The John Crow Era

May 2, 2026

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reminder: I will host my regular Saturday livestream at 9 a.m. Pacific / Noon Eastern. Submit questions here.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A note about the title, which is addressed in more detail below. I originally titled this newsletter “The John Roberts Jim Crow Era,” but shortened it to the John Crow Era in the hope that a shorter name would catch on more easily on protest signs and freeway overpass banners.

Whatever we call it—Jim Crow 2.0, the John Roberts Jim Crow Era, or the John Crow Era—no person in America is more responsible for the return to the Jim Crow Era than John Roberts. The resurrection of the post-Civil War Jim Crow brand of racism is the crowning achievement of John Roberts’ life work—and we should make him wear it as a badge of shame for the rest of his days. He should understand that centuries hence, he will be remembered as the legal architect of the virulent racism that saw a rebirth as white Christian nationalism, which then shape-shifted into the MAGA movement under Donald Trump.

Let the record reflect that Chief Justice John G. Roberts devoted his considerable legal talents to a rebirth of state-sanctioned racism that will forever bear his name. The John Crow Era.

May Day Strong Protests.

Readers of this newsletter were out in force on May Day Strong! See the dozens of photos at the end. I posted as many as possible, but they continue to stream in as I write on Friday evening. I had to stop posting them so I could begin drafting the newsletter.

I hope you will take a moment to view the photos. They show the resolve and determination of Americans who care about democracy. May Day Strong won’t make the front page of the major media outlets, but it resonated in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. A single standout in a small-town square in a red bubble was a declaration of independence and freedom from fear. A freeway overpass staffed by ten people touched the consciences of 40,000 motorists. Those who participated in large rallies across the nation helped to reinforce the narrative that millions of Americans are fed up with Trump and the Republican Party.

I want to highlight an exchange in the Comment section to today’s newsletter, because I believe it speaks to the feelings of many in the resistance movement.

A reader sent a photo of a protest that he attended, saying,

While the participants find great solace in our weekly protests, we often complain that our numbers do not increase with proper proportionality to the regime’s excesses, and wonder if others have these same feelings?

The readers’ comment raises a profound question: Our democracy faces an existential crisis but less than 3% of the population is protesting. There are many responses to that question, but the most important was posted by reader Ellie Kona, who made the point that protests matter regardless of the number of people who show up. Ellie wrote:

Social change is not simple or linear. We are planting seeds and cannot predict when they will sprout. As we continue to make our voices heard and our objections more visible, more and more people are realizing they are not alone and are joining us in various ways, and often in ways we cannot see. Our movement is growing.

Ellie’s point is right. We will never know how we touched the hearts and minds of people who seem not to notice the small but hardy band of protestors who show up at the same intersection weekly for a year or more. Many people who are hanging on by their fingernails need to know that others have not given up. Those who do not participate may be tending to elderly parents or young children; they may be working two jobs to pay off student loan debt or medical bills; they may feel that they will be targeted by police or employers if their faces appear at protests.

More than anything, people need to know that we are not going to surrender. They need to know that there is a core group of resisters who are keeping the struggle alive until the moment when mass mobilization isn’t a question of organization but of necessity.

You are helping to keep the flame alive, even if it seems that the crowds are thinning. Exhaustion is real; needing a paycheck is real; not having day care is real; being an example to others is real.

Keep up the good work, everyone! You are true patriots and heroes of democracy!

The John Crow Era

As you know, I have been focusing my attention on how we can overcome the ruling in Callais v. Louisiana. Thousands of commentators are focusing on how the decision will affect redistricting in 2026 and 2028. Those are important questions, but are only part of the analysis.

We can undo the damage of Callais by (a) passing the National Redistricting Act (requiring state-level redistricting commissions); (b) passing the Freedom to Vote Act (establishing enforceable criteria for redistricting; and (c) expanding the Supreme Court to break the death grip of the reactionary majority. All three are essential to success, and each requires only a majority vote in Congress and the president’s signature. We can do that by 2029, at which point serious reform can begin.

But it is important to recognize the profound constitutional injury inflicted by Callais. It is nothing less than the resurrection of the Jim Crow Era. Hear me out.

After the Civil War, Congress passed the 15^th Amendment, which provided, in part, that the right to vote

shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

The 15^th Amendment authorized Congress to enforce the prohibition by enacting enabling legislation. (“The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”)

Congress did pass enabling legislation over the next century to ensure that former enslaved people and their descendants could exercise the right to vote protected by the 15^th Amendment. But former Confederate states resisted those legislative mandates by a variety of bad-faith strategies that sought to undermine or circumvent the guarantee of the 15^th Amendment.

Those strategies included¹ requiring Black voters, but not white voters, to

• Guess the number of beans in a jar;

• Pass a literacy or general knowledge test;

• Pay a poll tax;

• Pass a “good character” or “good moral character” test, applied at the sole discretion of white registrars, who routinely exempted white applicants;

• Satisfy a grandfather clause, which exempted a voter from other requirements only if his father or grandfather had voted in an election before the end of the Civil War;

• Demonstrate property ownership, a requirement applied selectively to Black applicants by white election officials;

• Satisfy extended residency requirements;

• Survive purges of the segregated voting rolls, in which white officials periodically removed Black voters’ names from the “Black” voter roll;

• Risk economic retaliation, including eviction from housing and termination of employment, for attempting to register or vote.

All of the above, and the ever-present threat of violence from racist paramiliatary organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.

In short, during the Jim Crow Era, Black voters were told, “You are free to vote, but you must guess the number of beans in this jar or prove you own property or pay a poll tax.” While those tactics did not literally deny the right to vote on the basis of color or race, that was their intent and effect.

So . . . pursuant to the 15^th Amendment grant of authority, Congress passed legislation that banned voting practices or laws that had the intent or effect of denying the right to vote on the basis of color or race.

Enter John Roberts. In John Roberts’ rarified and insulated world, it was easy to pretend that racial discrimination had ceased to exist. After all, he had attended private a Catholic boarding school and saw no discrimination there, Nor did he see any evidence of discrimination at Harvard Law School or the Harvard Law Review, where his intelligence and education allowed him to succeed, as he assumed was his birthright.

After clerking for then Associate Justice William Rehnquist, Roberts began to work for the Reagan administration, where he was shocked to learn that Congress believed it was still necessary to enforce the ancient guarantees of the 15^th Amendment. As a baby lawyer, Roberts dedicated his life to ensuring that the guarantees of the 15^th Amendment would be eviscerated by declaring that race could not be considered in remedies designed to fight racial discrimination

Roberts joined the fraternity of clueless white men who were born on third base and assumed they hit a triple. Having never seen, much less experienced, discrimination of any sort, he turned the 15^th Amendment on its head: Any race-based remedy was itself a violation of the prohibition against denying the right to vote on the basis of color or race.

To be clear, I am not writing as a historian; the above is laden with sarcasm and righteous anger, but see generally Brennan Center for Justice, Chief Justice Roberts’s Vendetta Against the Voting Rights Act.

Here’s my point: The anti-voting artifices of the Jim Crow era employed the fiction that voting requirements like literacy tests, poll taxes, and property ownership were race-neutral. They were not. Their intent and effect were to discriminate.

John Roberts has resurrected that fiction by destroying the Voting Rights Act—which attempted to reach racial discrimination by examining intent and effects. In its place, Roberts has effectively said,

Go ahead and engage in partisan gerrymandering to your heart’s content! And if partisan gerrymandering has the effect of diluting the voting power of Black citizens, that’s just an unfortunate coincidence that has nothing to do with race-based discrimination.

Again; loads of sarcasm in use. No emails, please. And although I used italics above, John Roberts did not say those words. That was my rendering of his fictional voice expressing the truth of the ruling in Callais.

In place of guessing the number of beans in a jar, we have congressional districts that make the Gordian Knot look like child’s play. Facially, it’s race-neutral. No one is denying Black voters the right to vote; Southern states are merely ensuring that Black voters can never elect Black representatives.

We have come full circle to the Jim Crow Era, where states are engaging in bad-faith strategies to frustrate Congress’s constitutional authority to enforce the 15^th Amendment. Callais is a profound constitutional injury that requires structural reforms of the Supreme Court.

Weak measures such as term limits, staggered terms, senior status judges, and new codes of ethics do not meet the moment. Without fundamental restructuring of the Court, we risk condemning Black Americans to another 75 years of second-class citizenship. We cannot abide that result.

We must reverse Callais, Shelby County v. Holder, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, and Rucho v. Common Cause (and other cases) in order to finally root out the invidious effects of slavery that haunt our republic to this day.

The only way to do so is to expand the Supreme Court by a large enough margin that reversing those cases will be achievable in the short term. No more 5-4 regimes where one or two justices decide the rights and liberties of 340 million Americans. We need rulings that have sizable majorities—18 to 5. We need the next Democratic president to appoint 12 or more justices all at once by breaking the filibuster for good.

If those measures seem too extreme for you, do not tell me. Instead, tell your Black friends and neighbors that their right to vote must be subordinated to political decorum, that they must be patient enough to wait decades for 18 year term limits to result in a modest turnover in the Court, that their right to vote must respect the “legitimacy” of the Court and the ossified rules of the Senate, and that change must be slow and incremental because that’s the way Democrats do things. Tell them, not me, that we must be “nice” to Republicans because if we aren’t, Republicans will do mean things like ignore the Constitution, suppress voting rights of Black Americans, tell women they are not in charge of their reproductive choices and bodies, and deny LGBTQ people the right be free from discrimination by businesses offering services to the public.

We can stop the reemergence of the Jim Crow Era by enlarging the Court and passing redistricting legislation at the first opportunity, or we can temporize, issue spot, create committees, write articles, express our deep concern, and otherwise abandon Black Americans to the worst John Roberts can muster.

Thanks for listening to an overly long rant. Exeunt, stage left.

Trump lies about his war on Iran.

Trump was required to comply with the War Powers Act by ending hostilities against Iran on May 1, 2026, or seeking congressional approval to continue hostilities. Although the US claims it is observing an indefinite ceasefire, it is maintaining a global naval blockade against Iran. A naval blockade is universally regarded as an act of war, including by experts proffered by Fox News.

On Friday, Trump effectively recognized that the War Powers Act applies to his illegal war on Iran. He attempted to circumvent the provisions of the War Powers Act by claiming that the hostilities against Iran had “terminated.” See ABC News, Trump tells Congress hostilities ‘have terminated’.

Again, a naval blockade is an act of war that is included in the term “hostilities,” because a military blockade is “maintained by force.” A blockade is a hostile act because it threatens military force if it is breached.

So, Trump is lying about hostilities being “terminated” against Iran. The War Powers Act still applies, and Trump is required to seek congressional approval to engage in further hostilities, including maintenance of a military blockade.

Concluding Thoughts

The impressive showing at the May Day Strong rallies should inspire confidence about the battles to come. Meanwhile, Trump is doing everything he can to antagonize American voters. On Friday, Trump appointed judges on the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nationwide halt to the telehealth prescription and mailing of Mifepristone, a drug used to manage miscarriages and induce abortions. The case is headed to the Supreme Court and offers the radical majority the opportunity to impose a quasi-national ban on abortions—something they said they would not do in Dobbs. (Mifepristone can still be picked up in person in those states that have not effectively prohibited all abortions.)

As gasoline prices continue to rise daily and the war on Iran becomes more unpopular than the Vietnam War, Trump is teasing an invasion of Cuba, bragging about choices for marble surfaces in his vanity ballroom, and withdrawing US troops from Germany. Everything Trump touches turns to controversy. And almost none of his current rampages were telegraphed in his 2024 campaign for president.

So, yes, things seem bad. But Trump is undermining Republican prospects for success in 2026 and 2028 every time he opens his mouth. No pain, no gain. Democrats should continue to their drive to convince every voter and win every race. Forget about the gerrymandering and focus on generating a wave election—which can overcome every gerrymander every day!

Talk to you on Saturday at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern.

Pro-democracy Protest Photos

[Send photos to rbhubbell@gmail.com. Please indicate city and state.]

Protest sign by reader Steve H.

=================================

Billboard in Lancaster, PA. LeavingMaga.org

(Author’s Note: I edited this photo to increase exposure and contrast, and removed a fast food sign that distracted from the message.]

=================================

May Day and a long line to protestors along El Camino Real in Redwood City.

=================================

May Day rally, San Jose, CA

=================================

May 1, Malletts Bay, Colchester, VT. After months of holding events further inland, warmer days are finally here and we have returned to Malletts Bay, Colchester, VT.

=================================

“Seniors Walk and Roll in Palisades” Members of FitzDems from senior community were joined by their neighbors in Washington, D.C. Lots of honks and positive energy.

=================================

120 May Day Strong in Brea CA.

=================================

May 1 Strike in Rockland, Maine- Banner made by Bread & Puppet Theater [breadandpuppet.org ]

=================================

Maynard, MA - May Day Protest

=================================

May Day Protest Washington DC

=================================

White Plains, NY on May 1st.

===========================

My parents and I follow your work and enjoy seeing the protest signs and photos. Here is my sign from today's May Day protest at the courthouse in Corvallis, Oregon

=================================

200 people boycotted business as usual in Cortlandt Manor, NY!

=================================

Tamm Avenue Bridge Brigade, St.Louis, MO , 05-01-2026

=================================

Georgetown, SC

=================================

About 150 members of Indivisible Highlands and Beyond in Wilmington, DE spread across 6 intersections along Rt. 2 to stand for “workers over billionaires!”

=================================

I attended a May Day Strong protest event this afternoon, held at a busy intersection in downtown Schenectady, New York.  We received numerous honks of support from passing drivers – not only from people in cars, but also from bus and truck drivers!

=================================

=================================

Attached are quilt squares designed and sewn by myself and a friend here in Massachusetts for inclusion in the “This is What Democracy Looks Like” quilt project, a national effort like the AIDS quilt of many years ago (quiltfordemocracy@gmail.com).

Hopefully, this will inspire others to participate! Thank you!

=================================

Hopewell, NJ weekly protests now past the one-year mark. Every Thursday, 5:30-6:30.

=================================

May Day Strong on the Boston Common today, May 1st.

=================================

Over 100 people, including students from Colgate College, showed up on a chilly Friday afternoon in the Village of Hamilton NY to stand for workers and families over billionaires. The Food Drive collected 8 boxes of food plus cash donations for our 2 local food cupboards. 

=================================

Gorman Road (Howard Co., MD) - May Day over I-95. he May Day gang - over 65 participating - at Gorman Road in Howard County (Maryland) over I-95 was both joyful and resolute. Among the c. 24,000 drivers who sped under us for the two hours we were present were many who honked and waved in solidarity.

=================================

MayDay Strong in Lawrenceville, NJ! Workers Over Billionaires!

=================================

There is a regular weekly stand out at Monument Square in Concord, Massachusetts, but owing to it being Mayday, organizers added a protest.

=================================

Workers Over Billionaires Event, Philadelphia, PA. May 1, 2026

=================================

Sonoma County Visibility Brigade with a special banner drop! Lots of honks but not as much traffic, and we were all hoping it’s because people were boycotting work!

=================================

Sonoma County Indivisable special Mayday banner drop. Some young men who all work full-time took the day off and came out to protest with us. We really appreciated them!

=================================

Holyoke MA

=================================

Greenfield MA

=================================

We chose a message today about gerrymandering, and it turned out the be prescient. As soon as we were done, we got word that corrupt Governor Bill Lee (at the encouragement of the even more corrupt Marsha Blackburn) called for a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly to destroy our last Democratic district in Memphis, on Tuesday, May 5, on a statewide election day. Filing deadlines are passed for the primaries in August. The TN Supreme Court in 2023 said we could not redraw our Senate districts because it was too close to an election the next year. 

And now this. 

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. 

=================================

Asheville NC on May Day

=================================

100+ people joined Operation Overpass with the message WORKERS OVER BILLIONAIRES!

=================================

Port Townsend Washington! I would like to submit this photograph as evidence that the Indivisible group here is alive and well! My only regret is that I didn’t image the No Kings 3 Rally when there were around 3,000 people in attendance! For a small town with a population of (almost) 11,000, that is saying something!

=================================

On May Day we celebrated our 72nd consecutive Standout for Democracy in Gill, MA

=================================

May Day protest in Evanston , IL

=================================

Our May 1, 2026 protest on the Hwy 12/Hwy 101 overpass in Santa Rosa, California. Our dedicated and tireless Indivisible members made this happen from 8:00 a.m. until 6 p.m.

=================================

Indivisible in Lakewood, CO. Lots of honks and thumbs up from drivers.

=================================

I-90 Berkshire Visibility Brigade May

=================================

Our May Day brigade over Intetstate 90 in little falls, ny. Lots of honks, especially from large trucks on diesel!

=================================

MayDay Honk ‘n Wave in Princeton, NJ. Lots of happy honkers, and several supportive tractor trailer 

=================================

North Country Resilience volunteers held signs on May 1st to encourage passersby to BUY SMALL, BUY LOCAL, PAY CASH, and take similar actions to boycott big corporations.  Over 30 of us did this in one or more of three northern New Hampshire towns, Franconia, Littleton, and Bethlehm.  We received a very positive response in each town.

=================================

Great turnout at what is the weekly Friday afternoon protest against fascism at Gilman and Santa Fe in northwest Berkeley. More than 100 people and lots of honking drivers in support

=================================

May Day Tucson, AZ

=================================

May Day March (May 1, 2026) in Washington D.C. 

Beautiful May Day at Georgia Ave and Forest Glen Rd, Silver Spring MD 

Over 60 demonstrators, all four corners of the intersection covered. The cacophony of the horns and waves and thumbs up are enough to carry us through til next Friday, 4-5:30 pm…. Every week for the last year.

=================================

Lafayette, CO

1. See generally, Wikipedia, Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era. While I generally do not cite Wikipedia, its article on Jim Crow voter suppression contains a compendium of such practices.