BREAKING: state Supreme Court drops SURPRISE bad news for Republicans

this is democracy watch so Mark we've

got some rare good news from the courts

in a few very red States uh but first

before we start I want to note that this

is our 100th episode of democracy watch

so uh first off let me just say to the

viewers thank you for caring about this

stuff no one in the mainstream media

covers even one1 100th of this stuff

because I think they wrongly assume that

people don't care but you all watching

are a testament to the fact that they do

um the first 99 episodes of this series

got 60 million views so that is 60

million reasons to push back against

what the mainstream media is thinking on

this issue um and Mark I know that I can

speak on behalf of everybody watching

thank you for the work that you do so

much of what you and your team do to

protect democracy doesn't get the

recognition that it deserves but the

impact that you guys are having can't be

overstated um if and when our democracy

survives past November of 2024 it'll be

in large part thanks to you and your

team so again thank you for the work

that you're doing um and also for taking

time to speak directly to so many people

here on YouTube we're all better

informed because of you and we're all

Beyond appreciative that we've got you

and Elias Law Group and democracy docket

on our side and also that you haven't

taken up Lou dos on his offer to switch

sides for half a billion dollars no but

I am glad that when you that you had the

foresight to reach out to me when you

had a vision for this and everyone ought

to be be clear Brian is a Visionary when

it comes to uh making sure people

understand the stakes around democracy

not just in this series but in all of

the series and I hope everyone

subscribes to all of uh all of the

programming that he puts out but Brian

when you approached me you know I didn't

see it at first but you were entirely

right there is no place for people to go

and get good reliable day in day in week

out week out information about what is

happening to democracy in courts which

is one of the main battlefields of

democracy I mean if there's one thing we

learned after 2020 it is that the courts

play such a central role in free and

fair elections and in ensuring that we

have a peaceful transfer of power and

democracy and it was really your vision

that created this and I want to thank

you from the bottom of my heart for

everything you have done to help

conceive of this to help nurture it to

help build an audience for it and uh to

really educate everybody out there um uh

who has been listening well I I

appreciate that I think we're all better

off because of this series so um so

let's jump in to episode 100 here again

we've got some rare good news here from

the courts in some very red States so

Mark walk us through what just happened

in the Montana Supreme Court first yeah

so this is an amazing story and I really

think it's one of the underreported

stories in the mainstream media the

Montana Supreme Court struck down not

one not two not three but four voter

suppression laws in one ruling violating

that all four of them violated the

state's Constitution

this included eliminating election day

registration eliminating student IDs as

acceptable forms of ID to vote

prohibiting mailing ballots to new

voters who are eligible to vote on

Election Day but are not yet uh 2018

Banning ballot collection which is a

Lifeline for Native American voters in

the states who live on reservations when

when we talk about banning ballot

collection Republicans talk about

banning ballot collection or what they

call ballot harvesting in a state like

Montana what they are saying is they

don't want Native Americans to vote and

this is not just a landmark victory for

the voters of Montana it is a landmark

uh uh case in which the Montana Supreme

Court applied heightened scrutiny to

laws that restrict voting rights it is a

model opinion that courts around the

country can look at and I I'd be remiss

if I didn't point out that there is a

critical US Senate race it is likely

that the day after the election we will

wake up trying to figure out who

controls the US Senate and we will one

of the states we'll be looking at is

whether John tester was reelected from

the great state of Montana and this

ruling will be integral to the ability

of John tester to be able to win of

young voters of college voters of Native

American voters being able to

participate in the electoral process

well on the topic of issues coming out

of the course that are going to have

major political implications can you

discuss the pending abortion referendum

that will likely appear on the November

ballot

yeah so look I mean I I think this is

I'm sure you've covered this across your

channels the Kryptonite of the

Republican Party um is the issue of

abortion the thing they have not been

able to figure out is what to do when

abortion in any way shape or form is on

the ballot even even in the recent uh

election uh uh where IVF was a sort of a

side issue you saw a Democrat win a

State Legislative race um uh uh you know

in a deep in a deeply red District in a

deeply Red State in Florida uh it's

going to be on the ballot in Montana it

will be on the ballot in in um in Nevada

it will almost certainly be on the

ballot and Republicans have no answer to

this um you know they wanted they fought

for decades to get a Supreme Court to

overturn uh a woman's right to control

her own body and have access to Safe um

abortion uh care and now are reaping

this at The Ballot Box and it will play

a critical role in several States in

2024 I'm going to ask you to put your

pundit hat on a little bit but how much

of a boon will that referendum be for

John tester's re-election prospects in

your opinion because you were just

talking about the importance that that

Montana's uh senate election is going to

have I think it'll be an enormous Boon

for John tester I think it'll be an

enormous Boon for a number in a number

of Senate States including presidential

rates but you look at Montana Montana is

a is a red state but it is also a very

very pro-choice State you know the

Republicans in the west are not the kind

of Republicans you see in Alabama or

Mississippi these are Republicans often

times because they want less government

involvement in their lives and abortion

rights fits Center uh Center Square with

their conception of individual liberty

and and and freedom and the guy he's

running against um you know is not from

Montana and it does not fit the state I

think John tesar is going to win and I

think the issue of voting rights will be

Center Stage the fact that Republicans

tried to disenfranchise people and the

issue of abortion rights will be center

stage in turning out voters who might

otherwise think ah the presidential race

is not really going to come down to

Montana but I need to show up and vote I

think what's what's ironic is you

mentioned that Montana Republicans

aren't Alabama Republicans even Alabama

Republicans are are pro are pro-choice

um Marilyn L just flipped a seat in

Alabama state house by a by a margin of

25 points compared to the Republican who

held it before her and she ran her

campaign again a in Alabama in like deep

red Alabama predicated on abortion and

IVF so even Alabama Republicans are more

liberal on this issue than anybody would

have ever imagined so uh you know to to

your earlier point we did get that

similar news out of Florida that the

abortion referendum would appear on the

November ballot do you believe that that

puts Democrats within Striking Distance

in that state despite it's long-standing

move to the right over these last couple

decades okay first of all I think that

that race was going to be tighter than

people thought before and let's just

remember Rick Scott who is the incumbent

Republican senator he has never won his

elections by wide margins I mean he six

years ago he won by one tenth of 1% he

won the center one tenth of 1% Rick

Scott is a fundamentally flawed

individual that the people of Florida

don't like he also perpetuated the

largest Medicare fraud against the

country and was levied like a I think it

was a $1.7 billion fine uh at the time

which was the largest fine the doj has

ever levied against anyone because he

committed Medicare fraud when he was the

when he was the CEO of Columbia HCA

Hospital correct right so let's just

start with that so before everyone says

you know this race was gonna be a a

blowout Republican race that was never

true but let me tell you this abortion

ballot initiative being on the being on

the ballot at the same time that the

that the Florida Supreme Court

effectively Outlaws abortion in the

state you know this is it is bad for the

for the for the women of Florida it is

bad for the voters of Florida that the

Florida Supreme Court ruled the way they

did on abortion rights but I gotta tell

you if I'm Rick Scott I'm looking at

what my post Senate employment

opportunities are I think this dis I

think this uh this Senate race in

Florida now goes to toss up and I mean

that a true tossup uh between uh between

between uh uh between the two sides and

put on top of that and I've said this

before and like everyone just mark this

you know however you mark things on

YouTube Mark it and come back to this

after the election Donald Trump hates

Ronda santz the party in Florida is

divided the Florida Republican party is

not of one mind they are they are at war

with one another and when you take a

party at war with one another and you

have an unpopular governor and you have

an unpopular Senate candidate and you

have a turbocharge charged electorate

who is angry about what the state

supreme court has just done on abortion

and they have the means to to flip it at

60% you know Republicans in some states

tried to get a 60% threshold because

they thought they were being clever a

60% threshold for this initiative in

Florida is a dream for Democrats it is a

nightmare for Republicans because it is

going to turbocharge turnout like you

have never seen and those people turning

out are not going to be voting for Rick

scottt and finally on that point Arizona

organizers have announced that they have

enough signatures now for a ballot

measure on abortion protecting uh uh

protecting uh that in their state

constitution how important will that be

in a state that you've sounded the alarm

about quite a bit yeah same thing I mean

honestly you know let's just start with

the fact that kry lake is insane you

know the mainstream media wanted to

write and did write for several weeks

this you know Terry lake has gone

mainstream only to turn out that she's

actually as nuts as ever you know she's

still an election denier she's you know

hanging out with Mike Lindell in the in

the US Supreme in the US Supreme Court

and on top of all of that you have Ruben

gyo who's a very good candidate uh

running for Senate on the Democratic

side and like I said on top of that now

you will have likely a ballot initiative

on the ballot around abortion well Perry

Lake will show her true colors once

again with or without this initiative

but with this initiative you again have

the perfect storm of of energy coming

from people again a party that that is

from kind of a more libertarian Wing uh

in Arizona I I think this moves this

race decidedly to lean's Democrat in the

senate race I think it moves this race

to probably slightly leans Biden in the

presidential race um the fact that

abortion will be front Center in Arizona

is a gift to Democrats um up and down

the ballot in Arizona and you know the

the you know the conservatives on the

Supreme Court said that women are not

without uh without electoral power uh in

the dobs decision I think they didn't

know quite what they were writing but

they were 100% right and I think we're

going to see that in Montana in Florida

and in Arizona perfectly put we'll leave

it there mark uh one last thing here

just wanted to extend a little special

thank you here so I think we have we

have something that that uh that your

team is going to bring to you right now

to say just to say thanks here we have a

cake everyone there's a cake there's a

there's a look at this Sophie here with

the cake let's see you got you gotta

turn it a little bit more congrats on

100 hold on see it let's get this yeah

you could see it it's it's in there all

right there it is congrats on 100 it's

that's our cake Brian that's it and

we're g to celebrate and we're going to

eat the cake and everybody subscribe to

democracy docket subscribe to Brian's uh

Channel and make sure you keep watching

democracy watch because week in week out

we are telling you what you need to know

to stay informed about democracy in the

courts we'll leave it there I'm Brian

tyer Cohen and I'm Mark Elias this is

democracy

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