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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 But it explains the nature of the breakdown, the outdated model they appear to be stuck in.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.