Three Wins Today: July 9, 2025
Today was absolutely exhausting, I had to sit and wait for my doctors appointment for an hour and a half only to learn during the appointment I could have just done it on the phone. Word to the wise with uteruses, apparently right after a holiday weekend, it’s more likely that people going to the OBGYN are there for a complication, so don’t make an appointment the week after a holiday weekend.
So, just like you, I really need some good wins today. I hope these feel do the trick for you like they did for me.
Thurs July 3 - George W Bush appointee, Kathryn Vratil has ruled that Kansas’ "Personalized Application Prohibition Law” is unconstitutional. The law makes it a crime for an organization to partially fill out a ballot application before sending it out. When this is possible, it makes it more likely that that person will become a registered voter, cause they have to do less work.
In the ruling, Judge Vratil said:
Plaintiff bears the burden of proof, and the Court finds that it is more probably true than not true that the Kansas Legislature enacted the Personal Application Prohibition to suppress speech which favors voting by mail...As noted, before and after the 2020 election, mail in voting had become one of several scapegoats for the alleged “stealing” of the 2020 presidential election. In Kansas however, one week after the election, on November 10, 2020, Schwab had publicly declared that the 2020 election in Kansas was successful, without widespread, systematic issues of voter fraud, intimidation, irregularities or voting problems—an undisputed fact which calls into question any purported legislative intent to root out fraud, promote efficiency or avoid voter confusion in Kansas elections.
This is great on its own, but it’s even better knowing it comes from a Republican, or former Republican, at least.
Thurs July 3 - The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Texas’ extreme Immigration law, SB 4, cannot go into effect because the power to control immigration is federal. SB 4 would basically make local police into ICE agents, giving them the ability to arrest people based on immigration status, among other things.
The court said:
For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that the power to control immigration—the entry, admission, and removal of aliens— is exclusively a federal power. Despite this fundamental axiom, S.B. 4 creates separate, distinct state criminal offenses for unauthorized entry and reentry of aliens into Texas from a foreign nation, and it provides procedures for their removal.
This is one of those mixed wins, cause it means blue states can’t protect immigrants in this way either. That said it absolutely is a win in that Republican states will have a lot harder time using local law enforcement as ICE.
Tues July 1 - The National Resources Defense Council announced that a decade at the Flint Water Crisis began, the State of Michigan has officially submitted a progress report to the federal court confirming that all the lead pipes have officially been replaced.
NRDC president, Manish Bapna said:
In these challenging times for our country—marked by chaos and pain for so many—the story of Flint is a shining beacon of hope. It is a reminder of the power that we the people of this country hold. It’s a reminder of why preserving American democracy is so essential. It’s a reminder of what’s possible if we stand up to powerful forces and refuse to back down.
I could not have said it better myself if I had been the one to write it.
I have nothing to add except…
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
Thank you for sharing these WINS! Peace