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In It to Win It
In It to Win It's Journal
In It to Win It's Journal
May 14, 2026
Grocery prices in the U.S. soared faster in April than any month in nearly four years
(ABC News) - Grocery prices in the U.S. soared faster in April than any month in nearly four years ..
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2026-05-14T11:42:43.573Z
abcnews.com/Business/tom...
May 14, 2026
As a host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, on MSNOW, in her classes at NYU School of Law, and in op-eds, Melissa Murray is known for her accessible explanations of constitutional law. In her new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader, Murray brings her signature insights to bear on the document at the heart of U.S. law and legal culture.
Watch as Murray joins The Briefing with Michael Waldman to discuss the history behind the Constitution’s articles and amendments, their relevance today, and their ability to protect democratic institutions.
Understanding the U.S. Constitution (with Melissa Murray)
As a host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, on MSNOW, in her classes at NYU School of Law, and in op-eds, Melissa Murray is known for her accessible explanations of constitutional law. In her new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader, Murray brings her signature insights to bear on the document at the heart of U.S. law and legal culture.
Watch as Murray joins The Briefing with Michael Waldman to discuss the history behind the Constitution’s articles and amendments, their relevance today, and their ability to protect democratic institutions.
May 13, 2026
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/13/mcmaster-special-session-redistricting-south-carolina-00919106
South Carolina GOP Gov. McMaster plans to call special session to redraw South Carolina House map
South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to announce a special session on redistricting, teeing up the state legislature to pass a Republican gerrymander that would almost certainly cost Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn his seat in this year’s midterms.
Clyburn is the sole Democrat in South Carolina’s House delegation; the new map would dismantle his district, leaving the state with 7 likely red seats and no Democratic-leaning ones.
McMaster’s plan — confirmed by four people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to share private details — is a reversal of his position earlier this month and follows pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies to gerrymander the state.
The looming special session comes after five Republican state senators voted with Democrats to block a measure that would have allowed them to redraw South Carolina’s districts this cycle without a call from McMaster.
Clyburn is the sole Democrat in South Carolina’s House delegation; the new map would dismantle his district, leaving the state with 7 likely red seats and no Democratic-leaning ones.
McMaster’s plan — confirmed by four people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to share private details — is a reversal of his position earlier this month and follows pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies to gerrymander the state.
The looming special session comes after five Republican state senators voted with Democrats to block a measure that would have allowed them to redraw South Carolina’s districts this cycle without a call from McMaster.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/13/mcmaster-special-session-redistricting-south-carolina-00919106
May 13, 2026
Kemp calls special session to redraw 2028 maps, overhaul voting process
Archived: https://archive.ph/Qs6vt
Gov. Brian Kemp called state lawmakers for a special session on June 17 to reshape how Georgians vote and to redraw the state’s political maps after last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision gutted a section of the Voting Rights Act prohibiting racial gerrymandering.
The move, announced Wednesday, thrusts Kemp and his Republican allies back into the center of two of the most combustible debates in Georgia politics a day after the June 16 primary runoffs cement nominees for every statewide office.
The first is a looming crisis over Georgia’s voting system. The second is a redistricting fight over congressional and legislative boundaries for the 2028 elections.
Kemp has ruled out changing the maps for this year’s races, but Republicans are moving to act now while they are certain a GOP governor can sign the new districts into law.
A special session is required to address a statutory July deadline lawmakers left unresolved when they adjourned in April.
The move, announced Wednesday, thrusts Kemp and his Republican allies back into the center of two of the most combustible debates in Georgia politics a day after the June 16 primary runoffs cement nominees for every statewide office.
The first is a looming crisis over Georgia’s voting system. The second is a redistricting fight over congressional and legislative boundaries for the 2028 elections.
Kemp has ruled out changing the maps for this year’s races, but Republicans are moving to act now while they are certain a GOP governor can sign the new districts into law.
A special session is required to address a statutory July deadline lawmakers left unresolved when they adjourned in April.
Breaking: Gov. Kemp has called state lawmakers for a special session on June 17 to reshape both how Georgians vote and to redraw the state’s political maps after last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision for the 2028 election. #gapol
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein.bsky.social) 2026-05-13T18:44:57.623Z
www.ajc.com/politics/202...
May 13, 2026
Cherfilus-McCormick, who resigned from Congress under cloud, says she's running to regain seat
Gift Link
Sun-Sentinel
Less than a month after she resigned from Congress in the face of a looming expulsion recommendation, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick said Monday she is a candidate to return to Washington.
Cherfilus-McCormick said she is seeking the Democratic nomination in the reconfigured 20th Congressional District, which is concentrated in central Broward County, after Florida Republicans changed the map of Florida congressional districts.
She said she isn’t deterred by four other candidates who are already running — or by the prospect that U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz might decide to run in the same district. Wasserman Schultz’s Broward district was blown up by the new Republican reconfiguration of the congressional map.
“The strongest candidate in the race is me,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “I never said I wasn’t running.”
The former congresswoman made it clear she doesn’t care for Wasserman Schultz, the senior Democratic member of Florida’s congressional delegation. When she was first elected, in a 2022 special election to fill the vacancy left by the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, Cherfilus-McCormick said Wasserman Schultz was dismissive when she arrived in Washington.
Cherfilus-McCormick said she is seeking the Democratic nomination in the reconfigured 20th Congressional District, which is concentrated in central Broward County, after Florida Republicans changed the map of Florida congressional districts.
She said she isn’t deterred by four other candidates who are already running — or by the prospect that U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz might decide to run in the same district. Wasserman Schultz’s Broward district was blown up by the new Republican reconfiguration of the congressional map.
“The strongest candidate in the race is me,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “I never said I wasn’t running.”
The former congresswoman made it clear she doesn’t care for Wasserman Schultz, the senior Democratic member of Florida’s congressional delegation. When she was first elected, in a 2022 special election to fill the vacancy left by the late U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, Cherfilus-McCormick said Wasserman Schultz was dismissive when she arrived in Washington.
May 13, 2026
The Supreme Court is no longer acting like a neutral judicial body.
It has become an ideological weapon.
From gutting the Voting Rights Act to expanding presidential immunity, dismantling abortion rights, empowering dark money, weakening federal protections, and enabling authoritarian power grabs, the conservative supermajority on the Court is radically reshaping American life without the consent of the majority.
Professor Leah Litman — constitutional law scholar, legal commentator, and co-host of Strict Scrutiny — joins The Left Hook to expose how the modern Supreme Court became captured by billionaire interests, right-wing activists, and partisan operatives masquerading as impartial justices.
The Corrupt Supreme Court Must Be Reformed And Cleansed! (with Prof. Leah Litman) - Wajahat Ali
The Supreme Court is no longer acting like a neutral judicial body.
It has become an ideological weapon.
From gutting the Voting Rights Act to expanding presidential immunity, dismantling abortion rights, empowering dark money, weakening federal protections, and enabling authoritarian power grabs, the conservative supermajority on the Court is radically reshaping American life without the consent of the majority.
Professor Leah Litman — constitutional law scholar, legal commentator, and co-host of Strict Scrutiny — joins The Left Hook to expose how the modern Supreme Court became captured by billionaire interests, right-wing activists, and partisan operatives masquerading as impartial justices.
May 13, 2026
Gov. Kemp (R-GA) signs law making elections in the Atlanta area's five big blue counties nonpartisan 😑
This tracks with Republicans switching North Carolina Supreme Court and Ohio Supreme Court elections from nonpartisan to partisan to give Republicans the advantage.
Archived: https://archive.ph/JggKR
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law Tuesday that makes most local races in five heavily Democratic metro Atlanta counties nonpartisan, embracing a Republican-backed effort that could boost the party’s chances in deep-blue areas while weakening one of its chief targets: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The law applies to district attorneys, county commissioners and other elected officials in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties beginning in 2028. The law exempts sheriffs. It’s unclear if it applies to the DeKalb County Commission.
The measure’s Republican supporters crafted it to make it harder for Democrats to retain power in the state’s most populous region, though they framed it as a path to depoliticize local government offices.
Still, they did little to distance the overhaul from their disdain of Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who led the unsuccessful election-interference case against President Donald Trump and his allies. Several co-sponsors referred to her during debate over the measure.
The law applies to district attorneys, county commissioners and other elected officials in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties beginning in 2028. The law exempts sheriffs. It’s unclear if it applies to the DeKalb County Commission.
The measure’s Republican supporters crafted it to make it harder for Democrats to retain power in the state’s most populous region, though they framed it as a path to depoliticize local government offices.
Still, they did little to distance the overhaul from their disdain of Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who led the unsuccessful election-interference case against President Donald Trump and his allies. Several co-sponsors referred to her during debate over the measure.
Georgia's governor signs a comically transparent law.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) 2026-05-13T00:11:30.192Z
It makes local elections in 5 big blue counties nonpartisan, to give GOP candidates a chance to win without a party label in places like Atlanta.
And it doesn't change anything in the rest of the state, for red counties to know who's GOP.
May 13, 2026
South Carolina Republicans defy Trump's demands for redistricting
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/12/south-carolina-republicans-defy-trump-redistrictingSouth Carolina state senators on Tuesday defied pressure from Donald Trump to approve plans to redraw the state’s congressional map after the US supreme court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act.
As Republicans scramble to redraw key districts after the US supreme court rendered ineffective a major section of the civil rights law that prevented racial discrimination, Shane Massey, the Republican majority leader in South Carolina’s senate, argued in an extraordinary address that doing so would be against the interest of his state.
Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature moved last week to eliminate the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district. Louisiana has postponed its state primaries, with its Republican governor and attorney general arguing it could no longer use its current districts.
But on Tuesday afternoon, legislators in South Carolina rejected plans to follow suit, with the state’s senate voting 29-17 – two votes short of the two-thirds needed – on the proposal. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in the chamber to reject the proposal.
As Republicans scramble to redraw key districts after the US supreme court rendered ineffective a major section of the civil rights law that prevented racial discrimination, Shane Massey, the Republican majority leader in South Carolina’s senate, argued in an extraordinary address that doing so would be against the interest of his state.
Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature moved last week to eliminate the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district. Louisiana has postponed its state primaries, with its Republican governor and attorney general arguing it could no longer use its current districts.
But on Tuesday afternoon, legislators in South Carolina rejected plans to follow suit, with the state’s senate voting 29-17 – two votes short of the two-thirds needed – on the proposal. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in the chamber to reject the proposal.
May 12, 2026
A redrawn Virginia electoral map looked like it could offset at least some red state gerrymandering—until the Virginia Supreme Court stepped in. But if Democrats—in the commonwealth or elsewhere—have a way to keep Republicans from redistricting themselves into permanent power, now’s the time.
Guest: Jamelle Bouie, New York Times opinion columnist.
Dems Don't Have to Take the SCOTUS Voting Rights Decision Lying Down (feat. Jamelle Bouie) - What Next Podcast
A redrawn Virginia electoral map looked like it could offset at least some red state gerrymandering—until the Virginia Supreme Court stepped in. But if Democrats—in the commonwealth or elsewhere—have a way to keep Republicans from redistricting themselves into permanent power, now’s the time.
Guest: Jamelle Bouie, New York Times opinion columnist.
May 12, 2026
BREAKING: Three-judge district court in Alabama redistricting sets a one-week schedule for briefing after SCOTUS's Monda
BREAKING: Three-judge district court in Alabama redistricting sets a one-week schedule for briefing after SCOTUS's Monday order, citing an aim "that all Alabamians may timely and efficaciously exercise their constitutional right to vote." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T18:14:53.793Z
UPDATE 2: The second set of Alabama plaintiffs today filed a motion for an ex parte TRO — arguing that Callais doesn't upset their Section 2 VRA ruling because, again, of the finding of intentional discrimination. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T16:40:22.266Z
tl;dr: The three-judge district court panel is not done with this.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T18:16:22.155Z
From the order:
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T18:17:35.936Z
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