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The Administration Makes Plans as the Justices’ Silence Continues
This morning dispatch seeks to round up some of the things we’re following coming into the day. But for weeks, there’s something we’ve been following about which there hasn’t been much new to write: the Supreme Court’s pending decision on a Trump executive order that seeks to restrict mail-in ballots in elections.
Trump’s various efforts to interfere with how America votes have not been terribly successful. Attempts by allies and conspiracy theorists to dredge up new allegations to undermine Americans’ faith in elections have amounted to little; the SAVE Act never had a real chance in the Senate. That’s why the fate of this executive order is so important. The order seeks to force states to submit their voter lists to the federal government, and for the postal service to only send ballots to voters on a list maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. If the Supreme Court allows it to go forward, it would be a sweeping seizure of federal power over elections — the kind long understood to be unconstitutional — and a clearcut win for Trump on this topic, with drastic implications for future elections. This case may not decide that issue fully — all that is immediately before the Court right now is the question of whether a district court injunction on the order is appropriate. But the Court has been silent on that narrow question for far longer than experts expected it to be.
Over the weekend, there was a flurry of developments in this fight from outside the Court. The U.S. Postal Service published to the federal register a draft rule that it says will go into effect if the Supreme Court clears the way: The rule, true to the EO, would block the postal service from sending mail ballots to voters “unless compliance with the rule’s new standards has been verified.” Plaintiffs in one of the suits challenging the rule over the weekend asked the district court judge to block the postal service from finalizing its draft, arguing that drafting the rule violated her preliminary injunction.
Legal back and forth aside, the bottom line is that this is a case that contemplates whether the administration will be able to assert control over how and who states mail ballots to — assert control, in other words, over how and whether specific individuals vote. The Supreme Court has been mulling it for a curiously long time, leading experts to speculate that a justice or multiple justices are writing a lengthy dissent. Of course, which justices find themselves in a place to dissent — and which justices are in the majority — is the question we’re all asking.
Mike Collins’ White Nationalism-Posting Son-in-Law Continues to Cause Trouble
Even as Georgia Senate candidate and member of Congress Mike Collins (R-GA) has sought to dodge questions about his daughter’s husband’s extreme internet activity, his son-in-law continues said activity, dogging Collins’ campaign against Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Friday that David Alan Scheer II said in a recent online exchange that he “absolutely” believes that there should only be one vote per household and that women should not be allowed to vote.
- CNN reported in July that Scheer had a history of supporting the group white nationalist Patriot Front and of making pro-white, antisemitic and anti-Muslim statements online.
- The story hit hard because Collins has had a series of these kinds of issues: Just a week before the CNN story, Collins replaced a chief of staff who Slate had reported was in a group chat with white nationalists in which he promised to help get a Holocaust denier released from prison. An earlier chief of staff had a history of violent threats, and came under House Ethics Committee investigation for misusing funds. Collins himself likes to make jokes about his political enemies that nod to far-right, extrajudicial murders in South America.
- Collins has avoided talking about Scheer, even though some of his videos appear to be shot on a property Collins owns. At one point, Collins scrambled to end a press conference after being asked about the topic.
Tabs
- Natalie Harp posted extensively on January 6 — more than 150 times — in many cases urging support for Trump, CNN reports.
- The Washington Post has been ordered by an arbitrator to rehire Karen Attiah, who was fired in September after posts about Charlie Kirk.
Woman of the Hour
It’s Susan Collins, who, amid a tough fight for reelection in Maine, has been strongly, publicly concerned with greater frequency. The latest example came over the weekend, when she put out a statement on flailing U.S.-Canada trade relations that garnered her some attention, urging “both sides” to continue negotiating. “The Administration must consider the negative impact tariffs would have on Maine businesses,” it read.
If as I read over the weekend, the sham USPS rules require a 90-day notice from states on the intent to use mail-in ballots prior to an election, how would this even work? We are less than 90 days from the election now.
Or is the real intent to shit the pot for 2028, following a rubber stamp from the Trump Supremes now?
The Washington Post has been ordered by an arbitrator to rehire Karen Attiah, who was fired in September after posts about Charlie Kirk.
I did not see in the article–will she get back pay? Compensatory damages?
*I rechecked–definitely back pay, and she was helped out w the legal costs.
I don’t know how it works w punitive damages in an arbitration case, though*
Last night, our president posted a bizarre link to fringe financial advice. Maybe in his delusional state, he just thought he was helping his kids or his own crypto investments. But when the Treasury is already struggling with high 30-year bond rates, probably not smart to go around bragging that you know the US government is insolvent. It hurts every American.
James Rickards, the financial “expert”, is a gold bug. The metallist con is always the same, and there are always people around to infect. Gold is ok for stabilizing a portfolio (most central banks hold some gold), but a very impractical asset to own. And maybe gold gets to $27,000 an ounce, but probably not next year. Kevin Hassett, for example, in his book Dow 36,000 predicted that average would be hit in 2002. 36,000 was eventually hit in October 2021 during the covid rebound.
What something is depends on when it is. Trump’s mind seems to have lost this important feature of the time-space continuum. He’s unstuck with what little future he has left rushing at him.
Yes, how weird will the Court’s decision be? The delay does not inspire confidence.
Donald Trump is not doing any of this evil, corrupt, and destructive work that he is constantly being credited/blamed for. He doesn’t ever do real work! He is shambling along, having difficulty buttoning his suit jacket, speaking in incomprehensible sentences, attending wrestling matches and race car events, being told where to walk and where to pose for pictures by handlers. He is the Republicans’ useful TOOL to affect their racist, misogynist, illegal, white supremacist, Treasury-robbing, destruction of the United States of America as a world power. None of this damage and death could have been accomplished without accomplices. Those include a deeply corrupt election system (dark money for campaigns, gerrymandered districts, unequal distribution of representation in large and small states, all sanctioned by the not-so Supreme Court), a Republican Congress that has abdicated its duty as a third of a functioning trilateral co-equal branch of government, and a Court bought and paid for by right-wing fanatics that issues shadow docket orders and gives the go ahead for the carnage around us with one-sentence orders with no legal basis. Millions have died or been harmed by these lunatics. More damage is coming. But to be clear, Trump didn’t do any of this work himself.