The court also criticized the Department of Home Affairs for defending the unconstitutional provisions with xenophobic rhetoric, making "sweeping and unsupported assertions regarding Afghan and Bangladeshi nationals’ involvement in human trafficking in South Africa."
Pavan Kulkarni , July 13, 2026
On Sunday, after four weeks of absence from Congress caused by a medical emergency—which led to extensive speculation about his health—Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a letter to his constituents saying that his hospitalization was the consequence of a fall. The 84-year-old former Senate Majority Leader noted that he has lifelong mobility issues related to […]
The Trump administration’s Justice Department has filed 31 federal lawsuits seeking to force 30 states and Washington, D.C., to hand over their unredacted voter rolls. As of Monday afternoon, its record is 0-13.On Monday, Judge Thomas E. Johnston of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia dismissed the federal government’s attempt to acquire sensitive voter information from the state. The judge, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled that the Trump administration’s demand was legally deficient. It failed to provide a “factual basis” and “statement of purpose,” as are required by the statute invoked by the administration, Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960. For that reason, he wrote, the government had “failed to state a claim.” The growing string of defeats suggests the administration is simply throwing lawsuits against the wall to see what sticks. None have so far. In the 13 rulings against the administration thus far, judges appointed by various presidents, including Donald Trump himself, shot down his administration’s attempts to acquire voter data—which anti-authoritarian advocacy group Protect Democracy has described as “an unprecedented and unconstitutional incursion” that seeks to set the stage for “purges of eligible voters, election subversion in 2026, and the invasion of fundamental privacy rights.”A scathing footnote in Johnston’s ruling lays bare the groundlessness of the Trump administration’s crusade: “Given the lack of an adequate basis or purpose, one is left to wonder what the real purpose was for the Justice Department to go to the trouble of filing civil actions like this one all around the nation,” the judge wrote. “Troubling though this question is, it is not before the Court at this time.”
On Monday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were involved in yet another fatal shooting, this time in Biddeford, Maine. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! Maine said the victim was a 26-year-old Colombian man who was authorized to work in the United States, according to the Portland Press Herald. “He was a member […]
Democratic socialist Claire Valdez discusses her primary victory, the role of Palestine in US politics, labor organizing, and the movement reshaping the Democratic Party.
Rania Khalek , July 13, 2026