Vance Just Wants to Close a Constitutional ‘Loophole’
Vice President JD Vance went on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show last night to chart a path forward for the nativist movement in the U.S. following Tuesday’s too-close-for-comfort Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship.
It’s what you might call a rich text.
He first described “birthright citizenship,” an idea enshrined in the Constitution, as “a loophole that now exists in our immigration system.”
He spoke of “congressional or statutory changes” to “make it harder for people to actually take advantage of” said “loophole” — before acknowledging that five justices on the Supreme Court were willing to affirm reality: the Constitution forbids such changes. (A sixth justice, Brett Kavanaugh, upheld birthright citizenship but suggested Congress could take steps to end it.)
Because even some right-wing justices ruled that birthright citizenship is part of the constitutional foundation of our country, there’s little Congress can do about it — at least without amending the Constitution.
This all brought Vance to the midterms.
“This drives home, Laura, why the midterms are so important, because it’s the senators who ultimately vote on those Supreme Court justices. Imagine if one of the five justices who made a bad call today, if they left the Supreme Court — we want to make sure we get somebody good on there in the future.”
It demonstrates at this late moment how emboldened the far-right is in its crusade to change what it means to be an American.
“This was only a 5-4 decision, Laura,” Vance said. “How many times do we hear people say this was going to go 8-1 against the administration?”
On that, he’s right.
SAVE Act Thrusts Congress Into Chaos, Pt. 348
The House left town for July 4 early after it found itself paralyzed by a right-wing effort to pair the SAVE Act, a sweeping voter suppression bill, with the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress regards as “must pass” legislation.
Some of the most outspoken right-wingers in the House voted with Democrats to tank that effort, arguing it would be too easy for the Senate to decouple the two pieces of legislation once the bill reached that chamber. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), one of the leaders of an effort to grind the House to a halt until the SAVE Act is passed, wants to attach voter ID directly to the NDAA instead.
So, the House is stuck. Members went home.
The Senate, meanwhile, is still attempting to pass something that it calls the “SAVE Act” through budget reconciliation, which, because of reconciliation’s rules, would probably result in legislation that looks nothing like the SAVE Act. As we’ve often noted at TPM, that gambit looks more like a Senate attempt to trick Trump and get him off legislators’ backs.
Colorado results
- As Josh Marshall has been chronicling, this primary saw three high-profile incumbents confronted by insurgent challengers, some of whom weren’t much different on policy but questioned why the incumbents hadn’t done more to “fight” Trump. Votes are still being counted, but the outcomes are clear. Here’s where things stand this morning.
- Phil Weiser, the current attorney general, beat Senator Michael Bennet to become the party’s nominee for governor 56% to 44%. Weiser had questioned why Bennet hadn’t done more to oppose Trump from Congress, and pointed to his own record of litigation against the administration.
- DSA-endorsed 29-year-old lawyer Melat Kiros defeated longtime Rep. Diana DeGette 51% to 41% to represent a congressional district that includes Denver.
- Incumbent Senator John Hickenlooper held on against challenger Julie Gonzales 55% to 45%.
Woman of the Hour
It’s election-denying former county clerk Tina Peters, who showed up at the White House yesterday so Trump could take credit for getting her out of prison. Congratulations to outgoing Democratic Colorado governor Jared Polis for creating this situation!
Tabs
Perry Bacon in the New Republic: Democratic Centrists Need to Stop Saying “Both Sides” Have “Extremes”
Silver Lining
A University of Tennessee anthropology professor who was fired after writing in a private Facebook post that the “world is better off without” Charlie Kirk reached a $1.9 million settlement after suing for wrongful termination.