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.
Continue reading “SCOTUS Shackles EPA’s Authority To Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Power Plants”Jan. 6 Committee Slaps Pat Cipollone With Subpoena
The House Jan. 6 Committee subpoenaed Pat Cipollone, who served as then-President Donald Trump’s chief White House counsel, on Wednesday evening.
Continue reading “Jan. 6 Committee Slaps Pat Cipollone With Subpoena”Busy Day At SCOTUS
The term ends.
Stephen Breyer retires.
Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as his replacement.
But before all that, the last big case TPM cares about will be issued shortly after 10 a.m. ET.
Background on the EPA case here.
Kate’s story on the oral arguments in the EPA case here.
More a little later.
Mississippi GOP Leader Argues 12-Year-Old Should Be Forced To Carry Father’s Child
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Nobody’s Safe
In little-noticed remarks hours after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) told reporters that his state’s abortion ban shouldn’t be changed to include an exception for victims of rape and incest, even for 12-year-old incest victims impregnated by their fathers, because “Every life is valuable.” Gunn’s remarks didn’t get much pickup locally until yesterday.
- Gunn was also annoyed at reporters for ruining this special day for him with all this forced-child-incest-pregnancy talk:
“I want today to be about the fact that we have seen an end to abortion in this country. These other things that y’all are talking about are certainly things we can talk about moving forward. I do not want those things to detract from the significance of this day. I’m afraid if we get too far afield from what we’re talking about today, that will overshadow the significance of this day.”
Biden Sprints Straight To McConnell’s Football
According to a mind-boggling Louisville Courier-Journal report, Biden plans to tap an anti-choice Federalist Society member as a federal judge as part of a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in which the latter agrees to not stonewall Biden’s future judicial nominations, pinky promise!
Key Analysis
“The fall of Roe is the culmination of the Democratic establishment’s failures” – Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr.
Must Read
“Deleting Your Period Tracker Won’t Protect You” – The New York Times
Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Pat Cipollone
The House Jan. 6 Committee issued a subpoena to Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone on Wednesday after Mark Meadows ex-aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed the shocking extent of Cipollone’s first-hand knowledge of the Trump White House’s response to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
- The committee noted in the subpoena that Cipollone has already had an informal interview with the panel on April 13, but has since “declined to cooperate with us further, including by providing on-the-record testimony.”
- According to Hutchinson’s damning testimony, Cipollone repeatedly asked her to make sure Trump didn’t go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 because “[w]e’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.”
- Committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) blasted Trump as a “domestic threat” on the same day the panel sent Cipollone the subpoena.
Trump Campaign Finance Chief Testifies In Front Of Jan. 6 Panel
The Trump campaign’s chief financial officer, Sean Dollman, testified in front of the House Jan. 6 Committee on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Texas AG Paxton Is Ready To Defend Anti-Sodomy Laws
Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) heard Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ call for SCOTUS to revisit landmark civil rights decisions like Lawrence v. Texas loud and clear: During an interview on NewsNation on Friday, Paxton declared that he’s “certainly willing and able to” defend bans on “sodomy.”
Breyer Sets Official Time Of Bretirement
Outgoing Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer sent Biden a letter yesterday informing him that his retirement will be effective today at noon. Soon-to-be-Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in immediately afterward.
Ex-Top Jan. 6 Panel Investigator Launches Senate Bid
Former federal prosecutor John Wood, a lifelong Republican who served as ex-senior counsel on the House Jan. 6 Committee, launched a Missouri Senate campaign as an independent candidate on Wednesday.
- Wood pointed directly at disgraced ex-governor Eric Greitens, who’s now running for Senate, as his motivation to throw his hat in the race. The ex-prosecutor told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he believed Greitens would win the GOP primary, and so Wood wants to offer himself as a less deranged alternative.
- He’ll need to gather 10,000 signatures by Aug. 1 to make it onto the ballot this November.
Giuliani’s Ukrainian Crony Sentenced To 20 Months
Lev Parnas, one of ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s Ukrainian associates who helped the lawyer in Trump’s Zelensky pressure campaign, was handed a 20-month sentence and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution on Wednesday for an illegal campaign finance scheme, part of which included covering up a foreign donation to a pro-Trump committee.
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Justice Breyer Retires, Leaving Warnings In His Wake
Justice Stephen Breyer will step down from the bench Thursday, departing from the Supreme Court as it lurches ever more dramatically to the right.
Continue reading “Justice Breyer Retires, Leaving Warnings In His Wake”Bannon Seeks Delay Of Contempt Trial Over Publicity Of Jan. 6 Hearings
Former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is seeking a postponement of his trial scheduled next month in the contempt charges the Justice Department brought against him last year for failing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s investigation, citing the publicity that the panel’s public hearings this month have generated.
Continue reading “Bannon Seeks Delay Of Contempt Trial Over Publicity Of Jan. 6 Hearings”Where Things Stand: Groundswell Of Prosecutors Are Refusing To Prosecute
Planning ahead for the eventual demise of Roe, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) filed a lawsuit earlier this year against 13 county prosecutors in her state to preemptively challenge the 1930s-era abortion ban on the books in Michigan. Her logic was simple — once Roe was ultimately overturned the century-old law would immediately go into effect, giving those 13 county prosecutors — who oversee the 13 counties in the state that house abortion clinics — the authority to charge people who violate the old-school ban.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Groundswell Of Prosecutors Are Refusing To Prosecute”How Hutchinson Converted Skeptics To Thinking Trump Might Be Prosecuted After All
Former President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse was many things — low-class, loaded with conspiracy theories, reckless.
But to many legal elites, it fell short of incitement.
Continue reading “How Hutchinson Converted Skeptics To Thinking Trump Might Be Prosecuted After All”Warnock Opens Lead Over Walker
We talk a lot about potential Democratic Senate pick ups. But Democrats also need to hold on to endangered seats in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. I was frankly stunned to see this new Quinnipiac poll showing Warnock opening up a 10 point lead over Herschel Walker, 54%-44%. The results seem mostly driven by Georgians thinking Warnock is a good guy who cares about ordinary people and many fewer thinking the same about Walker.
Ginni Thomas Lawyer Asks Jan 6 Panel For ‘Better Justification’ For Testimony
A lawyer for Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and conservative activist, wrote in a letter to the Jan. 6 Select Committee on Tuesday requesting the panel provide “better justification” for why it wants to speak to her.
Continue reading “Ginni Thomas Lawyer Asks Jan 6 Panel For ‘Better Justification’ For Testimony”