Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Sworn In As First Black Woman On Supreme Court

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court on Thursday, making history as she succeeds retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

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Kagan Turns Conservative Justices’ Recent Love Affair With History Against Them In EPA Case

Justice Elena Kagan, in a sly section of a searing dissent, uses historical antecedents to prove that Congress has always delegated broad power to agencies. 

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Stragglers

From TPM Reader JR

Hi, Illinois reader here.

I just called the DC offices of Senators Durbin and Duckworth. Both liberal stalwarts, obviously, but neither staffer showed particular awareness of the question of whether the filibuster will need to be suspended to enact abortion protections.

Neither seemed clear on any kind of promise that the Senate would do something concrete if people vote in the Fall.

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Ex-Trump WH Aide Details Why Hutchinson Switched Lawyers Weeks Before Damning Testimony

Former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah on Thursday detailed the series of events that led to the damning testimony Cassidy Hutchinson — a former top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — delivered during a Jan. 6 Select Committee public hearing this week.

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TPM Readers Prayers Answered!

Over the last couple weeks I’d shared reports from TPM Readers struggling to get a response from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire on whether she supports making Roe law and changing the filibuster rules to allow that bill to get a straight up or down vote. This morning I chatted with Shaheen’s Communications Director Sarah Weinstein who confirmed to me that Shaheen not only supports making Roe federal law (which she and 48 other Democrats attempted to do a few weeks ago) but also “supports amending the filibuster rules so a bill to codify Roe could pass by simple majority.”

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SCOTUS Will Hear Case Next Term That Could Transform Election Law

After knee-capping the federal government’s ability to address greenhouse gases and other national regulatory issues Thursday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case next term that could effectively eliminate the role of state courts and dramatically increase the power of state legislatures in questions of federal election law, a potentially huge win for the right in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2020 election theft attempt. 

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Biden Announces Support For Abortion Rights Filibuster Exception

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his support for the Senate to create an exception to the filibuster in order to codify abortion rights into federal law. 

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SCOTUS Shackles EPA’s Authority To Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Power Plants

The Supreme Court issued a major ruling Thursday curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate power plant emissions, and sent a shot across the bow of executive agency power in general.

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