-sabotage. “We may not agree on the issue of Israel and Palestine, but I hope we can agree on this: Silencing artists is never the answer.”
Thanks for all you do.
Trump & Co scoff at the Constitution & mock the rule of law.
Meanwhile, diesel is up over 70% for the year. Trump who claimed to have won his catastrophic war of choice in the 1st hour now promises to escalate the failed war after the election.
Be very afraid of imaginary nonexistent voter fraud, "violent" reflecting pool vandals, "fake news" & the most dangerous enemies within...Dems?
Bring on a Blue Tsunami. #VoteBlue!
Grateful for the fight you and your team and like-minded colleagues have consistently put up, Norm.