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.
Continue reading “Kagan Turns Conservative Justices’ Recent Love Affair With History Against Them In EPA Case”Stragglers
From TPM Reader JR …
Continue reading “Stragglers”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.
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.
Continue reading “Ex-Trump WH Aide Details Why Hutchinson Switched Lawyers Weeks Before Damning Testimony”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.”
Continue reading “TPM Readers Prayers Answered!”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.
Continue reading “SCOTUS Will Hear Case Next Term That Could Transform Election Law”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.
Continue reading “Biden Announces Support For Abortion Rights Filibuster Exception”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.
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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