by Patrice Johnson | November 29, 2023
Bob Dylan warned of Earth’s rising sea levels, writing “The times they are a changin’” in the autumn of 1963. Little could he have imagined that 60 years later wokeism would wash over the globe, saturating the environmental movement, financial markets, social media platforms and search engines, educational systems, and elections. No way could Dylan have foreseen the backlash either. But backlash there is. Over the past three months, citizens across the U.S. have constructed significant counter-woke measures, going so far as to erect two powerful seawalls in one day alone.
On November 20 two things happened. The quiet 8th U.S. Circuit Court handed down a ruling in an Arkansas case. Private individuals and organizations, it held, are prohibited from filing Voting Rights Act lawsuits claiming ‘racism’ in order to overturn election laws. On the same day, Elon Musk’s X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, filed a “thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
These two developments—one from a federal court and the other from the wealthiest man on the planet—are hardly to be taken lightly. Their timing, sandwiched between other events occurring from this September through November, may explain why progressives are behaving as if their hair is on fire.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court ruling
“Congress did not give private plaintiffs the ability to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA),” the appellate court held on November 20
At once, the Elias Law Group called the decision “catastrophic.” Lead attorney Marc Elias wrote in the firm’s publication, Democracy Docket, the ruling was “the most dramatic change to election laws in half a century.”
In contrast, constitutional attorney Erick Kaardal, partner with Mohrman, Kaardal and Erickson, P.A., praised the ruling.
“It won’t be a progressive billionaire and non-profits game anymore,” Kaardal said.
Kaardal was alluding to the reality that, for decades, activist progressives have used the VRA to sue state or local governments. Election security safeguards like voter ID, signature verification, and legislative redistricting are discriminatory or ‘racist,’ they claim. This multi-billion-dollar lawfare strategy has often gutted processes designed to protect the integrity of elections, and it has proven lucrative to progressive law firms.
The federal court decision makes lawsuits to overturn election laws more difficult for activists and groups within the 8th Circuit Court’s jurisdiction, which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kaardal indicated the federal circuit court had given the VRA a proper reading and determined challenges to election law should be available in equal measure to the public.
“Voters should rest assured that their voter access claims can still be heard under the Help America Vote Act,” he said.
HAVA administrative complaints are free to the public with the added benefit that HAVA requires states to implement a due process to address HAVA complaints within 90 days.
VRA lawsuits, on the other hand, tend to be extremely costly to clients and profitable for law firms. As a result, they have become the go-to tool available to wealthy individuals and well-heeled organizations.
According to Influence Watch, the Elias firm is reputed to derive a significant portion of its revenues from VRA lawsuits. Back in 2016, when Marc Elias practiced political law at Perkins Coie (the law firm representing the Democrat National Committee and Clintons), “Billionaire left-wing donor George Soros gave $5 million…so political law group chair Marc Elias could challenge what left-wing activists allege to be restrictions that deter Democrats and left-wing constituencies from voting.”
Conservative Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, posted enthusiastic support of the federal court’s ruling.
“Marc Elias is fuming,” Kirk wrote. “The tide is shifting. 2024 is not 2020....the left is starting to panic."
Kirk said the left’s lawfare tactic has struck fear into the hearts of officials. As a result, lawmakers avoided passing laws and jurisdictions hesitated to enforce them. They didn’t “want to deal with the legal costs and hassle.”
Epoch Times commentator Joshua Philipp, host of Crossroads, said the 8th Circuit Court decision represents “a major shift in election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.” It will prevent lawsuits intended to “force really bad things that led…to a lot of fraud like universal mail-in ballots.”
The November 20 Musk lawsuit
Elon Musk announced, “The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp [formerly known as Twitter] will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”
If past is prelude and Musk’s release of the Twitter Files is an indicator of things to come, the new X lawsuit will attempt to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an unlawful tryst exists among progressive billionaires, nonprofits, and government officials. Their goal? To influence election outcomes.
“This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers,” Musk tweeted.
He claims that of X’s 5.5 billion advertisements on one day, Media Matters deliberately manipulated the placement of two or three ads to create the false impression that the company was antisemitic.
◦ For one brand showcased in the article, one of its ads ran adjacent to a post 2 times and that ad was seen in that setting by only two users, one of which was the author of the Media Matters article.
◦ For another brand showcased in the article, two of its ads served adjacent to 2 posts, 3 times, and that ad was only seen in that setting by one user, the author of the Media Matters article.
The winds of September blow through November
On September 8, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against President Biden, the highest federal government employee in the United States, himself and other administrative officials of the government’s First Amendment violations.
The court found that the administration “pressed the platforms” to remove posts, that officials in the administration “asked for more data and stronger interventions.” The court found that the government coerced these media platforms to make the decisions that the platforms made.
On September 20, Wall Street’s top regulator adopted a new rule. Stop the “greenwashing,” the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared. U.S. investment funds are to drop deceptive or misleading marketing practices about environmental and social governance (ESG) investment policies. Instead, they are to direct their priorities back to delivering profits to shareholders.
By coincidence, Disney admitted in an SEC filing that its controversial political and social agenda is costing the company and its shareholders money. One might wonder if the company is trying to mitigate looming criminal or civil suits for violating its fiduciary responsibilities.
Nov. 16. Iowa’s Board of Regents instructed the state’s three public universities to eliminate all staff positions focused on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) except for positions required for accreditation or to comply with state or federal law.
Nov. 23. After campaigning on a libertarian, anti-communism platform, Javier Milei, a 20-year economics professor and author of 50-plus academic papers, won Argentina’s presidential race
As we head into the presidential election cycle, the burners are turning up. Five redistricting cases are underway across the nation, and Michigan legislators passed 36 elections bills this year, 16 on a completely partisan vote, meaning no one from the minority party voted for any of these 16 bills. PIME opposed 26 bills, supported one bill, and was neutral on four. Eight are in the pipeline, and PIME opposes six. (See Pure Integrity Michigan Elections.)
Dylan’s words hold true today:
The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past.
The order is rapidly fadin' And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'
Don't miss tomorrow's (Thursday's) Zoom@Noon will be held Nov. 30, 2023.
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Mark your calendar for Webinar this Thursday evening: Countering Lawfare Attacks on Fair Elections in Great Lakes States
Want to know what is happening to counter the lawfare attacks on fair elections in the Great Lakes States? Tune in this Thursday night at 7 PM to hear reports from Heather Honey, Pennsylvania Fair Elections; Patrice Johnson, Michigan Fair Elections; Ron Heuer, Wisconsin Voter Alliance; and Attorney Erick Kaardal, Minnesota.
When: Nov 30, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Countering Lawfare Attacks on Fair Elections in Great Lakes States
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