Trump Ignores 60-Day Iran Deadline & King Charles Urges Congress to Do Its Job | Sherrilyn Ifill

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Host: Jon Stewart (with John Oliver, Desi Lydic, and guest Sherilyn Ifill)
Episode: Trump Ignores 60-Day Iran Deadline & King Charles Urges Congress to Do Its Job | Sherrilyn Ifill
Date: May 5, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode centers on the continued unraveling of democratic norms and institutions in the US under Donald Trump’s presidency—particularly the disregard for Congressional authority in military matters and the weakening of voting rights. The show uses satirical news commentary, presidential sound bites, and a deep-dive interview with civil rights attorney Sherilyn Ifill to dissect the consequences of institutional decay. The tone is urgent, irreverent, and often darkly comedic.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump's Disregard for War Powers and Congressional Oversight

• Trump Ignores the 60-Day Deadline on Iran ([02:46]–[06:24])

  • Trump neglected to seek Congressional approval to continue military operations against Iran past the War Powers Act’s 60-day limit.
  • The hosts lampoon Trump for both his legal brazenness and his inconsistent messaging (“Is it a war? Is it a ceasefire?”).
  • Satirical analogies drive the point home, e.g., comparing dodging war authorization to getting a free cup of soda at McDonald’s by asking for “water.”
    • Jon Stewart: “It's like going up to a McDonald's cashier, yeah, I'm gonna get a cup of water... But to be clear, I will be drinking soda.” ([04:56])

• Trump's Self-Proclaimed Genius and History of Math Blunders ([06:24]–[10:37])

  • The hosts ridicule Trump’s odd bragging about passing a cognitive test, noting the absurdity of this being a point of pride.
  • Clips from both Trump speeches and Howard Stern interviews highlight his brand of brazen self-promotion and previous math failures.
  • Donald Trump: “I'm the only president to take a cognitive test...you know, the first question is very easy. It's a lion, a giraffe, a bear, and a shark. They say, which one is the bear?” ([06:24])

2. Erosion of Democratic Guardrails

• Royalty Lectures Congress, and Congressional Dysfunction ([11:20]–[16:14])

  • King Charles delivers a speech before Congress urging America to uphold democratic principles, a moment the hosts satirize as both surreal and sobering.
    • King Charles: “The principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances. The rule of law, the certainty of stable and accessible rules...” ([12:23])
    • Jon Stewart: “If the strongest defender of Americans democracy is the King of England, we are [bleeped].” ([23:02])
  • Congress fails basic tasks: hasn't passed a full budget, lowest number of laws in a first presidential year.
  • Absentee representatives and farcical “designated survivor” choices (e.g., nonagenarian Chuck Grassley) serve as comedic but worrying examples of dysfunction.

• Judiciary’s Reluctance to Uphold Democratic Norms ([16:14]–[17:46])

  • Judicial nominees cannot answer basic constitutional questions on presidential term limits, dodging even the plain language of the 22nd Amendment.
    • Senator Mark: “Is he eligible to run for a third term under our Constitution?”
      Nominee: “I would have to review.” ([16:59])

• The Press as a Broken Last Resort ([17:52]–[21:20])

  • Satire on media's failure to ask meaningful follow-up questions at presidential press conferences.
  • Jon Stewart: “The question should just be this. What the [bleep] did you just say? That didn't make any sense.” ([20:50])

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Interview Segment: Sherilyn Ifill on Voting Rights

([25:31]–[45:48])

Guest: Sherilyn Ifill, civil rights lawyer and founding director of Howard Law School's 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy

Evolution and Dismantling of the Voting Rights Act

• Supreme Court’s Recent Decision ([26:15]–[26:59])

  • The recent Louisiana v. Calais ruling strips most remaining power from a crucial section of the Voting Rights Act.
  • Ifill: “They kind of rendered the act a nullity...Chief Justice Roberts said, yes, but you still have another part of the Voting Rights Act that’s really strong and you can use that. It’s section two…then last week they took section two.” ([26:15])

• Historical Context: Suppressing Black Voting Rights ([27:05]–[31:14])

  • Hit hard on the systemized exclusion of Black voters despite the 14th and 15th Amendments, through methods like poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and violence.
  • The Supreme Court historically refused to intervene, as in Giles v. Harris (1911).
  • With the passage of the Voting Rights Act (1965), Black political representation rose from 72 elected officials nationwide to 1,500 by 1980.

• The Section 5 ‘Umbrella’ and Its Demise ([33:03]–[34:41])

  • Section 5 required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to get “preclearance” before changing voting laws—a preventive check gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013 (Shelby County v. Holder).
    • Ifill: “Eliminating Section 5 now is like using an umbrella and it keeps you dry. And then you say, well, let me throw away the umbrella because I'm dry even though it's raining outside.” ([34:41])

• Rollback of Section 2 and Return to ‘Intent’ Tests ([35:10]–[37:42])

  • 2013–2026: proliferation of voter ID and suppression laws.
  • The most recent ruling demands proof of “intentional discrimination,” reversing a 1982 standard that allowed for “effects” to count.
    • Ifill: “Now they have decided essentially...to return to intentional discrimination.” ([36:39])
  • Overturning of prior precedent, Thornburg v. Gingles (1986).

• Partisan Gerrymandering and Judicial Abdication ([42:05]–[43:42])

  • Supreme Court (in Rucho v. Common Cause, 2018) threw out the possibility of challenging partisan gerrymandering: “We can do all the things, but we can't do this.”
  • Trump openly solicits gerrymandered districts: “That should be illegal to any sentient person.” ([43:11])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump Skirting War Powers

  • Jon Stewart: “He's just sitting there, looking the cashier in the eye, filling up his cup with soda. Just gonna get a little Mountain Dew, little Pepsi… I'm going around the world.” ([05:47])

• On the State of US Institutions

  • Jon Stewart: “If the strongest defender of Americans democracy is the King of England, we are [bleeped].” ([23:02])
  • John Oliver: “It's so phenomenal because it means our democratic institutions are the architects of our democratic demise.” ([43:42])

• On Voting Rights Backsliding

  • Sherilyn Ifill: “I hate that that's what it is. But that is what it is… if you try to repair it… that makes you the racist.” ([40:14])

• On Solutions and Urgency

  • Sherilyn Ifill: “We need Congress to be prepared to…protect voting rights and deal with partisan gerrymandering. But we also need a Supreme Court that is committed to maintaining democracy in this country.” ([45:06])
  • Ifill’s warning: “We don't have any choice but to fight and we got to get very serious about it.” ([45:38])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Start | End | |-----------------------------------------------|----------|----------| | Trump, Iran, and War Powers Satire | 02:46 | 06:24 | | Trump’s “Cognitive Test” Ridicule | 06:24 | 10:37 | | Gold Statues, Royal Warnings | 11:20 | 13:25 | | Congressional Dysfunction/Bird Hearings | 13:30 | 15:44 | | Judiciary Dodges on Trump’s Term Limits | 16:14 | 17:46 | | Media Fails at Accountability | 17:52 | 21:32 | | Existential Question on Democracy | 22:17 | 23:09 | | Sherilyn Ifill Interview | 25:31 | 45:48 | | Deep Dive: Voting Rights Act and Supreme Court| 26:15 | 45:48 |

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Overall Flow and Usefulness

The episode delivers a scathing, sometimes surreal look at the corrosion of democratic institutions and the ongoing struggle to preserve civil rights. The combination of comedic banter, historical context, vivid analogies, and Ifill’s legal insight creates both urgency and a sense of frustration. For listeners unfamiliar with the day’s headlines, this episode lays out why these institutional failures matter and what’s at stake—while interspersing satirical relief:

• Sharpest satire: Trump’s war powers dodge, King Charles’ rebuke.
• Deepest substance: Ifill’s legal history and warning about voting rights.
• Memorable flow: The comedic treatment of dysfunction is anchored by a sobering, substantial interview.

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This summary skips advertisements, promotional content, and the closing banter. For more, listen to the full episode on Comedy Central or your podcast app.

Transcript

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[Comedy Central Announcer]

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for news. This is the Daily show with your host, John Stewart.

[Jon Stewart]

Let's go. Let's go. Welcome to the Daily Show. My name is Jon Stewart. We have a great show for you tonight. First of all, later on I'm gonna be joined by civil rights attorney Sherilyn Ifill is gonna be join. I'm excited to tell you we're going to break down all the Met gala

[John Oliver]

looks and if time permits, the erosion of voting rights in America.

[Jon Stewart]

All right.

[John Oliver]

I'm not at the Met Gala tonight. Wasn't invited. My invite was rescinded in like 1997 that I didn't get this year. Apparently my body is, quote, not compatible. As you get older, your body changes. You know what I don't look good in anymore is pictures. I think

[Jon Stewart]

point is this, ladies and gentlemen. Obviously the big news continues to be

[John Oliver]

our situationship with Iran. Is it a war? Is it a ceasefire? Are we friends with bomber fits?

[Jon Stewart]

I don't know.

[John Oliver]

Because as you know, Friday marked the expiration of the 60 day free trial period. Presidents get to do wars after 60 days. The President must ask Congress who then decides, are we subscribing

[Desi Lydic]

or

[John Oliver]

are we just going to use Israel's password?

[Jon Stewart]

So as you get. So as you can imagine, it's going

[John Oliver]

to be big news when Trump asks for official permission. Trump signaling he will not seek official permission from Congress to extend the war with Iran.

[Senator Mark]

What?

[Jon Stewart]

He's not going to seek official permission.

[John Oliver]

I was kind of under the impression

[Jon Stewart]

that that's not his choice, that it

[John Oliver]

would be, I don't know, illegal. Then I remember Donald Trump doesn't give

[Jon Stewart]

a

[John Oliver]

about legality or any accountability that may occur for from said illegality. So much so that he felt confident

[Jon Stewart]

confessing to said illegality in a speech in Florida on the day he was

[John Oliver]

supposed to attain congressional approval.

[Donald Trump]

What they call a military operation, you know, they don't like the word war, and they call it a military operation because that way you don't have a war, you don't have legal problems.

[Jon Stewart]

You almost, you almost have to admire

[John Oliver]

the brazenness of a president just casually

[Jon Stewart]

explaining just a thing how to get

[John Oliver]

around our pesky laws.

[Jon Stewart]

There's not a care in the world. It's like going up to a McDonald's

[John Oliver]

cashier, yeah, I'm gonna get a cup of water. Well, I say water, it's cause I don't like to use the word soda.

[Jon Stewart]

If I say water, I get it for free.

[John Oliver]

But to be clear, I will be drinking soda.

[Jon Stewart]

But my plan is to use the

[John Oliver]

word water to avoid any, what you call, payment problems.

[Jon Stewart]

Of course, Trump's plan only works if

[John Oliver]

he has the discipline to maintain his assertion that we are, in fact, not in a war.

[Donald Trump]

You know, we're in a war.

[Jon Stewart]

Same day, same podium. Here's how I get around being a war. We're in a war. He's just sitting there, he's just looking the cashier in the eye, filling up his cup with soda. Just gonna get a little Mountain Dew, little Pepsi, little I don't know what the root beer one is. Little Mountain Dew, little Pepsi, little Barks, little high C. I'm going around the world.

[John Oliver]

And by the way, it's all purposeful. These are not mistakes. These are the machinations of genius. He'll tell you himself, as he did this weekend.

[Donald Trump]

I'm the only president to take a cognitive test. You know, the first question is very easy. It's a lion, a giraffe, a bear, and a shark. They say, which one is the bear?

[Jon Stewart]

You're the only president to take the cognitive test. Let me ask you a question.

[John Oliver]

Why do you think that is?

[Jon Stewart]

Why do you think that you're the only president that that happens to that for some reason every time you go

[John Oliver]

to the doctor, which is a lot,

[Jon Stewart]

the doctor's always like, hey, while you're here, if you could come over here

[John Oliver]

and just explain very quickly which one of these is the bear.

[Jon Stewart]

But I interrupted.

[John Oliver]

I interrupted. Let's hear more about this totally believable test. You keep acing.

[Donald Trump]

They say, take a number, any number. Okay, I'll take 99, multiply times nine. Okay. Divide it by three.

[Jon Stewart]

Good.

[Donald Trump]

Add 4,293.

[John Oliver]

That's good.

[Donald Trump]

Divide by two, subtract 93, divide by nine. There aren't a lot of people that. Get it right. I got it right.

[Jon Stewart]

The answer was bear. But no, no, let me not be dismissive.

[John Oliver]

No.

[Jon Stewart]

Trump is a regular Stephen Hawking. That's what it is. Although I thought the only thing they

[John Oliver]

had in common was being in the Epstein files.

[Jon Stewart]

But the important. I apologize. No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[John Oliver]

I apologize.

[Jon Stewart]

Too soon?

[John Oliver]

Or should I say too soon?

[Jon Stewart]

Listen,

[John Oliver]

if punch, the monkey can handle it.

[Jon Stewart]

And by the way, the wild thing is, Trump seems to be almost getting

[John Oliver]

smarter with age because this is how he handled math questions 20 years ago on the Howard Stern Show.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

All right, I'm going to ask you a tough question.

[John Oliver]

Wharton School of business. Yes. What's 17 times six?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Come on, what is it?

[Jon Stewart]

See, that's not a practical. 96. Wrong. 94.

[Donald Trump]

Wrong.

[Jon Stewart]

That's not a practical application, though, Ivanka. 17 times six.

[John Oliver]

It's 11. It's 11.

[Podcast Host]

12.

[John Oliver]

1112 isn't a real number. That's two numbers just placed side by side.

[Jon Stewart]

Yes, it's the 2000s equivalent of 6, 7. That's how it. So I apologize.

[John Oliver]

I know you're a genius.

[Jon Stewart]

Try again.

[John Oliver]

1 12. 1 12.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

It is.

[John Oliver]

112.

[Jon Stewart]

112.

[John Oliver]

Yeah.

[Jon Stewart]

So that is a number, but it's still wrong. It's 102. But somehow we're supposed to believe that 20 years later you've turned into a genius? You've turned into a working class janitor at mit, Solving quadratics between mopping up. You know, I can't believe they ever

[John Oliver]

gave Trump the FIFA math prize.

[Jon Stewart]

So,

[John Oliver]

See, Trump is a special genius that sees himself above all traditional presidential limitations. He's not bound by our petty checks and balances and separations of powers. He has ignored 31 lower court decisions, not including 250 more rulings in immigration cases. He's festooned the People's House with trappings of a Versailles themed bar mitzvah.

[Jon Stewart]

He has built a Kim Jong Un

[John Oliver]

esque giant gold statue of himself at

[Jon Stewart]

his Doral golf course. He's gonna be on our passports. Our passports. Whenever you go abroad, whenever you travel overseas, you're gonna have to tell a customs officer.

[John Oliver]

I don'. How out of control are Trump's royal ambitions? So bad that last week, an actual king, born of the lineage of kings we fought to establish our constitutional republic, had to come back here to Remind us to wake the up.

[King Charles]

I come here today with the highest respect for. For the United States Congress. This citadel of democracy created to represent the voice of all American people to advance sacred rights and freedoms.

[John Oliver]

Oh, shit.

[Jon Stewart]

No, you didn't. Oh, shit. King Charles coming in hot, Firing on all. What's the British word for cylinders? I don't. But you heard them.

[John Oliver]

And then Charles did us dirty with

[Jon Stewart]

a list of all the hard fought

[John Oliver]

constitutional principles we are squandering.

[King Charles]

The principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances. The rule of law, the certainty of stable and accessible rules. An independent judiciary delivering impartial justice that our two countries rededicate ourselves.

[Jon Stewart]

All right, all right. It was all very powerful until you hit the rededicate.

[John Oliver]

The separation of powers.

[Jon Stewart]

We must rededicate. I'm gonna stop you before you go

[John Oliver]

full Tootsie Pop Owl

[Jon Stewart]

re. How many licks must you give a country before we get to the. But you heard him. You heard the King. He's just a boy standing in front of a Congress asking it to rededicate

[John Oliver]

itself to the principles of constitutional checks and balances.

[Jon Stewart]

But Congress won't. Congress won't do that because they suck.

[John Oliver]

Congress has completely abandoned any serious oversight of our military operations.

[Jon Stewart]

They've still not passed a full budget.

[John Oliver]

They've passed fewer laws than any Congress in the first year of a presidency. In our history, they haven't done anything. Well, that's not totally fair.

[Reporter]

We have another bird alert. And this time it involves something that happened on Capitol Hill. These birds were in the hot seat during a House hearing led by Idaho Republican Congressman Mike Simpson. The hearing was meant to highlight efforts to preserve these birds of prey.

[John Oliver]

That's what it is intended for. But instead, it ended in tragedy.

[Jon Stewart]

Jump, Lindsey. Jump. Jump, Boy. Here's the crazy part.

[John Oliver]

The Congresspeople still showing up for bird shows are the best of them.

[Jon Stewart]

Some of these people don't show up for anything.

[Reporter]

GOP New Jersey Representative Tom Kaine, Jr. Hasn't voted since March 5th. Kaine has missed more than 50 votes. Top GOP leaders are in the dark. It's a mystery in the Capitol building, FOX contacted multiple members of the House GOP leadership. None had any idea about Kaine's whereabouts. One member of the Republican brass told FOX that Cain's absence didn't worry them. Quote, until you called,

[Jon Stewart]

He's been gone for two months.

[John Oliver]

Hey, you know the saying around here?

[Jon Stewart]

That's just more birds for us, huh? Here's how little government even means to any of them. This is who was Designated Survivor, who would be tasked with rebuilding our nation

[John Oliver]

if the worst had actually happened at that White House Correspondents dinner, the person who would have theoretically taken over control of the United States government as President of the United States, if something would have happened to everybody in that room would have been Senator Chuck Grassley, who is in his 90s.

[Jon Stewart]

That was the Designated Survivor who will lead our country into the future. The guy who will lead our country into the future statistically doesn't have much

[John Oliver]

of one

[Jon Stewart]

like actuarial tables wise, he would not be expected to survive an uneventful evening.

[John Oliver]

I'm sorry. Too soon.

[Jon Stewart]

And by the way, if you're hoping that our judiciary will step up and

[John Oliver]

be the guardrail against Trump's kingly ambitions, watch a bunch of nominees for confirmation

[Jon Stewart]

to our federal court system refuse to do so.

[Senator Mark]

Mr. Mark, if I might just tell me about the 22nd Amendment. What does it provide?

[John Oliver]

I haven't had an opportunity to use that one. Specifically.

[Senator Mark]

It states, no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice. Mr. Mark, is President Trump eligible to run for president again in 2020?

[John Oliver]

Senator, without considering all the facts and looking at everything, depending on what the situation is, this to me strikes as more of a hypothetical.

[Senator Mark]

Is he eligible to run for a third term under our Constitution?

[John Oliver]

I would have to review.

[Jon Stewart]

Review what? You're allowed two. He said two. That means you can't have three. Do you really have to do the math on that person? Trying to be confirmed to the United States judicial system? Is the answer 11 12? Is that what you're looking at? What do you have to review?

[John Oliver]

It's not a trick.

[Senator Mark]

Anybody else brave enough to say that the Constitution of the United States prevents President Trump from seeking a third term? Anybody willing to apply the Constitution by its plain language in the 22nd Amendment? Nobody? All right, let's move on.

[John Oliver]

Are you happy?

[Jon Stewart]

You broke his heart.

[John Oliver]

The Congress isn't coming to save us. The judiciary isn't coming to save us. The voters are being gerrymandered out of being able to save us. We've only got one last card to play. Our beautiful fourth estate. Democracy dies in darkness. So we look to the free press, the newsies, the ink stained wretches, the

[Jon Stewart]

masters of muckrake, the clickety clack brigade, Kappa's rappers, Wolf Blitzers, titty twisters. We the people depend on the news

[John Oliver]

media to bring the tough questions that

[Jon Stewart]

hold the politicians accountable.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

There was a report this week that because of all the firepower required for Epic Fury, that there Are people in the White House who are starting to worry about our inventory of bomb missiles. Are you worried?

[John Oliver]

It's a solid question. The New York Times just discovered that since the war began, the United States has burned through half its long range missiles, plus a thousand Tomahawk missiles, which is nearly 10 times more than we buy each year, plus thousands more of pretty much every other type of missile that we have. Experts are getting worried. We're depleting our stockpiles, so. Mr. President, are we running out of weapons?

[Jon Stewart]

No, no.

[Donald Trump]

We have more than we've ever had

[Jon Stewart]

because all over the world we have

[Donald Trump]

inventory, and we can take that if we need it. Right now, we have more than double what we had when this.

[John Oliver]

That sounds like bullshit.

[Jon Stewart]

Or. Or no, no, I'm wrong. Or

[John Oliver]

is it perhaps

[Desi Lydic]

magic?

[John Oliver]

What you're saying is, in the beginning of the war, we had only.

[Jon Stewart]

And then we spent a month using that ball. We used it to bomb every place in Iran we could think of. And now at the end of that time, we find ourselves. Hold on here. Where is that. Wait, wait, Hold on. We had one ball. Remember the premise? One ball. And we used the ball to bomb Iran. And now apparently, we have two balls. Now, very clearly, this makes no sense. It's nonsensical on its face.

[John Oliver]

And the reporters have all the specific reporting to back that up. The follow ups to this nonsense are gonna be brutal.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

The G7 is in France in June. Will you go to it?

[Donald Trump]

Probably. No,

[Jon Stewart]

just. The question should just be this. What the did you just say? That didn't make any sense. The G7 is a month from now. It'll be on his schedule. Follow up on the missile thing. You still support a pardon for Pete Rose, sir?

[Donald Trump]

Oh, I think Pete Rose was great.

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, I get it.

[John Oliver]

You're prepping him with nonsense to lower his defenses before you come into hard facts about a war he's clearly bullshitting about. Go.

[Jon Stewart]

You're gonna be hosting the first ever UFC fight at the White House in 45 days. Sir, can you. Can you preview the event? Can you talk about the card and what that means?

[John Oliver]

We're so. And by the way, what is the point of having to shout your questions if you're not gonna listen to the answers? We need you to help us litigate the boundaries of our reality, not move on to Pete Rose. Can someone from the foreign press jump in?

[Jon Stewart]

I love you, Mr. President. Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Would they give Chef Boyardee credentials? The is. Mr. President, Italy has a question for. Where are you. By the way, that reporter is not

[John Oliver]

actually Italian, he's Kurdish, but this was the only accent we felt we could safely do. I genuinely don't understand what this country is becoming when every one of our institutions are failing us. Is there any hope for the liberal democracy that has inspired the world for these past 250 years? Is there anyone who can recall the lessons of our American Revolution and inspire this nation to return to its founding principles in this, our 250th year, let

[King Charles]

our two countries rededicate ourselves.

[John Oliver]

If the strongest defender of Americans democracy is the King of England, we are

[Jon Stewart]

really when we come back, Cheryl and Ike will be here. Don't go away.

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[Jon Stewart]

All right. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is right Kanye. My guest tonight is a renowned civil

[John Oliver]

rights lawyer and founding director of Howard Law School's 14th Amendment center for Law and Democracy. Please welcome to the program Sherilyn Ifill.

[Jon Stewart]

Thank you for being here.

[John Oliver]

Thank you so much for joining us.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Thank you for having me.

[John Oliver]

I would imagine that your expertise is quite in demand right now.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yes. Sadly.

[John Oliver]

Sadly. Explain very quickly, if you could, what has happened to what we call the Voting Rights act in this most recent Supreme Court decision.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah. Last week the Supreme Court issued a decision in a case called Louisiana v. Calais that essentially removed the remaining power from a key section of the Voting Rights Act act of 1965.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And in so doing, they kind of rendered the act a nullity. They had already given the act a body blow in 2013 in a case called Shelby County v. Holder. And when they issued that decision, Chief Justice Roberts said, yes, but you still have another part of the Voting Rights act that's really strong and you can use that. It's Section two. It's nationwide. And then he had that in his decision. He did that in 2013.

[Jon Stewart]

You're okay.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

You're okay. Cuz you've still got section two.

[John Oliver]

The section that he took out was section five.

[Jon Stewart]

Yes.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And then last week they took section

[John Oliver]

two and did he then go, look, section one, you're still okay?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

No, he did not. No, he did not.

[John Oliver]

So what is, what did the removal of section 5 do? So let's take a step back. Historically, representation for African Americans was specifically excluded. They were excluded from voting, maybe not, not by a specific law, but by poll taxes or other things after Reconstruction. And we let that go for 80 years.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah.

[John Oliver]

After 80 years, they passed the Voting Rights act to ensure that representation would be grant that people's voices would be heard in those communities.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah.

[John Oliver]

And what was the result of that act?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah. So just one edit to that is that, you know, after the Civil War, there was an effort to ensure that black people could vote. And that was through the three amendments that were passed to our Constitution after the Civil War. One, ending slavery, the 14th Amendment, birthright, citizenship, and equal protection of laws. And then the 15th amendment said, you cannot prevent someone from voting based on race or color or previous condition of servitude. So that was supposed to mean black people could vote. And for a while, black people could vote in the South. I mean, we had eight members of Congress elected during that Reconstruction period, two United States senators. Then what you had at the turn of the century was all of these states making new constitutions and coming up with the kinds of laws that you described. Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses. If your grandfather could vote in 1850, then you could vote.

[John Oliver]

That's where grandfather clauses were.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. So they came up with all these tactics to keep black people from voting. And of course, it was overall enforced by just mob violence, the violence of the Klan that really controlled so many

[John Oliver]

and never explicitly said. They never explicitly said that this was all done as a way to circumvent what the freedom meant, what those amendments to the Constitution meant.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

No. And when black people tried to challenge it, like in 1911 in a case called Giles v. Harris, where a black man said, alabama won't let me register to vote. I meet all the criteria. I should be able to register.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

The Supreme Court of the United States, in a decision by the esteemed jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, said, there's really nothing we can do about it, because if we tell Alabama that they have to register you to vote, they're not gonna do it anyway.

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, my God. The Supreme Court was going.

[John Oliver]

We could do what's right.

[Jon Stewart]

And yet.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

So that meant that black people. And remember, a majority of black people lived in the South. A majority of black people still live in the South. Right. And so, yes, there were communities in the north where black people could exercise the right to vote, but most black people could not vote until the civil rights movement pushed for voting rights. And that culminated in that march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the brutality of Alabama state troopers. And then, months later, the signing of the Voting Rights act and the Voting Rights act of 1965 completely changed the game. When that act was finally passed by Congress, there were only 72 black elected officials in the entire United States. In the entire United States.

[John Oliver]

You're not talking about just Senate, House representatives.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

No, no, no.

[John Oliver]

You're literally talking about state houses anywhere. 72 in the whole country.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

There you go. And then. And then, of course, it started to do its work. And so by 1980, right. Before the Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act.

[John Oliver]

Mm.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

We were up to about 1,500. And then Congress amended the Voting Rights act in 1982 to change the test used for establishing discrimination under Section two.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And after that passed.

[John Oliver]

What was the test that they. That they used or what? Okay, what was the test prior to

[Jon Stewart]

that, and what was the test?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Sure, sure, sure. So we had thought that the test was that if you showed that a particular practice used by a state resulted in black people not being able to elect their candidates of choice, it violated the Voting Rights Act.

[John Oliver]

Okay.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Then the Supreme Court in 1980, in a decision called Mobile vs Bolden, said, no, no, no, no, no, no. The test has to be that you have to show that the jurisdiction was intentionally racist. Like intended. Yes.

[John Oliver]

So the guy would literally have to come up and go, yeah, no, we're just trying to be racist.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah. And of course, even though they didn't

[John Oliver]

do that in Reconstruction, they never did that.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Well, there were a few cases where there's some interesting hearings that took place in state houses where they said some things, but that certainly was not the norm by 1980. Right, right, right. Which is why the effects test was so important. So the Supreme Court says, no, it has to be intentional discrimination. And Congress comes back and says, In 1982. No, we meant you can just show that the effects of the decision produced this result.

[John Oliver]

The results.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And these are the amendments to the Voting Rights act in 1982. You know who really was opposed to those amendments in 1982?

[John Oliver]

I'm gonna say Oliver Wendell Holmes.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

No.

[Jon Stewart]

Who?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

A very bright young lawyer who worked in the Department of Justice, first as a special aide to. It's not going well. Yeah. As a special aide to the Attorney General and then to the Solicitor General. And he was the point person on trying to convince Congress not to pass these amendments that would address the Supreme Court's decision in Mobile vs Bolden. And that young attorney's name was John Roberts.

[John Oliver]

So this has been something he's been on for some time.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

He's a patient man. He's a patient man.

[John Oliver]

He's a patient man.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yes.

[John Oliver]

So in terms of section 5. Section 5 is that the section where they said in these certain areas where there were racial exceptions, exclusions, and laws that explicitly did that, you would have to. Before you made a change to the way that you counted these votes, appeal to the United States Congress.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Not to the Congress.

[Jon Stewart]

Not to the Congress.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Not to the Congress. But section. So there's two big sections of the Voting Rights Act. What we were just talking about was section two. Section five, the one that was essentially gutted in 2013, has been often called the most successful provision of any civil rights statute because it is the only one that allows you to get at the discrimination before it actually comes into law and happens. Okay, so for a number of jurisdictions that had a history of voting discrimination, if they wanted to make a change to some voting procedure, if they wanted to eliminate an office, if they wanted to reduce the number of members, if they wanted to redistrict, they had to first get permission, or we called it preclearance from a federal authority, either the Attorney General or a federal district court in the District of Columbia. And that's the system that we worked with for many, many years until 2013. And so that was from 1965 to 2013. That's what happened. In 2006, the United States Congress, overwhelmingly, in a bipartisan basis, 396 to 33 in the House, 58 to 0 in the Senate, reauthorized that provision of Section 5. But in 2013, John Roberts said, no, no, no, this is a stain on the South. We are punishing the south. And things have changed. We don't need to have this preclearance provision anymore.

[John Oliver]

What are the metrics for how he decided things have changed? Because I would assume those metrics are the result of Section five.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah. It's so interesting.

[John Oliver]

What

[Jon Stewart]

is it? Literally as bad as Section 5 has worked so well, let's remove Section 5.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That's what the late, great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. She said that eliminating Section 5 now is like using an umbrella and it keeps you dry. And then you say, well, let me throw away the umbrella because I'm dry even though it's raining outside. So that's what happened. So that was now gone. Now we didn't have pre clearance. And you all may have noticed in the last 10 years, this explosion of voter ID laws and voter suppression laws that came as a result of 2013,

[John Oliver]

because they don't have to get preclearance. Although, to be fair, if you were trying to get preclearance from this administration, I would imagine they would just go, you're pre cleared.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

You know, it's so funny because I started out as a civil rights lawyer when Bush was president. And so the Attorney General was, you

[John Oliver]

know, Bush HW or hw. Okay.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And so the Attorney General was a Republican. I remember the Solicitor General was Ken Starr. And I remember when the first section 2 case I ever filed went to The Supreme Court, Houston Lawyers association versus Texas. The Justice Department was on our side. I mean, our co counsel was Ken Starr. So even Republican administrations in the past, old school Republican, used to still try, at least and enforce the Voting Rights Act. I absolutely agree with you that this Department of Justice would never do that.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

But nevertheless, that was the law. So we lost that in 2013. So all we had was section two, which gives people like me and other civil rights lawyers the ability to sue when a law has clearly had the effect.

[John Oliver]

So Post one was pre clearance. Now you have a court. Now it's post appeal.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yes. But now they have decided essentially what the Supreme Court did. And I think this is really important because it gives you a sense of the kind of power they're exercising these days. What they did was overturn the amendments to Section 2 that Congress had passed in 1982. Now, they didn't say that that's what they're doing, but they're saying we now need to return to intentional discrimination, that

[John Oliver]

no, you have to be able to prove it in the way that you had to before the amendments that Congress had.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Correct. And I should point out something else. After Congress amended the Section 2 in 1982, of course it was challenged and it went up to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court upheld it in Thornburg v. Jingles in 1986.

[John Oliver]

Right. So that means Thornburg versus Jingles, really.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Or as Justice Alito likes to say, Gingals. It's actually Jingles, though. But at the point.

[Jon Stewart]

The point sounds like a dog sued the Supreme Court.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

The point is. The point is that they overturned not only Congress's amendment, but they also overturned their own precedent, Thornburg versus Jingles. And in the decision, Justice Alito, who wrote the decision, explicitly says, we are not overturning the effects test. We are not overturning Thornburg v. Jingles, even though that's what they're. But that's the tell. The tell is that they know how outrageous it would be for them to decide rewrite a congressional act to rewrite a congressional statute.

[John Oliver]

So when this was done, when the Voting Rights act was first passed through Congress, I would imagine they took great pains to say, but this isn't quotas. We're not advocating quotas. We're not advocating just creating districts so that black people can elect black people. They must have said that a few times.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

They absolutely did.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

I mean, it's really important. I mean, they certainly said it very explicitly in the 1982amendment because. Because that bright young lawyer, John Roberts, insisted that this was quotas. And so they made it clear that nothing in this provision requires proportional representation.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

And remember, the test is always whether or not the system allows black voters to elect their candidate of choice. It is not. The focus is not on black elected officials. The focus is on black voters.

[John Oliver]

Now you're saying if you distill the percentage of black voters and put them into other districts so that their votes cannot be decisive.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That's right.

[John Oliver]

That. That, that would be considered.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That's right.

[John Oliver]

But they have said that what. What this actually is is DEI or quotas. Would that be what their argument is?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That sounds absolutely correct. That is what they would say. And if you remember, the whole point of the Voting Rights act, right, is to protect the voting strength of minorities who have been discriminated against and to protect the voting rights of minorities whose candidates of choice are most often not supported by the white majority.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

You have to prove that in a case, by the way, it's whether that candidate is not Vibes.

[John Oliver]

Memphis is represented by a Jewish guy. But it's a majority of.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

It's not Vibes. You actually, in the litigation, you have to show that there's racially polarized voting, that white voters don't support the candidate of choice of black voters. You have to do all of that stuff.

[Jon Stewart]

You can do the math, but you

[Sherilyn Ifill]

can do it like it's a real test that is pretty rigorous. And so what we're faced with now is just the removal of that as a measure. And so how do we ensure we protect minorities?

[John Oliver]

It brings up this sort of larger point that you see here, which is how is a society expected to ameliorate the damage done by specific, specifically racist laws which we have had low these, you know, many years. Is the idea now that to try and address that is in itself racist. That it's. It's literally he who smelt it, dealt it racism.

[Jon Stewart]

Is that. Is that what we're dealing with?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

I hate that that's what it is. But. But that is what it is. It's literally. Literally if you try. So basically what they said, you could prove that a district had this discriminatory effect. But if you try to repair it, if you try to remedy it by creating a district that creates an opportunity for black voters to be able to elect their representative of choice, that makes you the racist.

[John Oliver]

But isn't the high concentration of voters of color in itself the result of policies that were explicitly racist?

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Well, the only way you can actually make majority black voting districts is because of segregation.

[John Oliver]

That's my point.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Do you have another show for that?

[John Oliver]

They wouldn't be in the density of the areas they live in if not for the exclusively racist housing policies and other things. Absolutely.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Absolutely. So it's not like, you know, black people are all coming together and saying, let's come together and form a district. We are the most segregated, you know, country that we have ever been. And that's the reason why you can create those districts. But now what the court is allowing is any state can decide they're going to redistrict. And not just a state. It could be judicial districts, it could be county commissions, it could be city council districts, and they can offer any excuse. This court even explicitly said incumbent protection. So if you want to make sure that, let's say Mike Johnson in Shreveport, the current speaker of the House, keeps his district, that's a good enough reason to undermine the ability of black voters.

[John Oliver]

You can be partisan.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

You can be partisan. You can care about incumbents, you can

[John Oliver]

care about what you just said. You can't do that because. Oh, because it's a red state. So a red state is allowed to go in and go. It's okay for me to dissolve Democratic power, just not black power.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That's right.

[John Oliver]

And if black power is synonymous with Democratic power, so be it.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That is. That's pretty much the majority opinion.

[John Oliver]

Let me ask you a question. Why in God's name is partisan gerrymandering allowed?

[Jon Stewart]

That seems to be the root of the evil.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Well, that is allowed because in 2018, the Supreme Court, for God's sakes, if

[Jon Stewart]

this is Mr. Jingles again, I am gonna be very upset.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

No, no, no. In a case called Ruscio v. Common Cause.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

The Supreme Court said this case is so interesting because it was brought by Democrats challenging redistricting in North Carolina and Republicans challenging redistricting in Maryland. So these two cases come together and end up at the Supreme Court. Bipartisan. Great opportunity to address the way in which extreme partisan gerrymandering undermines our democratic system.

[John Oliver]

Right. Taxation without representation.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Yeah. And the Supreme Court said, it really looks like it threatens our democratic norms, but there's nothing we can do about it. We are just mere judges. We are judges who can decide that abortion is not a fundamental right. We can decide that major questions have to be decided by us.

[Jon Stewart]

We can overthrown citizens.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

We can do Citizens United. We can do all the things, but we can't do this. And so that was 2018. And so that's the reason that President Trump could call up the governor of Texas and say we need five more seats. Right. If that were, that should be illegal to any sentient person. Right. That you just call up and get as many districts as you want.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

But he could do that because in 2018, the Supreme Court said partisan redistricting is just something we can't. Partisan gerrymandering is something we can't address.

[John Oliver]

It's so phenomenal because it means that our democratic institutions are the architects of our democratic demise.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

That is correct.

[John Oliver]

Stunning. It's stunning. Please, please tell. Oh, I made you sigh. I don't want to make you sigh. Please tell me that there is a remediation on the horizon or something along the lines that this fight continues.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Well, John, I just refuse to pretend that this is not as serious as it is. And I think there is a pathway forward. But that pathway has many obstacles in front of it, and we have to meet those obstacles. First of all, we all have to overwhelmingly vote in the midterm elections because there has to be a change in Congress. So there has to be a change in climate.

[John Oliver]

The Hungary strategy is really the only way to go. You have to vote in such numbers. That is it. It overwhelms the tilted table.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Well, but there's one more piece to it. John, please. And because you've heard everything that I've said and so you understand that.

[John Oliver]

But only retained about 20%.

[Jon Stewart]

Lot of the names.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

I need you in my class. So. But you know, as you know, as we just discussed, this Supreme Court is prepared to overrule congressional statutes.

[John Oliver]

Right.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

So we need Congress to be prepared to certainly pass some statutes that will protect voting rights and that will deal with partisan gerrymandering. But we also need a Supreme Court that is committed to maintaining democracy in this country. And that means there has to be Supreme Court reform also holding them to account.

[Jon Stewart]

And those are, by the way, votes.

[John Oliver]

And I so appreciate the seriousness of the matter in which you speak because those are certainly tall orders in a dysfunctional system.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Absolutely.

[John Oliver]

As it is certainly constant.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

But we don't have any choice but to fight and we got to get very serious about it.

[John Oliver]

I so appreciate you coming by and explaining this and thank you for enlightening us in all measure of it.

[Jon Stewart]

Ladies and gentlemen, please check out also Sherilyn's newsletter. It's on substat. Cheryl and Eiffel Kick Break. We'll be right back after this.

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[Jon Stewart]

Hey, that's our show for tonight. But before we go, we're gonna check in with your host for the rest of this week, Desi Lydic. Desi, Desi. Lovely to see you. Desi Lydic.

[John Oliver]

What do you got for the people for the rest of the week?

[Desi Lydic]

Well, John, the Kentucky Derby was over the weekend and as it turns out, her story was made. That's right. Or should I say horse stories?

[John Oliver]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Desi Lydic]

The first female horse trainer, Cherie Devoe, won the Kentucky Derby. She made Derby Hiss Derby.

[Sherilyn Ifill]

Thank you.

[John Oliver]

I did not realize you were so into horse racing.

[Desi Lydic]

Oh, you know me. I'm a real she biscuit.

[John Oliver]

So you go to the track?

[Desi Lydic]

Oh, God no. Not since I lost a shit ton of money. Let's just say that the mob is aft her me.

[Jon Stewart]

Stay safe. Desi Lydic, everybody. Here it is. The moment of Zen.

[Desi Lydic]

And his resume just keeps on getting bigger. Secretary of State and current National Security adviser Marco Rubio clocking in for a shift as a wedding DJ over the weekend. White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino sharing the video on X, writing in part quote, our great secretary of state DJs weddings too.

[Comedy Central Announcer]

Explore more shows from the Daily show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, watch the Daily show weeknights at 1110 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount. Plus, This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

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[Sherilyn Ifill]

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