As summer gives way to fall, the Supreme Court’s new term is upon us. The batch of arguments scheduled so far start October 3 and stretch through early November.
Continue reading “Five Of The Biggest Landmines On The Supreme Court’s Docket This Term”Special Mastering Very Strongly
In a new joint filing, Trump lawyers and the DOJ outline points of agreement and disagreement about how a Special Master review should work. One of the disagreements is who should pay the Special Master and whatever expenses are incurred in said special mastering. Trump says the US government should pick up half the tab. The DOJ says that Trump, as the guy who wants the Special Master, should pick up the whole tab.
All The People Who Trump Tried To Make The Feds Investigate For Being Mean To Him
While in office, former President Trump had a lot of grievances.
Continue reading “All The People Who Trump Tried To Make The Feds Investigate For Being Mean To Him”Pre-Insurrection Mastriano Prayed For MAGA To ‘Rise Up’ And ‘Seize’ Power On Jan 6
Before he became the GOP Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee he is today, far-right state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) led a group prayer with Christian nationalists a week before the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in which he openly called for a MAGA power grab.
Continue reading “Pre-Insurrection Mastriano Prayed For MAGA To ‘Rise Up’ And ‘Seize’ Power On Jan 6”The Missed Opportunity
Yesterday, when Michigan’s Supreme Court confirmed there would be an abortion rights measure on the state ballot in November, I was jarred to see how many people were not aware Senate Democrats have an opportunity – so far ignored – to accomplish basically the same thing on a national level. So far it’s the greatest missed opportunity of the election cycle. The reason is nothing substantive but rather a mix of misplaced caucus collegiality and electoral myopia.
Continue reading “The Missed Opportunity”Judge Ridicules Trump Lawsuit As Yet Another Grievance Manifesto
A South Florida federal judge (not that one) on Friday dismissed a complaint filed earlier this year from President Trump in which he accused everyone who had offended him during his political career of wrongdoing.
Continue reading “Judge Ridicules Trump Lawsuit As Yet Another Grievance Manifesto”Report: Jan. 6 Panel Mulling Another Hearing This Month
The House Jan. 6 Committee is considering holding a public hearing this month as part of its investigation into the Capitol attack, Punchbowl reports.
Continue reading “Report: Jan. 6 Panel Mulling Another Hearing This Month”Report On Findings Of Roe Draft Leak Probe Is Coming, Gorsuch Says
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Stay Tuned
The Supreme Court’s investigation into the stunning leak of SCOTUS’ opinion draft dismantling Roe is still underway, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch told attendees at a judicial conference yesterday.
- Gorsuch said the findings of the investigation will be outlined in an official report that’ll hopefully be completed “soon.”
- The justice didn’t say whether the report would be released publicly.
- Gorsuch also echoed other justices’ suggestion that the leaker was trying to manipulate the final decision in the Dobbs case. We’ll almost certainly never know for sure whether the leaker did meaningfully impact the high court’s final decision, but the leak did reportedly scuttle Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ (long-shot) efforts to convince justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett not to kill Roe entirely.
DOJ Appeals Judge’s Eyebrow-Raising Mar-A-Lago Doc Order
Federal prosecutors said via court filings on Thursday that they plan on appealing at least part of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s shady order appointing a special master to review materials the FBI seized at Mar-a-Lago.
- We don’t know which exact part of the order the prosecutors are going to appeal. They’re taking the case to the Eleventh Circuit.
- The federal government is also asking Cannon to:
- Bar the special master from accessing the classified documents that were among the seized materials
- Temporarily hold her order that restricts the DOJ from using those classified documents in its investigation
Pro-Choice Amendment Will Be On Michigan’s Ballot
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state’s ballot in the November elections will include a constitutional amendment that would codify Michiganders’ right to abortion care.
- You mean to tell me that the court didn’t buy Republicans’ argument that the words in the text of the proposed amendment were spaced too closely to each other??
- More good news from the Michigan Supreme Court on the democracy front: The justices also put a voting rights amendment on the ballot.
King Charles III To Address The Nation
King Charles III will make his first public appearance since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at age 96 yesterday. (Read our liveblog of yesterday’s events, beginning with Buckingham Palace’s announcement that the Queen was under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.) The address is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
Must Read
“How Murdered Journalist Jeff German’s Colleagues Hunted Down His Alleged Killer” – The Daily Beast
Another Outgoing GOP Guv Won’t Endorse Trump-Backed Nom Running To Fill His Seat
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who decided not to run for reelection, won’t endorse Geoff Diehl, the Republican gubernatorial nominee whom Trump touted as someone who would “rule” the state “with an iron fist” in an appeal to Massachusetts’ huge pro-dictator voter base.
- Baker wants to “focus solely on finishing” his term “strong,” a spokesperson told Politico.
- Term-limited Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) similarly isn’t backing his party’s (read: Trump’s) pick for his office, Dan Cox, who organized buses to the pre-insurrection Trump rally and tweeted that then-Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor” for not stealing the 2020 election for Trump on Jan. 6.
- Unlike Baker, however, Hogan made it crystal-clear that his refusal to endorse Cox was because he believes the nominee is absolutely batshit.
Bannon Slapped With NY State Indictment
New York state is now prosecuting ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon over the crimin’ he got away with thanks to a pardon from Trump–which only protected the MAGA bulldog from being held accountable by the federal government.
The New York indictment against Bannon, like the previous federal case, is centered on his We Build the Wall scam. Bannon is now facing state-level fraud and money laundering charges.
In Case You Missed It
Tina Peters, the indicted Mesa County clerk in Colorado and diehard election truther, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony and misdemeanor charges connected to the breach of her county’s voting systems that she had allegedly plotted. Peters’ plea came a month after the recount she demanded (and paid $255,912 for) in her GOP primary for secretary of state went nowhere.
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Where Things Stand: Watching The Christian Right’s Power Play Out In Real Time
I made the point yesterday that the language Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is using to clean up his past marriage equality remarks — earlier this summer he said he had no reason to “oppose” codifying same-sex marriage into federal law — is an obvious cave to the Christian right. In frantic messaging in recent days, Johnson has flip-flopped on his previous position as he struggles with the impossible task of casting himself as a reasonable guy to Wisconsin voters and a reliable ally to Christian conservatives.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Watching The Christian Right’s Power Play Out In Real Time”Big News Out of Michigan
The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled 5-2 that the proposed abortion rights measure will appear on the state’s ballot in November. This is good news for all Democratic candidates in the state, since it will literally put robust abortion rights protections on the ballot in the state. That will almost certainly mean robust protections in the state going forward. It will likely also bring marginal Democratic candidates to victory with the tide of voters who turn out to vote for the amendment.
But it’s a very important development in a more general way.
Continue reading “Big News Out of Michigan”