50501 FRIDAY BRIEFING | MAY 8, 2026
The legal fights may look technical. The consequences are not.
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MONDAY: This Week in Action | May 4–10, 2026
After May Day, the most useful thing people could do was to find a local organizing page.
We pointed you to the May Day Strong follow-up call, election deadlines in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Oregon, NDLON’s Adopt a Day Labor Corner campaign, No Kings trainings, mifepristone education, and local action finders.
Movements grow when people know where to go next, who to listen to locally, what training they need, and how to turn one day of public action into a habit of civic participation.
Read Monday’s full action guide here: This Week in Action | May 4–10, 2026
TUESDAY: Who to Call and Email Today | May 5
Mifepristone access, ICE and Border Patrol funding, and voting rights. The Supreme Court had temporarily restored access to mifepristone by mail while it considered emergency requests, but that pause was temporary. Congress was also moving through a reconciliation process that could steer major funding toward ICE and Border Patrol, with committee recommendations due by May 15.
Call your senators. Call your House member. Ask for a clear position. Ask them to defend medication access. Ask them to oppose immigration-enforcement funding without accountability, due process protections, transparency, and oversight. Ask them to defend voting rights before the midterms.
A call does not fix everything, but silence fixes nothing.
Read Tuesday’s full call and email guide here: Who to Call and Email Today | May 5
WEDNESDAY: Tennessee Is Testing the New Redistricting Strategy
We focused on Tennessee, where lawmakers moved quickly after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
Tennessee Republicans used a special legislative session, called by Gov. Bill Lee at President Trump’s urging, to redraw congressional maps around the Memphis-based 9th Congressional District. That district is Tennessee’s only Democratic-held U.S. House seat, held by longtime Rep. Steve Cohen, and it is rooted in majority-Black Memphis. Wednesday’s post called on readers to help pack committee hearings and contact Tennessee lawmakers because speed was part of the strategy: a state sees a favorable Supreme Court ruling, calls a special session, changes its redistricting rules, and redraws the map before the public has time to respond.
On May 7, Tennessee’s Republican supermajority passed a new congressional map that carves Shelby County, home to majority-Black Memphis, into three Republican-controlled districts. The new lines split Memphis and Shelby County across Republican-leaning districts that tie parts of the city to communities far outside Memphis, weakening the political power of the state’s only majority-Black congressional district. Tennessee also repealed its own longstanding state law that prohibited redistricting between census cycles and removed the requirement that election officials notify voters by mail if redistricting changed their polling places or precincts.
Gov. Bill Lee signed the map into law the same day.
Protesters filled the state Capitol. State troopers cleared the House gallery. Democratic lawmakers walked out. State Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis called the new maps “racist tools of white supremacy.” State Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville said, “This is not a special session. This is a white-power rally and a white-power grab.”
Less than three hours after the signing, the NAACP Tennessee State Conference filed an emergency lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court to block the map, arguing that the mid-decade redistricting violates Tennessee statutory law and the state constitution.
Tennessee is the first state to pass a new congressional map after the Supreme Court’s Callais ruling. It will not be the last. Republicans in Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina have also taken steps toward redistricting. Reuters reports that Republicans have built a net advantage of about four House seats across nine states so far, with the outcome in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama still pending and litigation in Virginia, Florida, and Missouri still capable of changing the picture.
Today, the target is majority-Black Memphis. Tomorrow, it could be working-class voters, young voters, rural voters, union voters, or any community that becomes politically inconvenient.
Read Wednesday’s full Tennessee alert here: URGENT: ACTION NEEDED | Tennessee Is Testing the New Redistricting Strategy
THURSDAY: The Mifepristone Maze
The central problem is essential. The larger problem is the whiplash.
Between Friday and Monday, mifepristone access went from legally restricted to temporarily restored.
Providers froze prescriptions over the weekend. Patients canceled appointments. Some pharmacies pulled the drug from shelves and then put it back. Ordinary people were left trying to understand whether access still existed, where it existed, and whether it might change again within days.
Since Thursday, this story has also moved.
Today was the deadline for responses and emergency filings at the Supreme Court. Louisiana filed a brief arguing the Court should let the 5th Circuit’s restrictions take effect. At the Supreme Court stage, the emergency defense of the 2023 rule is being carried most visibly by Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, the drug manufacturers that intervened to defend the regulation. Reuters has reported that the Trump administration opposed Louisiana’s challenge in the litigation and argued Louisiana lacked standing, while also citing an ongoing FDA safety review. That still leaves a critical question: how aggressively will the federal government defend its own medication-access rule as the case moves forward? Meanwhile, a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief urging the Court to keep the stay in place.
The Supreme Court’s temporary pause still expires Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m. ET. What Justice Alito does next, whether he extends the stay, lets it expire, or refers it to the full Court, will determine whether telehealth access to abortion care continues or shuts down nationally while the case proceeds.
Read Thursday’s full explainer here: The Mifepristone Maze
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THIS WEEK
ICE and Border Patrol funding is moving through reconciliation. The House passed the Senate budget resolution on April 29, setting up a process that could move immigration-enforcement funding with a simple majority. PwC’s summary of the resolution says it instructs Judiciary and Homeland Security committees to submit reconciliation recommendations by May 15, allowing deficit increases of up to $70 billion over the 2026–2035 budget window. A reconciliation bill can pass the Senate without the usual 60-vote threshold, which means Congress can advance major enforcement policy with less bipartisan pressure and less public visibility than a normal appropriations fight.
Other Southern states are moving on redistricting. Tennessee is the ninth state to enact a new congressional map since Trump urged Texas Republicans to start mid-decade redistricting last year. Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina have also begun taking steps toward redrawing their maps after the Callais ruling. This is a national redistricting fight.
Election deadlines are live. Pennsylvania’s voter registration deadline for the May 19 primary was this week. Oregon’s May 19 primary is underway; ballots have been mailing since April 29. Indiana and Ohio held primaries on May 5. Michigan held a special general election for State Senate District 35.
COMING UP NEXT WEEK
Monday, May 11: The Supreme Court’s temporary mifepristone pause expires at 5 p.m. ET. Watch for whether Justice Alito extends the stay, lets it lapse, or refers the matter to the full Court.
May 15: Reconciliation deadline for House committee recommendations on ICE and Border Patrol funding.
Tennessee: The NAACP’s emergency lawsuit challenging the new congressional map is now in Davidson County Chancery Court. Watch for an injunction ruling.
Other states: Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina redistricting efforts are developing. If your state has not acted yet, that does not mean it will not.
And we can’t forget to share a Friday dance from Todd Gentry! (Volume up!)
Watching the Republicans demolish our democracy isn't pleasant and it wouldn't be happening without the silence of the lack luster Democrats. Until democracy is again the champion of the working class, which capitalists cannot survive without, America will destroy itself. We are already bankrupt, far beyond anything one could contemplate. Living in a fool's paradise of oligarchs design, the house of cards will ultimately collapse. The absurdity of electing a master of deceit to be president so he can bankrupt America as he did his business "empire," defies reason. But here we are folks, hopefully wiser but still in the deep muddy. And sinking fast.
Tough week 🤬Stay DETERMINED and channel that rage!