Thursday, May 23, 2024

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1/ The Supreme Court approved a white-dominated congressional district drawn by the Republican-controlled South Carolina legislature, reversing a lower court decision that found the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that resulted in the “bleaching of African American voters” from a district. The decision, however, won’t have a direct effect on the 2024 election. South Carolina had asked the justices to issue a decision by Jan. 1, but after that deadline passed the lower court ordered the state to use the map deemed unconstitutional this year no matter how the Supreme Court ruled. (New York Times / NBC News / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

2/ A second flag carried by rioters on Jan. 6 was flown outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s vacation home in New Jersey. The “Appeal to Heaven” flag has been embraced by Christian nationalists and, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6. It dates back to the Revolutionary War. The flag was displayed at Alito’s New Jersey vacation home in July and September of 2023. An upside-down American flag – a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement – was hung outside Alito’s home days after the Jan. 6 attack. Democrats, meanwhile, called for Alito to recuse himself from cases related to Trump and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court will rule on whether those who stormed the Capitol can be prosecuted for obstruction, and whether Trump is immune from prosecution for actions he took while president. (New York Times / Associated Press / CNN / Axios)

3/ House Republicans temporarily banned a Democrat from speaking in the chamber after he listed off Trump’s criminal charges. “Donald Trump might want to be a king, but he’s not a king,” Rep. Jim McGovern said. “We have a presumptive nominee for president facing 88 felony counts, and we’re being prevented from even acknowledging it. These are not alternative facts. There are real facts […] And yet, in this Republican-controlled House, it’s OK to talk about the trial, but you have to call it a sham.” McGovern went on to list the counts Trump was facing, including that he was “on trial for sendin...

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