February 28, 2025

How Love Wins This Week (Feb 28, 2025)

Hard Wins: Cases won, court orders issued, legislation passed, etc.

• The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that blocked provisions of two Arizona laws seeking documentary proof of citizenship to vote in presidential elections. Voter Suppression Laws Remain Blocked in Arizona [Democracy Docket]
• The DC District Court converted a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction (sounds boring but this is significant stuff!) blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funds. Federal Judge Extends Halt To Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze [Democracy Docket]
  • If you are a legal nerd like myself, there is some excellent spicy language in the opinion on pages 30-31: "In the simplest terms, the freeze was ill-conceived from the beginning. Defendants either wanted to pause up to $3 trillion in federal spending practically overnight, or they expected each federal agency to review every single one of its grants, loans, and funds for compliance in less than twenty-four hours. The breadth of that command is almost unfathomable. ... Either way, Defendants’ actions were irrational, imprudent, and precipitated a nationwide crisis. Plaintiffs have therefore shown a likelihood of success on their arbitrary and capricious claim." Aw, BOOM! The analysis under d. Excess of statutory authority and e. First Amendment is likewise dope AF.
• A California federal court ruled that the Office of Personnel Management's directive to terminate probationary employees was unlawful. Judge Says Trump Administration Ordering Mass Firings Was Unlawful [Democracy Docket]. See also Judge finds mass firings of federal probationary workers were likely unlawful [AP]
  • Love this judge's language as well: The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency.
• "OSC Hampton Dellinger, after being reinstated by a judge following dismissal by Trump, has temporarily saved the jobs of six wrongfully-terminated probationary federal workers" Major Win for Probationary Federal Workers [The Breakdown]

Soft Wins: Cases filed, legislation introduced, etc.

• House Democrats introduce a bill proposing the BAD DOGE Act, to undo the executive order that spawned DOGE: Rep. Dave Min Introduces Bill to Repeal the Executive Order Creating DOGE [Office of Rep. Min]
• And Democrats also sued the administration over interference in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Democrats Sue Trump Over Attempt to Control Independent Election Agency [Democracy Docket]

Fighting the Good Fight: Protests, unofficial actions, and inspiration

• Advice for restaurant owners and workers worried about possible immigration raids, which also happens to be a good basic primer for anyone on your rights against unlawful search and seizure: What Should You Do if ICE Comes to Your Restaurant? [Eater]
• A nice thread on Bluesky with examples of people standing up to the current presidential administration: Here's a little thread of some excellent videos of people punching up this week [@marcprecipice.bsky.social‬]. See also Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warns against authoritarianism in address [NBC News]
• The pushback against DEI-pushback: Companies may be rolling back their diversity policies but investors keep voting down anti-DEI shareholder proposals [Fortune]. See also 98% of John Deere & Apple Shareholders Reject Anti-Diversity Proposals [As You Sow]
• Thank you to John Oliver for some straightforward advice on how to make yourself less valuable to Meta. [Last Week Tonight]
• And in case you missed it: Across the US, ‘No kings on Presidents Day’ rings out from protests against Trump and Musk [AP]; Thousands of people protest in Washington, D.C., and across the U.S. on Presidents Day [NPR]

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If you happened to notice the gap in updates last week, sorry! There are some logistics to starting a newsletter like this that are still coming together. Like, oh, keeping track of news, and figuring out when the update needs to get written. Whoops!