california

Judge halts Trump's 'unprecedented and illegal' move to disenfranchise voters

One federal judge recently struck down a move by President Donald Trump's administration to compel states to hand over sensitive data on registered voters, and criticized it as "unprecedented and illegal."

In a Thursday ruling, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter (an appointee of former President Bill Clinton) granted a motion by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber to dismiss a lawsuit from the Trump administration over California's voter list. The administration had sued in an effort to sift through a list of more than 20 million voters in the most populous state in the U.S., aiming to find reasons to remove people it deemed ineligible to cast ballots.

The New York Times reported that the administration had aimed to obtain highly sensitive personal information, like Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. According to the Times, officials in California and elsewhere have argued that handing over that information to the administration "would have a chilling effect on elections."

"The foundation upon which American democracy has been built is the right to vote. Brave Americans have given their lives for more than two hundred years to protect this right. Now it seems the Executive Branch of the United States government wants to abridge the right of many Americans to cast their ballots," Carter wrote in the decision.

"The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks an unprecedented amount of personal information related to California voters from California’s unredacted voting rolls," he continued. "... The issue presented to this court is animated by a well-established principle, long recognized by the Supreme Court: the right to vote is 'a fundamental political right, because [it is] preservative of all rights.' ... The government's request is unprecedented and illegal."

Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney pointed out in a post to X that Carter is the same federal judge "who said in 2022 that Trump had likely committed crimes in his quest to subvert the 2020 election." In that 2022 ruling, Carter remarked that it was "more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," preceding the first-ever federal indictment of a former U.S. president.

Click here to read Carter's full ruling in its entirety.

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'I’ve had my people kidnapped': California Republican whines about losing political war

The New York Times reports residents of rural north California have longed to pull out of liberal California and merge with conservative territory in Oregon to form a new Republican state. But what they’re about to get instead is another Democratic representative.

California responded to Texas’ mid-decade gerrymander for new Republican seats with its own upcoming gerrymander, which is likely to erase California’s Republican minority even further.

Soon after state voters passed the November redistricting measure, Democrat Mike McGuire said he would run in the north California redrawn district. The Times reports Sacramento Valley residents seem anguished but also resigned to their fate.

“There was definitely a feeling of throwing up your hands,” said Orland resident Gene Lifur, 52. “You’re going to lose a lot of the interest for voting in the North State.”

But few are angrier than Republican incumbent Rep. Doug LaMalfa who lives near Richvale but it likely to lose his seat now that California is retaliating against Texas’ gerrymander.

“I’m furious because I’ve had my people kidnapped from me,” LaMalfa told the Times.

“Their voice is being silenced on how they feel about the issues here, because Newsom and the three-to-one ratio of Democrats wanted to see if they could steal five seats,” he said.

Democrats say LaMalfa’s lockstep votes with President Donald Trump have hurt local farmers, however, arguing that LaMalfa’s vote to cut Medicaid will harm rural hospitals. And Trump’s tariffs have raised the costs of farming equipment while “retaliatory tariffs by countries like China have hurt farmers’ exports,” forcing Trump to push yet another financial bailout for U.S. farmers. They add that Trump is also compromising farming industries by targeting immigration raids to blue-state farms.

Instead, Democrats say Republicans have themselves to blame for the gerrymander fight, reports the Times, reminding that California Gov. Gavin Newsom only pushed the gerrymander to after Texas announced it was beginning the process to buttress Trump’s razor-thin margin in the House.

Read the New York Times report at this link.

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Newsom responds to Republicans' lawsuit against new district maps with three-word taunt

This week, Californians voted overwhelmingly for Prop 50, which replaces the Golden State's current U.S. House of Representatives district map with a new one designed to give Democrats an edge in five Republican districts. The California Republican Party (CAGOP) is now suing to stop the new maps from taking effect, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is doubting that the suit will succeed.

According to Politico, the CAGOP sued in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, claiming the new maps Prop 50 puts in place violate the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution on the basis of race, "without cause or basis to justify it." The 14th Amendment contains the Equal Protection Clause, which requires states to provide fair legal treatment to all citizens. The 15th Amendment prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote (which was ratified after the Civil War).

"While the Constitution entrusts States with designing congressional districts, the Supreme Court has also held that states may not, without a compelling reason backed by evidence that was in fact considered, separate citizens into different voting districts on the basis of race," the complaint read.

After Prop 50 passed, Steve Bannon — who was President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist during his first term — urged the Trump administration to have Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon (who oversees the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division) sue California and win a temporary restraining order, and preventing Prop 50's new maps from going into effect through litigation. However, California Democratic Party leaders remain confident that Prop 50 will survive any court challenges.

On Wednesday, KCRA News political director Ashley Zavala reported that Gov. Newsom's office issued a statement in response to the CAGOP's lawsuit — and included a taunt against both Republicans and Dhillon.

"We haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, but if it’s from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, it’s going to fail," stated Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards. "Good luck, losers."

Click here to read Politico's full report.

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'Can't afford to pay': Health insurance premiums may double in largest market next week

Americans in the largest health insurance market could see their premiums double in price virtually overnight, depending on what Congress does over the next few days.

Politico reported Friday that hundreds of thousands of people in California could see a significant spike in their health insurance premiums at the end of the month, due to the possibility of both a federal government shutdown and a funding bill being passed without an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) subsidies. When open enrollment begins in November, those buying health insurance in the Golden State could experience significant sticker shock should those subsidies not be renewed.

"It’s going to cause a lot of grief, a lot of anxiety," Martha Santana-Chin, who is the CEO of the L.A. Care insurance plan, told Politico. "Quite frankly, there’s not a whole lot we can do about that if people just simply can’t afford to pay."

Because the subsidies keep plans affordable, those subsidies expiring could lead to as many as 400,000 Californians — almost a quarter of all enrollees in the Golden State – dropping their health insurance plans over a matter of months. This would cause premiums for those still on their insurance to spike, as most people who drop their insurance are typically younger and healthier. With that population gone, the risk pool for insurers automatically becomes older and sicker by default.

Jessica Altman, who is the executive director of Covered California (the state-run health insurance exchange) said there is roughly $190 million set aside to help state residents cover insurance funding gaps. However, she lamented that even that amount would be a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated $2.5 billion in lost funds should Congress not extend the ACA subsidies.

"I feel very privileged to be in a state that’s putting that amount forward for affordability, particularly in the context of a challenging fiscal situation in the state budget," she said. "But we shouldn’t pretend it’s going to fully fill the hole ... we will lose a lot of people."

There could be even greater numbers of people dropping off of the insurance rolls in the coming years, thanks to language in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." That law will make it so Americans have to manually opt into insurance coverage, as opposed to the current system that automatically enrolls Golden State residents. Politico reported that roughly 70 percent of Covered California customers were automatically enrolled.

Republicans have indicated a willingness to discuss extending the subsidies, though not as part of the must-pass funding bill due on Trump's desk by Tuesday. The subsidies will permanently expire by the end of the calendar year if no action is taken.

Click here to read Politico's full report.

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'Politics at its worst': California Republicans panic over losing seats due to new maps

After the Texas House of Representatives passed its new redistricting maps that are aimed at giving Republicans five more seats in Congress, California has followed through on its promise to redraw its own congressional boundaries to benefit Democrats. Now, Republicans in the Golden State fear their careers may be over.

That's according to a Thursday report in The Bulwark — a conservative news site opposed to President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Bulwark author Joe Perticone wrote that the new California maps, which give Democrats significant new advantages in districts previously viewed as safe Republican seats, have prompted Republicans in the deep-blue state to lash out.

Perticone pointed to Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) as one example, whose district encompasses a mostly rural portion of Northeastern California. The new map, which the California House of Representatives passed on Thursday, redraws his district to include more of liberal-leaning Sacramento and gives a Democrat a much better chance of winning.

Kiley authored a bill aimed at preventing mid-decade redistricting efforts and called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring it up for a vote in a recent post to his X account. The California Republican quote-posted a tweet from Johnson condemning California's new maps by telling the speaker that while he appreciated his "nice words," he preferred "action." This comes after Kiley demanded Johnson demonstrate more "leadership" and speak out against mid-decade redistricting.

"You can stop Newsom's Redistricting Sham and save our taxpayers $250 million by bringing my mid-decade redistricting bill to the floor," he wrote.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who represents a mostly rural district in far Northern California, was also livid about the new maps. In an official statement, he called the new proposed maps in the Golden State "naked politics at its worst." He expressed outrage about the new district boundaries, saying: "How on earth does Modoc County on the Nevada and Oregon Border have any common interest with Marin County and the Golden Gate Bridge?

Should the new maps pass the California Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), California voters will have final approval via a ballot initiative this November to have the new maps go into effect prior to the 2026 midterm elections. Newsom has said the maps would be temporary and would be redrawn after the 2030 Census.

Click here to read Perticone's full article in the Bulwark (subscription required).

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'She is very very dumb': Fox News host mocked after flubbing basic civics lesson

Fox News host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (also known as "Kennedy") recently committed a major on-air error, and is being roundly mocked for it on social media.

On Monday, Kennedy was criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) over his proposal to allow California voters to decide this November whether to get rid of the Golden State's independent redistricting commission. Newsom floated the idea in response to Texas Republicans carrying out a mid-decade redistricting plan aiming to strip Democrats of five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"This is why California is a monoparty state. That's why Democrats have a supermajority and, you know, that's why they have two Democrat senators. That's why they have a Democrat governor," she said. "And it's such a massive majority because of this type of redistricting, which is incredibly insincere."

Many commentators, journalists and other experts took to social media to remind Kennedy that statewide elected officers like U.S. senators and governors are not impacted by redistricting efforts, which are confined to U.S. House districts. Progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen wrote: "Can anyone explain to me how California has 2 Dem Senators and a Dem Governor because of gerrymandering?"

"Um... how does gerrymandering impact the election of Senators and the Governor?" St. Mary's College political science professor Todd Eberly tweeted.

"It was generally assumed you were smarter than to think a STATE WIDE VOTE is affected by how congressional districts are shaped or reshaped IN that state," former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann posted to X. "It's not one county, one vote."

"She is very very dumb," quipped Democratic commentator and 2024 Democratic National Convention delegate Kaivan Shroff.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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'Make chickens miserable again': Trump's California feud taken to 'ridiculous new level'

Charlotte Observer columnist Stephanie Finucane is slamming the Trump administration over a “ridiculous, anti-chicken lawsuit” forcing Californians to buy produce from states that raise chickens, pigs and other food animals in tiny, constrictive cages.

“Donald Trump has taken his feud with California to a ridiculous new level by suing us for being too nice to chickens,” Finucane writes. “Apparently, his administration believes we coddle our egg-laying hens by allowing them to occasionally take a break from their duties — maybe stand up and spread their wings — rather than confining them in cages where they can barely budge.”

In 2018, 63 percent of California voters approved Proposition 12, the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, which set minimum space requirements for egg-laying hens, veal calves and breeding pigs. The Trump administration’s problem with it is that the new law also requires products sold in California from other states to meet those standards.

“This may seem like some heartless campaign to make chickens miserable again, but the Trump administration claims it’s looking out for American consumers,” said Finucane, who quoted the lawsuit as claiming California’s animal kindness is driving up the cost of eggs, as opposed to bird flu, which was the real source of recent egg inflation, according to economists.

Meanwhile, Finucane says Trump’s tariffs are expected to genuinely raise prices on a host of consumer items, including cars, appliances, clothing and toys.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already trounced Trump’s legal argument before, having upheld Proposition 12 in a 2023 decision. It affirmed states have the authority to regulate what can be sold within their borders.

“The majority decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, even provided an example: If one state allows horse meat to be sold for human consumption, should that mean every state is required to do so? Of course not,” writes Finucane.

Instead of filing silly lawsuits, Finucane advised the administration to actually lower food prices by “allowing migrant farm workers to continue their important work without fear of being hauled off to Alligator Alcatraz.”

“Otherwise, $10 zucchinis may be coming soon to a grocery near you,” she writes.

Read the full Charlotte Observer report at this link.

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Newsom says California still waiting on wildfire relief while GOP rushes to help Texas

As President Donald Trump rushes resources to Texas to assist Kerr County with its recent fatal floods, his administration — along with Congressional Republicans — has yet to act on California's request for wildfire relief funds, according to Governor Gavin Newsom (D).

The Washington Post reported Wednesday on Newsom's comments, which the rumored 2028 presidential candidate delivered while visiting South Carolina. The California governor said Congress has not yet voted on the Golden State's $40 billion request to help Southern California recover from devastating fires earlier this year that displaced tens of thousands of residents (the state has received $3 billion in federal loans for small businesses impacted by the wildfires).

Newsom blasted Trump's conditioning of wildfire aid on California adopting voter ID laws that have typically disenfranchised low-income voters, young voters and other marginalized groups.

“In Texas, they have very different points of view than we do in California on policy, but I would never imagine conditioning or arguing that our congressional delegation condition aid to Texas until they changed some policy on an ancillary issue,” Newsom said.

Kerr County received several months' worth of rain in just a matter of hours over the holiday weekend, leading to catastrophic flooding that has so far killed 117 people, with roughly 160 more people still missing as of Wednesday. Children reportedly make up approximately one quarter of those killed in the flood

The floods swept through Kerr County in the early morning hours, when many residents were sleeping. The New York Times reported that while the local office of the National Weather Service (NWS) sent out three alerts at 1:14 AM, 4:03 AM and 6:06 AM, the NWS meteorologist in charge of "warning coordination" previously accepted a buyout offer after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency pushed for steep cuts to the NWS. Additionally, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had called for defunding the NWS' weather forecasting just days prior to the floods.

"This is an atrocious situation, but we’re doing everyone a disservice if every time something like this happens, we say, ‘Now’s not the time for politics,'" Texas Democratic Party chairman Kendall Scudder told the Post.

Click here to read the Post's full article (subscription required).

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Trump-appointed judge spars with DOJ lawyer arguing judges can’t second-guess National Guard deployment

Law & Crime reports the DOJ told a three-judge panel that President Donald Trump’s federalization of militia can’t be second-guessed by the courts, not even if the president mobilizes forces from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., simultaneously.

The June 17 panel appeal follows a suit by Gov. Gavin Newsom and a ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that Trump violated the 10th Amendment of the Constitution when he assumed control of the National Guard in California.

Trump’s argument before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is that Breyer’s stay order “interferes with the president’s commander-in-chief powers based on an erroneous interpretation of the applicable statute” 10 U.S. Code § 12406, which says the president “may call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary” when there is a foreign invasion or a danger thereof. The statute also allows the president to assign members of national guard when there is “rebellion or a danger thereof,” or when the president is unable “to execute the laws of the United States” with local forces. White House attorneys argue Breyer “improperly second-guessed” Trump’s reasoning behind stationing troops in the state when he made his decision.

U.S. Circuit Judges Mark Bennett asked the DOJ what the limits of Trump’s discretion are and what role the White House believes the courts have in adjudicating the statute.

DOJ Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate argued: “… [T]here’s no role for the court to play in reviewing that decision” because the statute says the president’s power is an “unreviewable discretion.”

Bennett, a Trump appointee, had follow-up questions.

“Is it your view that if the president or a future president simply invokes the statute, gives no reasons for doing it, provides no support for doing it, and there is nothing which would appear to a court to justify it, that the court still has no role at all in determining whether the president — this hypothetical future president — correctly invoked subsection 3 [of the statute], no role at all even if the president gives no reasons, and there are no facts offered by that president to support that’s president’s decision?” he asked.

“That’s correct,” Shumate replied.

It was also Bennett who prodded the administration to clarify their answer to a question from U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Miller about whether Trump or a future president could invade California with National Guard members from all 50 states, plus D.C., if it so chooses.

“Yes, because the statute says the president may call into federal service members and units of the Guard of any state in such numbers that he considers necessary,” Shumate responded.

The hearing, which was over Breyer’s stay order rather than the greater argument over Trump’s National Guard decision, ended without an immediate decision.

Read the full Law & Crime report at this link.

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'Can't ride the tiger': Trump's standoff with states could lead to 'violent confrontation'

The tense demonstrations that are rocking downtown Los Angeles, California are not only a major story in the United States — they are also receiving extensive coverage in other countries, including in the United Kingdom.

Many of President Donald Trump's critics believe that he crossed a dangerous line when he federalized California National Guard troops in response to the protests and is sending in U.S. Marines as well.

In an op-ed published by The Guardian on June 9, British journalist Gaby Hinsliff argues that the chaos that has so far defined Trump's second presidency is helping to fuel a dangerous "civil conflict" that Trump himself may not be able to control.

"It was the scenario everyone feared when Donald Trump took office," Hinsliff explains. "Deportation hit squads descending on the kind of Democrat-voting communities who would feel morally bound to resist them, triggering the kind of violent confrontation that creates an excuse to send in National Guard troops — and ultimately, a showdown between federal and state power that could take U.S. democracy to the brink. Now, something like this may be unfolding in California, where the state governor, Gavin Newsom, has accused the president of trying to 'manufacture a crisis' for his own ends and warned that any protester responding with violence is only playing into his hands."

Hinsliff adds, "Suddenly, the idea that this presidency could ultimately end in civil conflict no longer seems quite so wildly overblown as it once did."

The British journalist stresses that the tensions Trump is aggravating in Los Angeles have implications that go way beyond Southern California — and even beyond the United States.

Far-right "populism," Hinsliff warns, is making the U.S. dangerously unstable" — and that instability "ought to ring some bells" on her "side of the Atlantic."

"You can’t ride the tiger," Hinsliff writes. "That’s the lesson here: once populism has grasped the levers of power, even the richest man in the world cannot be sure of exploiting it for his own ends, or imposing his own agenda on the chaos. Not when a vengeful White House still has the power to destroy even the most powerful business empire, anyway…. What the last few frightening days in the U.S. have demonstrated is that once populism has its feet firmly enough under the table, chaos wins."

The Guardian journalist continues, "There’s no ability to belatedly impose order, no house-training it either. All you can do is deny it a room in the house in the first place. In Britain, at least, it's not too late for that."

Gaby Hinsliff's full op-ed for The Guardian is available at this link.

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'Stick to football bro': Newsom buries top Republicans after they criticize CA crime rate

As protests over President Donald Trump's immigration raids in Los Angeles are increasing in number and intensity, so are Republican attacks on California. And Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is taking time to personally address some of his most high-profile GOP critics.

Alabama news site AL.com reported Monday that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — who used to be the head coach of Auburn University's football team – recently called California a "third-world country," saying that "anarchists are in charge, law enforcement is being attacked and the rule of law is nonexistent." Newsom didn't let the comment slide, and pointed out that Tuberville's state actually has a much higher violent crime rate than the Golden State.

"Alabama has 3X the homicide rate of California. Its murder rate is ranked third in the entire country," Newsom tweeted. "Stick to football, bro."

The governor isn't wrong: AL.com reported that in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the homicide rate in California was 5.9 per 100,000 residents, while Alabama's was at 14.9 per 100,000. Newsom also fired back when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended Trump's decision to circumvent Newsom in deploying the California National Guard — the first time a U.S. president has called in the National Guard in defiance of a governor since 1965.

"President Trump did exactly what he needed to do to restore order and protect our law enforcement officers and our communities," Johnson tweeted.

"Using this logic, the Guard should have been deployed to @SpeakerJohnson’s District years ago — Louisiana has the second highest murder rate in the nation and was ranked 'the most dangerous state in America,'" Newsom responded in a quote tweet mentioning the speaker's official X account. "Are you saying Trump should send the Guard there next??"

Newsom's claim appears to stem from a 2024 report in the Shreveport Times (which is the largest newspaper in Johnson's district) on WalletHub ranking the Bayou State as the most dangerous in the U.S. when considering violent crime rates, vehicular deaths and climate disasters per capita. WalletHub ranked Louisiana 50th out of 50 states in murders per capita and 46th out of 50 in assaults per capita.

The California governor has also responded to a tweet from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) saying "we fly the American flag in America" by posting photos from the January 6, 2021 insurrection in which people storming the U.S. Capitol were seen using the American flag as a weapon against law enforcement officers.

"Like this?" Newsom wrote.

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