A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Dominion v. Fox News

With Dominion’s defamation case against Fox News set to go to trial next week, the judge made several important pre-trial rulings yesterday:

• Fox will not be allowed to argue that it broadcast false claims about Dominion because they were newsworthy, shutting down what had been a key line of defense for the cable news net.
• The judge was angered by a last-minute revelation that Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch also held an officer position with Fox News. Dominion complained vigorously that the failure to disclose Murdoch’s role as “executive chair” at Fox News had adversely impacted its approach to the litigation. “My problem is that it has been represented to me more than once that he is not an officer,” the judge said in court, suggesting he might have ruled differently on summary judgment.
• Fox did win one pre-trial dispute: Dominion will not be allowed to mention the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol during the trial.
• A new shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Delaware against Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and several members of the Fox Corp. board of directors, claiming they violated their fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast election conspiracy theories, NBC News reported.

Stephen Miller Testifies To Jan. 6 Grand Jury

Trump aide Stephen Miller spent some six hours in the federal courthouse in DC Tuesday, where he reportedly testified before the grand jury investigating the scheme to overturn the 2020 election. Miller’s testimony came after Trump’s efforts to block it on executive privilege grounds were denied by an appeals court last week in a sealed ruling.

Big Deal: Bragg Sues To Block Jim Jordan’s Meddling

In a sign of how serious he is, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has engaged national-caliber litigator Ted Boutrous to handle Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan’s use of his official power to publicly meddle in the state prosecution of Trump. This is shaping up to be worth watching, both because of the legal issues involved and because of the novelty of a Democrat being this aggressive in fighting Republican attacks on the rule of law.

Tucker Carlson Interviews Guy He Despises

I’m not going to go through each of the crazy things Trump said or claimed in his Tucker Carlson interview. But if you’re curious, just scroll through this thread:

follow along for a video thread on Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/mA3HxJW1Ay

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 12, 2023

Schumer Calls GOP Bluff On Defunding FBI

To put the squeeze on Republicans who can’t decide whether they’re the party of Trump or of law and order, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is planning a vote for next week to force them on the record about defunding the Justice Department and FBI.

Justin Pearson Expected To Be Reinstated

The Shelby County Board of Commissioners is expected to appoint expelled Rep. Justin Pearson back to his old seat in the Tennessee House later today.

Biggest News Of The Day

EPA announces aggressive new rules to speed the conversion of the U.S. vehicle fleet from internal combustion to electric.

North Dakota Enacts Trans Athlete Bans

Just two years after vetoing a trans athlete ban, Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) has signed two new bills banning transgender girls and women from joining female sports teams. Both passed with veto-proof majorities.

Wexton Diagnosed With Parkison’s

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), 54, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, she announced Wednesday. Wexton was first elected in 2018, knocking off Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA). Her hard-fought win in 2022 was an important hold for Dems in a tough year.

2024 Ephemera

• Tim Scott launches exploratory committee to run for president.
• Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) kicks off her re-election campaign.
• ICYMI: Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) announced his own re-election bid earlier this week.

Surprising: Marc Elias and DNC Part Ways

Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias will no longer be representing the Democratic National Committee in the 2024 cycle, Punchbowl reports.

“The DNC and Elias had a number of strategic disagreements, according to sources familiar with the internal deliberations,” according to the report.

Elias, who has repped the DNC since 2009, will continue to represent other Democratic campaign committees.

Chicago Chosen To Host DNC In 2024

The last time Chicago hosted the DNC pic.twitter.com/6yblYWCPsY

— Chicago Urbanist 🚲🚌🚇🗺️🥑 (@chi_urbanist) April 11, 2023

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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Intellectually Dishonest

Before we move on to the aftermath of the abortion pill ruling from Friday, it needs to sink in how bad U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s opinion was by any objective standard of intellectual honesty.

I don’t mean bad in the sense of wrong on the standing issue, or the administrative law issues, or the timeliness issue (the FDA approved the drug TWO decades ago). All that too! But bad in a way that exposes the foundational corruptness of Kacsmaryk’s approach.

TPM’s Kate Riga in her initial story already pointed out how the opinion whole-heartedly adopted loaded anti-abortion catchphrases:

His decision is peppered with anti-abortion language and sentiment. “Because mifepristone alone will not always complete the abortion, FDA mandates a two-step drug regimen: mifepristone to kill the unborn human, followed by misoprostol to induce cramping and contractions to expel the unborn human from the mother’s womb,” he writes. He also refers to providers as “abortionists” throughout. 

Insider has a good rundown on some of the other failings of the ruling: “Kacsmaryk in the ruling cited multiple studies to back up claims that have been widely scrutinized or do not hold up to scientific consensus.”

I would also refer you to Insider’s initial write-up:

In addition to citing the Wikipedia definitions for both “pregnancy” and “disease” in his ruling, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk falsely claimed abortion medication “ultimately starves the unborn human until death” and made sweeping generalizations about the psychological impact of abortions on women who receive them — which health care providers told Insider aren’t accurate.

It should be obvious why conservative activists and Republican attorneys general flock to Kacsmaryk’s Amarillo courtroom.

What DOJ Says

The Justice Department has asked the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Kacsmaryk’s decision pending its appeal. In doing do, it tackled some of the intellectual dishonesty of the decision:

DOJ takes a moment to respond, politely, to one of the more egregious arguments in Kacsymaryk’s order. https://t.co/uRiYSJi0Q1 pic.twitter.com/FsSNygd0xB

— Micah Schwartzman (@mjschwartzman) April 10, 2023

How Bad Was Kacsmaryk’s Decision?

It’s so bad that the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court may be reluctant to seize on this case as a vehicle for advancing its anti-abortion, anti-administrative state agenda, Adam Liptak reports in the NYT:

[L]egal scholars said on Monday that the poor quality, breathtaking sweep and unknown collateral consequences of the Texas decision might cause at least some of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices to wait for a case that would allow them to take more measured steps.

The OTHER Abortion Pill Ruling

The Justice Department is seeking clarification from the federal judge in Seattle who issued a contrary abortion pill ruling Friday a mere 20 minutes after Kacsmaryk’s decision.

Meanwhile, The White House says it won’t heed calls to ignore Kacsmaryk’s ruling.

Blue States Stockpile Abortion Pills

California, Washington, and Massachusetts are among the blue states stocking up on abortion pills to ensure medium term availability of the drugs for women in their states.

Can Senate Dems Rise To The Occasion?

Keep an eye on how aggressive Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) is on the Clarence Thomas scandal. This is a start, but it’s a pretty tepid. There’s no need to wait for Chief Justice John Roberts to conduct his own investigation.

Jim Jordan Uses Taxpayer Funds To Defend Trump

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordon (R-OH) is taking his committee on the road to NYC to further interfere with and undermine the state prosecution of Donald Trump.

Big Showdown on Executive Privilege

Former President Donald Trump is taking the next step to try to block former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying to the DC federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6. At issue is Trump’s claim that executive privilege shields him and by extension Pence from having to testify. A federal district judge has rejected that argument as to Pence. It’s also been rejected as to other former Trump White House aides and officials. Reminder: All of this is proceeding under grand jury secrecy rules so the filings are sealed and our visibility into the arguments and rulings is limited.

Trump To Be Deposed Thursday

Donald Trump will sit down in NYC Thursday for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James big lawsuit against the Trump Org, Trump himself and three of his adult children.

Proud Boys Trial Nears End

Time to get reading for closing arguments and jury deliberations as soon as this week in the long-running seditious conspiracy trial of the Proud Boys.

Sign O’ The Times

NBC News: Hounded by baseless voter fraud allegations, an entire county’s election staff quits in Virginia

Breaking

Punchbowl:

The Biden administration has started giving the congressional “Gang of Eight” access to the classified documents that were recovered from the homes of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, according to sources familiar with the matter.

What A Self Own By Tennessee GOPers

Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones was appointed to the House seat he was expelled from last week and was immediately sworn back in. The same is expected to happen as soon as Wednesday for Justin J. Pearson, the other expelled lawmaker.

Justin Jones returns pic.twitter.com/QDIMEZClwg

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 10, 2023

Texas Solon Accused Of Inappropriate Relationship With Intern

Texas Tribune:

An internal complaint filed against state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, alleges that he was engaging in a potentially “inappropriate relationship” with an intern. The complaint came after an incident in which Slaton and the staffer allegedly met up at his Austin apartment last weekend. …

A source with direct knowledge of the incident told the Tribune that Slaton drank alcohol with the intern, who was under 21.

In a sign of the seriousness of the matter, Slaton had a criminal defense attorney issue a statement about the “false claims.”

Buckle Up For The Arizona Senate Race

Whackadoodle Sheriff Mark Lamb has thrown his hat into the GOP primary for Sen. Kristen Sinema’s seat. Kari Lake is also expected to run on the GOP side. Sinema, who of course left the Democratic Party to become an independent, hasn’t officially declared. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is seeking the Dem nom.

Trump’s Hidden Advantage In The GOP Primary

Ron Brownstein: “Since Trump’s emergence as the GOP’s dominant figure in 2016, the college-educated voters generally most skeptical of him have declined as a share of all GOP primary voters, while the voters without a college degree generally most sympathetic to him have increased, an array of public and private polls indicate.”

Level That Playing Field

With $80 billion in new funding, the IRS is aiming to ramp up audits of wealthy taxpayers and large corporations.

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