This covers some ground we’ve discussed already. But I wanted to come at it from a slightly different angle. The following is a note from a law professor TPM Reader whose initials I’m omitting because it’s a small world. I’ll call them LP …
Codifying Roe is not so easy. Congress has only the legislative power explicitly provided in the constitution. In the ACA case, the Court (per CJ Roberts) decided that “health care and insurance” was outside the domain of the commerce clause. And perhaps that’s a good thing, because it’s something of a safeguard against a national anti-abortion law. So what about the enabling clauses of the 14th Amendment (sec 5) and the 13th Amendment (sec. 2). The Court has cut back Congress’ power to use sec 5 to “expand” rights. So you’ve made a point of pushing Biden on “give me 2 more Senators and we’ll run over the filibuster to codify Roe,” I think TPM should do some reporting on what “codifying” would mean and whether it’s practicable with this Court, without something like the ERA. And so maybe you ought to be pushing Biden on “give me 2 more Senators and we’ll enlarge the Court.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) called on the White House to drop President Joe Biden’s planned judicial nomination of Chad Meredith, an anti-abortion conservative, during a press briefing on Thursday.
The Internal Revenue Service commissioner has requested that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigate how ex-FBI leaders James Comey and Andrew McCabe were both subjected to a very rare intensive audit, the tax agency said on Thursday.
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Yikes
It turns out that GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker (GA), who’s lied about everything from his academics to his business ventures to weird things like working for the FBI, hasn’t spared his own campaign staffers from his perpetual lying – to the point where they actually can’t believe anything he says anymore, according to the Daily Beast.
For one thing, Walker didn’t tell his own campaign about his three secret kids, an advisor told the Daily Beast.
And Walker’s campaign is reportedly secretly investigating yet another allegation of a secret child behind the candidate’s back, having learned at this point that he clearly can’t be trusted to tell the campaign himself.
And the Daily Beast reported that three people the outlet spoke to all independently described the candidate as a “pathological liar.”
Ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Assassinated
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister, was fatally shot on Friday during a campaign event near Osaka. Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested as a suspect in the shooting, but current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it was too early to determine a motive for the assassination.
Kentucky Guv Tells Biden To Give It Up With GOP Anti-Abortion Judicial Nominee
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) made it clear during a press conference on Thursday that he’s losing patience with Biden over his plan to nominate Chad Meredith, a Republican anti-abortion Federalist Society member, to a federal judgeship.
“It’s been plenty of time, and by now, they should be telling us that it’s going to be rescinded,” said Beshear, several days after publicly releasing the White House’s “privileged” (in the White House’s words) email informing him of the upcoming nomination.
Meredith’s nomination is apparently part of some mind-boggling deal between Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who apparently agreed not to stonewall the President’s future nominations, Kentucky officials have suggested. That hasn’t been confirmed, though.
Don’t forget that Beshear’s taking something of a political risk in red Kentucky by slamming Biden over this mess (and unsuccessfully trying to veto his state’s trigger ban on abortion): He’s up for reelection in 2023, and several of his GOP challengers have highlighted their opposition to abortion.
Senate Dems Back Carveout For Abortion (No, Not Those Two)
Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced on Thursday that they support reforming the filibuster to codify abortion rights into law after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
IRS Asks For Investigation Into Suspicious Comey And McCabe Audits
The IRS announced on Thursday that the agency’s Trump-appointed commissioner, Charles Rettig, had asked the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to look into how former FBI chiefs and Trump punching bags James Comey and Andrew McCabe just happened to be selected for incredibly rare and intensive tax audits.
Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate Pleads Not Guilty To Jan. 6 Charges
Cipollone Testifies In Front Of Jan. 6 Panel Today
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone is slated to sit for a private transcribed interview with the House Jan. 6 Committee today after coming to an agreement with the panel on its subpoena to him earlier this week.
Blumenthal And Graham Meet With Zelensky
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who both sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, traveled to Kyiv on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and discuss U.S. support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
(Zelensky’s readout doesn’t mention whether the president asked Graham about how the GOP senator tried to legitimize Trump’s pressure campaign against him.)
Roy Moore Loses Defamation Bid Over Fake Pedophile Detector
A federal appeals court shot down Roy Moore’s $95 million defamation lawsuit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen on Thursday.
You might remember that Cohen, in a very convincing disguise as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, tricked Moore into an interview in which Cohen introduced Moore to a special pedophile detector wand that mysteriously went off whenever it got near the then-candidate.
What’s great is that at no point does Cohen himself ever actually accuse Moore of being a pedophile; he repeatedly says the wand must be malfunctioning or something. Moore just storms off in a huff anyway.
Looking Back At A+ British Media Coverage Of Boris Johnson’s Downfall
After British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation yesterday, let’s memorialize some awesome moments on local TV during the whole circus:
lol sky news has a running tally of resignations during boris johnson's hearing and it keeps ticking up while he's talking pic.twitter.com/aFGK9YWfVi
In case you missed it, #Newsnight replaced its end credits tonight with a list of all the ministerial resignations so far set to an acoustic version of Bittersweet Symphony pic.twitter.com/VPztjMc6OE
Hugh Grant tweeted a request at activists protesting outside Westminster to play the Benny Hill theme on their loudspeakers; when they did it became the soundtrack for street interviews with leading Tories trying explain the situation to the British people pic.twitter.com/V1LxUoxRUE
Republican operatives who have ties to a scheme to put forward fake Trump electors amid the then-President’s refusal to concede last year are reportedly set to turn over information to the Justice Department as soon as this week, according to CNN.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis — a Democrat up for reelection — signed an executive order this week that will, essentially, protect Colorado from having to cooperate with other states’ investigations into people seeking or providing abortions.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), son of the famous anti-abortion governor whose name adorns Casey v. Planned Parenthood, will support reforming the filibuster to pass abortion protections.
That was quick. Yesterday, Sen. Feinstein’s staff refused to commit to changing the filibuster rules to pass a Roe law in response to questions from The San Francisco Chronicle. TPM’s Kate Riga followed up with her office earlier today and Feinstein has now changed her position. This afternoon she released a statement committing to suspending the filibuster rules to pass a Roe law.
Former President Donald Trump, his son Don Jr., and other Trumpworld figures made quiet exits last month from the board of a troubled social media venture launched to give the former president an online outlet.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), an institutionalist in the Senate, said Thursday that she would vote to reform the filibuster if it’s necessary to pass abortion protections.
