The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965 to prohibit racial discrimination in state voting practices. The Act prohibited state and local governments from imposing rules that limit the rights of citizens to vote on account or race, color, spoken language, literacy tests, or minority status. One result of the act is the establishment of "majority-minority" districts in some states where district lines are intentionally drawn to favor certain minorities to increase their representation in government.

The Supreme Court this week ruled that a Louisiana congressional map that was created to add a second majority-minority district was unconstitutional. This ruling will allow many states to eliminate predictably Democratic-leaning districts in their congressional maps in the hopes of electing more Republican representatives.

In essence, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is dead. This is a win for Republicans, who have been scrambling to try to redraw district maps to try to favor Republicans as the 2026 midterm elections draw near and Republican support is crumbling nationwide.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry is calling off the state's primary elections on the basis of this decision, claiming voting cannot continue until a new map can be approved. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Florida fast-tracked their own redrawn maps despite vocal opposition from constituents and the fact that the new maps explicitly violate the state's constitution that prohibit redistricting for explicitly partisan purposes.

NOTE: Last week, I suggested that Virginia would likely be the last state to redraw their maps for the 2026 midterms, assuming that it was too close to the midterms now for any other states to join the Gerrymandering War of 2026. Obviously, I was wrong about that assumption.

Jimmy Kimmel, 2022.

Donny 2-Dolls is demanding that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel after the late-night comic joked that the first lady has "the glow of an expectant widow." While the joke is morbid in nature, it is legally protected by the United States Constitution, which protects the freedom of speech as a fundamental right of the people.

But our president is a thin-skinned crybaby who has never been able to take a joke and thinks that he can do anything he wants, Constitution or no Constitution. Last year, Kimmel was suspended at Trump's demand for suggesting that Charlie Kirk's killer might be a Trump supporter. Kimmel's show was suspended, but a short time later was returned it to air after a public outcry that led to people canceling their Disney+ subscriptions in protest (Disney is the parent company of ABC).

This time, Trump is sending the FCC after ABC to try to intimidate them into doing what he says. The FCC is demanding ABC renew its broadcast license by the end of this month, even though the license does not expire until 2028.

The First Amendment and the FCC's mandate do not permit the agency to use broadcast licenses as weapons to punish broadcasters for constitutionally protected content they air. Brendan Carr was once a serious communications lawyer, and has repeatedly and correctly said that the FCC has no role in policing content, whether news reporting or comedians' late night jokes.

Carr's decision to abandon his principles to kiss up to Trump to advance his career does not change the law that Carr knows full-well applies. The FCC is neither the journalism police nor the humor police. This is nothing but illegal jawboning intended to intimidate ABC into kissing the ring.