Maryland Republicans Just Sued to Keep the Redistricting Question Off Your Ballot
Since our last Dispatch, Moore signed the redistricting amendment and Republicans sued to keep it off the ballot entirely.
A follow-up to our August 6 Dispatch: Governor Moore made the amendment official, and now a courtroom fight over missed deadlines could decide whether Marylanders even get to vote on it this November.
This is a follow-up to our August 6 Dispatch, "Who Draws the Lines? Part 2," which covered the special session vote itself. Since then, two things have happened. Governor Moore held a ceremonial bill signing, even though the constitution didn't require one. And Maryland Republicans filed the lawsuit they'd been promising, aimed squarely at keeping the redistricting question off your ballot altogether.
That might sound like a side skirmish to the main fight over district lines. It's not. If this lawsuit succeeds, Marylanders don't get a say on redistricting at all this November. The question just disappears, regardless of how anyone feels about the underlying policy.
FIRST: CAN A LAWSUIT ACTUALLY KEEP A QUESTION OFF THE BALLOT?
Yes, and it happens more often than people realize. Before any constitutional amendment reaches voters, election officials have to follow a specific set of steps and deadlines for certifying the ballot language and giving the public a chance to weigh in. If a court finds those steps weren't followed, it can order the question pulled from the ballot entirely, even if the underlying amendment already passed the Legislature by a wide margin.
WHAT HAPPENED
Quick recap: on August 3 and 4, the General Assembly held a special session and passed House Bill 2100, a constitutional amendment about how congressional maps get drawn, 96-38 in the House and 32-13 in the Senate. We covered that vote, and Delegate Hutchinson's failed Eastern Shore secession amendment, in our last Dispatch.
Here's what's new. On August 6, Governor Moore held a ceremonial signing of HB 2100 in the State House. Constitutional amendments don't legally require a governor's signature since they go straight to voters, and Moore's office confirmed that. He chose to sign it anyway, saying redistricting reform has been a priority of his for the past year.
That same week, Maryland Republicans filed the lawsuit they'd promised. The case, Howell v. Maryland State Board of Elections, was filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court by all seven members of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, and Mike Howell, president of the conservative Oversight Project.
The lawsuit doesn't challenge whether the amendment is good policy. It argues Maryland law requires the Secretary of State to certify ballot language by July 1 before a general election and provide a 15-day public comment period, and that this amendment missed those deadlines entirely because it wasn't passed until the August special session. Plaintiffs say lawmakers tried to work around that by inserting a "notwithstanding any other provision of law" clause directly into HB 2100, and they argue that clause is itself unconstitutional.
WHAT SUPPORTERS OF THE AMENDMENT SAY
Governor Moore and Democratic leaders maintain the special session followed proper legislative procedure, and that the Legislature has the authority to set its own rules for how a constitutional referendum reaches the ballot, including overriding a conflicting statute through explicit language in the bill itself. They argue the "notwithstanding" clause exists precisely because lawmakers anticipated the timing issue and addressed it directly, rather than hiding it.
WHAT CRITICS SAY
The plaintiffs argue that no matter how the Legislature dresses it up, state election law sets real deadlines for a reason: so voters and county election boards have adequate notice and time to prepare ballots. They say waiving that requirement instead of following it isn't how Maryland's constitution is supposed to work, and that letting the Legislature override its own procedural rules whenever convenient sets a troubling precedent for future ballot questions of any kind.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
Whether the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court will rule before ballots need to be finalized for the November 3 election. Whether either side will appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court, and how quickly. And, if the lawsuit fails and the question stays on the ballot, how Marylanders will actually vote on it in November.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Check goodtroublecircle.org/dispatch for updates as the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court case moves forward. We'll flag it the moment there's a ruling.
- Register to vote or confirm your registration is current at elections.maryland.gov regardless of how this lawsuit turns out. If the question survives, you'll want to be ready.
- Look up Howell v. Maryland State Board of Elections yourself on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search rather than relying on either side's talking points.
Want to track the lawsuit yourself instead of taking our word for it?
Look Up the Case →
The Feds Are Suing Maryland Over the Community Trust Act. Here’s What That Law Actually Does.
The DOJ says Maryland can't tell local police to hang up on ICE. Maryland says the Constitution backs it up, and seventeen sheriffs are suing too.
On July 10, the U.S. Department of Justice walked into federal court in Baltimore and sued the entire state of Maryland. Not a city. Not a county. The whole state, along with Attorney General Anthony Brown by name.
The target was a law most Marylanders had never heard of a few months ago: the Community Trust Act. It took effect in May after ten years of advocates pushing for it, and it limits how much your local sheriff's office can do on behalf of ICE.
That might sound like a technical fight over paperwork between two governments. It's not. It's about who gets to decide what happens inside a Maryland county jail: Washington, or Annapolis.
FIRST: WHAT IS AN ICE "DETAINER REQUEST," AND WHY ISN'T IT A WARRANT?
Here's the piece of the story most coverage skips. When ICE wants a local jail to hold someone past their release date, it usually doesn't show up with a warrant signed by a judge. It sends what's called a "detainer request," basically a form asking the jail to keep someone for up to 48 extra hours so ICE has time to pick them up.
Courts, including federal ones, have said the same thing about detainer requests: they're a request, not an order. States and cities aren't required to honor them. The Community Trust Act is Maryland's decision, spelled out in law, about when it will.
WHAT HAPPENED
The Community Trust Act, sponsored by Delegate N. Scott Phillips and championed by immigrant rights groups including the ACLU of Maryland and CASA, passed the General Assembly this spring after a marathon House session in April. Governor Wes Moore let it become law without his signature on May 31, citing "real implementation challenges" even as he declined to veto it. Because lawmakers made it an emergency measure, it took effect immediately instead of waiting until October.
The law does two main things. It bars local law enforcement from asking about someone's immigration status in most routine encounters, and it says local police can only notify ICE or hold someone at ICE's request in narrow circumstances: if the person has been convicted of a felony, sentenced to at least a year in a Maryland facility, required to register as a sex offender, or has served at least five years in another state's prison system.
Two lawsuits followed. In May, a group of Maryland sheriffs representing a majority of the state's 24 counties sued to block the law, arguing it forces them into "harboring criminal offenders." Then on July 10, the DOJ filed its own 26-page complaint in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, naming the state and AG Brown as defendants and arguing the law violates the Constitution's Supremacy Clause by obstructing federal immigration enforcement.
WHAT SUPPORTERS OF THE COMMUNITY TRUST ACT SAY
Attorney General Brown, who has to defend the law in court, argues the Act doesn't stop ICE from doing anything. Federal agents can still operate anywhere in Maryland. What the law controls is how Maryland's own state and local resources get used. "The Constitution does not let the federal government compel states to carry out federal immigration enforcement," Brown said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed. His office has since issued formal guidance telling local police departments exactly what the law does and doesn't require of them.
Delegate Phillips, the bill's sponsor and chair of Maryland's Legislative Black Caucus, has framed the law as a public safety measure, not just an immigration one. His argument: when immigrant residents are afraid that calling 911 or reporting a crime could get a family member deported, they stop calling, and everyone in the neighborhood is less safe as a result. Immigrant rights groups like CASA and the ACLU of Maryland, who spent a decade pushing for the bill, say it simply draws a line local police already had the legal right to draw.
WHAT THE LAWSUITS SAY
The DOJ's complaint argues Maryland is engaged in what it calls an "active and deliberate effort" to obstruct deportations, and that state law can't override federal authority over immigration when the two conflict. It's one of more than 20 similar lawsuits DOJ has filed against states and cities since February 2025, when the Attorney General directed the department's civil division to target so-called sanctuary policies nationwide, including suits against Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois and New York.
The sheriffs' lawsuit makes a narrower, more local argument: that the law puts county law enforcement in an impossible position, legally barred from cooperating with federal agents even when they believe someone in custody poses a public safety risk. Several sheriffs have said the DOJ suit, filed weeks after theirs, confirms the concerns they raised first.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
Neither lawsuit has been decided. No hearing date has been set in the DOJ's case as of early August, and it's unclear whether the two suits will be heard together or separately. Legal observers expect this to eventually turn on the same anti-commandeering principle the Supreme Court has used before to say the federal government can't force state officials to carry out federal programs, but how a court applies that here, and how fast, is still an open question. Whatever a federal judge in Baltimore decides is also likely to be appealed, so this is a story that will play out over months, not weeks.
Go straight to the source: read Attorney General Brown's official statement and guidance on the Community Trust Act.
Read AG Brown's StatementWHAT YOU CAN DO
- Read Attorney General Brown's official guidance on what the Community Trust Act does and doesn't require of local police, so you're working from the actual text instead of secondhand takes.
- Call or write your county sheriff's office and ask directly where they stand: are they part of the sheriffs' lawsuit, and if so, why.
- Contact your state senator or delegate and tell them whether you want them to defend the law as written if the legislature revisits it this session.
The Voting Rights Act Turned 61 This Week. Here's What's Changed Since We Last Checked In.
This past Thursday, August 6, marked sixty one years since LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act. Today, the League of Women Voters and dozens of partners are marking the anniversary with "Unite & Rise for Voting Rights," 350+ events nationwide. Good Trouble Circle isn't hosting one, but we didn't want it to pass you by.
A nationwide day of action lands the same week Maryland's and Vermont's new state voting rights laws are getting their first real test.
This past Thursday, August 6, marked sixty one years since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, two days later, the League of Women Voters and dozens of partner organizations are marking that anniversary with "Unite & Rise for Voting Rights," a single day of action with more than 350 events planned across all 50 states.
Good Trouble Circle isn't organizing an event of our own today, but we want you to know it's happening, and we want to use the occasion to check back in on a story we've been tracking since spring: what happens to voting rights protection when the federal government steps back.
That might sound like a one day news cycle. It's not. It's about whether the backstop states like Maryland and Vermont built this year actually holds.
FIRST: WHAT IS A STATE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, AND WHY DO WE NEED ONE?
We wrote at length back in May about the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, the main tool courts used to strike down maps and rules that dilute the voting power of Black and Latino communities. If you missed it, that full piece is still up at goodtroublecircle.org/dispatch.
WHAT HAPPENED
Maryland acted first, and fast. Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Voting Rights Act on April 28, one day before Callais came down. It bars counties and municipalities from using election methods that dilute the vote of a protected class, and lets both the Attorney General and individual residents sue in state court to fix it. Maryland became the 10th state with its own voting rights act.
Since then, two more states have joined. New Jersey became the 11th on July 14. Vermont took a different path. Governor Phil Scott signed S.298, the Voter Protections Act of 2026, on June 8, but the version he signed is much smaller than what the Vermont Senate originally passed 28 to 0 back in March. That original bill would have added a preclearance system, multilingual ballots, a private right of action against at large election systems that dilute votes, and a Voter Education and Outreach Fund. What survived is a narrower vote denial and dilution standard enforced only by Vermont's Attorney General, with civil penalties up to five thousand dollars for a first violation and up to twenty five thousand for repeat violations, plus a new criminal charge for interfering with voters or election officials.
Meanwhile in Maryland, a separate fight over the DOJ's attempt to obtain the state's full, unredacted voter roll data ended on June 18, when a federal judge dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit against State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis. It was the ninth time in 2026 a federal court has ruled against the administration's attempts to get unredacted voter data from states that refused to hand it over.
Today, two days after the anniversary, the League of Women Voters and coalition partners including Black Voters Matter, Common Cause, LULAC and the NAACP are holding Unite & Rise for Voting Rights, with more than 350 events nationwide as part of a stated goal to mobilize 8.5 million voters by November.
WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY
Delegate Vaughn Stewart, one of the architects of Maryland's law, has said the point of building state-level protection was precisely so it wouldn't depend on the Supreme Court. "Callais gutted the federal remedy, but it did not gut ours, because ours is a separate law in state court with state standards," he said. Governor Moore put it more bluntly: "Even if Washington won't protect your vote, I will."
Vermont advocates who fought for the fuller bill are more measured about what passed, but they still call it real progress. The law that emerged keeps an enforceable dilution standard and gives the Attorney General teeth to act, which is more protection than existed before, even if it's less than organizers wanted.
The League of Women Voters frames today's Day of Action as necessary given everything that's happened since April. Voter engagement and turnout, especially among young voters, is the strategy they're leaning on now that some of the old legal tools are weaker.
WHAT CRITICS SAY
Some of the same advocates who pushed for Vermont's original bill are candid that the final version fell short. An analysis from Compass Vermont concluded the law now protects candidates from interference more than it protects voters from dilution, since the preclearance system, multilingual ballot requirements, and private right of action were all stripped out before Governor Scott signed it.
On the federal side, the Trump administration has signaled it may eventually argue that Callais preempts state-level voting rights acts too, though as of this writing no such lawsuit has been filed against Maryland's law specifically. Critics of the Day of Action model, meanwhile, argue that mobilization events are no substitute for the legal protections that got weakened this spring, since higher turnout doesn't fix a map that was drawn to dilute a community's vote before ballots are ever cast.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
Whether the DOJ or private plaintiffs will directly challenge Maryland's or any other state's voting rights act on Callais grounds is still an open question. It's also unclear whether Vermont advocates will get another shot at the stronger version of their bill in a future session, or whether other states considering their own laws will end up watered down the same way. And whether today's Day of Action translates into the turnout organizers are hoping for won't be clear until ballots are actually cast in November.
See if there's still an event near you today, or find upcoming actions leading into November.
See Today's Day of ActionWHAT YOU CAN DO
- Find out if there's a Unite & Rise for Voting Rights event still happening near you today. If you're reading this after August 8, the League's site tracks ongoing actions leading into November.
- Read the Maryland Voting Rights Act guidance from the Attorney General's office so you know what protections actually exist in our state, not just what you've heard secondhand.
- If you live in Vermont or know someone who does, ask your state legislators whether they intend to revisit the fuller Voter Protections Act next session.
Maryland Just Voted to Let Voters Decide on Redistricting. Here’s What That Means for Queen Anne’s County.
A ballot question is coming in November, and it’s about more than maps.
Annapolis wrapped up a special session this week, and it did not draw new congressional lines. Instead, lawmakers voted to ask Maryland voters a question this November: should the state constitution be changed to give the General Assembly clearer authority over how congressional districts get drawn.
That might sound like a technical, inside the Statehouse process story. It's not. It's about whether Queen Anne's County keeps a Republican member of Congress who has represented the Eastern Shore for over a decade, and whether Marylanders vote on that outcome or have it decided for them later by a legislature that already tried once this year.
FIRST: WHAT IS A BALLOT REFERENDUM ON A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
WHAT HAPPENED
The General Assembly convened for a special session Monday, August 3, called for the single purpose of considering this constitutional amendment, House Bill 2100 and its companion Senate Bill 2100. After nearly six hours of House debate and 20 failed floor amendments the night before, the House passed the measure Tuesday morning, August 4, on a vote of 96-38. The Senate passed it hours later, 32-13, after nine more proposed amendments failed.
The amendment does not draw a new map. It clarifies that the General Assembly has authority over congressional district boundaries, consistent with federal law, and requires the Supreme Court of Maryland to review any future congressional map before it takes effect. Any changes to congressional boundaries would not take effect before the 2028 election. Because it's a referendum, it did not need Governor Wes Moore's signature. Moore issued a statement supporting it and said he'll be pushing for a strong "yes" vote in November.
One notable moment: Delegate Thomas Hutchinson (R-Lower Eastern Shore) offered an amendment that would have put a nonbinding question on the ballot asking whether nine Eastern Shore counties, including Queen Anne's, should explore forming a separate state. It failed on a voice vote, but it captured how sharply this debate is dividing along regional lines.
WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY
Governor Moore and Democratic legislative leaders argue Maryland needs a durable, transparent constitutional framework for redistricting given recent federal court rulings on the Voting Rights Act and a 2022 state court decision that struck down an earlier congressional map. House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk framed the vote as handing the decision to voters rather than lawmakers, saying the next decisions belong to the people. Supporters also point to the current 7-1 Democratic advantage in Maryland's House delegation as evidence the state's map should better reflect how Marylanders actually vote statewide.
WHAT OPPONENTS SAY
Republicans, including the entire Eastern Shore Delegation, voted unanimously against the measure. Delegate Christopher Adams, who chairs that delegation, argued the bill is squarely aimed at eliminating the Shore's lone Republican voice in Congress, warning it tells voters their vote won't matter once a map is drawn to make that seat unwinnable for a Republican. Senator Johnny Mautz argued the vote reflects a broader pattern of rural Maryland being treated as secondary to urban Maryland. Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey and Minority Whip Justin Ready said they expect a lawsuit challenging the referendum's path to the ballot to be filed in state court this week.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW YET
No new congressional map exists yet, and this amendment does not create one. If voters approve it in November, the actual redrawing of Maryland's 1st Congressional District, which includes Queen Anne's County and the rest of the Shore, would happen later, and any new lines would not apply before the 2028 election. Whether the threatened state court lawsuit succeeds in blocking or delaying the ballot question is also unresolved.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Understand that this November's ballot will include a redistricting question. Registering to vote and confirming your registration status now, well before Election Day, ensures your voice counts.
- Talk to neighbors and family about what the ballot question actually does and does not do. A lot of confusion is already circulating about whether this vote redraws Andy Harris's district right now. It doesn't yet.
- Watch GTC's Dispatch for updates once the ballot language is finalized and if any new map proposal emerges. We'll break it down in plain language as it develops.
Maryland Went From a $5 Billion Surplus to a $3 Billion Hole. Here's What Actually Happened.
Maryland went from a $5 billion surplus to a multi billion dollar deficit in just a couple of years, and it's tempting to blame one governor. The real story runs through a 2021 veto override on a ten year education law, the end of federal COVID relief money, and a funding mechanism nobody fully worked out. This week's Dispatch breaks down what actually happened, no spin.
A number is getting thrown around in every budget fight in Annapolis right now. The real story behind it is about a promise to Maryland kids that nobody fully paid for.
You've probably seen the headline version: Governor Hogan left Maryland with a $5 billion surplus. Governor Moore turned it into a multi billion dollar deficit. Case closed, pick your side.
That might sound like a simple story about one governor being responsible and another being reckless. It's not. It's about how state budgets actually work, what "surplus" really means, and a ten year education law that Maryland committed to without ever fully deciding how to pay for it.
First: What Is a "Structural Deficit," Anyway?
That's a structural deficit. It's the difference between the money a government expects to bring in every year and the money it's already committed to spend every year, once the one time windfalls are gone. Maryland's own nonpartisan budget analysts flagged this exact risk back in 2017, years before Hogan left office and years before Moore was elected.
What Happened
In 2020, Maryland's Democratic controlled General Assembly passed the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a ten year overhaul of public education built on the recommendations of a commission led by William "Brit" Kirwan. It expands pre-kindergarten, raises teacher pay, sends more money to high poverty schools, builds career pathways for students not headed to college, and creates an accountability board to track results.
Governor Hogan vetoed it in May 2020, citing the economic shock of COVID-19. In February 2021, the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly overrode his veto, and the Blueprint became law without his signature.
At the same time, federal COVID relief money was pouring into state budgets nationwide, and Maryland's tax revenues kept beating projections. When Hogan left office in January 2023, the state had about $5.5 billion in reserves, roughly $3 billion in the Rainy Day Fund and a $2.5 billion structural surplus.
Then the pieces that had been propping things up started disappearing. The federal COVID money ran out. The Blueprint's costs began ramping up exactly as scheduled, since it was always designed to phase in over ten years. Medicaid and pension costs kept climbing. A separate shortfall opened in the Transportation Trust Fund. By 2025, Maryland faced a $3.3 billion structural deficit. Governor Moore and the General Assembly closed it through roughly $1.68 billion in new taxes and fees, spending cuts, and one time fund transfers. Even after that, state analysts projected a new $1.4 billion gap for the next budget year, with deficits potentially climbing back toward $4 billion later in the decade if nothing changes. The Blueprint's own dedicated funding source is expected to run dry by 2028, shifting its full cost onto the general fund.
What Supporters of the Blueprint Say
Education advocates, teachers' unions, and the Maryland State Department of Education argue the state was underfunding high poverty schools for decades, and that universal pre-K and competitive teacher pay are overdue investments, not luxuries. They point out the law was always designed as a ten year phase in with an accountability board built in specifically to track whether the money is working. In their view, a funding gap down the road is a reason to fix the funding mechanism, not a reason the underlying goals were wrong.
What Critics Say
Hogan and Republican lawmakers argue the legislature passed a massive, decade long spending commitment in the middle of a pandemic without locking in a permanent way to pay for it, then overrode a governor's veto to do it. They say Moore and the current General Assembly are now asking Marylanders to cover that gap through new taxes and fees rather than confronting the spending side of the ledger sooner. Some also argue Hogan's surplus reflected genuine fiscal discipline and revenue that outperformed projections, not just federal money, and that the "structural deficit" framing lets Moore avoid ownership of choices made on his watch.
What We Don't Know Yet
How lawmakers close the newly projected $1.4 billion gap for the coming budget year. What happens in 2028 when the Blueprint's dedicated fund runs out and its full cost lands on the general fund. Whether more tax increases, more cuts, or some combination gets Maryland back to a genuine structural balance rather than another round of one time patches. And all of this is unfolding as Governor Moore heads into a 2026 re-election campaign, which means the budget fight isn't just a policy question anymore. It's on the ballot.
What You Can Do
- Look up your Maryland state senator and delegate and ask them directly how they plan to fund the Blueprint funding gap. Contact info is at mgaleg.maryland.gov.
- Watch or attend a Fiscal Year 2027 budget hearing before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee or House Appropriations Committee. Sessions are live streamed at mgaleg.maryland.gov.
- Check your voter registration ahead of the 2026 election at mdvote.org. State fiscal policy, and who controls it, is on the ballot.
Want the numbers behind this piece, straight from the source? The Maryland Department of Legislative Services, the General Assembly's own nonpartisan fiscal analysts, publishes the structural deficit projections cited above.
See the DLS Fiscal Briefings
This Election is Different
Why a Voting Rights Lawyer Says This Election Is Different
Election Day is under 100 days away, and voting rights attorney Marc Elias says the GOP isn't trying to win voters over this time. He argues their real strategy is to make voting harder, control who stays on the voter rolls, and challenge results if all else fails. Here's what's happening, and what you can do about it.
Why a Voting Rights Lawyer Says This Election Is Different
Election Day is less than 100 days away. Donald Trump is unpopular, prices are up, and the economy is stagnant. Normally, a party in that position spends its energy trying to convince voters to give it another chance.
According to voting rights attorney Marc Elias, that is not what is happening. Elias argues the Republican Party's real strategy has three parts: make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to cast a ballot, gain control of voter registration databases to disqualify voters, and if that fails, claim fraud to challenge results after the fact.
That might sound like inside-baseball legal strategy. It's not. It's about whether the ballot you cast this fall gets counted, and whether the person who wins is actually seated in office.
First: What Is a Voter Roll, and Why Does It Matter Who Controls It?
What Happened
Elias's July 27 opinion piece for Democracy Docket lays out a year of legal fights over election rules. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Watson v. RNC, preserving hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots that the RNC had sought to have thrown out. Separately, the Department of Justice has sued 30 states seeking access to detailed voter data, and as of this writing has lost in 17 of those cases, including 8 rulings from judges appointed by Trump. The administration is appealing those losses. Elias also points to the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE database being used to pressure states to purge voters, funding being withheld from states, and threats of criminal prosecution against election officials.
New requirements that voters prove citizenship are also spreading. For most U.S.-born citizens, that means producing a passport or an original birth certificate. A standard driver's license, even a REAL ID, does not count in most states. Elias notes this can be a particular burden for women who changed their last name after marriage, since it may not match their birth certificate.
What Supporters of These Policies Say
Proponents of stricter voter data access and proof-of-citizenship rules, including officials in the Trump administration and the Department of Justice, argue these measures protect election integrity. Their stated goal is confirming that only eligible, verified voters remain on the rolls, and that federal agencies should have the data needed to check registration records against citizenship and residency status.
What Critics Say
Elias and the voting rights organizations he represents argue these same measures function as barriers, not safeguards. They point to the pattern of court losses (17 for the DOJ so far, including before Trump-appointed judges) as evidence that the legal theories behind the data requests do not hold up. They also argue that combining data collection with threats to withhold funding, prosecute officials, and involve the Postal Service in ballot handling goes well beyond routine list maintenance.
What We Don't Know Yet
The DOJ's appeals of its 17 court losses are still pending, and a related case has reached the U.S. Supreme Court on an emergency basis. It is not yet settled how much voter data the federal government will ultimately be allowed to collect from states, or how it could be used before or after the election. Whether Congress, courts, or state officials intervene further before November remains an open question.
What You Can Do
- Check your voter registration status now, before Election Day, so you have time to fix any problems.
- If you can vote early, make a plan for exactly how, when, and where you will cast your ballot.
- Consider volunteering as a poll worker or poll watcher, and report anything that looks like intimidation or an improper purge to your state election officials or a voter protection hotline.
When the Cameras Cut Away: A Presidential Address and the Free Press
When President Trump gave a primetime speech on election security, some networks aired it live — others didn't, and two cut away before he finished. Here's what the fact-checkers found, and why no law required any network to carry it at all.
The Dispatch · Civic Education
Why some networks skipped Trump's primetime speech — and why no law required them to air it.
Something unusual happened on television last Thursday. On July 16, President Trump gave a 25-minute primetime address from the White House on election security, alleging foreign interference in the 2020 election and releasing a batch of newly declassified documents. But not every network carried it the same way — and that split has become its own story.
That may sound like a media-industry squabble. It's not. It's about who decides what you see, and why.
First: Do Networks Have to Air a Presidential Speech?
No. There is no law requiring broadcast networks to carry a president's remarks live. For decades, major networks have often chosen to as a courtesy — treating it like a public service, similar to how they'd cover a State of the Union.
Think of it like a newspaper deciding what goes on the front page. Nothing forces an editor to print a speech word for word. They can summarize it, question it, or run it in full — that's an editorial call, not a legal one. That's the choice each network faced last Thursday, and they didn't all make the same one.
What each network did: ABC, NBC, and CNN did not air the speech live on their broadcast or cable channels, though it streamed on their digital platforms. CBS and MS NOW aired it live, then cut away before Trump finished — MS NOW broke off after about 15 minutes to fact-check his claims in real time. Fox News carried the address in full.
What Happened to the Claims Themselves?
Independent fact-checkers, including FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, reviewed the speech and the documents released alongside it. They found the claims of stolen votes and Chinese interference were not backed by the evidence provided — several of the released documents were heavily redacted and didn't support the sweeping conclusions Trump drew from them. His own administration's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had concluded in 2020 that the election was "the most secure in American history," a finding he dismissed in the speech.
What Supporters of the Networks' Decisions Say
Journalists and media critics who backed the networks' choices argue that airing unverified claims live, without context, risks turning news outlets into a megaphone for misinformation. They point to the fact-checks as validation: if the claims don't hold up, they say, it's responsible — not biased — to interrupt or skip live coverage in favor of scrutiny.
What Critics Say
Trump and his allies called the networks' decisions an act of censorship, arguing the public has a right to hear the president's remarks in full and draw their own conclusions. Trump responded by threatening to revoke the networks' broadcast licenses — a threat that raises its own separate question about press freedom, since license revocation for content the government dislikes would run into First Amendment protections.
What We Don't Know Yet
Whether the license threat is followed by any real action — and whether the FCC would have legal grounds to act on it — is still unclear. It's also worth watching whether more of the declassified documents are released in full, unredacted form, which would make it easier to judge the underlying claims for yourself.
What You Can Do
1. Watch or read the source yourself. Don't rely only on how one network characterized the speech — the full remarks and documents are publicly available.
2. Check more than one fact-check. FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and news organizations across the spectrum all reviewed the claims independently — compare their findings.
3. Notice the choices, not just the content. Which outlets aired it, cut away, or skipped it live tells you as much about how news gets filtered as the speech itself does.
Read it yourself. Decide for yourself.
Start with the independent fact-check, not the headline.
In Good Trouble!
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Who Draws the Lines? The Big Question Coming to Your Ballot
A question about how Maryland draws its Congressional districts may land on your November ballot. Here's what it means for District 1 — plain language, both sides.
The Dispatch · Civic Education
Who Draws the Lines? The Big Question Coming to Your Ballot
What Maryland's special session means for the Eastern Shore — in plain language.
Something big just happened in Annapolis. This week, Governor Wes Moore and state leaders announced that lawmakers will return for a special session on August 3–5. The topic: how Maryland draws the lines for its seats in Congress.
That may sound like inside baseball. It's not. It's about who speaks for you in Washington — and who decides that.
First: What Is Redistricting?
Maryland gets eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. To decide who votes for each seat, the state is cut into eight pieces, called districts. Everyone in a district votes for the same member of Congress.
Think of it like slicing a pizza. The pizza is the same size no matter what. But how you slice it decides who gets what. Draw the lines one way, and a party wins more seats. Draw them another way, and it wins fewer. That's why the lines matter so much — and why both parties fight over them.
Our district: District 1 covers the entire Eastern Shore — all nine counties, including Queen Anne's — plus all of Harford County and part of Baltimore County. It is the largest district in Maryland by land, and the only one represented by a Republican, Congressman Andy Harris.
What Happens at the Special Session?
Here's the key thing to understand: lawmakers are not drawing a new map right now. It's too late to change the map for this November's election.
Instead, they will vote on a possible change to Maryland's constitution — the state's rulebook. Back in 2022, a judge threw out a map lawmakers had drawn. The judge said districts must be compact and must respect county lines and natural boundaries, like the Chesapeake Bay. The change lawmakers will consider would rewrite those rules.
Here's the process, step by step:
Step 1 (August 3–5): Lawmakers meet. The change needs a "yes" from three-fifths of both the House and the Senate.
Step 2 (November 3): If it passes, the change goes on your ballot. Voters — not politicians — make the final call.
Step 3 (later): If voters say yes, lawmakers could draw a new map under the new rules — likely in time for the 2028 elections.
What Supporters Say
Supporters, including Governor Moore, point to what's happening around the country. Several states have already redrawn their maps mid-decade to help one party. And a recent Supreme Court decision weakened the Voting Rights Act, a law that has protected Black voters and other voters of color for sixty years.
Their argument: if other states are changing the rules of the game, Maryland can't sit on the sidelines. And because voters get the final say at the ballot box, they say this is democracy in action — not politicians acting alone.
What Opponents Say
Opponents, led by Republican lawmakers, call it a power grab. About three in ten Maryland voters are Republicans. If a future map helped Democrats win all eight seats, those voters would have no Republican voice in Congress. Opponents also say the Eastern Shore is a real community — farms, watermen, small towns — that deserves to stay together in one district, not be split across the Bay.
And they argue lawmakers should focus on rising costs, not district lines.
What We Don't Know Yet
The exact wording of the change has not been released. That matters. The details will tell us what the new rules would actually allow. When the text comes out in August, we'll break it down for you right here in the Dispatch — in plain language, as always.
What You Can Do
1. Check your voter registration. This question will be on the ballot November 3 — the same ballot as the Governor's race and our local races. Your vote decides it.
2. Learn before you decide. Don't let a slogan — from either side — make up your mind for you. Read the actual wording when it's released.
3. Talk about it. Ask your neighbors: Who should draw the lines? What's fair? These conversations are how communities find their voice.
Your voice. Your vote. Your lines.
Stay informed with the Good Trouble Circle.
In Good Trouble!
goodtroublecircle.org
Who Really Sets Your Electric Bill? Let's Check the Facts.
Electric bills are up, and everyone wants to tell you whose fault it is. Before you hear the campaign version, get the facts — in plain language.
GTC Dispatch • Plain Facts
Election season is here, and you’re going to hear a lot of talk about your electric bill. Some of it is true. Some of it is not. Here are the facts, in plain language.
Electric bills are up. That’s real, and it hurts. Families all over Queen Anne’s County feel it every month. So when politicians point fingers, it matters who is telling the truth. Let’s walk through it together.
Fact 1: Maryland does not set the price of making power
Here’s something most people don’t know. Maryland is part of a big regional power grid run by a group called PJM. PJM covers 13 states, both red and blue. The price of making electricity is set in PJM’s regional market — not by Annapolis, and not by one political party.
Bills are going up all across that 13-state region. A big reason? Huge new data centers — the giant computer warehouses that power the internet and AI — are using massive amounts of electricity. More demand means higher prices for everyone on the grid.
Fact 2: Nobody in Annapolis closed those power plants
You may hear that Maryland “shut down” its coal plants and caused a power shortage. That’s not what happened.
In 2020 — when Larry Hogan, a Republican, was governor — the private company that owns the big coal plants near Baltimore announced it would stop burning coal. Why? Because coal was losing money. The company said so itself. Cheaper natural gas and other power sources were beating it in the market.
And here’s the part they leave out: those plants are still running today. The grid operator asked them to stay open, and they will keep running until at least 2029 — maybe 2031.
Fact 3: The clean-air program they attack paid for your rebate
Did you see a credit on your electric bill called the “Legislative Energy Relief Refund”? One came last fall and one this past winter — about $80 total for the average household, with $200 million going back to Maryland families.
Some politicians attack the clean-air rules that make polluters pay for what they put in the air. But here’s the thing: that money is where your rebate came from. The fees polluters pay go into a state fund, and that fund paid Maryland families back.
Fact-Check Sidebar
Worth Knowing: The Senator's Other Job
Senator Steve Hershey says green energy is why your electric bill went up. Here is something he does not mention when he says that.
Senator Hershey has a second job. He is a vice president at TECfusions, a company that builds data centers. Data centers are giant buildings full of computers, and they use huge amounts of electricity. The group that runs our region's power grid has warned that data centers are a big reason power prices keep rising.
His job title there is Vice President of Government & Regulatory Affairs. In plain words: his job is to speak to governments on the company's behalf.
One more thing. TECfusions builds its data centers in Pennsylvania and Virginia — not Maryland. On the Senate floor, Hershey argued that Maryland's rules push data centers to build in those states instead, and that Maryland should compete for them.
Is this a secret? No. His job is listed on his official state bio, and Maryland lawmakers are allowed to have outside jobs. But he does not bring it up when he blames green energy for your bill. We think you should know both facts at the same time.
You're allowed to know about it.
Being fair: Senator Hershey discloses this job as the law requires. This sidebar is not a claim that he broke any rule. It is context — so when he talks about what is driving your electric bill, you can weigh who signs his other paycheck.
Where this comes from
Maryland General Assembly official member biography • The Baltimore Banner • Maryland Matters • Associated Press coverage of the April 2026 Maryland Senate energy debate • PJM Interconnection / grid operator demand warnings
GOOD TROUBLE CIRCLE • THE DISPATCH • FACTS FIRST
Fact 4: A new law is bringing more relief
This spring, Maryland passed the Utility RELIEF Act. Here’s what it does in plain terms:
It’s expected to save the average household about $150 a year. It stops utility companies from charging you for their executives’ big pay packages. And it makes those giant data centers pay their own way when they hook up to the grid — instead of pushing those costs onto your bill.
So what should you watch for?
When someone tells you exactly who to blame for your electric bill, ask three simple questions: Who actually sets that price? When did that really happen? And what did they leave out? The truth is usually more complicated than a campaign speech — and you deserve the whole story.
Your power is your vote
The people you elect this November will shape Maryland’s energy future.
Get the Facts Before You VoteIn Good Trouble!
Chris Esters
Founder, Good Trouble Circle
Your Ballot, Your Right
A federal judge just ruled on mail voting in Maryland. Here's what it means for your ballot — and what you can do to protect it before November.
Good Trouble Dispatch
What’s Happening to Mail-In Voting — and What You Can Do About It
A Good Trouble Circle Dispatch | Queen Anne’s County, Maryland
If you vote by mail in Queen Anne’s County, you’ve probably heard something about the President trying to change the rules. Maybe it sounded confusing. Maybe it sounded scary. This is what’s really going on, written in plain English, so you can make up your own mind and know what to do next.
The Short Version
President Trump has tried for years to make it harder to vote by mail. This year, he signed an order telling the U.S. Postal Service to control who gets a mail ballot and who doesn’t. Twenty-four states, including Maryland, sued to stop him. On June 25, 2026, a federal judge agreed with them and blocked the order — for now. The fight isn’t over, and every voter needs to understand what’s at stake before November.
How We Got Here
Think of this as a story with three chapters.
Chapter One: 2020
Since the 2020 election, President Trump has claimed — without real evidence — that mail-in voting leads to fraud. Studies and election officials from both parties have found voting by mail is safe and secure. Even the President has used a mail ballot himself. Still, he has said many times that he wants to get rid of mail-in voting altogether.
Chapter Two: 2025
In March 2025, President Trump signed his first executive order on elections. It tried to require voters to prove their citizenship with special documents just to register, and it tried to throw out mail ballots that arrived a few days after Election Day, even if they were mailed on time. Courts blocked the major parts of that order. Judges across the political spectrum agreed: the President does not have the power to rewrite election rules. The Constitution gives that power to the states and to Congress, not to the White House.
Chapter Three: 2026
On March 31, 2026, the President tried again. His new order directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to build a list of every adult citizen in the country. It also told the U.S. Postal Service to build its own list and to refuse to deliver mail ballots to anyone not on it. The order even threatened criminal charges against election officials and mail carriers who didn’t go along.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined 23 other states, the District of Columbia, and the Governor of Pennsylvania in suing to stop it. Their argument was simple: nowhere does the Constitution or any law give the President or the Postal Service the power to decide who gets to vote by mail. That power belongs to the states.
Why the Postal Service Didn’t Wait
Normally, when something is being fought over in court, you’d expect everyone to pause and wait for a ruling. That’s not what happened here. While the lawsuits were moving through the courts, the Postal Service published a 20-page set of proposed rules that would have required every state to hand over lists of mail voters before any ballots could be sent. If a voter’s name wasn’t on the list — or if there was a paperwork mismatch — their ballot simply would not have been delivered.
Former election officials from both parties warned that rolling out a brand-new national voter list, with no extra funding and almost no time to prepare, would create exactly the kind of chaos and voter confusion that erodes trust in elections. Forty-seven U.S. Senators sent a letter to the Postal Service in June asking it to stand down. The Postal Service kept moving forward anyway.
Where Things Stand Right Now
On June 25, 2026, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled in favor of the 24 states and DC. Here’s what that means in plain terms:
- The Postal Service cannot block or refuse to deliver mail ballots in Maryland and 23 other states for any election through November 3, 2026.
- The federal government cannot build a centralized list to control who is allowed to vote by mail in those states.
- This protection covers Maryland — and therefore Queen Anne’s County — for this year’s elections.
- The ruling does not cover future elections beyond 2026, and the Trump administration has said it plans to appeal.
In other words: this year’s mail ballots in Maryland are protected by this ruling. But the underlying fight over who controls American elections is far from finished.
What You Can Do
Good Trouble Circle exists because John Lewis taught us that ordinary people, working together, protect their own democracy. Here is how you can help protect yours.
- Plan to vote, and pick your method early. If you want to vote by mail this fall, request your ballot as soon as Maryland opens that window for the general election. Don’t wait until the last minute — the earlier your request is in, the fewer chances for a problem.
- Track your ballot. Maryland lets you track your mail ballot online through the State Board of Elections. If you request one and it doesn’t arrive, or it doesn’t show as received after you return it, call your local Board of Elections right away.
- Know who to call. The Queen Anne’s County Board of Elections can answer questions about your registration, your ballot, or your polling place: 410-758-0832. If you ever feel your right to vote is being blocked or threatened, the national, nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline is 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
- Stay informed, not overwhelmed. This story will keep changing between now and November. Good Trouble Circle will keep tracking it and putting out updates in plain language, so you don’t have to read legal filings to understand what it means for you.
- Get involved with GTC’s election protection work. We are building out Know Your Rights materials and volunteer teams for the General Election. If you want to help your neighbors understand and protect their right to vote, reach out through goodtroublecircle.org.
- Make your voice heard. You can contact your members of Congress and Maryland’s Attorney General’s office to say you support the lawsuits protecting Maryland’s mail voting system. Public pressure has already made a difference once — 47 U.S. Senators spoke up in June.
The Bottom Line
For now, the courts have sided with Maryland and 23 other states: the President and the Postal Service cannot decide who gets to vote by mail. That is good news for this year’s elections. But this is the third time in two years the administration has tried to limit mail voting, and it likely won’t be the last. The people who show up, stay informed, and use their voice are the ones who keep that door open.
Congressman John Lewis got into a lot of “good trouble” to make sure every American could vote. Staying informed and showing up is how we carry that forward.
In Good Trouble,
Good Trouble Circle
goodtroublecircle.org
Early Voting Starts Today. Let's Go Make Some Good Trouble!
Thursday, June 11, 2026 · Good Trouble Circle
Today is the day. Starting this morning at 7:00 a.m., the doors are open. Early voting for the June 23 Democratic primary has begun right here in Queen Anne’s County.
That means you do not have to wait until Election Day. You do not have to squeeze your vote between work, school pickup, and dinner on one busy Tuesday. You have eight full days — today through Thursday, June 18 — to cast your ballot on your own schedule. That includes Saturday and Sunday.
“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.” — Congressman John Lewis
Congressman John Lewis marched, bled, and gave his whole life so that every one of us could walk into a voting center and be counted. Early voting is one of the tools that makes that promise real. It gives shift workers, caregivers, seniors, and busy families a fair shot at the ballot box. Today, that tool is in your hands.
Where and When to Vote Early
Queen Anne’s County has two early voting centers. You can use whichever one is easier for you — you are not assigned to one.
EARLY VOTING AT A GLANCE
Dates: Thursday, June 11 – Thursday, June 18, 2026 (every day, weekend included)
Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If you are in line by 8:00 p.m., you can still vote.
Where (pick either one):
• County Office Building — 110 Vincit St., Centreville, MD 21617
• Kent Island Fire Department — 1610 Main St., Chester, MD 21619
Primary Election Day: Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., at your assigned polling place.
Not Registered Yet? You Can Still Vote.
Here is the good news a lot of people miss: in Maryland, you can register and vote at the same time during early voting. Just go to one of the two centers above and bring a document that shows where you live. That can be your MVA driver’s license or ID, a paycheck, a bank statement, a utility bill, or another government document with your name and address on it. You will register and vote in one trip.
Why Vote Early?
Think of early voting like beating the traffic. Same road, same destination — just less waiting and less stress. Here is what voting early does for you:
- It fits your life. Eight days. Mornings, evenings, and the weekend. You pick the time.
- It protects your vote. Life happens. A sick kid, a flat tire, a double shift on June 23. Voting early means nothing can knock you off course.
- It frees you up to help others. Once your ballot is in, you can spend Election Day giving a neighbor a ride or reminding a friend to vote.
What’s on the Ballot?
This primary is a big one. Democratic voters will choose nominees for Governor, U.S. House, State Senate, House of Delegates, County Commissioner, Sheriff, State’s Attorney, Judge of the Orphans’ Court, the Board of Education, and the Democratic Central Committee. These are the people who decide what happens to our schools, our farmland, our waterways, and our wallets.
Want to know who is running before you go? Visit our primary election guide and our Meet the People Behind the Ballot page right here at goodtroublecircle.org. We did the homework so you can vote with confidence.
Your Action Steps
- Pick your day. Any day between today and Thursday, June 18.
- Pick your place. Centreville or Chester — whichever is closer.
- Bring a friend. Voting is better together. Bring a neighbor, your church group, or your family.
- Spread the word. Share this post. Text three people right now and tell them early voting is open.
John Lewis told us to get in good trouble, necessary trouble. This week, good trouble looks like a short line, a simple ballot, and a sticker on your shirt. The doors are open until 8:00 p.m. tonight — and every night through June 18.
We’ll see you at the polls, Queen Anne’s County.
Good Trouble Circle is a civic engagement and community organizing initiative rooted in Democratic values and the legacy of Congressman John Lewis, serving Queen Anne’s County and the Eastern Shore. Text GTC to (443) 363-1131 to stay connected.
Who Killed the Free Press? Billionaires, Bullying, and the Battle for Your Mind
Billionaires now control CBS, and soon may control CNN. The government is threatening journalists and canceling late-night hosts who speak up. This is not a conspiracy — it's a documented attack on your First Amendment. Here's what's really happening.
The Buyout: When Billionaires Take Over Your TV
Here's a question worth asking: When did the evening news become something you can't trust?
The answer isn't complicated. But it is frightening. And it involves some of the wealthiest people in the world quietly taking control of the news you watch — while a sitting president uses the power of government to punish journalists who tell the truth.
This is not a conspiracy theory. These are documented facts. And every person who believes in democracy needs to understand what's happening right now.
In August 2025, David Ellison — son of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison — completed a merger between his company, Skydance Media, and Paramount Global. With that deal, the Ellison family gained control of CBS News, 60 Minutes, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and Paramount+.
That's a lot of television. A lot of influence. And a lot of power to shape what millions of Americans see, hear, and believe.
Now, as of early 2026, Paramount has announced a plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery — the parent company of CNN. If that merger goes through, the same Ellison family that now runs CBS will also run CNN.
““Pending merger could hand control of CNN to the same billionaire family.” ”
Press freedom advocates are alarmed. More than 200 journalists and documentary filmmakers signed an open letter opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Nine press freedom organizations joined together to sound the alarm. Free press advocates projected messages opposing the merger on Jazz at Lincoln Center during the News and Documentary Emmy Awards in May 2026.
And the Ellisons aren't done. Larry Ellison's Oracle has also been tapped to take over TikTok's U.S. operations — including its algorithm. One family. Your evening news. Your cable TV. Your social media feed.
The Squeeze: How the White House Pressured CBS
Owning the news is one thing. Using government power to control what the news says is something else entirely.
The Trump administration launched FCC investigations into ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, PBS, and local stations. The FCC — now led by Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee and Project 2025 author — opened eight investigations targeting outlets that displeased the president.
The pattern at CBS is a textbook case. Here's what happened, step by step:
Step 1: The FCC launches an investigation into CBS's 60 Minutes for how they edited a 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Step 2: Trump had the power to block the Paramount-Skydance merger approval. Paramount entered mediation with Trump to seek resolution of his lawsuit.
Step 3: In April 2025, 60 Minutes airs a report that angers Trump. He demands CBS "lose their license" for "unlawful and illegal behavior." FCC Chair Carr declares "all options remain on the table."
Step 4: Days later, the longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes resigns, stating he no longer has journalistic independence. Anchor Scott Pelley confirms on-air that "Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways."
Step 5: CBS pulls a completed report — three hours before it was set to broadcast — about the Salvadoran megaprison where the Trump administration had sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants.
Step 6 (2026): CBS fires top 60 Minutes journalists, including correspondent Cecilia Vega and executive producer Tanya Simon. Anderson Cooper leaves the network, citing concerns about the direction of the coverage. The program that once had a full roster of star correspondents is now down to three.
“The firings were a grotesque effort taken straight from an authoritarian handbook.” ”
Think about what this means. The government launched regulatory investigations into a media company. That company needed government approval for a merger. The company then started firing journalists who covered stories the government didn't like. That's not a coincidence. That's coercion.
The Silencing: Late-Night and the Chilling Effect
Television journalism wasn't the only target. So was comedy.
In September 2025, after comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FCC Chair Brendan Carr personally threatened local broadcasters who aired Kimmel's show — warning them they could face "fines or loss of licenses." Republican Senator Ted Cruz compared Carr's threats to those of "an organized-crime boss."
ABC pulled Kimmel's show indefinitely. Trump celebrated on Truth Social: "Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED." He then called on NBC to cancel Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon too.
Also in 2025, CBS announced the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — attributing it to budget reasons. Colbert's final show aired in May 2026. CBS said it would "retire the Late Show franchise entirely." Two months after the cancellation announcement, Colbert's team won an Emmy Award for Best Talk Series.
Kimmel's show was later reinstated and his contract renewed. But the message was already sent: criticize the president, lose your platform. That message doesn't just affect one comedian. It makes every host, writer, and producer think twice before they say something true that might make the powerful uncomfortable.
That's what's called a chilling effect. And it is one of the most dangerous tools of authoritarianism.
The Danger: Propaganda Is What's Left When Truth Leaves
When powerful people control what you see — and what you're not allowed to see — that's not news anymore. That's a narrative. And narratives designed to protect the powerful are called propaganda.
Here's how it works:
Remove the messengers. Journalists who ask hard questions are fired, suspended, or intimidated. Reporters were arrested covering public protests. An Atlanta-based journalist was deported to El Salvador following critical reporting. The FBI raided the home of a Washington Post journalist to uncover a source.
Dry up the independent sources. Congress cut funding for NPR and PBS — the public broadcasting that exists to serve communities without profit motive. Trump's executive order targeting NPR was later ruled unconstitutional by a federal court, but the funding cuts imposed by Congress remain in effect.
Reward the compliant. Media companies that cooperate get their mergers approved. Those that push back face regulatory investigations, license threats, and lawsuit pressure. Both ABC and CBS News settled Trump lawsuits over stories that displeased him.
Create a government blacklist. The White House launched an official "Bias Tracker" — a government tool to publicly flag and target journalists whose coverage displeases the administration. As of early 2026, Trump had made more than 215 anti-media posts on social media targeting individual journalists and outlets by name.
“If we want journalism that challenges the powerful, we must defend press freedom. Otherwise, all that’s left is propaganda.”
The goal of propaganda is not just to tell you what to think. It's to make you doubt everything else, so you stop trusting any source that tells you the truth. Trump said the quiet part out loud years ago: "I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so that when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you."
The Constitution: What's Actually at Stake
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says:
“Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
What You Can Do
John Lewis taught us that democracy requires active participation. Here's how to fight back:
1. Diversify what you read and watch. Don't rely on a single outlet. Seek out independent journalism, local reporters, and non-commercial sources like public radio and community newspapers.
2. Support independent journalism. Subscribe to your local paper. Donate to nonprofit newsrooms. Independent outlets are not beholden to billionaires or merger approvals.
3. Talk about it. Share this post. Have this conversation at your dinner table, your faith community, and your workplace. Most people don't know the depth of what's happening.
4. Vote like your information depends on it. Because it does. Elected officials shape who runs the FCC, who approves mergers, and who protects the Constitution.
5. Know your rights. The First Amendment belongs to all of us. When it is weakened for one, it is weakened for everyone.
Good Trouble Circle is a civic engagement initiative rooted in the legacy of Congressman John Lewis. We believe democracy demands we stay awake, speak up, and get in good trouble.
When Washington Fails, States Must Lead: The Fight to Save Voting Rights After Callais
On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court's six conservative justices gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the last major federal safeguard against racial discrimination in electoral maps. In Louisiana v. Callais, the Court made it nearly impossible for voters of color to challenge racial vote dilution, and Southern legislatures wasted no time exploiting it. Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama moved within hours or days to redraw maps and eliminate majority-minority districts.
The civil rights movement's response was equally swift: if Washington won't protect the vote, states must.
For residents of Queen Anne's County — sitting squarely in Maryland's 1st Congressional District — this story is not abstract. It's about who represents you, how those lines get drawn, and whether your voice gets heard at all.
Maryland Acts — Just in Time
On April 28, 2026 — one day before the Callais ruling — Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 into law. The emergency legislation took effect immediately. The timing was no accident.
Sponsored by Senator Charles Sydnor III and Delegate Gregory Wims, with strong backing from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, the bill was a deliberate effort to build a state-level backstop before the federal foundation crumbled. Because the MDVRA is grounded in state law and enforced in state courts, it operates independently of the Supreme Court's federal framework.
The law:
Prohibits counties and municipalities from erecting barriers to suppress minority voters
Guarantees voters the right to challenge discrimination in state court
Grants state courts authority to mandate remedies when violations are found
"Callais gutted the federal remedy, but it did not gut ours because ours is a separate law in state court with state standards," said Delegate Vaughn Stewart. "That's exactly why we did it this way."
Governor Moore put it plainly: "Even if Washington won't protect your vote, I will."
What This Means for Queen Anne's County
Here's where this becomes personal for our community.
QAC is part of Maryland's 1st Congressional District — the state's only Republican-held seat, represented by Rep. Andy Harris since 2010. The Callais ruling — and Maryland's political response to it — has District 1 squarely in the crosshairs.
Governor Moore has long pushed to redraw Maryland's congressional map. A Redistricting Advisory Commission he convened recommended a new map that would fundamentally reshape District 1 — adding Democratic-leaning territory including Annapolis and parts of suburban D.C. while reshuffling the Eastern Shore that has long anchored Harris's base. The House of Delegates passed a version that would make all eight of Maryland's congressional districts favor Democrats.
That effort stalled in the Senate — until Callais changed the political calculus. On May 22, Senate President Bill Ferguson publicly reversed course, saying "the rules have changed" and that "Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us." He is now in active conversations about a special legislative session this summer — with the goal of a constitutional amendment clearing the legal path to a new map, potentially on the November ballot.
For QAC residents, a redrawn District 1 could mean a new representative, new priorities, and a fundamentally different political voice for the Eastern Shore. Whether you support the current representation or believe change is overdue, this is happening — and you deserve a say in how it unfolds.
What You Can Do
📣 Contact Your Representatives
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD1): house.gov/representatives/find
Senate President Bill Ferguson: mgaleg.maryland.gov
Governor Wes Moore: governor.maryland.gov/contact
🗳️ Verify Your Voter Registration
The June 23, 2026 primary is weeks away. Confirm your registration and polling place at elections.maryland.gov. Early voting runs June 13–21.
📢 Show Up
If Maryland holds a special redistricting session this summer, there will be public comment opportunities. As a QAC resident in a district directly in play, your voice carries real weight.
💬 Talk to Your Neighbors
The redistricting decisions being made in Annapolis this summer will affect every voter in Queen Anne's County. Share this post. Have the conversation.Whatever side of the aisle you're on, who draws the lines — and who gets fair representation — belongs to all of us. Maryland is fighting for that. So should we.
Sources: NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Docket, Maryland Matters, The Baltimore Banner, The Daily Record, The Baltimore Sun, BallotpediaQuestions or thoughts? Drop a comment below — we'd love to hear from the community.
Your Vote Is Under Attack.Here’s What’s Happening.
Photo by Donald Teel on Unsplash
A plain-language guide to the Callais ruling and what it means for all of us
Let’s Start with the Basics
You have the right to vote. That right should be equal for everyone, no matter the color of your skin. For sixty years, a law called the Voting Rights Act helped make sure that was true.
On April 29, 2026, the United States Supreme Court made a decision that seriously weakened that law. The case is called Louisiana v. Callais — and even if you’ve never heard of it, it is already changing your life and the lives of millions of Americans.
Let’s break it down simply.
What Is a Voting District?
Think of your neighborhood. Now imagine that every 10 years, the government draws lines around groups of neighborhoods and says, “All the people inside these lines share one representative in Congress.”
That’s a voting district. The person your district elects goes to Washington and speaks up for your community — for your schools, your roads, your healthcare, your jobs.
Here’s the problem: the people who draw those lines can cheat. They can move the lines to make sure certain communities — especially Black communities — don’t have enough votes to elect someone who represents them. That’s called gerrymandering, and it’s been used to silence Black voters for over 150 years.
The Voting Rights Act was supposed to stop that. Now, the Supreme Court has made it much harder to use that law to fight back.
What Did the Court Actually Do?
Here’s the simple version:
Before this ruling, if politicians drew a map that made it nearly impossible for Black voters to elect someone who represented them, those voters could go to court and say, “This map hurts us because of our race.” And they could win.
Now? The court made it much, much harder. Politicians can draw those same unfair lines — but as long as they say, “We did it for political reasons, not racial ones,” the law can’t easily stop them.
“The more racist you are as a party, the more insulated you are from the Voting Rights Act under this decision.”
— Justin Levitt, Loyola Law School
Justice Elena Kagan, one of the three judges who disagreed with the ruling, said it plainly: the Voting Rights Act is now “all but a dead letter” in the places that need it most.
What Happened Right After the Ruling?
The answer will make you angry. Within days, Republican governors and legislators in several states called emergency meetings. Their goal: redraw the maps before November’s election to make it nearly impossible for Black communities to elect their own representatives.
Tennessee — Memphis Was Cut to Pieces
Memphis, Tennessee is a majority-Black city. For generations, its residents elected a representative who looked like them and understood their lives. After the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Tennessee legislature drew a new map that split Memphis into three pieces — each piece attached to a surrounding white, Republican-leaning area. Memphis’s voice in Congress was erased. As people protested in tears, some Republican lawmakers were photographed laughing.
Alabama — Fighting a Court Order
Alabama had already been ordered by the Supreme Court — just three years ago — to draw a fair map that gave Black voters a real voice. After the new ruling, Alabama’s governor and attorney general raced back to court to undo that order. On May 11, 2026, the Supreme Court let them proceed. The protection that took years of legal battles to win may now be taken away in weeks.
Louisiana — Stopped Voting Mid-Election
Louisiana actually suspended its own election after ballots had already gone out to voters. They stopped the vote in the middle of voting — so they could redraw the map and erase a district where Black voters had real power.
South Carolina — Going After James Clyburn
Congressman James Clyburn is 85 years old and has served in Congress for over 30 years. He is one of the most powerful Black voices in American government. South Carolina’s legislature is now working to redraw his district in a way that would likely end his ability to win reelection. They are coming for him specifically.
Florida — Ignoring What Voters Said
In 2010, Florida voters voted — by a huge margin — to make partisan gerrymandering illegal in their state. They put it right in the state constitution. Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislature looked at that voter-approved law and ignored it anyway. They redrew the map to help Republicans win more seats. Their own lawyers admitted the new map breaks the state’s constitution. They did it anyway.
Virginia: When Three Million Voters Were Ignored
Here is a story that should stop you cold.
In April 2026, over three million people in Virginia voted on a referendum. A referendum is when regular citizens get to vote directly on an important question — not just on who represents them, but on the rules themselves. The question was about redrawing Virginia’s voting districts more fairly.
The people voted YES. More than half of Virginia’s voters said they wanted the change.
A week later, the Virginia Supreme Court threw the whole vote out. They said the politicians who put the question on the ballot made a technical mistake in how they followed the rules. So the votes of three million people were declared null and void — like they never happened.
The state had spent $5.2 million holding that election. Outside groups spent nearly $100 million informing voters. And it was all erased by a court decision.
“More than three million Virginians cast their ballots. They made their voices heard.”
— Virginia Governor Gretchen Spanberger
What Does This Mean for Maryland and Queen Anne’s County?
Maryland is not one of the states currently redrawing maps to hurt Black voters. We have a Democratic governor and a legislature that — for now — is working to protect voting rights. But “for now” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
The Good News: Maryland Just Passed a State Voting Rights Act
One day before the Supreme Court’s ruling — just 24 hours before — Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 into law. Maryland became the 10th state in the country to create its own voting rights protections.
What does it do? It says that in Maryland’s counties and cities, no one can set up rules that make it harder for communities of color to vote or to elect someone who represents them. And it gives any Maryland resident the right to take that to court if it happens.
The Honest Truth: It’s Not Enough on Its Own
Maryland’s new law only covers local and county elections. It doesn’t cover state or federal ones. And it doesn’t protect us from what could happen after the next census in 2030, if the political balance in Maryland ever shifts.
Right now, if Republicans were to gain control of Maryland’s government after 2030, they could use the weakened federal Voting Rights Act — under the new Callais rules — to redraw maps that dilute the power of Black voters in Baltimore, Prince George’s County, and beyond.
And here on the Eastern Shore? When Black communities in other states lose their congressional voice, the ripple effects reach all of us. The federal funding, the committee assignments, the policy priorities — all of it shifts when Black representation is erased. This is not just their fight. It is ours.
What Can YOU Do?
Congressman John Lewis used to say that the vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have. Here is how to use it — and how to protect it.
① Check Your Registration
Make sure you are registered to vote in Maryland. Go to elections.maryland.gov right now and check. The deadline to register for the June 23 primary is June 3. Do it today. Then call a family member and ask them to check too.
② Vote in the June 23 Primary
Queen Anne’s County has Democratic primary races on the ballot June 23. Primary elections are how we choose who represents us in the general election. Low turnout means extremism wins. Your vote here matters more than you might think.
③ Tell Congress to Restore the Voting Rights Act
Congress has the power to fix what the Supreme Court broke. A bill called the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would do exactly that. Call your U.S. representative and your senators. Tell them you want this law passed. A five-minute phone call matters.
④ Register Someone Else
The most powerful answer to a rigged map is an overwhelming turnout. Every person you help register is a vote that cannot be taken away by redrawing lines. Help a neighbor. Help a young person voting for the first time. Help a family member who’s given up on voting. Bring them back.
⑤ Join the National Day of Action
Civil rights groups are organizing a John Lewis Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action on July 17–19. It is a national mobilization to register voters and energize communities before November. The Good Trouble Circle will be there. We hope you will be too.
⑥ Share This with Someone Who Needs It
Not everyone follows the news. Not everyone knows what just happened. That’s why you’re reading this — so you can be the person who explains it to someone else. Share this. Print it out. Read it at your next church meeting, your next civic gathering, your next family dinner.
Here Is the Bottom Line.
They are redrawing the maps because they cannot win a fair fight.
They are throwing out voter referendums because they know the people are not with them.
They are weakening the Voting Rights Act because they know — they know — how much power your vote carries when you use it.
John Lewis was beaten on a bridge in Selma, Alabama fighting for the same right that is under attack right now. He did not give up. He called what he did “good trouble.” He did it because he believed that ordinary people, standing together, could change the world.
He was right. And so can we.
Register. Vote. Bring everybody you know.
— In Good Trouble,
The Good Trouble Circle
Queen Anne’s County, Maryland | goodtroublecircle.org
Have questions? Need help registering? Contact us at goodtroublecircle.org
The Shield Has Been Lowered. Here's What We Do Next.
By Good Trouble Circle | Queen Anne's County, Maryland | May 2026
On April 29, 2026, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of the most consequential voting rights decisions in a century. The 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, written by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by every Republican-appointed justice, effectively dismantled what remained of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Let's be honest about what that means. The Voting Rights Act was not just a law. It was the hard-won result of beatings on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, of foot soldiers who faced water cannons and billy clubs for the right to vote. John Lewis carried those scars his entire life. And now, piece by piece, the Court has undone what that sacrifice built.
HOW WE GOT HERE
The dismantling didn't happen overnight. It has been a sustained, decades-long project.
2013 — Shelby County v. Holder eliminated the preclearance requirement, stripping federal oversight of states with histories of racial discrimination in voting. The Court promised that Section 2 of the VRA remained as a backstop.
2021 — Brnovich v. DNC made it significantly harder to challenge racially discriminatory voting laws under that same Section 2, taking the first real shot at the backstop.
2023 — Allen v. Milligan offered a brief reprieve — a 5-4 ruling that affirmed Alabama had violated the VRA by diluting Black voting power. It felt like the line had held.
2026 — Louisiana v. Callais gutted Section 2 entirely for redistricting purposes, effectively overruling Allen v. Milligan within just three years. The backstop is gone.
Justice Kagan's dissent was unsparing. This Court, she wrote, is the most hostile to voting rights in at least a century. She was so opposed to the majority's reasoning that she omitted the traditional word "respectfully" from her dissent. She wrote simply: "I dissent."
WHAT THE RULING ACTUALLY DOES
For four decades, Section 2 of the VRA operated on a clear principle: when electoral systems produce racially discriminatory results, they violate federal law — even without proof that discrimination was intentional. Congress had written it that way deliberately, in 1982, because discriminatory intent is easy to conceal and nearly impossible to prove.
Callais reversed that. The Court now effectively requires proof of intentional racial discrimination — a standard so high that Justice Kagan said challenges to discriminatory maps will be "nearly impossible" to win.
The cruelest irony? The majority used the 14th Amendment — the Reconstruction Amendment written to protect Black Americans after the Civil War — to strike down protections for Black voters. The same Constitution built to fulfill the promises of emancipation is now being wielded to prevent remedies for ongoing discrimination.
Republicans in Congress moved quickly. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama called on GOP state legislatures to begin redrawing maps immediately. Florida went into special session. Analysts project that as many as 19 House seats currently held by Democrats could shift to Republicans as a result — with up to 15 currently held by Black members of Congress potentially flipping to white candidates. As one scholar put it, we may be approaching a level of racial political displacement not seen since the end of Reconstruction.
MARYLAND MOVED FAST — BUT THE FIGHT ISN'T OVER
Here's something remarkable: Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 on April 28 — one day before Callais came down. The emergency legislation took effect immediately.
The Maryland law prohibits election methods at the county and municipal level that dilute the votes of protected classes — defined by race, color, and language group. It gives the Attorney General the authority to act, and allows any resident to sue if their voting power is being systematically diminished.
It is a real and meaningful protection. Especially for county and local elections — the exact offices on the ballot in Queen Anne's County this year.
But we have to be clear-eyed: the law exists on contested legal terrain. The Trump DOJ has already signaled it may interpret Callais as invalidating state voting rights acts as well. Challenges will come. Whether Maryland's law survives may ultimately depend on who sits on the federal courts in the years ahead.
That question, too, starts with who we elect.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY
The federal shield has been lowered. What fills that vacuum is us.
Local and state officials are now democracy's front line in ways they have never been before. County commissioners determine where polling places are located, how elections are administered, and whether the machinery of democracy in QAC treats every resident equally. State legislators will draw the maps, write the laws, and stand at the Annapolis podium either defending or surrendering the protections Maryland has built.
These are not down-ballot afterthoughts. They are the whole ballgame.
Good Trouble Circle has spent 2026 bringing Democratic candidates for local and state offices directly to this community through our Candidate Roundtable Series. We have done it because we believe what John Lewis believed: that democracy must be actively practiced, not passively inherited. Callais has made that belief not just a conviction — but an emergency.
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU
Come to our remaining roundtables. Bring a neighbor, a family member, someone who hasn't been engaged before. Know who is running for commissioner, for state senate, for every office on your ballot.
Register to vote — and help others do the same. Maryland's registration processes are relatively accessible right now. Use that access. Help others use it. It can change.
Talk to your community — not about Washington, but about Queen Anne's County. Who will administer our elections? Who will stand in the gap when federal protections fall short? The answers live right here at home.
Invest in this work. GTC's An Evening of Jazz fundraiser — featuring The Vaughn Bratcher Project at Cult Classic Brewery — is Sunday, June 28, 2026. Come celebrate, connect, and put resources behind the organizing that protects democracy closest to home.
THE LONG GAME
John Lewis said: "Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime."
He was right in 1965. He is right now.
The Court has moved against us. Washington has moved against us. But the people of Queen Anne's County — informed, organized, and voting — have never been more important to the outcome. That is not a consolation. That is the truth.
Show up. Speak up. Vote.
In Good Trouble,
Good Trouble Circle
Queen Anne's County, Maryland
#GoodTroubleCircle | #QAC | #VotingRights | #LocalElections2026 | #InGoodTrouble | #Maryland
The SAVE Act: What Every Queen Anne's County Voter Needs to Know Right Now
If you are a registered voter in Queen Anne's County — or if you have been meaning to register — there is something you need to know right now.
Congress is actively pursuing legislation that would fundamentally change how Americans register to vote. It is called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — the SAVE Act — and if it becomes law, millions of eligible American citizens could be blocked from the ballot box, including right here in Maryland.
Good Trouble Circle is committed to making sure every neighbor in our community is informed, prepared, and ready to vote in 2026. Here is what you need to know.
What Is the SAVE Act?
The SAVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2026. It has been debated in the Senate, where it stalled — but its supporters have made clear they will keep pushing it through legislation, executive action, or both.
Under the SAVE Act, every American who registers to vote — or who updates their registration due to a move, a name change, or a party switch — would be required to provide documentary proof of citizenship in person at an election office. A driver's license alone would not be enough. You would need a passport, a certified birth certificate, or a REAL ID that specifically indicates citizenship.
The law would also effectively eliminate online voter registration and mail-in voter registration as we know them today. It would mandate that states conduct voter roll purges every 30 days. And it would expose local election officials to civil and criminal penalties for honest administrative mistakes.
Who Would Be Most Affected?
The impact would fall hardest on communities that have historically faced the greatest barriers to voting:
• More than 21 million Americans lack ready access to a passport or certified birth certificate — the primary documents the SAVE Act would require.
• Nearly half of Black Americans under 30 do not have ID with their current name and address.
• Many older Black Americans — born during the pre-civil rights era — were never issued a birth certificate at all.
• Military members stationed overseas and Americans living abroad would face significant new barriers to registration.
• Transgender Americans who lack documents correctly reflecting their name or gender would face an additional layer of obstacles on top of barriers that already exist.
• Young voters and first-time voters who have never needed a passport or certified birth certificate would face the steepest learning curve.
This is not a coincidence. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, one of the bill's sponsors, publicly connected its passage to Republican electoral prospects in the 2026 midterms. The Brennan Center for Justice has called it the most restrictive voting bill ever to pass the U.S. House of Representatives.
Is Noncitizen Voting Really a Problem?
No. Noncitizen voting has been a federal crime since 1996, carrying serious penalties including fines, imprisonment, and deportation. Citizenship is already a requirement to vote, and the existing verification systems are already working.
Utah conducted a citizenship review of its entire voter registration list — more than 2 million registered voters — from April 2025 through January 2026. After a thorough, multi-step review, they identified one confirmed instance of noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting.
The SAVE Act does not solve a real problem. It creates real ones — for real American citizens.
How Does This Connect to Yesterday's Supreme Court Ruling?
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, effectively gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — the primary legal tool for challenging racial gerrymandering. Today, the SAVE Act threatens to eliminate the voter registration methods that millions of Americans — disproportionately Black and brown voters — rely on most.
These are not separate events. They are part of the same story: a coordinated effort to reshape who can vote and whose vote counts in 2026 and beyond. Good Trouble Circle sees it clearly. John Lewis saw it clearly. And we will not stand by while it happens.
What You Can Do Right Now
⚠️ ACTION REQUIRED: Do not wait. Take these steps today.
• CHECK YOUR REGISTRATION — Go to elections.maryland.gov and confirm your registration is current, active, and reflects your correct address.
• GET YOUR DOCUMENTS — Locate your passport, certified birth certificate, or REAL ID. If you don't have them, start the process now. A U.S. passport card costs $30 for renewals and $65 for first-time applicants.
• HELP YOUR NEIGHBORS — Talk to family members, friends, and neighbors — especially older residents and young first-time voters — about getting their documents in order.
• CONTACT YOUR SENATORS — Call or write Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen and urge them to oppose the SAVE Act and any legislation that restricts ballot access.
• STAY WITH GTC — Sign up for GTC updates at goodtroublecircle.org and follow us on social media. We will keep you informed every step of the way.
Our vote is our power. No law can take it from us if we are prepared. Good Trouble Circle is here to make sure every Queen Anne's County voter is ready.
In Good Trouble,
Good Trouble Circle
Queen Anne's County, Maryland
The Supreme Court Just Gutted the Voting Rights Act. Good Trouble Circle Will Not Be Silent.
Today is a hard day for everyone who believes in democracy.
This morning, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais — and in a 6–3 decision, the Court's conservative majority effectively gutted the enforcement mechanism that has protected communities of color from racial gerrymandering for more than 40 years.
What the Court Did
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been the primary legal tool for challenging racially discriminatory congressional maps since the Civil Rights era. It didn't require plaintiffs to prove that lawmakers intended to discriminate — only that the maps had a discriminatory effect.
Today's ruling changes that. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, held that VRA plaintiffs must now show a 'strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.' Proving intent — when legislators don't announce their motives and legislative privilege blocks discovery — is nearly impossible. That is the point.
In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan was unsparing: 'Under the Court's new view of Section 2, a State can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens' voting power.' She called the ruling the foundation for 'the largest reduction in minority representation since the era following Reconstruction.'
What Happens Next
The consequences are already unfolding. Florida moved the same day to advance a new congressional map that could shift its delegation from 20 Republican / 8 Democratic seats to 24 Republican / 4 Democratic seats. Mississippi, Georgia, and other Southern states are expected to follow.
Nationally, analysts estimate that Republicans could gain up to 19 additional U.S. House seats as a direct result of this ruling — in an election year.
Why Good Trouble Circle Exists for Moments Like This
Good Trouble Circle was founded in the spirit of Congressman John Lewis — a man who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, endured violence on Bloody Sunday, and spent his life fighting for every American's right to vote. The Voting Rights Act he helped win is not just a law. It is a covenant.
When that covenant is broken, we do not accept it. We organize.
We are calling on Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act immediately. We are calling on Maryland Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen to fight for our rights with urgency. And we are calling on every Queen Anne's County voter — register, stay engaged, and show up in 2026.
Our voice is our power. No court can take that from us if we use it.
The Broader Attack on Your Vote: The SAVE Act
The Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais does not stand alone. It is part of a coordinated, nationwide effort to restrict voting rights heading into the 2026 midterm elections. Alongside the Callais decision, Congress has advanced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act — known as the SAVE Act — which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February 2026 and was debated in the Senate before stalling. Its supporters have made clear they will continue pursuing it through every available avenue.
The SAVE Act would require every American to present documentary proof of citizenship — a passport or birth certificate — in order to register to vote in federal elections. It would effectively eliminate online and mail-in voter registration. It would mandate frequent voter roll purges. And it would expose election officials to criminal penalties for honest administrative mistakes.
More than 21 million Americans lack ready access to the documents this law would require. Communities of color are disproportionately represented in that number. Nearly half of Black Americans under 30 do not have ID with their current name and address. Many older Black Americans, born during the pre-civil rights era, were never issued a birth certificate at all. The SAVE Act is not about election security. It is about voter suppression.
What Queen Anne's County Voters Should Do Right Now:
• Get your documents in order NOW — passport, certified birth certificate, or REAL ID. Don't wait.
• Check your voter registration at elections.maryland.gov and confirm it is current and active.
• Help your neighbors, family members, and community get their documents — especially older residents and young first-time voters.
• Contact Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen and demand they oppose the SAVE Act and any legislation that restricts ballot access.
• Stay engaged with GTC — we will keep you informed as this legislation evolves.
Together, the Callais ruling and the SAVE Act represent the most significant rollback of voting rights since Reconstruction. Good Trouble Circle will not be silent. We will educate, organize, and mobilize every voter in Queen Anne's County. That is our mission. That is our promise.
In Good Trouble,
Good Trouble Circle
Queen Anne's County, Maryland