BREAKING: SCOTUS Rules Gerrymandering Is Only Okay For White People

A sex cult convicted of forced labor is lobbying Trump for a pardon, the war in Iran officially has a price tag, and the Trump admin. is removing women from government boards

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The Supreme Court just gutted the last legal firewall protecting minority voters from racial gerrymandering. A sex cult convicted of forced labor is lobbying Trump for a pardon. The war in Iran officially has a price tag, and it’s steep. Finally, the Trump administration looked at a government board, saw women on it, and said: no.

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Now. Let’s go.

SCOTUS Gave Republicans Permission to Dilute Black Votes

The Supreme Court spent sixty years working with a version of the Voting Rights Act that said you couldn’t draw congressional districts specifically to dilute the power of minority voters. That era ended Wednesday.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Court rewrote how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act works without technically striking it down. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said Section 2 now imposes liability “only when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.”

In other words, you can no longer point to the discriminatory effect of a map – you have to prove the mapmakers meant to do it. Legislators, famously, do not write their intentions down.

Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, wrote that the consequences are “likely to be far-reaching and grave,” and that the ruling renders Section 2 “all but a dead letter.”

An analysis by NPR found that the decision could result in white candidates winning 15 House seats currently held by Black members of Congress. This level of racial rollback hasn’t been seen since the end of Reconstruction.

So, to recap: partisan gerrymandering to give (mostly white) Republicans who are less likely to win an edge? Totally fine. Racial gerrymandering to properly represent minority communities? “Unconstitutional.”

A Convicted Sex Cult Is Working the Trump Pardon Machine

Here is a sentence that should not exist: a company described as a sex cult that has been convicted of forced labor conspiracy is currently lobbying allies of the president for a pardon, and the effort is being helmed by Alan Dershowitz.

OneTaste, a self-described “orgasmic meditation” company, is seeking clemency for founder Nicole Daedone and former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz. In late March, a federal judge sentenced Daedone to nine years in prison and Cherwitz to over six, following their 2025 conviction for forced labor conspiracy.

The pardon campaign is not subtle. OneTaste has retained well-connected advocates who have attended at least seven meetings at the pardon office, courted figures across conservative media and Trump’s political orbit. They’ve followed the same back-channel playbook that has already produced successful clemency outcomes for others in this administration.

Dershowitz, the defense lawyer who used his proximity to Trump during the first term to broker pardons and commutations, has taken up the cause publicly. He’s called the prosecution an attack on religious freedom and promised to make the case directly to the president.

At its peak, OneTaste had a membership of hundreds of thousands. Former members testified to psychological manipulation, financial exploitation, and being coerced into sexual contact with male investors. The judge at sentencing noted that Daedone showed no remorse and had continued to minimize the harm even after conviction.

As always, the lesson is that the pardon process rewards the well-connected — and apparently, orgasmic meditation has very good networking.

The Iran War Officially Has a Price Tag. You’re Not Going to Like It.

Two months ago, Trump said the war with Iran would be over in four to six weeks.

It is not over.

The Pentagon’s acting comptroller recently testified that the conflict has cost approximately $25 billion so far, with most of that going toward munitions, along with operations, maintenance, and equipment replacements.

The administration has not yet sent Congress a supplemental spending request to finance the war, and the acting comptroller said the Pentagon would do so once it had a full assessment of the costs.

Oil prices have spiked globally since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. crude hit $106 per barrel on Wednesday. Democrats noted that rising gas prices are now cascading into food and transportation costs for millions of Americans.

On Wednesday, Pete Hegseth appeared before the House Armed Services Committee for the first time since “Operation Epic Fury” began in February. In his opening remarks, he said the biggest “adversary” the United States faces at this point in the war is “the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”

Iran, apparently, is a secondary concern.

The Trump Administration Is Removing Women From Government Boards

If you assumed the administration’s crusade against women in positions of authority had a floor, the soybean board would like a word.

The Trump administration rejected all four women farmers chosen by their peers to serve on the United Soybean Board earlier this year, a rare intervention by the USDA that three of the women believed was because of their gender. The USDA gave no explanation.

One of the rejected nominees, a Virginia farmer who had served on the board for six years and had been selected as its incoming treasurer, was a conservative who said she had supported Trump. She wondered if a 2023 photo with then-Governor Glenn Youngkin — a Trump ally who’d fallen out of favor — might have been the problem.

The men who replaced them were not always eager to serve. The Virginia Soybean Board’s own chairman, who had listed himself as an alternate on the application form only to avoid leaving a blank, was tapped after the nominated woman was rejected. He informed the USDA that he had no ability to sit on the board, leaving Virginia with only one of its two seats filled.

The administration has said it is fighting DEI. One Wisconsin farmer who lost her seat put it plainly: “It seems like a small thing. But in other ways, it’s really a big deal, because it’s just another thing showing where this administration views women, and what their role should be.”

She has been farming soybeans longer than most of the people who just took her seat have been paying attention to soybeans.

Billionaires Bought the Press. Nobody Bought Us.

The business model that kept journalism independent is gone. What replaced it is billionaires, access deals, and quiet understandings about which stories don’t run. The networks are getting phone calls they don’t talk about. The newspapers have new owners who play golf with the people we’re writing about. The FCC is making examples of outlets that don’t play ball.

None of that is happening here, because we don’t have anyone to sell out to. We have readers. If you’ve been reading AlterNet America for free, we’re glad you’re here. But free doesn’t keep the lights on, and the lights need to stay on.

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