No Kings gets ready to shift from defense to offense

The resistance has an agenda for a Democratic Congress

Welcome to my 100^th Heads Up News newsletter.

First things first: Vote! Vote early if you can, but vote on Election Day if you can’t.

• Encourage your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, and fellow hobbyists and worshippers to vote. Call them. Check in with them on Election Day, and if they haven’t voted, help them make a plan. Offer them rides to the polls. Knock on doors in your precinct.

• It’s not too late to sign up for a get-out-the-vote shift. Look on Mobilize. Contact your favorite political organization, campaign, or union.

• If you have any questions about how to vote, or you see anything that concerns you, call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer. Report to your local election officials.

• Remember that it is illegal for the military to be deployed at polling places other than to repel armed enemies of the United States. Federal and state laws prohibit deploying federal law enforcement to polling places, with similarly unlikely exceptions.

• Federal law prohibits voter intimidation. In addition to overt threats or coercion, that includes aggressively questioning voters about their citizenship, criminal record, or other qualifications to vote, and spreading false information about voter requirements. (You do not need to speak English to vote, in any state.)

• Did you see someone turned away without voting? Help them assert their rights.

• Make it festive. Set up near a polling place with music, snacks, and signs of welcome.

• Show up before voting ends and tell people in line to stay in line. Anyone in line when polls close still has the right to vote.

• Thank your local election workers. They are wonderful people.

Shifting from Defense to Offense

My main “item” in today’s newsletter is not here. It’s in The New Republic.

I’ve been very curious for several weeks now about what a Democratic Congress could do to resist Trump, practically speaking.

Last month, I wrote about the need for a detailed, operational game plan so they can hit the ground running (on MS NOW) and about some really smart suggestions from a bunch of old Washington hands (in Salon).

For my latest piece, I interviewed leaders of some of the organizations that make up the No Kings coalition.

Readers, these were great interviews! These people are smart, and knowledgeable, and strategic.

So on Monday, in The New Republic, I published a piece headlined “The No Kings Movement Is Already Planning for 2028.”

Please go read it!

Due Process for Some

Should noncitizen immigrants who have spent decades in this country building families, businesses, and strong ties to their communities be entitled to any form of due process at all while ICE detains them indefinitely pending deportation?

The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said no on Friday, supporting the “mandatory detention” policy that’s been in effect since a memo in July 2025. That memo is why tens of thousands of our neighbors are being held for months on end in inhumane conditions.

The new policy eliminates the possibility of a bond hearing where immigrants who present no flight risk could be allowed to return to their homes while awaiting final disposition of their immigration cases.

Politico is (heroically) keeping track of every individual case brought by immigrants challenging their mandatory detention. In over 25,400 such cases, over 500 judges ruled that the immigrants were being held illegally.

Panels in nine of the 11 appellate courts have ruled that mandatory detention is illegal.

But the full Fifth Circuit ruling was definitely a setback.

The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a related case in its upcoming session.

Last Week in the Courts

Democracy Docket is doing such a great job of following voting-related lawsuits that I may just start linking to their articles, rather than summarizing the cases myself. So in the past week, for instance, they reported on:

• DOJ’s stunning lawsuit demanding that Alaska block certification of the results in the state’s U.S. Senate race if the Republican loses, and how a federal judge expedited Democrats’ effort to dismiss it.

• DOJ’s attempt to force California not to count the ballots of 20,000 voters it put on a highly suspicious list of “likely noncitizens”, which a federal district judge is reviewing, and which an appellate panel has expressed doubts about.

• A federal judge limiting aggressive DHS field operations targeting alleged noncitizen voting in nine states because those efforts amount to “ongoing intimidation” that would cause “irreparable harm” to legal voters.

And in immigration news:

• The American Prospect reported on a federal judge’s furious order demanding the quicker return of wrongly deported immigrant Ahmed Soliman, and hinting at possible contempt charges.

• And the National Immigration Law Center announced that it is suing ICE, challenging its new policy of hiding the locations of thousands of detainees, which it says is unlawfully interfering with communication between detainees, their families, and their lawyers.