Seventeen members of Congress were arrested outside the Supreme Court today while protesting the high court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Those arrested for “illegal demonstration activity” — aka blocking traffic during the protest — included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA) and several others, such as Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), the only male lawmaker arrested in the bunch.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Women Took Some High Profile Risks To Defend Abortion Access Today”The List Is Taking Shape, Folks!
As I mentioned yesterday, we’re putting together a “Roe and Reform” list to find out where senators stand on passing a Roe law in January 2023 if Democrats hold the House and add two Senate seats. The key question is: do you clearly state your support for a Roe law and suspending the filibuster rules to give that law an up or down majority vote? For the purposes of this exercise we don’t care whether you want to “abolish” the filibuster or “reform” it or ditch it for some things and not others. Many of us have strong feelings about the damaging impact of the modern filibuster generally. But here we’re narrowly focused on this one question.
Continue reading “The List Is Taking Shape, Folks!”Graham Accepts Fulton County Subpoena, Moving Potential Disputes To Georgia
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Tuesday reached an agreement with Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis to move any challenges about the legality of the subpoena she issued in her special grand jury’s investigation to state or federal court in Georgia.
The news comes a day after Willis asked a federal judge to reject Graham’s request to quash the Fulton County subpoena.
Continue reading “Graham Accepts Fulton County Subpoena, Moving Potential Disputes To Georgia”Remember: It’s Always Democrats’ Fault
Sometimes there is an article built on such an Everest-like mountain of bullshit that it requires a specific, emergency takedown and rebuttal just to set everything right in the world. And thus here I am at your service. This morning Politico published this article: “Democrats boosted a MAGA longshot in the Pa. gov’s race. Now he’s got a real shot at winning.” It follows a storyline Republicans and even some Democrats are increasingly pushing on reporters nationwide: cynical Democrats who claim democracy is in danger are helping far right Trumpers win primaries and now a lot of those far right crazies are going to win. All thanks to Democrats! Here’s one GOP operative who jumped on the article shortly after it was published.
Continue reading “Remember: It’s Always Democrats’ Fault”Doc In Child Rape Case Moves To Sue Indiana AG For Defamation
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) may be facing a defamation lawsuit after he attacked an Indiana doctor on live television, making since-debunked allegations related to an abortion she performed on a 10-year-old rape victim.
The child rape victim had to travel to Indiana from Ohio for the procedure due to Ohio’s abortion ban.
Continue reading “Doc In Child Rape Case Moves To Sue Indiana AG For Defamation”Jody Hice Says He Shouldn’t Be Forced To Testify In Fulton County DA Probe
A lawyer for Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) on Monday filed a motion to quash the subpoena issued by the Fulton County special grand jury seeking his testimony in its investigation into former President Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Continue reading “Jody Hice Says He Shouldn’t Be Forced To Testify In Fulton County DA Probe”Former North Carolina Chief Justice Advised Trump On Election Overthrow Suit, Memo Says
It appears that Mark Martin, the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, advised then-President Donald Trump to have the Justice Department pursue a lawsuit in the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election, according to a December 28, 2020 memo recently revealed by The New York Times.
Continue reading “Former North Carolina Chief Justice Advised Trump On Election Overthrow Suit, Memo Says”Heads They Win, Tails We Lose
One of the notable things happening in the background of Dobbs decision shockwave is the furious effort of abortion rights opponents to play down the impact of the decision (odd when you’ve worked so long and hard) and explain why any efforts to reverse or overrule the decision are hopeless, insane, unconstitutional or just generally not worth thinking about.
Continue reading “Heads They Win, Tails We Lose”Your Fault! Paul And McConnell Squabble Over Implosion Of Biden’s GOP Judicial Nom
The collapse of President Joe Biden’s baffling plan to nominate longtime Republican Chad Meredith as a federal judge in Kentucky has left Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in a standoff much like the Spider-Men pointing meme.
Continue reading “Your Fault! Paul And McConnell Squabble Over Implosion Of Biden’s GOP Judicial Nom”An Out And Proud Confederate Could Win GOP Nod For Maryland AG
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
No Like Actually
Meet Michael Peroutka, one of the two candidates on the ballot for Maryland attorney general in the state’s GOP primary today. As TPM alum Cameron Joseph reports for Vice, Peroutka was a board member for the neo-Confederate League of the South until 2014, believes public education is “the 10th plank in the Communist Manifesto,” and at one point he declared that he was “still angry” that Maryland wasn’t allowed to secede from the union during the Civil War.
- But don’t go calling Peroutka a neo-Confederate; there’s nothing “neo” about it, thank you very much! “If anything, I want to be just a true Confederate,” he said in 2014.
- Even to this day, Peroutka won’t say whether he supports the South seceding from the union, telling Vice only that he has “no comment” on the issue and that it’s up to the Southern states “to self-determine.”
- Peroutka’s beaten his establishment-backed primary rival, Jim Shalleck, in fundraising. The former has raised about $50,000 (including a $10,000 loan to himself), the latter a measly $10,000.
Trump Aides Who Resigned On Jan. 6 To Testify Thursday
Matthew Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser who resigned immediately after the Capitol attack, will be one of the witnesses at the House Jan. 6 Committee’s next (and potentially last) public hearing this Thursday, according to multiple outlets.
- Sarah Matthews, Trump’s deputy press secretary who also resigned on Jan. 6, will reportedly be testifying with Pottinger. One of the things she’ll talk about is the push by Trump staffers to get him to release a statement on Jan. 6, the New York Times reports.
- The hearing will examine what the committee called Trump’s “dereliction of duty” on Jan. 6 and what exactly he was up to as the violence unfolded at the Capitol.
Hice’s Turn To Get Subpoenaed By Georgia Grand Jury
A Georgia grand jury issued a subpoena to Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), the Trump loyalist and failed candidate for secretary of state, as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ probe into 2020 election interference. Hice is challenging the subpoena, which was issued last month, in federal court.
- Hice claimed that the subpoena violated the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause and the “high-ranking official” doctrine.
- A federal judge in Georgia scheduled a hearing for Hice’s challenge for this upcoming Monday. The subpoena had directed him to testify in front of the special grand jury today, but the GOP congressman’s filing stated that he and Willis’ office had come to an agreement that he wouldn’t have to testify while challenging the subpoena.
Biden Weighs Declaring Climate Emergency
The President is mulling declaring a national climate emergency, according to the Washington Post, now that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has tanked a deal over an already extremely watered-down Build Back Better redo that included some climate legislation.
- Meanwhile, these disturbing maps lay out just how extreme the heat waves in the U.S. and Europe have become (and have already killed or displaced thousands of people in Western Europe).
Abbott Skipped All Uvalde Victims’ Funerals
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) didn’t go to one funeral for the 21 victims of the Uvalde elementary school shooting, according to his schedule, which said that his last visit to the city was on June 5.
- Then again, “many of the families didn’t want him there” anyway, Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D), who represents the city, said on Monday.
- This is what happened when Abbott visited the memorial at the school several days after the shooting:
Fauci Plans To Retire Before Biden’s First Term Is Up
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, told CNN on Monday that he’s “very likely” to retire sometime before the end of Biden’s first term in January 2025. And really, can you blame the guy?
- “If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have COVID anymore,’ then I will be 105,’” Fauci had told Politico in an interview that came out earlier on Monday when asked about continuing with government work amid COVID-19.
- The 81-year-old Fauci has worked under seven presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan.
Conspiracy Theory Of The Day
“Unhinged ‘Transvestigators’ Think They’re The Only Cis People Left” – MEL Magazine
It’s Gonna Take A Miracle
Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) told NBC News that “it’s going to be a miracle” if he manages to get reelected in his state’s primary after testifying in one of the House Jan. 6 Committee’s public hearings last month.
LIVE with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Friend, Cat Turd!
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