Dems Stand to Lose Dozens of Congressional Districts at SCOTUS...1
At least nineteen and perhaps more Democratic-held congressional districts could shift to Republican control depending on the outcome of a major redistricting case being reargued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The case, Louisiana v. Callais, examines whether the state’s move to create a second majority-black congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law and birthright citizenship, while the Fifteenth prohibits denying the right to vote on the basis of race.
Attorneys for the state argued on Wednesday the legislature was essentially given the choice – either create the second black-majority congressional district or the Justice Dept. would step in and do it.
The Court’s ruling could have sweeping implications for congressional maps nationwide, potentially reshaping the balance of power in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Newsweek reported.
Louisiana’s congressional map was redrawn to include a second Black-majority district following lawsuits that claimed the previous map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by weakening the voting strength of black residents.
Phillip Callais and a group of non-black voters challenged the revised map, contending that it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the case is expected to have major implications for how legislatures across the country apply Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits redistricting plans that diminish minority voting power.
While the outcome remains uncertain, Democrats are expressing concern that the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority could side with Callais’ argument.
According to a report by the left-leaning nonprofits Fair Fight Action and the Black Voters Matter Fund, a ruling in favor of Callais could result in the redrawing of 19 Democratic-held congressional districts currently protected under the Voting Rights Act, potentially shifting them to favor Republican candidates.
President Donald Trump has signaled his intent to preserve Republican control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections and has indicated a willingness to urge state officials to pursue out-of-cycle redistricting efforts to help achieve that objective.
The following districts could be subject to redrawing if the Supreme Court moves to limit or overturn Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes the city of Mobile and most of the Montgomery metropolitan area, is represented by Democrat Shomari Figures. A former attorney, Figures previously worked on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and later served as deputy chief of staff to former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Black residents make up nearly 50 percent of the district’s estimated 703,362 population, forming a plurality, while white residents account for about 41 percent. The district has been held by a Democrat since January 2025, following its redrawing in 2024.
Alabama’s 7th Congressional District includes parts of the Birmingham, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa metropolitan areas, along with the entire city of Selma. Representative Terri Sewell, a Democrat, has served the district since 2011.
Of the district’s estimated 718,912 residents, more than 51 percent are Black and nearly 39 percent are white. The district has remained under Democratic representation since 1967, with no Republican having held the seat in nearly six decades.
Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District encompasses nearly all of New Orleans and stretches north toward Baton Rouge. Although it is currently considered safely Democratic, redistricting could turn the district into a competitive battleground.
Representative Troy Carter has held the seat since 2021. Before his election to Congress, Carter served as minority leader in the Louisiana State Senate and previously held positions on the New Orleans City Council and in the Louisiana House of Representatives.
The district’s estimated population of 736,254 is nearly 50 percent Black and about 33 percent white. A Republican last represented the district in 2011.
At the center of the Supreme Court case, Louisiana’s newly drawn 6th Congressional District spans from Shreveport in the northwest to areas near Baton Rouge in the southwest, Newsweek reported.
Representative Cleo Fields currently holds the seat, having previously served in Congress representing the 4th District from 1993 to 1997.
Black residents make up about 52 percent of the district’s estimated 753,643 population, while nearly 36 percent are white. The district was represented by a Republican as recently as January 2025.
Senate Confirms Trump’s Newest Conservative Judge Pick to 9th Circuit
The U.S. Senate has confirmed a former clerk for conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and the late Antonin Scalia to be a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52 to 45 in favor of Eric Tung, a partner at Jones Day. This made him the first judge President Donald Trump selected for the San Francisco-based appeals court during his second administration.
His confirmation brings the total number of judges Trump appointed to the 9th Circuit from 2017 to 2020 during his first term to 10. This weakens the power of Democratic appointees, who have long held sway on a court that was previously thought to be the most liberal of all the federal appellate courts.
There are currently 16 Democratic appointees and 13 Republican appointees on the 9th Circuit, including Tung. In July, Trump nominated Tung to fill the seat that U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta had held. She stated in March that she would step down when a successor was named.
When Trump announced Tung’s nomination, he called him a “Tough Patriot” on social media and said he would preserve the Rule of Law in the “most RADICAL, Leftist States” like California, Oregon, and Washington. These are three of the nine states that the 9th Circuit has jurisdiction over.
Tung is a partner at the law firm Jones Day in Los Angeles. Before that, he was a federal prosecutor and worked for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tung worked as a clerk for Gorsuch twice: once when he was on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and again after Trump confirmed him to the Supreme Court in 2017. He had also worked for Scalia, who passed away in 2016.
During the confirmation process, Senate Democrats painted Tung as a right-wing ideologue by pointing to things he had said and written in the past about gender roles, same-sex marriage, and transgender healthcare.
In July, they grilled Tung hard over comments he made in an essay in Yale’s student newspaper when he was an undergraduate in 2004. In the article, he chastised “radical feminists” for wanting to “blur gender roles” and “undermine institutions like marriage.”
This comes after Maj. Gen. John L. Rafferty, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
Rafferty, currently the chief of staff at U.S. European Command in Germany, possesses over 33 years of leadership and technical expertise, particularly in field artillery operations and command and staff roles.
Rafferty’s notable recent positions encompass commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command, U.S. Army Europe-Africa, Germany; chief of Army Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.; director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team, Fort Sill, Oklahoma; executive officer to the director of the Army Staff, Washington, D.C.; and commander of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He has provided support for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Spartan Shield, Inherent Resolve, and others.
Rafferty is succeeding Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, who is retiring after over 35 years of military service.
Recently, Senate Republicans confirmed nearly 100 of President Trump’s nominees, outpacing previous administrations and even his own first term.
A 53–43 vote Thursday approved 97 of Trump’s picks, marking some of the final floor action in the Senate after a frenetic stretch driven by Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., once Republicans took control of the chamber in January.
Along the way, Republicans navigated internal divisions to pass the president’s signature “one big, beautiful bill” and reopened the government following the longest shutdown in U.S. history, Fox News reported.
Republicans invoked the nuclear option in September, lowering the vote threshold for confirming sub-Cabinet nominees. Since then, the Senate has approved 417 of Trump’s picks.
With the latest round of confirmations, Senate Republicans have nearly eliminated a nominations backlog that swelled to almost 150 pending picks over the summer. Just 15 nominees now remain.
"The vanilla buttercream hit the hardwood floor with a sickening, heavy thud.
"The vanilla buttercream hit the hardwood floor with a sickening, heavy thud.
I didn’t even register the sound of the custom glass platter shattering. All I could see was my ten-year-old son, Leo, standing over the wreckage of a three-tier cake, his chest heaving, his fists clenched at his sides.
Pink and white frosting was splattered across the polished shoes of my business partners. It was smeared across the velvet chairs rented from the event company. And, worst of all, it was dripping down the front of my pregnant wife Vanessa’s six-hundred-dollar maternity dress.
The silence in the Oak Creek Country Club banquet room was absolute. Sixty people—my hardware store employees, the loan officers from the local bank, the members of our church congregation—stopped breathing all at once.
Vanessa let out a sharp, theatrical shriek, her hands flying to her mouth. ""My baby! He tried to hurt my baby!""
I saw red. The public humiliation, the disrespect, the sheer malice of ruining this celebration—it all boiled over in a fraction of a second. I lunged forward, grabbed Leo by the shoulder, spun him around, and slapped him across the face.
The smack echoed off the high ceilings.
""What is wrong with you?"" I roared, my voice cracking with a mix of fury and embarrassment. ""Go to the car. Right now!""
Leo didn’t cry. He didn’t run. He just stood there, the red mark blossoming on his pale cheek, staring at me with a look I had never seen before. It wasn’t defiance. It was pity.
Forty-five minutes earlier, everything had seemed perfect. We had just arrived at the country club, and Vanessa had been practically glowing, orchestrating every detail of the shower. But Leo had been quiet. He had been complaining of his seasonal allergies, so I had sent him to the bridal suite down the hall to find the emergency inhaler I kept in Vanessa's oversized leather tote bag.
I didn't know then what he had found when that bag tipped over on the vanity. I didn't know about the practice sheets of paper. I didn't know about the plastic capsule the caterer had been instructed to slide into the center of the cake's bottom tier.
All I knew was that Vanessa had insisted, loudly and in front of everyone, that I be the one to cut the first slice. ""You have to cut right down the middle, Thomas,"" she had cooed into the microphone just moments before the crash. ""There’s a special surprise waiting inside for you. I want everyone to see it.""
I had the silver cake knife in my hand. I was three steps away.
That was when Leo had sprinted out of nowhere, diving past the gift table and shoving the heavy cake stand with all the strength his eighty-pound body could muster.
Now, standing in the ruins of the party, I glared at my son, waiting for him to apologize, waiting for him to break down.
Instead, Leo slowly lifted his hand and pointed at the smashed remains of the bottom tier.
""Look inside it, Dad,"" he whispered. ""Before she hides it.""
To be continued..."
Full story :
"The perfect wife was about to commit the unthinkable. Then the front door opened."""" The heavy bronze candlestick was raised high in the air.
"""""""The perfect wife was about to commit the unthinkable. Then the front door opened.""""
The heavy bronze candlestick was raised high in the air.
Her target? A frail, elderly woman trapped in a wheelchair.
It was supposed to be a flawless plan. A tragic """"accident"""" while her husband was away at work.
But he came home early.
""""Put it down!"""" he shouted, his voice echoing through the kitchen.
In a split second, her murderous glare vanished, replaced by a terrifyingly bright, fake smile.
""""Honey! You're back early,"""" she cooed, her fingers still gripping the weapon. """"I was just scaring her... she keeps stealing my things.""""
She thought the sweet lie would save her. She thought she could manipulate him like always.
But he wasn't buying it. His eyes were cold, filled with furious disgust.
""""Don't you dare lie to me!"""" he roared, violently snatching the candlestick from her hands and slamming it down.
As the heavy metal crashed against the counter, a new sound pierced the dead silence.
Wailing sirens. Approaching fast.
Her mask shattered, leaving only pure, wide-eyed terror.
👇 Who really called the police, and what dark family secret is she trying to bury?
👇 The story continues in the comments! Full story :"
