Supreme Court Hands Republicans a Huge Win in Crucial Swing State

The Supreme Court handed a win to Republicans Thursday by restoring a voting law in Arizona requiring proof of citizenship with state voter registration forms.

The restoration came in a 5–4 decision, with liberals Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting along with conservative Amy Coney Barrett. But the rest of the court’s conservative justices handed Republicans a win.

Still, the court at least denied another GOP request, which was to reinstate an Arizona law that would throw out ballots if the voters didn’t provide proof of citizenship, even if they registered via a federal form, which doesn’t require proof.

The legal challenges were brought to the court by the Republican National Committee, which made an emergency request. The Justice Department sued over the second provision, arguing that it conflicted with federal law. The Democratic National Committee argued that both provisions are unconstitutional, and also violate a 2018 consent decree.

Republicans seem to be going all in on the false idea that massive numbers of noncitizens are voting illegally thanks to lax requirements for identification while voting or registering to vote, and keep repeating the claim without any proof. Several Republicans have been peddling the claim for years, and many mentioned it in their speeches at the Republican National Convention last month. Not only is it included in the party platform, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has used poorly sourced information to propose a bill to supposedly fight it.

By making these requirements more stringent, they think Democrats won’t be able to cheat. Of course, there’s no such cheating going on, but it will make voting more difficult for low-income citizens.

This new ruling not only gives the false claim more legitimacy, but it appears to be blatant intervention by the Supreme Court to try and help Republicans get favorable results in Arizona, a state that Democrats flipped in 2020. Republicans are looking for every advantage they can get in 2024, but without the actual work of convincing voters.

Democratic members of the Squad joined an Uncommitted movement sit-in outside the Democratic National Convention, protesting organizers’ decision to reject a Palestinian speaker on the convention stage.

The protest began Wednesday evening, after DNC organizers rejected the Uncommitted movement’s request for a Palestinian speaker on stage, and continued into Thursday morning.

Those sitting outside the United Center were joined by sympathetic Squad members, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who spoke at the first night of the convention.

“I think it is critically important for us to send this message of shared humanity,” said Ocasio-Cortez via FaceTime, emphasizing that the request is “a basic thing to ask for.”

On Wednesday night, Representative Ilhan Omar joined the demonstration in person, embracing protesters, as other politicians called in.

“To still speak up in your grief in the face of people who would essentially spit in your face and to do it anyway is a love that some people will never understand,” said Representative Summer Lee, who also joined the encampment Wednesday night.

On Thursday, Representative Rashida Tlaib joined the Uncommitted movement’s press conference via FaceTime, stating that protesters “shouldn’t have to beg” for a Palestinian voice to be heard.

Outed Squad members Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman also promoted the sit-in on social media. “Michelle Obama implored us all to do something. I’m imploring our party to do better,” wrote Bush. On Thursday afternoon, Bush joined protesters in person, declaring, “We need a Palestinian American to speak from that stage.”

Here is the speech that the Uncommitted movement wanted to give to the convention.

This story has been updated.

J.D. Vance made another awkward, slightly sinister appearance Thursday at a press conference in Valdosta, Georgia.

“First of all, if it’s a fake news anchor, I’d appreciate y’all just letting them ask their question, it’s OK,” Vance joked to the crowd. “We can run them out of town after they ask their question.” There were mild laughs, but Vance’s joke hit a dark note as the running mate of the guy who once called the American press the “enemy of the people.”

The vice presidential candidate noted that he was “just kidding,” but the grim joke isn’t a first for Vance, who regularly makes awkward, often hostile remarks about the press. Earlier this week, he visited a deli in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and made a similar joke. 

“You have any food here you really don’t like? We’ll take some and feed it to the journalists on the plane,” Vance quipped, according to Reese Gorman, a reporter for NOTUS. 

It should hardly come as a surprise that Vance has a certain resentment toward the press, as they’re the ones telling everyone just how weird he actually is. 

Later, Vance was asked about Trump’s immigration plan, which he has promised will be the largest deportation plan in history. 

“As a husband of someone who is a daughter of immigrants, how do you look at the deportation plan that Trump will put in place? Specifically the detention of families and children,” one reporter asked. 

“Let me say three things about this,” Vance replied. “First, I am married to the daughter of immigrants to this country, I am married to the daughter of legal immigrants to this country—people who respected the country enough to follow the rules before they came.”

Beside the strange fact that Vance felt it was necessary to clarify his family member’s immigration status, the Ohio senator clearly imagines that it is a lack of respect that draws immigrants from around the world to the U.S. border, rather than any of the actual root causes of immigration.

“You can’t reward people for breaking the laws,” Vance continued, without a trace of irony for his rule-breaking running mate, who expects to be rewarded with the presidency in November.  

To top the whole thing off, as Vance walked away from the podium, the Guns N’ Roses cover of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” started playing—not quite an anthem of political victory, but one of disillusionment. 

Donald Trump is losing his grasp on a key demographic.

A poll published Wednesday revealed that the Republican presidential nominee is bleeding support from older voters—historically the voting bloc most likely to show up at the polls—because they find him to be in “very poor” health.

The University of New Hampshire poll surveyed residents in Vermont, where Trump won roughly 30 percent of the vote in 2016 and 2020. If the election were held today, 27 percent of the respondents said that they would vote for Trump, while 67 percent said they would elect Kamala Harris.

But underneath the favorability odds were deep concerns about Trump’s physical and mental condition. The poll found that 61 percent of voters aged 65 and older in Vermont found Trump’s physical and mental fitness to be “very poor.” Other age demographics were slightly less bleak about Trump’s health, with 58 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds identifying Trump as in “very poor” health, 40 percent of 35- to 49-year-olds, and just 37 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds.

Added up, half of the 934 respondents identified Trump’s physical and mental health as “very poor.” Just 14 percent described his health as “very good,” while 12 percent described his health as simply “good.”

Harris’s mental and physical fitness report was much more optimistic from the Green Mountain State. Approximately 62 percent of voters described Harris’s health as “very good,” with an additional 16 percent describing it as “good.” Only six percent found Harris’s health to be “very poor.”

Democratic National Convention organizers are facing criticism from their own party after refusing to allow any Palestinian speaker or member of the Uncommitted movement speaking time on the convention stage.

On Wednesday, Jon Polin and his wife Rachel Goldberg-Polin spoke to DNC delegates about their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is being held captive in Gaza.

“In our Jewish tradition, we say ‘kol adam olam um lo’o,’ every person is an entire universe,” Polin said. “We must save all these universes. In an inflamed Middle East, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring hope to the entire region, a deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza. The time is now.”

But little else has been said on the convention stage about Palestinian civilians suffering from Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced they would disband after learning of the DNC’s rejection of a Palestinian speaker. The Uncommitted movement also launched a sit-in protest on Thursday to demand a Palestinian speaker be included.

The sit-in has received support from vocal pro-Palestine Democrats, including Squad members Representatives Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley. But it’s not just the Squad. Their demands have also spread to other Democrats, including convention speakers. And the list keeps growing:

• Representative Greg Casar
• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
• Representative Maxwell Frost
• Representative Val Hoyle
• Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
• Representative Ro Khanna
• Representative Mark Pocan
• Representative Delia Ramirez

Israel’s war has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, including nearly 16,500 children. The Uncommitted delegates represent Democrats who support the party but want action to end the war, including an arms embargo against Israel, and they are only asking for a speaker to voice their concerns to the convention. Their speaker recommendations were pro-Harris and would have their remarks vetted ahead of time. 

“We talked to the DNC, we offered options, we said we’ll identify someone who is willing to express support for Vice President Harris … we did everything right, you know?” delegate Abbas Alawieh told Mother Jones. The question is, does anyone in the Harris campaign even care?