Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has scrapped plans to attend a judicial conference that begins on Thursday, which would’ve been his first public appearance since a bombshell draft of his opinion dismantling Roe v. Wade was leaked on Monday.
Continue reading “Alito Abandons First Scheduled Public Appearance Since Roe Opinion Leak”Big-Brained Newsmax Host Claims KBJ Is SCOTUS Leaker Somehow
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Megamind Theory
Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield, making a fascinating attempt to Frankenstein two sources of manufactured conservative outrage into one, on Wednesday accused future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is not on the Supreme Court yet, of leaking Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on dismantling Roe v. Wade. In fact, Jackson is Stinchfield’s “first suspect”!
- Stinchfield suggested that Jackson – did I mention she is not on the Supreme Court yet? – had her law clerks steal a copy of the draft so she could leak it because she’s a “radical left-wing activist.”
- Only four groups of people would’ve had access to the apparently physical copy Politico obtained, as reported by TPM’s Josh Kovensky: Justices’ clerks and assistants, plus Supreme Court aides, and of course, the justices themselves.
Uh Oh, The Tapes Are Still A-Comin’
New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns on Wednesday released more recorded audio of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) frantic private calls to fellow House GOP leaders explicitly acknowledging that Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
- McCarthy fretted during a Jan. 8 call that the process of potentially getting rid of Trump via the 25th Amendment “takes too long,” according to the new tape.
- McCarthy also floated reaching out to President-elect Joe Biden to ensure a smooth transition of power, the audio reveals.
Alito Cancels First Public Appearance Since Roe Opinion Leak
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has ditched plans to attend the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ judicial conference that begins today after a copy of his draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade got leaked to Politico earlier this week.
- The Supreme Court’s spokesperson didn’t explain to Reuters why Alito wasn’t going to the conference.
- Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and John Roberts are scheduled to speak at the judicial conference for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week.
Meet Your 2022 GOP House Candidates
GOP nominee J.R. Majewski, who is seeking to unseat Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in November, doesn’t just advance Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election: He was also in D.C. on Jan. 6 for the pro-Trump protests that preceded the Capitol attack (though he denies being involved in the violence), claims that the violence that unfolded that day was “driven” by the FBI and was “a stage show,” and has sympathized and rubbed shoulders with QAnon believers.
Don Jr. Testifies Before Jan. 6 Panel
The ex-president’s eldest son, Don Trump Jr., had an interview with the House Jan. 6 Committee on Tuesday for several hours, according to multiple outlets. He had agreed to do it without a subpoena.
After Roe, Anything Goes
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told a right-wing radio host on Wednesday that he may “resurrect” a decades-old Supreme Court challenge that ended with the high court ruling in the 1982 case Plyler v. Doe that undocumented immigrants must be allowed to have a public education regardless of their citizenship status.
- Abbott said it was time to bring back the challenge because “the times are different than when Plyler v. Doe was issued many decades ago.” Not really subtle about the fact that the GOP governor feels emboldened to “resurrect” anything now that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has been shown to be perfectly willing to throw precedents like Roe v. Wade into the wood chipper.
Must Read
“‘I Can’t Have This Baby’: A Lone Abortion Clinic on the Border” – The New York Times
Secretary Of State Blinken Tests Positive For COVID
The State Department announced Wednesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier that day and was experiencing mild symptoms. He hasn’t seen President Biden in person for several days, according to the department.
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A Journal Op-Ed From Last Week Tells the Tale on the Alito Leak
I guess others clearly had. But I had not seen this April 26th Journal op-ed about the jockeying on the Mississippi abortion case until now. It’s very, very clarifying.
After Politico’s exclusive on Monday night publishing the draft Alito majority opinion, CNN followed rapidly that same evening with very specific details about Roberts’ position on the case, resisting joining the majority opinion and perhaps trying to lure one of the five Justices to a narrower ruling. When that second story came out so quickly I said that it made me think that the breakdown of secrecy on this case went beyond the leak of the draft opinion. Reading the Journal op-ed from last week makes that basically a certainty.
Detectiving Very Strongly
Where Things Stand: GOP Circulates Talking Points To Try To Sound A Little Less Like They’re Throwing A Kegger Over Roe
In an effort to sound like the “compassionate” party, the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is reportedly circulating a messaging memo among members that gives the GOP talking points on how exactly they should publicly celebrate the Supreme Court’s plans to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: GOP Circulates Talking Points To Try To Sound A Little Less Like They’re Throwing A Kegger Over Roe”Oath Keepers Leader Had Line To Trump Intermediary On Jan. 6, Plea Deal Suggests
A new Jan. 6 plea agreement Wednesday detailed a previously unknown alleged conversation that prosecutors say took place on the day of the attack between Stewart Rhodes, leader of the right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers, and an unnamed intermediary.
Rhodes seemed to think the person in question had a line to then-President Donald Trump, according to the statement of offense.
Continue reading “Oath Keepers Leader Had Line To Trump Intermediary On Jan. 6, Plea Deal Suggests”Who Had Access To The Leaked SCOTUS Draft Overturning Roe?
Speculation has abounded over who may have leaked Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
Continue reading “Who Had Access To The Leaked SCOTUS Draft Overturning Roe?”Counsels of Despair
From TPM Reader JS …
I think you’re right on about the dynamics. To me the critical piece is where you say “codify Roe as of 2021”—so that means letting most of the post Casey laws stand. And then we’re into a problem. Some Democrats are certainly going to want something very maximal and others are going to give us the 50-point plan.
It would be nice to stick to something simple and effective. I think we’ll have an intra-party fight over this, of course. Because people want to believe it’s normal politics time and these fights are just what we need when facing an authoritarian takeover.
In A Post-Roe America, Expect More Births In A Country Where Maternal Mortality Continues To Rise
This article was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.
If the U.S. Supreme Court does as its leaked draft opinion says and strikes down Roe v. Wade, researchers expect that in the following year, roughly 75,000 people who want, but can’t get, abortions will give birth instead.
They’ll do so in a country where pregnancy and childbirth continue to become more dangerous.
Continue reading “In A Post-Roe America, Expect More Births In A Country Where Maternal Mortality Continues To Rise”Gaetz Sneers At ‘Over-Educated’ Women Protesting SCOTUS Draft Striking Down Roe
As the Supreme Court gears up to dismantle Roe v. Wade, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) points out that the women who take issue with losing their abortion rights might just have too many brains in their girl heads.
Continue reading “Gaetz Sneers At ‘Over-Educated’ Women Protesting SCOTUS Draft Striking Down Roe”