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May 8, 2026
Supreme Court's Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ
(The Guardian) In his opinion gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act last week, Alito said that Black voter turnout had exceeded white voter turnout in two of the five most recent presidential elections, both nationally and in Louisiana. Alito’s claim was copied almost verbatim from a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the justice department. It was a critical data point Alito used to make the argument that the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists. But a review of turnout and racial data in Louisiana reveals that assertion relies on an unusual methodology.
Go to discussion'I'm Sure': Trump Border Czar Says ICE Agents Certainly Detain U.S. Citizens -- 'But We Don't Deport Them'
(Mediaite) Trump border czar Tom Homan admitted on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have most likely detained U.S. citizens while sweeping for undocumented migrants. During a gaggle outside the White House, a reporter asked how Homan makes sure that U.S. citizens and legal immigrants are protected from deportation operations. “We do our job,” Homan answered. “If you’re a U.S. citizen, you’ve got nothing to fear. We deport people that are going to be deportable. We arrest people that will be deportable based on suspicion. Have U.S. citizens ever been shortly detained based on suspicion? I’m sure. I’m sure,” he repeated.
Go to discussionAstounded judges force Pete Hegseth lawyer to concede that Sen. Mark Kelly never said 'disobey lawful orders'
(Law & Crime) A federal appellate panel strongly suggested Thursday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's mission to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for reminding troops they "can refuse illegal orders" is going absolutely nowhere. On the heels of a ruling in the court below that practically begged Hegseth to stop threatening the First Amendment rights of millions of military retirees to punish his boss' political rival over a video, the D.C. Circuit heard the DOJ's best pitch on Thursday for reviving the disciplinary action.
Go to discussionRFK Jr allies worry he is being 'marginalized' by Trump and his voice is drowned out
(The Independent) Allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are reportedly worried he is being “marginalized” by the Trump administration. There are “fears among Kennedy’s close allies that he is being marginalized inside the administration, opening a fresh rift within the nascent MAGA-MAHA alliance,” according to a report from CNN. The concerns surfaced after Trump’s latest Surgeon General pick, Dr. Nicole Saphier, was announced without Kennedy reportedly having significant input in the decision.
Go to discussionUSPS considers allowing people to ship handguns through the mail
(ABC News) Handguns could be mailed through the United States Postal Service for the first time in nearly 100 years if a proposed rule under the Trump administration takes effect. Democratic attorneys general in two dozen states sent a letter this week in opposition. The Department of Justice said that as long as Congress chooses to run a parcel service, “the Second Amendment precludes it from refusing to ship constitutionally protected firearms to and from law-abiding citizens, even if they are not licensed manufacturers or dealers.”
Go to discussionTrump just reasserted his domination of the GOP. But that might not be good news for the party in 2026
(CNN) Tuesday showed that even a politically diminished Trump still has the juice to end a Republican’s career if they don’t toe his line. And that message won’t be lost on Republicans who might have thought, like some did after January 6, that the paradigm had shifted. They’ll continue to live in fear of him. But while this is great news for Trump’s political capital, it is decidedly less great news for a GOP whose midterm hopes the president is sinking.
Go to discussionStudying These Young Alzheimer's Patients Led To Breakthroughs. Trump Cut The Funding
(NPR) Ward is a member of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), which includes more than 200 families at more than 40 sites in 18 countries. All the families who carry gene mutations that cause symptoms of Alzheimer's to appear in middle age, or even earlier. The families' willingness to serve as research subjects over the past two decades has allowed scientists to make key discoveries about how Alzheimer's begins, and how certain drugs may slow its progress. Yet DIAN, run by WashU Medicine in St. Louis, faces an uncertain future amid cuts and delays in federal funding.
Go to discussionAttorney for SPLC expecting a superseding indictment in fraud case
(CNN) During the initial hearing in the Justice Department’s fraud case against the Southern Poverty Law Center, an attorney for the civil rights group said he believes a second indictment might be coming in the case. The SPLC has been charged with using fictious companies to secretly pay informants inside of extremist and racist groups over the span of a decade. The group, however, says the informants passed along valuable information about the extremist groups that the Justice Department itself has relied on in certain cases.
Go to discussionThe RNC's First Big Midterms Spend Is on Its Ground Game
(NOTUS) The Republican Party is spending big on its ground game — the party’s first major investment in the run-up to the midterms. The Republican National Committee sent 34 staffers to 17 states last week to run canvassing operations targeting voters who don’t frequently turn out for elections, a voting bloc that helped President Donald Trump win in 2024.
Go to discussionCampaign staffers tell NPR they make 'thousands' betting on their own candidates
(NPR) It was a tight race, so a campaign staffer doubted the results of an unreleased poll showing their candidate up — by a lot. The tip about the outside poll didn't match up with the campaign's internal numbers. But accuracy aside, the staffer knew the poll would shake up the prediction markets. One market had their candidate down by double digits. "Myself and others started placing bets before that poll came out," the staffer, who was working on a statewide campaign in the South, told NPR on the condition of anonymity over fear for their future employment. "And then, sure enough as soon as that poll came out, the stock went up and everybody made money."
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