Good morning.
Colorado’s Supreme Court has dealt a major blow to efforts to redraw one of the nation’s key battleground maps, the Justice Department is joining a high-profile legal challenge to a race-based reparations program in Illinois, and the United States Supreme Court has declined to hear President Donald Trump’s appeal in the E. Jean Carroll civil case.
Colorado Court Blocks Bid to Redraw Congressional Map
Republicans are celebrating a major legal victory after the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously struck down five proposed ballot initiatives that sought to overhaul the state’s congressional redistricting process.
In two separate 7-0 rulings, the court rejected measures backed by both Democratic- and Republican-aligned groups, effectively preserving Colorado’s independent redistricting commission and the congressional map currently in place.
The ruling is particularly significant for Democrats, who had viewed Colorado as one of their best opportunities to gain House seats before the upcoming election. Democratic proposals would have temporarily suspended the independent commission approved by voters in 2018 and replaced it with a map that could have shifted the state’s current 4-4 congressional delegation toward a sizable left-leaning advantage.
Chief Justice Monica Márquez wrote that dismantling the commission would amount to “a seismic shift” in Colorado’s constitutional redistricting process, while a separate opinion concluded the proposals violated the state’s single-subject requirement for ballot initiatives.
Because supporters needed to qualify the measures for this November’s ballot to implement new maps before 2028, Monday’s decision effectively ends the effort.
Republicans hailed the ruling as a decisive victory, while Democratic supporters criticized the decision and argued the proposals were blocked on procedural grounds after millions had already been spent gathering signatures.
Justice Department Joins Challenge to Evanston Reparations Program
The Trump administration is throwing its weight behind a closely watched lawsuit challenging Evanston, Illinois’ reparations program.
The Justice Department has filed a motion to intervene in a case brought by Judicial Watch against the city, which provides $25,000 housing-related payments to eligible black residents and their descendants who experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969.
According to the Justice Department’s proposed complaint, the program violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act by limiting eligibility based on race.
Judicial Watch welcomed the intervention.
The lawsuit has already cleared an important procedural hurdle. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge John Kness ruled that the white plaintiffs bringing the case have standing to pursue their constitutional claims, allowing the litigation to move forward.
Evanston has defended the program as a lawful effort to address documented historical discrimination.
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Trump Appeal in Carroll Case
The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear President Trump’s appeal of the $5 million civil judgment awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll, leaving the jury’s verdict against him intact.
Without comment, the justices denied Trump’s petition to review the case, allowing a lower court ruling to stand. The decision effectively ends his challenge to the 2023 verdict, in which a federal jury found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll during an encounter in the mid-1990s and later defaming her through public statements denying her allegations.
Trump’s legal team argued the trial should have been retried because jurors heard testimony from two other women who accused him of sexual misconduct, as well as the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording, evidence his attorneys said unfairly prejudiced the case.
Carroll’s attorneys maintained that the trial was conducted fairly and that the lower courts correctly applied federal evidence rules.
While the Supreme Court’s decision closes the door on the $5 million judgment, Trump continues to challenge a separate $83.3 million defamation award stemming from additional statements he made after Carroll first publicly accused him in 2019. That appeal remains ongoing.
READ NEXT: Colorado Supreme Court Delivers Major Win To GOP, Blocks Democrats’ Redistricting Push
