blog

May 2, 2026

The US Supreme Court, Race & the Right to Vote

In perhaps its most insidious decision in nearly a century, the U.S. Supreme Court disemboweled Section 2 of the landmark Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, the “crown jewel” of the U.S. civil rights movement.

The VRA ended Jim Crow-era election procedures that precluded Black people from voting in the South through intimidation, literacy tests and  poll taxes. It was part of a system of post-Civil War legalized racial segregation meant to restore white supremacy after the end of slavery and the federal, military occupation of the South.

Jim Crow lasted from 1877 until passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act the following year.

Section 2 of the VRA allows states to draw voting districts that benefit candidates from racial minorities and enables citizens to challenge election maps as racially discriminatory.

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April 13, 2026

The Failure to Stop Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Has Allowed It to Expand Into Lebanon

Israel is also perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity in Lebanon.

While the world’s attention is focused on the U.S.-Israeli aggression in Iran and Donald Trump’s genocidal proclamations, Israel is perpetrating genocide in Lebanon.

Trump threatened genocide in Iran on April 7, stating, “A whole civilization will die tonight.” The next day, he agreed to a two-week ceasefire. In response, Israel almost immediately intensified its assault on Lebanon, even though the Pakistani officials facilitating the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran said that Lebanon was also covered by the ceasefire.

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April 8, 2026

Supreme Court Is Poised to Gut Remaining Protections of the Voting Rights Act

The prohibition of racial discrimination in voting and the right to have absentee ballots counted are in grave peril.

The Supreme Court appears poised to deal a severe blow to the fundamental right to vote in two cases this term. Louisiana v. Callais threatens the right to vote free from racial discrimination and Watson v. Republican National Committee will test the right to have your absentee ballots counted.

On August 1, 2025, when the Supreme Court asked the parties in Callais to brief the issue of whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) violates the 14th or 15th Amendment to the Constitution, alarm bells rang throughout the country.

By posing that question, the high court signaled its openness to striking down the remaining core of the VRA, which Congress enacted in 1965 to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Section 2 forbids the use of congressional maps that dilute the voting power of marginalized communities.

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March 27, 2026

Judge May Reconsider Dismissing Maduro’s Case Due to US Blocking His Legal Funds

While affirming that the right to present a defense is “paramount,” the judge refused to dismiss the case — for now.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused to dismiss drug trafficking charges against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores on March 26, even though the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is blocking funds for their legal defense, in violation of the Sixth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

But Hellerstein reserved the right to revisit the issue in the future if he determines that OFAC is arbitrarily obstructing the money for Maduro’s counsel of choice.

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March 2, 2026

As Security Council Stalls, There Are Other Ways to Stop US-Israeli War on Iran

A “Uniting for Peace” resolution in the UN General Assembly can counter the Security Council’s failure to act.

Already 555 Iranians — including 180 students at a girls’ elementary school in Minab — have been reported dead in the war of aggression launched February 28 by President Donald Trump and his accomplice, accused war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against Iran.

“Operation Epic Fury involves the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

This aggression has destabilized the region and triggered Iran’s legitimate exercise of self-defense.

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February 25, 2026

Trump’s Cruelty Is Strangling Cuba — Its Oil Reserves Could Be Empty by March

The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s threatened tariffs on countries that send oil to Cuba, but the crisis persists.

In accordance with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s long-standing vendetta against Cuba, Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 29 aimed at tightening the U.S. noose around Cuba’s neck.

Trump’s order preposterously declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat,” without providing a shred of evidence, and warned that he would impose punitive tariffs on states that deliver fuel to Cuba. His intention is to suffocate the Cuban people, who rely on oil for 80 percent of their electricity.

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February 6, 2026

Supreme Court Is Going to New Lengths to Hide Its Inner Workings From Scrutiny

The high court now requires its employees to sign nondisclosure agreements that threaten legal action for leaks.

Two weeks after the November 2024 election of Donald Trump, the Supreme Court instituted a new policy to hide its actions from public scrutiny, according to a recent report in The New York Times. Chief Justice John Roberts told the court’s employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement pledging to keep the court’s internal workings secret.

Although employees of the court have long been compelled to remain silent about what happens behind the scenes, the new nondisclosure agreement requirement is stiffer than prior agreements employees had signed. The new agreement now reportedly threatens legal action against any employee who reveals confidential information.

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February 4, 2026

Judge Dismisses Bid to End ‘Occupation’ of Minneapolis

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez last Saturday found evidence that ICE and border patrol agents in Minneapolis “have engaged in racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other harmful actions.”

Nevertheless, she refused to issue a preliminary injunction temporarily halting “Operation Metro Surge.”

The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other immigration officials five days after ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents murdered Renee Good and 12 days before the public execution of Alex Pretti by border patrol agents in the streets of Minneapolis.

Plaintiffs asked the federal court to declare the unprecedented surge unconstitutional and issue an injunction halting it.

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January 13, 2026

Minnesota Should Charge ICE Agent With Murder

On Jan. 7, less than a mile from where George Floyd was murdered nearly six years ago, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good as she tried to drive away. Once again, video footage filmed by bystanders recorded a brutal murder by a member of law enforcement, engendering outrage around the country.

Good was a 37-year-old mother of three and a U.S. citizen who was beloved by her family and her community.

Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, have analyzed the video recordings and concluded that Good’s vehicle was turning away from Ross when he began shooting her.

Yet President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Department of Homeland Secretary (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem all claimed that Ross was justified in gunning down Good.

Immediately after Ross shot Good, Trump wrote on his social media platform,

“The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”

In fact, cell phone footage reveals that after one of the agents yells, “Get out of the fucking car,” Good briefly reverses, turns the steering wheel towards the passenger side and drives ahead, after she smiled and said, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” As Ross fired the shots at her, he could be heard to yell, “Fucking bitch.”

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January 5, 2026

Trump Will Try to Defend Aggression Toward Venezuela. It’s Still Illegal.

Forcible regime change and US occupation of Venezuela are also unlawful under the UN Charter.

The Trump administration’s massive military attack on Venezuela, launched with 150 aircraft, reportedly killed upwards of 80 people, including civilians.

In utter defiance of the mandates of the United Nations Charter, U.S. forces launched the attack as they kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, who have been transported to New York, where they face drug trafficking charges.

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