I disagree with TPM Reader SR on this. But I post it here to add to and advance our broader discussion of the issue.

Those same gutless government lawyers mentioned in the edblog email today also put an end to a LOT of stupid shit long before the public gets a whiff of it. “Big shouldered” tough-guy dummies in the last admin were stopped dead in their tracks more often than not. They were literally too stupid for their own good. Which, was good for the rest of us.

The same starting point of what is the statutory/const authority for doing this action is an equal opportunity roadblock. The difference is that the republicans say thanks and do it anyway by finding some political lawyer hack to overrule. The dems piss and moan about the laudable goals(often true) and ask to rethink it 5 times and then gnash and wail forever. But don’t do it.

House Jan. 6 Committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) made it clear that she and her committee will not be steamrolled by Trump or any of his allies’ efforts to try to interfere with the panel’s investigation or to try to intimidate witnesses. Today was the second time she’s publicly revealed that Trump and people close to him are clearly watching the hearings — and might be getting spooked.

One of the highlights of today’s Jan. 6 Committee hearing was a text exchange between Kylie Jane Kremer, an Ellipse rally organizer, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. In the text Kremer said to Lindell, “we are having a second stage at the Supreme Court again after the Ellipse.”

You may remember Josh Kovensky had the scoop on the story of a second planned rally outside SCOTUS back in December. You can read that TPM exclusive here.

Learn about this confirmation and more in a new Twitter Space conversation between Josh Kovensky and Matt Shuham, where they make sense of today’s hearing. Listen below and follow us on Twitter @TPM to tune in to the next live chat:

www.twitter.com/i/spaces/1gqxvllEyQwGB?s=20

I want you to read this TPM Reader email. If you care about Roe, Dobbs or what seems like a White House response that’s just not up to the challenge of the moment, you should really read this. It’s not exculpatory. But it explains the nature of the breakdown, the outdated model they appear to be stuck in. I won’t be identifying the TPM Reader, even by initials. Suffice it to say TPM Reader TL, as I’ll call them, has longtime professional experience that allows them to give this perspective and render these judgments.

Yesterday afternoon, you retweeted the Politico story on the White House lawyers’ conservative approach to post-Dobbs fixes saying “If this is true it shows a total misunderstanding of the current political moment.”

That is exactly the problem.

For decades, lawyers for the Executive Branch, in both DoJ and the White House, have urged their “clients”—agencies and the President—not to be overly aggressive in exercising their authority for fear that agency action would be invalidated in court. 

I wanted to follow up on Nicole Lafond’s post from yesterday afternoon. Subject to signature verification, a broad right to abortion and reproductive rights in the form of a state constitutional amendment will now appear on the ballot in Michigan in the November election. It seems very likely the referendum will win and essentially end the abortion issue in the state of Michigan going forward, excluding the possibility of a national abortion ban or Court ruling that might conceivably override the state constitution. One recent poll shows that 58% of Michigan residents oppose the Dobbs decision and 52% strongly oppose it. Only 34% support it.

Getting outraged over Fox News holds little allure these days, but occasionally the network will do something so quintessentially Fox News that you have to sit back and marvel at the layers of mendacity.

Today’s little Fox News gem was a segment on what a huge bummer it is to visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello these days, what with all the focus on slavery and what not at what was built as a slave plantation.

A bow-tied, bespectacled guest for the segment was billed hilariously in one chyron as a “recent Monticello visitor.” Turns out there’s a little more to the story.

A group of pro-abortion activists in Michigan have succeeded in collecting close to double the signatures necessary to get a question on the ballot this fall that, if approved by voters, would codify abortion rights into the state constitution.

Late last week as we were discussing Roe, the corruption of the Court and various avenues to constrain that corruption, I got a series of emails from TPM Reader lawyers experiencing what amounts to a crisis of faith in the assumptions of their profession. They were remarkably similar. It was clear the debate had struck a very particular nerve.

So, for instance, TPM Reader SB wrote saying he entirely agrees with the need to codify Roe and if necessary take further steps to constrain the Court if they then strike down such a codification. But then he added this.

So yesterday morning we got into contact with three Senate offices trying to see where everyone was on Roe and Reform. We contacted the offices of Sens. Feinstein, Casey and King. (We also reached out to Sens. Tester and Coons. But in those cases it wasn’t clear we got through the forest of out of office emails and voice mail messages. Congress is currently on recess.) Yesterday afternoon Sen. Feinstein’s office released a statement affirming that she’s ready to suspend the filibuster rules for the Roe bill. Around the same time, Sen. Casey’s office confirmed to Kate Riga that Casey also supported suspending the filibuster rules for a Roe bill. And that leaves us with … hmm? Who’s left? Oh right! Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. So far no response or clarification on this issue. Crickets.

(We also had a conversation with Sen. Kaine, which we’ll get to in a later post.)

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate wrap up the end of a head-spinning Supreme Court term.

You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.