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mondaire jones
'Huge Victory' for Democracy as NY Court Orders Congressional Map Redrawn
"It's important that the Independent Redistricting Commission get to work expeditiously and present a map that fairly reflects the racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic diversity of our great state," said U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Jul 13, 2023
Progressives on Thursday expressed hope that a ruling by a state appeals court in New York will give the Democratic Party an opportunity to regain control of several U.S. House seats that were won by Republicans in last year's midterm elections following what critics called an "undemocratic process" of drawing the state congressional map.
The appellate division of the state Supreme Court sided on Thursday with the Democratic Party, which had argued in a lawsuit that the district map that was drawn for the 2022 midterms was only meant to be temporary.
The current map was drawn last year by a special master who had been appointed by the state Supreme Court after it ruled that Democrats had unfairly gerrymandered the previous map. That ruling took the responsibility for redistricting out of the hands of the state's Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC).
The five-judge panel on Thursday voted 3-2 in favor of ordering the IRC to "commence its duties forthwith" and redraw the state map.
If it stands, the ruling is set to give the New York Legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, final say over the state's 26 U.S. House districts in the coming years. The party could retake as many as six seats currently held by Republicans who won their elections last year, including U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler in the 17th District and Rep. George Santos in the 3rd District.
Marc Elias of the voting rights group Democracy Docket called the ruling a "huge victory" for fair districting.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the ruling presents the party with an opportunity to retake seats it lost after "the current congressional map was drawn by an unelected, out-of-town special master appointed by an extreme right-wing judge, who himself was handpicked by partisan political operatives," referring to Judge Patrick McAllister of the state Supreme Court.
"It's important that the Independent Redistricting Commission get to work expeditiously and present a map that fairly reflects the racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic diversity of our great state," said Jeffries.
The special master-drawn map forced progressive former Rep. Mondaire Jones out of the 17th District and changed the district where grassroots organizer Rana Abdelhamid had been campaigning, pitting her against other progressives and forcing her to end her U.S. House bid. Jones announced earlier this month that he is running again in the 17th District.
The ruling handed down on Thursday "is huge and could have massive national implications," said Abdelhamid.
Democrats could now win back enough seats in New York to offset losses that are expected in North Carolina, where the right-wing state Supreme Court earlier this year cleared the way for Republicans to redraw the state map.
Republican lawmakers said they will appeal Thursday's ruling, which would give the state Court of Appeals the final word. The Court of Appeals has moved to the left in the last year, with liberal Judge Rowan Wilson—who dissented last year when the court rejected Democrats' appeal of the appointment of the special master—having replaced former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.
Organizer Victor Shi called the appellate division's ruling a "victory for anyone who cares about democracy and voting rights."
"The right to participate in the democratic process is the most essential right in our system of governance," said the court. "The procedures governing the redistricting process, all too easily abused by those who would seek to minimize the voters' voice and entrench themselves in the seats of power, must be guarded as jealously as the right to vote itself; in granting this petition, we return the matter to its constitutional design."
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Progressive Mondaire Jones Launches Campaign to Reclaim US House Seat
"I'm running to finish the work I began," said Jones.
Jul 05, 2023
Pledging to "finish the work" he began when he served in the U.S. House from 2021-23, former Rep. Mondaire Jones launched a congressional campaign Wednesday in New York's 17th District, more than a year after redistricting in the state pushed him to leave the district and run unsuccessfully in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The progressive attorney announced his candidacy with a video posted on social media in which he described his working-class background and highlighted his work in Congress and his former constituents offered endorsements of his commitment to ending gun violence and strengthening infrastructure.
"Some people in my party got mad at me when I tried to block members of Congress from getting rich off the stock market or when I said no to taking money from corporations," said Jones. "I have never been Washington's choice, because I stand up to corruption."
"We've got to get Washington back on the side of working people," he added. "I know we can do better."
In Congress, Jones was an outspoken supporter of Green New Deal legislation and Medicare for All before the New York state Supreme Court threw out the state Senate Democrats' congressional map on the grounds that it was unfairly partisan.
A court-appointed special master redrew the map, placing Jones in the same district as former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), a corporate Democrat who until this year chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which recruits candidates and raises campaign funds to elect Democrats.
Maloney angered progressives when he announced he would run to represent the 17th District, which includes several suburban communities north of New York City. Jones opted to leave the district and run instead in the 10th District. Both Democrats lost—Jones to Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat who largely self-funded his campaign, during last year's primary election; and Maloney to Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, in the general election.
Speaking to News 12 Westchester on Wednesday, Jones expressed regret about forgoing Maloney's primary challenge.
"I never imagined that I would wake up one day and would have to decide against primarying a member of the Democratic party at a time when we were seeing an assault on our democracy," he said. "To that extent, yeah, I do regret not being the Democratic nominee last cycle."
Liz Whitmer Gereghty, a school board member and sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), is running against Jones in the Democratic primary. As Politico reported Wednesday, Gereghty "has been courting support from members of the Michigan congressional delegation."
Gereghty toldHuffPost Wednesday that she is committed to passing legislation regarding "gun control and abortion rights," but was "vague" about her position on policies aimed at addressing economic injustice.
"This is not a Washington-driven campaign or even a Michigan-driven campaign," Jones told HuffPost. "This is a campaign that is rooted in the Hudson Valley, in New York's 17th Congressional District."
Gereghty was endorsed late last month by EMILY's List, a national group that supports pro-choice female candidates, while Jones released a list of local leaders who are supporting his campaign.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which was an early supporter of Jones' 2019 campaign, said the former congressman "worked to increase opportunity for all New Yorkers, including fighting to protect civil rights, expand access to affordable childcare, and tackle climate change."
"We are confident this track record combined with his grassroots support and positive vision for a more equitable America will resonate with voters," said Mayor Annise Parker, the group's president and CEO. "With growing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and racism across our country, including within the halls of Congress, Mondaire's election is a powerful symbol of hope for our community."
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Dick Durbin Under Fire for Letting GOP Senate Minority Veto Biden Judges
The Senate GOP only has effective veto power over Biden judges "because Durbin refuses to revoke the blue-slip tradition that willingly grants Republicans the ability to obstruct," said one observer.
Apr 10, 2023
With the disastrous consequences of the far-right's takeover of the federal court system becoming clearer by the day, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is facing intense criticism for preserving a tradition that is allowing Republicans to veto judges nominated by President Joe Biden.
The so-called "blue slip courtesy" is a nonbinding Senate norm that allows lawmakers to reject nominees for court seats in their home states.
While Republicans didn't hesitate to dispense with the informal rule when they were ramming through far-right judges at a torrid pace during former President Donald Trump's four years in office, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has chosen to adhere to the blue slip norm for district court nominees.
That decision garnered fresh anger last week when Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) announced she would not return a blue slip for Scott Colom, a Biden nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Collum had already received approval from Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, also a Republican.
CNNnoted Monday that "Durbin's office blasted Hyde-Smith's opposition to Colom in a statement that did not indicate whether he was rethinking the blue slip rule."
"The rule has not been respected consistently through the modern history of the Senate, and Republicans nixed the requirement for U.S. circuit court vacancies under Trump. Democrats, now in control, have refused to bring it back for appellate nominees, but Durbin has said he'd like to keep it in place for district courts," the outlet reported. "Durbin didn't waver on that position when Sen. Ron Johnson [R-Wis.] flip-flopped last year on his support of a district court nominee in his home state, state Judge William Pocan, effectively torpedoing Pocan's nomination."
Progressive advocacy groups said Monday that Durbin's refusal to ditch the blue slip tradition was made even more outrageous by a Friday ruling from Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas, who deemed the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the abortion medication mifepristone invalid. The U.S. Justice Department is appealing the ruling.
Shortly after Kacsmaryk handed down his ruling, which parroted anti-abortion talking points, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice of Washington State—an Obama appointee—issued a conflicting decision ordering the FDA to maintain access to the pill.
"If last week's appalling ruling from a MAGA judge attempting to ban abortion medication has taught us anything, it's that judges matter. Senate Dems must do everything in their power to confirm [Biden's] nominees, including eliminating the blue slip ASAP."
Hyde-Smith praised the Kacsmaryk ruling, calling it a "victory for pregnant mothers and their unborn children."
\u201cThis is the same Republican senator being allowed to block a Biden judicial nominee because of Sen. Durbin\u2019s blue slip policy.\u201d— Demand Justice (@Demand Justice) 1680961600
Durbin's adherence to the blue slip norm has also drawn frustration and backlash from fellow Democrats.
"If it's a blue slip problem and the Republicans aren't turning in their blue slips and they're being obstructionist, then we need to think about changing the rules," Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) told CNN.
In a tweet late Friday, former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) faulted Durbin for "allowing the blue slip process to prevent confirmation of Democratic judges in red states" as right-wing judges attempt to further weaken abortion rights.
\u201cMeanwhile, Senator Dick Durbin allows the blue slip process to prevent confirmation of Democratic judges in red states.\u201d— Mondaire Jones (@Mondaire Jones) 1680915886
The Senate approved 96 federal judges during Biden's first two years in office, outpacing all of his recent predecessors.
But the upper chamber confirmed just 34% more Biden judges in 2022 compared to the previous year, whereas the Senate under Trump approved 177% more judicial nominees in the former president's second year in the White House than in his first.
The Senate greenlit a record 231 federal judges—not including Supreme Court justices—during Trump's four-year tenure, filling vacancies across the country with young, often unqualified right-wing judges who will have significant power over U.S. law for decades to come.
In addition to further imperiling abortion rights, Trump-appointed judges have recently issued rulings against student debt cancellation, LGBTQ+ protections, and efforts to revoke anti-immigrant policies implemented by the former president.
According to the American Constitution Society, 18 Biden judicial nominees are awaiting floor votes, 12 still must be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and six are still waiting for hearings.
The Biden administration has thus far refused to pressure Durbin to drop the blue-slip rule entirely, even after Hyde-Smith made clear that she would try to tank Colom's nomination.
Durbin has said the recent and indefinite absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.)—a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—has had an impact on the panel's ability to advance judges.
CNN observed that since Feinstein's office announced in early March that the senator was hospitalized with shingles, "the committee has only approved one nominee, Judge Matthew Brookman, the GOP-supported appointee for the Indiana district court seat."
But The American Prospect's David Dayen stressed Monday that the Senate GOP only has effective veto power over Biden judges "because Durbin refuses to revoke the blue-slip tradition that willingly grants Republicans the ability to obstruct."
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