May 5, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Pam Belluck & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the legal and culture wars over abortion ... would increasingly shift to a new front: the use of abortion pills. Medication abortion -- a two-drug combination that can be taken at home or in any location and is authorized for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy -- has become more and more prevalent and now accounts for more than half of recent abortions in the United States. If the federal guarantee of abortion rights disappears, medication abortion would likely become an even more sought-after method for terminating a pregnancy -- and the focus of battles between states that ban abortion and those that continue to allow it.... Medication abortion is less expensive and less invasive than surgical abortions.... Many conservative states have already begun passing laws to restrict medication abortion, including banning it earlier than 10 weeks'gestation and requiring patients to visit providers in person despite F.D.A. rules." An AP story is here.

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Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a half percentage point and announced a plan to shrink its massive bond holdings, decisive measures aimed at tamping down the fastest inflation in four decades. Wednesday's move marked the Fed's largest interest rate increase since 2000, and Chair Jerome H. Powell signaled at a news conference following the meeting additional half percentage point increases will be 'on the table' at the Fed's upcoming meetings." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A CNBC report is here.

Libby Cathey of ABC News: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the federal government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years. His remarks on economic growth came ahead of the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in interest rates Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to manage soaring inflation.... 'For all the talk the Republicans make about deficits, it didn't happen a single quarter under my predecessor, not once,' Biden said. 'The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic, [and] it's gone down both years since I have been here. Period. There are the facts.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Alito Goes into Hiding. TuAnh Dam of Axios: "Justice Samuel Alito canceled an appearance at a judicial conference due to begin on Thursday..., Reuters reports.... Alito was scheduled to appear at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' judicial conference, Reuters reports. He is the justice assigned to hear emergency appeals from the 5th Circuit, which includes the New Orleans-based federal appeals court and district courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas...." The Reuters report is firewalled. OR, as Ken W. surmised, Suddenly Silent Sam is just exercising his Constitutional right to privacy.

Lies & the Lying Liars on the Supreme Court. Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "'It is important precedent of the Supreme Court that has been reaffirmed many times,' [Brett] Kavanaugh said [of Roe v. Wade] in response to one of a slew of questions on abortion during his confirmation hearings. Furthermore, Kavanaugh underscored that the core tenets of the landmark 1973 decision were upheld nearly two decades later.... Kavanaugh called Roe ... 'settled as a precedent.'... Less than four years later, Kavanaugh is among the list of justices who, according to a draft majority opinion and an accompanying report published by Politico this week, is poised to overturn Roe.... A growing number of senators -- particularly Democrats, for the moment at least -- are questioning the utility of the confirmation process and whether justices who enjoy lifetime appointments can somehow be held accountable for their sworn testimony if it proves misleading.... [Some] Democratic senators, however, say it was clear how nominees, particularly those picked by Trump, would rule on abortion, no matter what they pledged publicly. Their beef is largely with the senators who professed to believe otherwise and now say they are shocked."

The New York Times live-updated reactions Wednesday to Sam Alito's leaked draft opinion. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Alito, shocked -- shocked -- to discover so little in the law books of the eighteen-sixties guaranteeing a right to abortion, has missed the point; anything in the law books of [that period] guaranteed women anything -- because -- usually they still weren't persons. Nor for that matter were fetuses. -- Historian Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (via P.D. Pepe)

Suddenly, They Want to Focus on the Real Issues. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: Despite standing on the cusp of realizing a victory they sought for nearly 50 years, "few Republicans have openly celebrated.... There are signs that Republicans, despite their years of activism, are not fully prepared for the thorny political ramifications of a post-Roe political atmosphere.... Several Republican senators dodged questions about possible implications of Roe being overturned...."

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "For nearly half a century, Republicans have railed against 'unelected judges' making rulings that they claim disenfranchise voters from deciding for themselves what laws should govern hot-button issues. But since the release this week of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the long-standing constitutional right to abortion, Democrats have been the ones embracing that complaint, flipping the script as the party vents its frustration with elements of the U.S. system that have empowered a minority of the country's voters to elect lawmakers who have successfully reshaped the high court.... The Democratic anger is anchored in structural advantages Republicans have recently enjoyed that grant them power disproportionate to their public support." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The real difference between Republican and Democratic "unelected judges," which Scherer doesn't bother to mention, is that in the last half of the 20th century, "unelected judges" tended to expand civil rights, while the Republicans' favored "unelected judges" tend to constrict or eliminate them. And every indication is those GOP-appointed judges are going to keep on keeping on.

** Melissa Murray & Leah Litman in a Washington Post op-ed: "The truly shocking thing about the draft Supreme Court opinion overruling Roe v. Wade is ... that the opinion by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. adopted such an aggressively maximalist position, not only giving states extraordinary leeway to prohibit abortion but also implicitly inviting a flurry of challenges to other precedents, including cases protecting contraception and LGBTQ civil rights. Perhaps the most stunning feature of the opinion is that its indignant tone and aggressive reasoning make clear how empowered this conservative majority believes itself to be.... The draft goes out of its way to ensure that there are no limits whatsoever on states' ability to restrict abortions.... Alito also chose to rely on the most outlandish arguments to justify overruling Roe.... The caustic tone and aggressive reasoning suggest this conservative majority ... has no sense of institutional propriety that might lead it to act with more humility and caution." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, well, the notion that Sam Alito, for one, ever has suffered even a mild pang of humility is preposterous. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Always nice to see someone get the better of Ross Douthat. Douthat was on CNN Wednesday discussing the potentials of the Supremes' overturning Roe v. Wade. Douthat posited that it was ridiculous to think that overturning Roe would or could lead to overturning other rulings based on the right to privacy. Jeff Toobin started to push back on Douthat's supposition, but Douthat scoffed with what he imagined was a "gotcha" proof: "C'mon," said he, "can we at least agree that Clarence Thomas is not going to vote to overturn the right of interracial couples to marry?" (slight paraphrase) Toobin had a ready response: "It isn't that Thomas opposes interracial marriage; it's that he thinks there is no Constitutional right to interracial marriage. He believes that, like abortion, marriage law is a matter for the states to decide." (slight paraphrase)

** Jay Willis of Balls & Strikes: "The digital ink had not yet dried on Monday's bombshell story that the Supreme Court has the votes to overrule Roe v. Wade when America's most online lawyers began weighing in on The Real Crisis: the shocking, shameful leak from within the hallowed chambers of the nation's highest and fanciest court.... This elevation of process over substance is as wrong as it is self-serving. The Court is not losing public trust or facing an existential crisis because of a leak. The Court is leaking because it is losing public trust and facing an existential crisis.... A nakedly partisan Supreme Court deserves to be treated like any other nakedly partisan branch of government.... The Court's legitimacy should ... hinge on whether the justices are acting legitimately. If a half-dozen extremists are just going to take a blowtorch to anything and everything they don't like, no one in their orbit should be obligated to abide by their sacred norms any longer." Via Scott Lemieux in LG&$. MB: Even if you think you might totally disagree with Willis, his snarky irreverence is a joy to read. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a piece in Slate, the author(s) of which I don't know, about how the Supreme Court's supposed leak investigation is a farce. The Slate post is firewalled, by Scott Lemieux has reprinted a good part of it in in LG&$.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russian soldiers on Thursday for the first time breached Ukrainian defenses around the Azovstal steel plant, as Moscow's forces mounted a final push to seize full control of the port city of Mariupol.... Only the fighters in the plant stand in the way of Moscow declaring control over Mariupol, which has become a symbol of both Ukrainian resistance and Russian destruction. A Ukrainian commander, Lt. Col. Denys Prokopenko, said 'heavy, bloody battles' were being fought in the plant's subterranean labyrinth of bunkers and fallout shelters, where officials estimated that about 200 civilians were still hiding with the last soldiers defending the city.... Ukrainian forces reclaimed several strategically important villages around the eastern city of Kharkiv and pushed Russian forces back some two dozen miles from the city...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "European diplomats are set to meet again Thursday as they negotiate a proposal to phase out Russian oil imports, a stern punishment for the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.... The oil proposal could be finalized by the end of the week but must be approved by all E.U. member states, and two countries -- Hungary and Slovakia -- have reservations. Overnight, Russian forces struck the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 25 civilians and destroying nine homes, a school and other civilian buildings, according to the regional military chief. A railroad facility and a bridge in the riverside city of Dnipro were hit on Wednesday, continuing the Kremlin's targeting of infrastructure that is critical to Ukraine's efforts to resupply its forces."

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to senior American officials. Ukrainian officials said they have killed approximately 12 generals on the front lines, a number that has astonished military analysts. The targeting help is part of a classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine.... The United States has focused on providing the location and other details about the Russian military's mobile headquarters, which relocate frequently.... U.S. intelligence support to the Ukrainians has had a decisive effect on the battlefield, confirming targets identified by the Ukrainian military and pointing it to new targets. The flow of actionable intelligence on the movement of Russian troops that America has given Ukraine has few precedents."

The patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin's altar boy. -- Pope Francis to Patriarch Kirill ~~~

~~~ When the Pope Scolded the Patriarch. On Zoom. Timothy Bella & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis warned the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church not to be 'Putin's altar boy' and justify the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine. In a Tuesday interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Francis said he spoke with Patriarch Kirill, a key supporter of Vladimir Putin and his war, for 40 minutes over Zoom. During the March 16 conversation, Francis said, Kirill was listing off all the justifications for the war from a sheet of paper he was holding. 'I listened and then told him: I don't understand anything about this,' Francis said. 'Brother, we are not state clerics, we cannot use the language of politics but that of Jesus. We are pastors of the same holy people of God. Because of this, we must seek avenues of peace, to put an end to the firing of weapons.'" A CNN report is here.

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump Jr., interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Trump Jr. is also the latest select panel witness believed to have been in the Oval Office the morning of Jan. 6 with [Donald] Trump, his top aides and family members. Shortly after they arrived, per a private White House schedule obtained by the committee, Trump called [Mike] Pence to make a final effort to pressure him to overturn the election. Trump Jr.'s interview, confirmed on condition of anonymity and conducted without a subpoena lasted several hours...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former lead impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman pointed out on MSNBC that likely the reason members of the Trump Crime Family -- Junior, Ivanka, Jared & Kimberly Guilfoyle -- agreed to be interviewed is that voluntary witnesses -- as opposed to those who appear under subpoena -- cannot be compelled to answer questions, and they don't have to plead the Fifth to refuse to answer.

Clare Foran & Melanie Zanona of CNN: "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy discussed the 25th Amendment on a call with GOP leadership days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and said the process 'takes too long,' according to an audio recording obtained by two New York Times reporters and shared with CNN. McCarthy also said during the call that he wanted to reach out to then-President-elect Joe Biden as he expressed hope for a 'smooth transition,' and said he thought impeachment would further divide the nation. The call took place on January 8, 2021, and the audio was obtained for the new book "This Will Not Pass..." by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.... The fact McCarthy was pressing one of his aides for details about how the 25th Amendment process would work shows there was a serious conversation at the highest levels of GOP leadership about the idea -- not just idle chatter -- even if it was ultimately deemed not a viable option." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Not with a Bang, but a Whimper. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Even as the beleaguered police were still trying to disperse a violent mob at the Capitol last January, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, undertook a desperate, last-ditch effort to keep ... Donald J. Trump in the White House, according to court papers released on Wednesday. In a suite at the Phoenix Park Hotel..., Mr. Rhodes called an unnamed intermediary and, the papers said, repeatedly implored the person to ask Mr. Trump to mobilize his group to forcibly stop the transition of presidential power. But the person refused to speak with Mr. Trump, the papers said. And once the call was over, Mr. Rhodes, turning to a group of his associates, declared, 'I just want to fight.' Witnessing this scene, which unfolded in the twilight hours of Jan. 6, 2021, was William Todd Wilson, a midlevel Oath Keepers leader from North Carolina. On Wednesday, Mr. Wilson, 44, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to charges of seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation of the Oath Keepers' role in the Capitol attack."

TurboScam Settlement Announced. Christine Chung of the New York Times: "For years, the maker of the TurboTax software claimed that people could file their tax returns online for free. Millions of customers signed up, only to pay hidden fees later in the process. That was the finding of a multistate investigation led by Attorney General Letitia James of New York. Ms. James announced on Wednesday that Intuit, the company creating the software, would pay back $141 million to more than four million Americans who were unfairly charged for tax services that were falsely advertised as free. Refunds will be sent automatically to affected taxpayers. The company 'cheated millions of low-income Americans out of free tax filing services they were entitled to,' Ms. James said, adding that the settlement, signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, was a clear reminder to companies that 'deceptive marketing ploys' are illegal.

The Lost City of Atlantis Jamestown. Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "The 400-year-old colonial site [Jamestown, Va.,] is losing its battle with climate change, experts say, and Wednesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on a list of the country's most endangered historical places.... Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer for the trust, said, 'You've got resources there underwater, that are staying underwater.'... Jamestown, in 1607, became the place of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. The earth here holds the bones of hundreds of the early colonists and the artifacts that are clues to their lives. It is also the place where, in 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived, and where generations of Native Americans had already lived for centuries." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "By Wednesday, [Trevor] Noah's chiding remarks at [the White House Correspondents' Dinner, or] what he called 'the nation's most distinguished superspreader event, were beginning to appear prophetic as a growing number of attendees, including a string of journalists and Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, said they had tested positive for the virus."

Beyond the Beltway

Michigan. Clara Hendrickson & Arpan Lobo of the Detroit Free Press: "In an upset win Tuesday, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert 'RJ' Regan in a special election for a Michigan House seat that had only ever been held by a Republican. Results remain unofficial, but with all precincts in the district reporting, Glanville led Regan by more than 1,500 votes as of 10:30 p.m. She topped 51% of the total votes cast; Regan garnered 40% and 7.9% went to write-ins.... Regan made national headlines in March for suggesting rape victims 'lie back and enjoy it,' after he promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and shared antisemitic rhetoric. He was favored to win in the heavily Republican district." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Michigan. Crazy Guy Wins House Primary. Azi Paybarah & Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "When J.R. Majewski emerged as the surprise winner of a Republican House primary election on Tuesday in northern Ohio, Democrats supporting the longtime incumbent congresswoman in the district, Marcy Kaptur, celebrated. That was because Mr. Majewski had beaten out two lower-key Republicans for the nomination, both of whom Democrats worried could have posed serious problems for Ms. Kaptur in the conservative-leaning Ninth Congressional District.... During his campaign, [Majewski] ran one ad showing him carrying an assault-style rifle in which he says, 'I'm willing to do whatever it takes to return this country back to its former glory.' ... He also posted a 'Let's Go Brandon' music video on his website in which he raps a verse, warning, 'Just try to put a mask on me, you'll see red, white and blue.'... In addition to advancing the lie that the 2020 election was stolen ... and floating doubts that the Capitol riot was driven by Trump supporters, he has expressed sympathy for believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. He said last year that one of their false claims about a prominent Democrat being a pedophile was 'plausible.'"

Minnesota. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday accepted a plea deal that will sentence former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to between 20 and 25 years in prison for violating the rights of George Floyd.... Chauvin is already serving a 22½-year sentence for Floyd's murder and last month asked a state appeals court to overturn his conviction."

May 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a half percentage point and announced a plan to shrink its massive bond holdings, decisive measures aimed at tamping down the fastest inflation in four decades. Wednesday's move marked the Fed's largest interest rate increase since 2000, and Chair Jerome H. Powell signaled at a news conference following the meeting additional half percentage point increases will be 'on the table' at the Fed's upcoming meetings."

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "Donald Trump Jr., interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Trump Jr. is also the latest select panel witness believed to have been in the Oval Office the morning of Jan. 6 with [Donald] Trump, his top aides and family members. Shortly after they arrived, per a private White House schedule obtained by the committee, Trump called [Mike] Pence to make a final effort to pressure him to overturn the election. Trump Jr.'s interview, confirmed on condition of anonymity and conducted without a subpoena lasted several hours...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Former lead impeachment counsel Daniel Goldman pointed out on MSNBC that likely the reason members of the Trump Crime Family -- Junior, Ivanka, Jared & Kimberly Guilfoyle -- agreed to be interviewed by committee staff is that voluntary witnesses -- as opposed to those who appear under subpoena -- cannot be compelled to answer questions so don't have to plead the Fifth to refuse to answer.

Clare Foran & Melanie Zanona of CNN: "House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy discussed the 25th Amendment on a call with GOP leadership days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and said the process 'takes too long,' according to an audio recording obtained by two New York Times reporters and shared with CNN. McCarthy also said during the call that he wanted to reach out to then-President-elect Joe Biden as he expressed hope for a 'smooth transition,' and said he thought impeachment would further divide the nation. The call took place on January 8, 2021, and the audio was obtained for the new book "This Will Not Pass..." by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns.... The fact McCarthy was pressing one of his aides for details about how the 25th Amendment process would work shows there was a serious conversation at the highest levels of GOP leadership about the idea -- not just idle chatter -- even if it was ultimately deemed not a viable option."

Libby Cathey of ABC News: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the federal government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years. His remarks on economic growth came ahead of the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in interest rates Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to manage soaring inflation.... 'For all the talk the Republicans make about deficits, it didn't happen a single quarter under my predecessor, not once,' Biden said. 'The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic, [and] it's gone down both years since I have been here. Period. There are the facts.'" ~~~

The New York Times is live-updating reactions to Sam Alito's leaked draft opinion.

Alito, shocked -- shocked -- to discover so little in the law books of the eighteen-sixties guaranteeing a right to abortion, has missed the point; anything in the law books of [that period] guaranteed women anything -- because -- usually they still weren't persons. Nor for that matter were fetuses. -- Historian Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (via P.D. Pepe)

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "For nearly half a century, Republicans have railed against 'unelected judges' making rulings that they claim disenfranchise voters from deciding for themselves what laws should govern hot-button issues. But since the release this week of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the long-standing constitutional right to abortion, Democrats have been the ones embracing that complaint, flipping the script as the party vents its frustration with elements of the U.S. system that have empowered a minority of the country's voters to elect lawmakers who have successfully reshaped the high court.... The Democratic anger is anchored in structural advantages Republicans have recently enjoyed that grant them power disproportionate to their public support." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The real difference between Republican and Democratic "unelected judges," which Scherer doesn't bother to mention, is that in the last half of the 20th century, "unelected judges" tended to expand civil rights, while the Republicans' favored "unelected judges" tend to constrict or eliminate them. And every indication is those GOP-appointed judges are going to keep on keeping on.

The Lost City of Atlantis Jamestown. Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "The 400-year-old colonial site [Jamestown, Va.,] is losing its battle with climate change, experts say, and Wednesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on a list of the country's most endangered historical places.... Katherine Malone-France, chief preservation officer for the trust, said, 'You've got resources there underwater, that are staying underwater.'... Jamestown, in 1607, became the place of the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. The earth here holds the bones of hundreds of the early colonists and the artifacts that are clues to their lives. It is also the place where, in 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived, and where generations of Native Americans had already lived for centuries."

Michigan. Clara Hendrickson & Arpan Lobo of the Detroit Free Press: "In an upset win Tuesday, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert 'RJ' Regan in a special election for a Michigan House seat that had only ever been held by a Republican. Results remain unofficial, but with all precincts in the district reporting, Glanville led Regan by more than 1,500 votes as of 10:30 p.m. She topped 51% of the total votes cast; Regan garnered 40% and 7.9% went to write-ins.... Regan made national headlines in March for suggesting rape victims 'lie back and enjoy it,' after he promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and shared antisemitic rhetoric. He was favored to win in the heavily Republican district."

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Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, during oral arguments on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health

Nope. -- Marie Burns

The Roberts Court Is So Over. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: The Supreme Court's "reputation was in decline even before the extraordinary breach of its norms of confidentiality, with much of the nation persuaded that it is little different from the political branches of the government. The internal disarray the leak suggests, wholly at odds with the decorum prized by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a blow to the legitimacy of the court. Relations among the justices, too, on the evidence of questioning at arguments and statements in opinions, have turned fraught and frosty."

John Kruzel of the Hill: "Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch an investigation into the source of a leaked draft opinion showing that a majority of justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. 'This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,' Roberts said in a press release that verified the authenticity of the document published Monday evening by Politico." Update: A CNN report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ As unwashed pointed out in yesterday's Comments, Marcy Wheeler, with a little help from Joan Biskupic & Stephen Collinson of CNN, has speculated on Roberts' Machieavellian motives in this "shit-show." According to Collinson, "Roberts is willing ... to uphold the Mississippi law that would ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy...." So the game, Wheeler writes, is that by leaking Alito's radical opinion, "Roberts is trying to get his colleagues to adopt a less radical opinion." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Other Theories: (1) The leaker was a clerk of one of the liberal justices who wanted to alert the public to the radical nature of Alito's opinion; (2) the leaker was a clerk of one of the confederate justices who worried that one or more of the confederate justices might defect from the Alito coalition. (3) Marie's theory: Ginni Thomas poured herself a gin & tonic, waltzed into her husband's home study & copied the opinion off Clarence's unsecured laptop. Okay, I'm kidding, but the point is that nobody knows -- except a few Politico reporters, editors & lawyers and the leaker herself.

President Biden addresses the implications of Alito's draft decision:

~~~ Earlier in the day, President Biden released a statement responding to the purported draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade. He says, in part, "I believe that a woman's right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Here's a scathing joint statement from Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer. They write, in part, "Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court's reputation -- all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they've relied on for half a century." (Also linked yesterday.)

Olafimihan Oshin of the Hill: "Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama issued a strong statement criticizing the draft Supreme Court opinion knocking down the Roe v. Wade decision, saying it would limit U.S. freedoms just like other past actions by the court. 'Today, millions of Americans woke up fearing that their essential freedoms under the Constitution were at risk,'the couple said in the joint statement on Tuesday. 'If the Supreme Court ultimately decides to overturn the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, then it will not only reverse nearly 50 years of precedent -- it will relegate the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues,' the Obamas added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mike DeBonis & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The stunning leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating that the federal constitutional right to abortion may be on the cusp of evaporating has brought new and intense scrutiny to two prominent Republican supporters of abortion rights, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who provided key Senate support to justices who now appear poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Both women voted for Supreme Court justices nominated by ... Donald Trump, explaining that they were convinced through public and private statements that those nominees would respect existing court precedent and leave Roe in place. On Tuesday, both suggested that if in fact the court moves to overturn the decision in sweeping terms -- as the leaked draft opinion signed by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. would indicate -- it would represent a breach of those prior assurances."

Last night's stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court. By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left's ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law. -- Mitch McConnell, in a statement designed to distract from his pivotal part in the plot not only to overturn Roe v. Wade but also to undermine the courts by further politicizing them (from the WashPo live updates)

The Washington Post is live-updating reactions to the leaked Alito opinion. (Also linked yesterday.)

** The Case Against SCOTUS. Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Court was the midwife of Jim Crow, the right hand of union busters, and the dead hand of the Confederacy, and is now one of the chief architects of America's democratic decline.... For nearly all of its history, it's been a reactionary institution, a political one that serves the interests of the already powerful at the expense of the most vulnerable. And it currently appears to be reverting to that historic mean.... [Now, the Court] is systematically dismantling voting rights protections that make it possible for every voter to have an equal voice, and for every political party to compete fairly for control of the United States government. Justice Alito ... is also the author of two important decisions dismantling much of the Voting Rights Act." Read on.

There have only been three justices in American history who were appointed by a president who lost the popular vote, and who were confirmed by a bloc of senators who represent less than half the country. All three of them sit on the Supreme Court right now, and all three were appointed by Donald Trump. -- Ian Millhiser, linked above ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Rarely ... will the [U.S. government] system's structure so obviously have rewarded a minority of Americans as it would if the Supreme Court overturns the decision in Roe v. Wade. To reach a point where the decision legalizing abortion is on the brink of being rescinded required a cascade of victories by the minority -- and would be effected despite a majority of Americans hoping it doesn't happen.... [It] is also a reminder of the cascade of victories a minority of Americans enjoyed to bring this potential opinion to reality." Bump goes on to lay out how a president* who won a minority of the popular vote and a Senate "majority" of Republicans who won fewer votes than the Democratic "minority" senators. The Senate confirmed Gorsuch 54-45; "senators who supported his confirmation represented 45 percent of the country's population. The same pattern held for Brett M. Kavanaugh" and Amy Coney Barrett."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Benjamin Mullin & Katie Robertson of the New York Times on how Politico got & handled the big scoop.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The European Union on Wednesday proposed a total Russian oil embargo, banning the import of crude oil in the next six months and refined oil products by the end of 2022, in its biggest and most costly step yet toward supporting Ukraine and weaning itself from its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.... Hungary's foreign minister said his country would not support sanctions that would jeopardize its energy supply from Russia.... [The] United States and its allies were also trying to capitalize on Russia's slow progress on the battlefield by escalating their efforts to weaken its military and tip the war's balance toward Ukraine. The United States and Britain have been sending a stream of increasingly powerful arms, and Russia's nordic neighbors-- Finland and Sweden -- are inching closer to joining NATO." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here: "Russia has stepped up missile attacks across Ukraine, striking railways and power stations in the latest sign that the Kremlin may be trying to restrict the flow of weapons and supplies to battlefields in the east -- just as Western countries are boosting Ukraine's arsenal. The attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure Tuesday hit at least six train stations in central and western Ukraine and three electrical substations in Lviv, officials said."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & John Ismay of the New York Times: "President Biden made a forceful call on Tuesday for ramping up American military support for Ukraine as his administration rapidly dispenses artillery, antitank weapons and other hardware, raising questions about the surge in spending at a time when his domestic agenda is stalled. Speaking at a Lockheed Martin plant in Troy, Ala., that manufactures Javelin antitank missiles, Mr. Biden said the transfer of the weapons has been crucial to Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion.... Mr. Biden's embrace of the military assistance comes amid widespread bipartisan support for helping Ukraine in the fight, which he described as part of the 'ongoing battle in the world between autocracy and democracy' around the world."

Jonathan Abrams & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "More than two months after the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner was accused of having drugs in her luggage and taken into custody in Russia, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday said that it had determined she was 'wrongfully detained.'... A State Department official said in a statement ... that an interagency team would work to have her released. Griner, 31, has been held in Russia since February on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years.... Russian customs officials accused Griner of carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow as she returned to Russia to resume playing for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women's basketball team, after a two-week break."

An Unusual How-to Manual. Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "On Monday, the CIA published instructions for how Russians can covertly volunteer information using an encrypted conduit to the agency's website. The hope is to attract intelligence -- and potentially gain more access to official Russian secrets -- from disaffected people who have been trying to contact the CIA since the war began, officials said. To ensure the would-be informants are not caught by Russian state security, the CIA spelled out detailed Russian-language instructions in three social media posts on how to use the Tor Internet browser, which lets users move online anonymously, as well as virtual private networks, or VPNs."

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again Wednesday, this time by half a percentage point, in an aggressive step toward combating the highest inflation in 40 years. The rate increase would be the sharpest since 2000 and the second of seven hikes forecast for this year. Faced with soaring prices and a hot job market with record numbers of job openings, the Fed began raising rates in March, betting that a steady series of hikes will slash inflation, cool down the economy and get the coronavirus recovery on more sustainable footing."

Priscilla Alvarez & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security delayed and altered an intelligence report related to Russian interference in the 2020 election, making changes that 'appear to be based in part on political considerations,' according to a newly released watchdog report. The April 26 Homeland Security inspector general's assessment provides a damning look at the way DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis dealt with intelligence related to Russia's efforts to interfere in the US, stating the department had deviated from its standard procedures in modifying assessments related to Moscow's targeting of the 2020 presidential election. The conclusion that Trump's appointee appeared to have tried to downplay Russian meddling in a key intelligence report is the latest example of how his aides managed his aversion to any information about how Russia might be helping his election prospects."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump family business and ... Donald J. Trump's 2017 inauguration committee have jointly agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the attorney general for the District of Columbia, who claimed that the Trump International Hotel in Washington illegally received excessive payments from the inauguration committee. The settlement in the civil suit came with no admission of wrongdoing by the Trump Organization, the former president or the inaugural committee." MB: Well, of course it did. (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Norman Y. Mineta, who as a boy was interned with his family and thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II, then rose in government to become a 10-term Democratic congressman from California and a cabinet official under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, died on Tuesday at his home in Edgewater, Md. He was 90."

Starbucks Sucks. Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "Starbucks announced Tuesday that it was raising pay and expanding training at corporate-owned locations in the United States. But it said the changes would not apply to the recently unionized stores, or to stores that may be in the process of unionizing, such as those where workers have filed a petition for a union election. On a call with investors to discuss the company's quarterly earnings, the chief executive, Howard Schultz, said that the spending would bring investments in workers and stores to nearly $1 billion for the fiscal year and that it would help Starbucks keep up with customer traffic." Remember when Schultz thought he should be president*?

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "A handful of coronavirus cases have emerged among people who attended the White House Correspondents'Dinner over the weekend, the president of the correspondents' association said on Tuesday. A CNN story on the people who tested positive after the correspondents' dinner is here.

Ron Johnson Is Still a Senator. Henry Redman of the Wisconsin Examiner: "In a video interview published on the right-wing social media platform Rumble, Sen. Ron Johnson said it 'may be true' that vaccines against COVID-19 cause AIDS. Johnson was being interviewed by anti-vaccine lawyer Todd Callender, who alleged that the shots induce AIDS and that the FDA knew so when the vaccines were approved for emergency use."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday she had chosen Representative Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from the Hudson Valley, as her new lieutenant governor, the second-highest ranking position in New York State. Mr. Delgado is expected to serve as Ms. Hochul's running mate as she campaigns for a full term this year. He will replace former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, who was indicted on federal bribery charges last month, leading to his abrupt resignation. A group of New York Democrats empowered with formally replacing Mr. Benjamin endorsed the choice of Mr. Delgado, 45, as Ms. Hochul's running mate Tuesday morning, ensuring that he will be on the ballot in June's party primary, according to three people familiar with the process." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ohio Senate & Gubernatorial Primaries. New York Times live updates: "J.D. Vance, the author-turned-venture capitalist, parlayed an endorsement from Donald J. Trump into victory on Tuesday in the race for the Republican nomination for an Ohio Senate seat, beating a crowded field of conservatives vying to carry the former president's banner into the November election. Mr. Vance's come-from-behind victory in the race for the seat of the retiring Senator Rob Portman was a testament to the power Mr. Trump still holds with the Republican voting base in Ohio, a state that voted for Mr. Trump twice. The result on Tuesday night was called by The Associated Press.... Representative Tim Ryan, who won the Democratic Senate primary.... Gov. Mike DeWine has won the Republican nomination for a second term in Ohio. He held off a pair of Trump-inspired candidates, former Representative Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone, an underfunded farmer.... Former Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton has won the Democratic primary for Ohio governor. She'll face a steep uphill climb in the general election against Gov. Mike DeWine." Includes updates on other primary races.

May 3, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Olafimihan Oshin of the Hill: "Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama issued a strong statement criticizing the draft Supreme Court opinion knocking down the Roe v. Wade decision, saying it would limit U.S. freedoms just like other past actions by the court. 'Today, millions of Americans woke up fearing that their essential freedoms under the Constitution were at risk,' the couple said in the joint statement on Tuesday. 'If the Supreme Court ultimately decides to overturn the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, then it will not only reverse nearly 50 years of precedent -- it will relegate the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues,' the Obamas added."

President Biden addresses the implications of Alito's draft decision:

John Kruzel of the Hill: "Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch an investigation into the source of a leaked draft opinion showing that a majority of justices were poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. 'This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,' Roberts said in a press release that verified the authenticity of the document published Monday evening by Politico." Update: A CNN report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ As unwashed pointed out in today's Comments, Marcy Wheeler, with a little help from Joan Biskupic & Stephen Collinson of CNN, has speculated on Roberts' Machieavellian motives in this "shit-show." According to Collinson, "Roberts is willing ... to uphold the Mississippi law that would ban abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy...." So the game, Wheeler writes, is that by leaking Alito's radical opinion, "Roberts is trying to get his colleagues to adopt a less radical opinion."

Here's a scathing joint statement from Nancy Pelosi & Chuck Schumer. They write, in part, "Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court's reputation -- all at the expense of tens of millions of women who could soon be stripped of their bodily autonomy and the constitutional rights they've relied on for half a century."

President Biden has released a statement responding to the purported draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade. He says, in part, "I believe that a woman's right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned." ~~~

Last night's stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court. By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left's ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law. -- Mitch McConnell, in a statement designed to distract from his pivotal part in the plot not only to overturn Roe v. Wade but also to undermine the courts by further politicizing them ~~~

is live-updating reactions to the leaked Alito opinion.

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump family business and ... Donald J. Trump's 2017 inauguration committee have jointly agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the attorney general for the District of Columbia, who claimed that the Trump International Hotel in Washington illegally received excessive payments from the inauguration committee. The settlement in the civil suit came with no admission of wrongdoing by the Trump Organization, the former president or the inaugural committee." MB: Well, of course it did.

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday she had chosen Representative Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from the Hudson Valley, as her new lieutenant governor, the second-highest ranking position in New York State. Mr. Delgado is expected to serve as Ms. Hochul's running mate as she campaigns for a full term this year. He will replace former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, who was indicted on federal bribery charges last month, leading to his abrupt resignation. A group of New York Democrats empowered with formally replacing Mr. Benjamin endorsed the choice of Mr. Delgado, 45, as Ms. Hochul's running mate Tuesday morning, ensuring that he will be on the ballot in June's party primary, according to three people familiar with the process."

~~~~~~~~~~

If you think The Handmaid's Tale is "just fiction," you have not accounted for Sam & the Supremes: ~~~

~~~ ** Josh Gerstein & Alexander Ward of Politico: "The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, [link fixed] according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by Politico. The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision -- Planned Parenthood v. Casey -- that largely maintained the right. 'Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,' Alito writes. 'We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,' he writes in the document, labeled as the 'Opinion of the Court.' 'It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives.'" ~~~

     ~~~ ** Politico has published the draft ruling here. This is the first time a draft ruling ever has been leaked to the public. ~~~

     (BUT. James Robenalt of the Washington Post: "... the result in Roe v. Wade itself was leaked by a Supreme Court clerk to a Time magazine reporter in January 1973. The issue of Time, with an article titled 'The Sexes: Abortion on Demand,' appeared on newsstands hours before the decision was announced by Justice Harry Blackmun." The leaker was Larry Hammond, who clerked for Justice Lewis Powell.) ~~~

     ~~~ Gerstein pulls out "10 important passages in the draft opinion." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Some day, somebody will zero in on the precise day the United States shifted from a democratic republic to an authoritarian kakistocracy. In the meantime, the day this decision comes down will be a benchmark in our decline. When up to half of Americans who are of school and working age again are constrained from determining their own freedom to attend school & establish careers, we can no longer consider this country a democratic republic. The ruling, of course, also will have profound effects on women's partners. ~~~

      ~~~ Because Earlier That Same Day. Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "Leading antiabortion groups and their allies in Congress have been meeting behind the scenes to plan a national strategy that would kick in if the Supreme Court rolls back abortion rights this summer, including a push for a strict nationwide ban on the procedure if Republicans retake power in Washington. The effort, activists say, is designed to bring >a fight that has been playing out largely in the courts and state legislatures to the national political stage -- rallying conservatives around the issue in the midterms and pressuring potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates to take a stand." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: In discussing the draft opinion, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is a Constitutional scholar, noted that Alito's opinion is framed in such a way that the landmark 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision -- which protected married couples' right to use contraception -- also would fall. Raskin further noted that wingers are opposed to contraception, too, so it's likely a GOP-controlled Congress would attempt to outlaw most forms of contraception. AND, as Lawrence O'Donnell said last night, this will be the first time in most of our lifetimes that the Supreme Court has taken away a Constitutional right. (This would not be true for me, because about six weeks after my birth, the Supremes handed down Korematsu v. U.S., which validated the internment without cause of Japanese-Americans.)

A Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes & Mike DeBonis, is here.

Under an online banner headline this morning that at least temporarily has thrown the war in Ukraine off the top of the page, the New York Times is live-updating reactions to the Alito draft.

Instant Demonstration. Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Just hours after reports emerged that a majority of justices had voted to strike down Roe v. Wade..., scores of protesters began to assemble outside the Supreme Court, flowing into the area well into the early morning hours on Tuesday. The mood outside the court was a mix of anger and mourning, with some demonstrators sitting silently in front of a long line of candles, while others formed a roving circle, shouting defiant chants about the news."

Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Whoever leaked this is a hero, and the more the Court become demystified in general the better. Interesting to assign the opinion to Alito rather than ACB; they just don't give a fuck any more and don't need to. The opinion is incredibly thin and unpersuasive -- Alito actually used the junior high school debate society 'durr, the Constitution does not mention the word "abortion," durr' argument twice in the first few grafs of the opinion. It even starts like a bad generic freshman essay: 'The debate about abortion is as old as the history of history itself.'... It's also worth noting that Alito's incredibly narrow conception of due process would logically require all of the major privacy cases to be overruled[.]" Lemieux also notes that the Alito rationale would signal the reversal of the Obergefell & Lawrence decisions. So gay rights, gay marriage -- out! ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fairness to Sam, extreme disdain for women is not a likely indicator of intellectual rigor.

Jill Filipovic in a Substack post: "This case, contrary to what the Court claims, won't push abortion back to the states. It's going to open up a whole circus of restrictions, court battles, and pitched fights. And in the meantime, thousands and thousands of women will be forced into motherhood against their will. Some won't live through it. And three members of this Supreme Court majority were appointed by a president who didn't win a majority of the vote, claims the last election was rigged, and attempted to stage a coup.... So here's what we know is coming if Roe goes, from a wealth of research on what happens when women are denied abortions...: Maternal mortality rates will go up (by as much as 21%, according to one estimate).... More women will die at the hands of men.... Women will wind up poorer.... Kids will do worse.... More women will be abused and for longer.... Women will go to jail. Contraception access will be at risk.... Women will be less free." ~~~

     ~~~ As Lawrence O'Donnell noted last night, thanks to our peculiar way of electing presidents, none of the so-called justices who will likely vote to repeal Roe was nominated by a president* who won a majority of the vote. Alito & Roberts are Dubya appointees, and Filipovic has already mentioned the Three Dancing Trumpettes. What we have here then is minority rule. On everything. Update: Oops! Thomas was appointed by Bush I, who did win a majority of votes in 1988. (In 1992, when Bush I lost to Clinton in a three-way race, he got only 37.4% of the popular vote.)

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Despite early-morning shelling, the halting evacuation [from Mariupol], overseen by the Red Cross and the United Nations, was seen as the best and possibly last hope for hundreds of civilians who have been trapped for weeks in bunkers beneath the wreckage of the Azovstal steel plant, and an unknown number who are scattered around the ruins of the mostly abandoned city.... Heavy fighting in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions has yielded minimal gains for the forces of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Western officials say. But the Russians continued to fire rockets and shells at Ukrainian military positions, cities, towns and infrastructure along a 300-mile-long front, including bombarding the Azovstal plant, where the last remaining Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol are hunkered down. On Monday, Ukraine said it had used Turkish-made drones to destroy two Russian patrol vessels off the Black Sea port of Odesa, just before Russian missiles struck the city, causing an unknown number of casualties and damage to a religious building." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Tuesday are here:"Moscow is preparing to annex vast new swaths of Ukrainian territory -- the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, along with the southern city of Kherson -- in the coming days, U.S. intelligence indicates. Yet Russian troops suffering from poor morale and 'casualty aversion' are making 'anemic' advances in their attempt to seize the eastern Donbas region, according to the Pentagon." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure what "casualty aversion" is. Is it an aversion to killing & maiming Ukrainians or Pentagonese for "a will to live"?

Tuesday is primary election day in Ohio & Indiana. Jill Colvin & Julie Smyth of the AP: "Ohio Republicans will vote Tuesday in one of the most contentious and closely watched Senate primaries in the U.S., deciding a race that is an early referendum on ... Donald Trump's hold on the GOP as the midterm primary season kicks into high gear.... The winner [of the Republican primary] is likely to face 10-term Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who has distanced himself from the progressive wing of his party ahead of what is expected to be a brutal year for Democrats seeking to hold their congressional majorities." ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr of CNN has a story on the Ohio primary, which focuses on U.S. Senate GOP candidate J.D. Vance (or whatever his name is).

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "... Senator Dianne Feinstein, the trailblazing Democratic power broker who has served in the Senate for 30 years, is far from the towering presence she once was on the American political stage. At 88, Ms. Feinstein sometimes struggles to recall the names of colleagues, frequently has little recollection of meetings or telephone conversations, and at times walks around in a state of befuddlement -- including about why she is increasingly dogged by questions about whether she is fit to serve in the Senate representing the 40 million residents of California, according to half a dozen lawmakers and aides who spoke about the situation on the condition of anonymity.... Some of them said they did not expect her to serve out her term ending in 2024 under the circumstances, even though she refuses to engage in conversations about stepping down.... In the United States Senate, there is a long tradition of powerful men who have failed to move onto anything else, even long after it was glaringly apparent that they could no longer function on their own."

Marianna Sotomayor, et al., of the Washington Post: "Since taking office nearly 16 months ago, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) has been accused of many things.... For now, Cawthorn hasn't faced any major consequences on the Hill.... Although House Republicans have dutifully tried to present a united front, especially as regaining the majority in the midterm election this fall seems in reach, a growing number have publicly expressed their dismay with Cawthorn's behavior -- and, privately, several Republicans have said they hope voters in Cawthorn's district penalize him in the May 17 Republican primary so Cawthorn's colleagues don't have to do something themselves."

... The Pleasure of Your Company... Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is seeking voluntary testimony from three additional members of Congress who appeared to have some coordination with rioters and efforts to block President Biden's electoral victory both before and after the attack. The letter to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) notes that former President Trump asked him to help keep him in office even after Jan. 6. A letter to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) references his involvement in discussions to secure presidential pardons in connection with efforts to unwind the 2020 election. It also focuses on his involvement in planning for Jan. 6, both in meetings at the White House and with 'Stop the Steal' organizers, and his coordination with state legislators. And a letter to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Trump's former White House doctor, points to exchanges between members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group citing the need to protect the lawmaker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

Gloria Borger, et al., of CNN: "The Trump family's cooperation with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol -- and Ivanka Trump's appearance in particular -- has proven useful in confirming other key testimony about the state of play inside the White House as well as ... Donald Trump's state of mind that day. In a recent exclusive interview with CNN, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson gave the most extensive account yet of the testimony behind closed doors. 'There were questions asked about what was she doing at the time that the insurrection was occurring at the Capitol, and she told us,' the Mississippi Democrat said of Ivanka Trump. Investigators 'asked certain questions about her awareness of what her father was doing. She told us.'... He said [Ivanka & her husband Jared Kushner] did corroborate critical testimony from others who said the then-President was reluctant to try to call off the rioters despite being asked to do so."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A former New York City police officer who claimed he was acting in self-defense when he swung a metal flagpole at a fellow officer during the attack on the Capitol last January was convicted on Monday of all charges, including assault. The former officer, Thomas Webster, was the first person charged in connection with the riot to defend himself at trial by claiming that the officers protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had used excessive force against the pro-Trump mob that stormed the building. The guilty verdict in the case -- returned within two hours on the first full day of deliberations -- could give pause to other defendants planning to use similar arguments at their own trials.... Videos played by the prosecution ... show[ed] Mr. Webster emerging from the crowd and berating officers at the barricades in a state of foul-mouthed rage. Mr. Webster could be seen in the videos repeatedly pushing at the barricades, then swinging a flagpole at [Metropolitan Police] Officer [Noah] Rathbun before he shoved through the police line and tackled the officer." Webster once served on former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's protective force. Marie: Look at the photo of Webster accompanying the story & tell me if you think you could prevail in hand-to-hand combat with him.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A military veteran from Georgia who attacked police officers at the U.S. Capitol as part of a pro-Trump mob trying to overturn the 2020 election results was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Monday. Kevin Creek, 47, a former Marine, was sentenced to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich for assaulting officers on Jan. 6. Creek was arrested in June and pleaded guilty in December, when he admitted to striking a Washington police officer in the hand, pushing a Capitol Police officer and kicking the same officer."

"I Just Want to Find 11,780 Votes." Richard Fausset of the New York Times: The "investigation into whether [Donald Trump] and his allies illegally interfered with Georgia's 2020 election results took a significant step forward on Monday, as 23 people were chosen to serve on a special investigative grand jury. The panel will focus exclusively on 'whether there were unlawful attempts to disrupt the administration of the 2020 elections here in Georgia,' Judge Robert C.I. McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court told 200 potential jurors who had been called to a downtown Atlanta courthouse swarming with law enforcement agents.... The panel will have up to a year to issue a report advising District Attorney Fani T. Willis on whether to pursue criminal charges.... ~~~

~~~ “In addition to the call with [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger [in which Trump asked Raffensperger to find enough votes to flip the state's election results], Mr. Trump has publicly described how he called Gov. Brian Kemp after the election and asked him to call a special election to 'get to the bottom' of 'a big election-integrity problem in Georgia.' Mr. Trump also called Chris Carr, the state attorney general, asking him not to oppose a lawsuit challenging the election results in Georgia and other states, and Mr. Raffensperger's chief investigator, asking her to find 'dishonesty' in the election.'"

Mike Allen of Axios: "Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper charges in a memoir out May 10 that former President Trump said when demonstrators were filling the streets around the White House following the death of George Floyd: 'Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?'... That moment in the first week of June, 2020, 'was surreal, sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington, D.C.,' Esper writes.... The book was vetted at the highest levels of the Pentagon. I'm told that as part of the clearance process, the book was reviewed in whole or in part by nearly three dozen 4-star generals, senior civilians, and some Cabinet members. Some of them had witnessed what Esper witnessed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the city of Boston had violated the First Amendment when it refused to let a private group raise a Christian flag in front of its City Hall. One of the three flagpoles in front of the building, which ordinarily flies the flag of Boston, is occasionally made available to groups seeking to celebrate their backgrounds or to promote causes like gay pride. In a 12-year period, the city approved 284 requests for the third flag. It rejected only one, from Camp Constitution, which says it seeks 'to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage.' The group's application said it sought to raise a 'Christian flag' for one hour at an event that would include 'short speeches by some local clergy focusing on Bosto's history.' The flag bore the Latin cross." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "NBC News announced that they had unearthed repeated acts of plagiarism in their reports, and they are taking steps to address it. NBC posted a public statement about the matter on Monday, explaining that 11 instances of improper sourcing were detected, and editor's notes have been attached to the stories involved.... NBC's statement does not identify the offending reporter, nor any repercussions they may have received. Mediaite heard from a source within NBC News, however, who confirmed the reporter is former politics writer Teaganne Finn, who is 'no longer with NBC News.'"

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "Vice President Kamala Harris received a negative result on a rapid antigen test for the coronavirus on Monday, clearing her return to the White House on Tuesday, her office said."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "With the balance of the House of Representatives at stake, national Democrats made an 11th-hour appeal to a federal court on Monday to intervene in New York's heated redistricting dispute, hoping to reinstate House maps thrown out by the state's highest court last week. In a 17-page complaint, they argued that there simply was not enough time to implement the order from the State Court of Appeals for new district lines and still comply with a longstanding federal court order meant to protect the rights of Americans casting ballots from overseas. The Democrats asked a panel of federal judges to exercise its authority to effectively block the state court from enforcing its decision, and instead require New York to hold this year's elections in late June, as originally scheduled, on the map adopted by the Democrat-dominated Legislature."

New York. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Brian A. Benjamin, the former New York lieutenant governor who resigned after being indicted on federal bribery charges, will no longer appear on the state Democratic primary ballot after legislation passed on Monday made it possible to remove him. The measure is widely regarded as an accommodation to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had publicly appealed to Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate to change the law, after other efforts to remove Mr. Benjamin from the ballot had stalled. The bill passed by the Senate and Assembly will allow candidates who have been arrested or charged with a misdemeanor or felony after being nominated to be removed from the ballot if they do not intend to serve. Ms. Hochul is expected to sign the bill into law shortly. Mr. Benjamin released a statement on Twitter Monday, saying that he would sign the necessary paperwork to remove his name from the ballot."

Ohio Senate Race. Trump Can't Recall Whom He Endorsed. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Speaking at a rally two days ahead of voting in a heated Republican Senate primary in Ohio, Donald Trump appeared to forget the name of JD Vance, the candidate he has endorsed.... Trump said: 'We've endorsed -- JP, right? JD Mandel, and he's doing great. They're all doing good. They're all doing good. And let's see what happens.' Trump appeared to be confusing JD Vance, a former US marine, author of the bestseller Hillbilly Elegy and venture capitalist, with Josh Mandel, a rival who courted Trump for the endorsement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Pennsylvania. Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: "A Philadelphia police officer who was fired after he fatally shot a 12-year-old boy in the back in March has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting, the authorities said Monday. A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed that the former officer, Edsaul Mendoza, was arrested on Sunday. At a news conference on Monday, Larry Krasner, the district attorney of Philadelphia, said that Mr. Mendoza had been charged with first-degree murder and other charges. He was being held without bail, Mr. Krasner said. The boy, Thomas Siderio, was fatally shot on March 1 in the city's Girard Estates neighborhood...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)