Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 24

Alabama’s redistricting brawl rehashes bitter fight over voting rights (Politico)

The GOP-dominated Legislature passed a map on Friday that disregarded a lower federal court’s directive — one reinforced in June by the Supreme Court — that it should include two districts with a Black “voting-age majority or something quite close to it” when it redraws its lines. The legislature, over the unified objections of Democrats, instead came up with a map that falls short of that, with one narrowly Black-majority district and one with a Black voting age population of just under 40 percent, even as Republicans argue they are in adherence.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/barricades-go-up-around-fulton-county-courthouse-as-trump-indictment-looms

As another potential indictment of former president Donald Trump looms in Georgia, barricades have sprung up around the courthouse where he’d likely be arraigned. New Yorker writer Charles Bethea posted a video on Thursday showing the newly-erected barricades near Atlanta’s Fulton County courthouse—suggesting that they’re an ominous sign for the Trump legal team. The case, which could result in Trump’s third indictment, centers on Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results by pressuring state officials, and could draw in several collaborators.

DOJ sues Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott over Rio Grande barrier (Politico)

The Department of Justice sued the state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday for building a floating barrier at the southern border that the state says will deter migrants but that the Biden administration calls a threat to public safety.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, alleges that Abbott violated the law by building structures in the Rio Grande River without authorization, creating an obstruction in U.S. waters.

…

Abbott said in a letter early Monday that he would not comply with the Justice Department’s request to take down the barricade. The department had given the state until Monday to comply. Earlier this month, Texas set up miles of barriers using barbed wire and buoys in the river near Eagle Pass.

Bipartisan bill would bar federal agencies from denying job applicants over weed use

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-retention/2023/07/bipartisan-bill-would-bar-agencies-from-denying-job-applicants-over-weed-use/