SCOTUS

Some conservatives weren’t thrilled in the Reagan-era, but not in the overwrought way on display today.

The gist: Republicans don’t seem to have any satisfying path forward for carrying out their typical obstruction of a Democratic president’s SCOTUS nominee. So they’re tossing their outrage into a tired bucket: Whoever President Biden chooses as his pick to replace retiring-Justice Stephen Breyer will be a Radical Left Activist! The only discernible reason for this assumption is weird and racist: Biden today reaffirmed his campaign vow to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court during his presidency, if the opportunity arose. It has.

And in a 50-50 Senate, Republicans are aware there’s not much they can do to Merrick Garland their way out of handing Biden a Supreme Court appointment win — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) admitted as much mere hours after Breyer’s retirement news broke yesterday. And so, instead, they’re getting a head start on the party’s 2022 messaging, vowing that Democrats will PAY in the Midterms … for doing exactly what Trump did three times during his presidency (i.e., part of his job).

The White House’s latest COVID-19 mitigation efforts are a contrast to the Supreme Court’s ruling today.

President Biden announced Thursday that his administration would double its previous promise to hand out free at-home COVID-19 tests, with plans to send out one billion to Americans’ homes. Along with that, the Biden administration will distribute N95 masks to the public as the country faces an unprecedented spike in COVID infections.

Biden is also deploying more military personnel to hospitals. Speaking from the White House the President said that next week he will send 1,000 military medics to hospitals across the country that have become overrun with patients dangerously sick with the coronavirus. The spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant has left the nation’s hospitals overburdened and short-staffed in recent weeks.

Biden didn’t mince his words in his address announcing the drastic moves.

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, with the Senate all but paralyzed, Josh and Kate discuss the Supreme Court’s posture on the Biden administration’s use of agency power.

You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.