July 5, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Democrats are sleep-walking into a disaster by failing to keep pace with the number of judges who are retiring. President Joe Biden's staff boasted at the end of last year that he had nominated and confirmed a historic number of judges to start off his term, but the president and Senate Democrats could leave more than 60 judicial vacancies at the end of this year -- and they may not have a chance to fill them once a new Congress is sworn in, argued legal expert Christopher Kang in a new column for Slate." MB: Yeah, well, let's hope Biden doesn't nominate any of Mitch's faves.

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A Georgia grand jury has subpoenaed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and members of Donald Trump's campaign legal team. In addition to the South Carolina Republican, the Fulton County special grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn his loss has issued subpoenas to Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesbro and Jenna Ellis, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The subpoenas were filed Tuesday and signed off by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the grand jury and must approve summons for individuals who live out of state."

U.K. Bye-Bye, Boris. Karla Adam & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Two of Boris Johnson's most senior cabinet ministers resigned on Tuesday, raising serious questions about Johnson's leadership and how long the British leader might cling to power. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary, announced their departures within minutes of each other, making it clear they had lost confidence in Johnson's leadership." The AP's report is here.

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Paul Waldman of the Washington Post has had it with the vaunted Founding Fathers: "And now it's time for us to declare our own independence, from Founding Father fetishism.... As we've seen recently, the American right has found in the framers an extraordinarily effective tool with which they can roll back social progress and undermine our democracy.... It has gone from an affectation to a weapon, and a brutally effective one.... Originalism was a scam from the start, a foolproof methodology for conservatives to arrive at whatever judicial result matches their policy preferences.... This is the conceit of today's right: The Founders were essentially perfect, and only we conservatives are capable of interpreting their will.... I've never been more fearful for the future of America than I am today; there are good reasons to believe that the democracy we began to fashion two and a half centuries ago may not survive the next decade." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a reason confederate judges turn to the Founding Fathers for all interpretations of the Constitution & laws: the founders were white, propertied, Christian men whose property included their chattel wives & enslaved men, women & children. They had little respect for the environment & no experience in running or living under a centralized government. So they were inclined to give short shrift to the rights of the rest of us & to many matters that can best be organized & regulated by a national government at a time when we can all move from state to state in a matter of hours, not days, and technology connects us in seconds.

There is not anything in the Constitution that says that the Court, the Supreme Court, is the last word on what the Constitution means. -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, oral arguments, Dobbs v. Jackson ~~~

~~~ The Supremes Are Not So Supreme, Ctd. Joshua Zeitz in Politico Magazine: "... Sotomayor's primary intent was to argue that rights and prerogatives need not be explicitly delineated in the Constitution for them to exist. The right to privacy -- more specifically, the right to terminate a pregnancy -- does not appear anywhere in the document, but neither does the Supreme Court's power of judicial review. Both exist by strong implication.... Liberal critics of today's judicial activism are right when they note that the Supreme Court essentially arrogated to itself the right of judicial review -- the right to declare legislative and executive actions unconstitutional -- in 1803, in the case of Marbury v. Madison.... In the same way that Congress or the Supreme Court can rein in a renegade president, as was the case during Watergate, the president and Congress can place checks on an otherwise unconstrained court, if they believe the justices have exceeded their mandate.... The Constitution also grants Congress the power to strip the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over specific matters.... In theory, Congress could very easily pass legislation denying the Supreme Court jurisdiction over a new voting rights act, a law codifying the right to privacy (including abortion rights), and other popular measures.... To save the Supreme Court from itself, Congress might first have to shrink it." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, it is not impossible to imagine -- even within the constraints of that document the beloved Christian, propertied, white-guy Founders cobbled together -- a United States in which the Supremes issued opinions that were just that: opinions. Congress and the president then would decide whether or not to accept a majority opinion or go in another direction. Congress & the prez also could decide whether or not to accept past opinions that squeezed or overturned rights previously granted: like the limitations the Supremes have placed on voting rights over the years, or overturning the rights to women had to health care. Congress might jigger some laws to meet some objections criticss raised, or said opinions might end up in the dustbin of history. There is a way for the will of the people, as expressed below, to prevail.~~~

~~~ At the Glastonbury (England) music festival Olivia Rodrigo & Lily Allen tag the confederate Supremes. Thank you to Nisky Guy for the link:

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A US judge has asked the Biden administration to weigh in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case brought against him in the US by Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by Saudi agents in 2018. John Bates, a district court judge, gave the US government until 1 August to declare its interests in the civil case or give the court notice that it has no view on the matter. The administration's decision could have a profound effect on the civil case and comes as Joe Biden is facing criticism for abandoning a campaign promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a 'pariah'.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a blow to claims that drug companies fueled the opioid crisis, a federal judge ruled Monday that the nation's three major drug distributors did not cause a public nuisance by shipping millions of addictive pain pills to a West Virginia community that was among the hardest hit. In a legal win for AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, Judge David A. Faber dismissed the argument made by Cabell County and its seat, Huntington, that the distributors bore responsibility for the consequences of an inundation of opioids, according to the judge's order filed in the U.S. District Court in West Virginia. The distributors have denied wrongdoing and have said the painkillers they shipped were prescribed by licensed doctors and filled by pharmacies. They argued they had no way of telling that those prescriptions were not legitimate and that any of the drugs may have been funneled to the black market." MB: Faber, a senior judge, is a George H.W. Bush appointee. So, you know, business as usual.

Republicans Cheat on Everything. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "More than a year after Congress approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Republicans in nearly two dozen states have ratcheted up efforts to tap some of those funds for an unrelated purpose: paying for tax cuts. The moves have threatened to siphon off aid that might otherwise help states fight the pandemic, shore up their local economies or prepare for a potential recession.... Congress ultimately laid down few conditions for how local leaders could use the pot of money, which totaled $350 billion nationally. But they were clear about one thing: The federal government would not subsidize state tax cuts.... Since then, however, GOP leaders have challenged the tax cut prohibition in federal courtrooms and state capitals. Attorneys general in 21 states have fought to overturn the Biden administration's policy, federal court filings show, backed at times by powerful groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...."

Beyond the Beltway

There are no words for the kind of monster who lies in wait and fires into a crowd of families celebrating a holiday with their community.... Prayers alone will not put a stop to the terror of rampant gun violence in our country. -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.), remarks in Highland Park, Monday ~~~

~~~ Illinois. Mark Guarino, et al., of the Washington Post: "A gunman perched on a rooftop fired dozens of rounds at spectators at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb on Monday, killing at least six people and adding yet another name to the list of American towns caught up in a countrywide wave of mass-casualty shootings.... Eight hours after the shooting, at about 6:30 p.m. local time, police announced the arrest of a 'person of interest' and presumed suspect. Police identified the man as 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo III of suburban Chicago.... Bobby Crimo ... performs as a Chicago-area rap artist under the name Awake the Rapper.... Some of the videos attributed to the rapper depict violent imagery, including a heavily armed shooter entering a school.... So far this year, the United States has recorded more than 250 mass shootings, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.... Darren Bailey, the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, posted a video on Facebook about two hours after the shooting, asking supporters to pray for law enforcement and the families of the victims, then return to celebrating the holiday." Related reports in yesterday's News Ledes. ~~~

     ~~~ Bryan Piesch & Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: "The man detained by police as a 'person of interest' in the shooting in a Chicago suburb ... was a local rapper whose online presence contained tinges of violence and a haunting monologue depicting a troubled young man.... Crimo -- known online as 'Awake the Rapper' -- is like many internet performers, with a modest following, amateur music videos on YouTube and tracks on Spotify.... Videos with a voice-over show a computer-drawn image of a figure wearing what appears to be tactical gear and shooting a rifle, with a person kneeling, hands raised apparently begging for mercy, and another lying on the ground. Another clip shows a person appearing to be Crimo wearing a helmet and vest inside a classroom next to an American flag ... [accompanied by a] voice-over...: 'I need to leave now, I need to just do it. It is my destiny. Everything has led up to this; nothing can stop me, not even myself.' In another video, Crimo says: ... 'I hate when others get more attention than me on the internet.'... Photos that appear to show Crimo attending a rally for former president Donald Trump have also surfaced, but it is not clear from his online postings that he was a supporter of Trump or any other political party or candidate." ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Collins & Safia Ali of NBC News: “Robert 'Bobby' E. Crimo III, the person of interest identified by police after Monday's shooting in a Chicago suburb..., left a long trail of tributes to mass shootings and public killings on social media platforms, according to numerous profiles that appear to belong to him..... [His] recent music videos included depictions of mass murder.... Crimo had his own Discord server, where fans and people who knew him would chat. The community featured a politics board filled with nihilistic political memes.... Crimo also posted frequently to a message board that discussed graphic depictions of murder, suicide and death. His most recent post to that message board came last week, when he posted a video of a beheading."

Way Beyond

Ukraine., et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here.

Jake Russell of the Washington Post: "WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February on drug charges, wrote a letter to President Biden that was delivered to the White House on Monday morning, her sports agency said. In the letter, Griner, 31, expressed fear over not knowing how long she will be detained and urged Biden to work for her release and that of other Americans detained abroad. 'As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I'm terrified I might be here forever,' Griner wrote in an excerpt of the letter shared by Wasserman, a talent agency that represents the basketball star." An ESPN report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Griner made a calculated decision to go to Russia to earn money after the U.S. warned American citizens not to travel to Russia. I get that outstanding professional women basketball players don't make nearly as much money as male stars. And I get that people make stupid mistakes. I've made some of my own. Perhaps she thought her fame would render her too exceptional to jail on trumped-up charges. Perhaps her talent agency talked her into going. So too bad Griner doesn't have her Olympic jersey to protect her. I'm sorry for her, but not so sorry I think the U.S. should trade a high-profile Russian criminal for her.

Israel/Palestine. Patrick Kingsley & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "The bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American journalist shot in the occupied West Bank in May, was most likely fired from Israeli military lines but was too damaged to say for sure, the State Department said on Monday. The damage to the bullet made it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about the gun it was fired from, according to a State Department statement. But shots fired from the position of the Israel Defense Forces were 'likely responsible for the death,' it added.... Palestinian officials have said that Ms. Abu Akleh was intentionally killed by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli government ... [has said] that she was hit by either an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian gunman. Israeli officers have said that an Israeli soldier from Duvdevan, an elite unit, fired in Ms. Abu Akleh's direction, but that it was impossible to determine who shot her without examining the bullet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's report is here.

News Ledes

AP: "The gunman who attacked an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago fired more than 70 rounds with an AR-15-style gun that killed at least six people, then evaded initial capture by dressing as a woman and blending into the fleeing crowd, police said Tuesday. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli told a news conference that the suspected shooter, who was arrested late Monday, used a high-powered rifle 'similar to an AR-15' to spray bullets from atop a commercial building into a crowd that had gathered for the parade in Highland Park.... Investigators who have interrogated the suspect and reviewed his social media posts have not determined a motive for the attack or found any indication that the shooter targeted anyone by race, religion or other protected status, Covelli said." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Highland Park massacre aftermath are here.

July 4, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Contra Nisky Guy (see below) (well, not really contra), Paul Waldman of the Washington Post has had it with the vaunted Founding Fathers: "And now it's time for us to declare our own independence, from Founding Father fetishism.... As we've seen recently, the American right has found in the framers an extraordinarily effective tool with which they can roll back social progress and undermine our democracy.... It has gone from an affectation to a weapon, and a brutally effective one.... Originalism was a scam from the start, a foolproof methodology for conservatives to arrive at whatever judicial result matches their policy preferences.... This is the conceit of today's right: The Founders were essentially perfect, and only we conservatives are capable of interpreting their will.... I've never been more fearful for the future of America than I am today; there are good reasons to believe that the democracy we began to fashion two and a half centuries ago may not survive the next decade." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a reason confederate judges turn to the Founding Fathers for all interpretations of the Constitution & laws: the founders were white, propertied, Christian men whose property included their chattel wives & enslaved men, women & children. They had little respect for the environment & no experience in running or living under a centralized government. So they were inclined to give short shrift to the rights of the rest of us & to many matters that can best be organized & regulated by a national government at a time when we can all move from state to state in a matter of hours, not days, and technology connects us in seconds.

Patrick Kingsley & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "The bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American journalist shot in the occupied West Bank in May, was most likely fired from Israeli military lines but was too damaged to say for sure, the State Department said on Monday. The damage to the bullet made it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about the gun it was fired from, according to a State Department statement. But shots fired from the position of the Israel Defense Forces were 'likely responsible for the death,' it added.... Palestinian officials have said that Ms. Abu Akleh was intentionally killed by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli government ... [has said] that she was hit by either an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian gunman. Israeli officers have said that an Israeli soldier from Duvdevan, an elite unit, fired in Ms. Abu Akleh's direction, but that it was impossible to determine who shot her without examining the bullet."

Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A US judge has asked the Biden administration to weigh in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case brought against him in the US by Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by Saudi agents in 2018. John Bates, a district court judge, gave the US government until 1 August to declare its interests in the civil case or give the court notice that it has no view on the matter. The administration's decision could have a profound effect on the civil case and comes as Joe Biden is facing criticism for abandoning a campaign promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a 'pariah'."

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Nisky Guy has become an originalist! And it turns out that can be a good thing. See the top of today's Comments.

Marie: So the news I'm starting with today involves a president* who tried to toss the will of the people, how police are using women's phone records to prosecute them for getting abortions, Akron cops shot a Black man 60 times, & Russia won the battle for another Ukrainian city. Happy "Independence Day"!

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... nearly two and a half centuries after the 13 American colonies declared independence from an unelected king, the nation is left weighing a somber new view of the fragility of its democracy -- and the question of what, if anything, could and should be done about it.... For a year and a half, [Donald] Trump has been shielded by obfuscations and mischaracterizations, benefiting from uncertainty about what he was thinking on Jan. 6, 2021.... But for a man who famously avoids leaving emails or other trails of evidence of his unspoken motives, any doubts about what was really going through Mr. Trump's mind on that day of violence seemed to have been eviscerated by testimony presented in recent weeks by the House committee investigating the Capitol attack.... More than perhaps any insider account that has emerged, the recollections of ... Cassidy Hutchinson demolished the fiction of a president who had nothing to do with what happened."

Benjamin Siegel & Mariam Kahn of ABC News: "The Justice Department should not avoid prosecuting Donald Trump in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack if a prosecution is warranted, Rep. Liz Cheney said in an interview with ABC News' 'This Week' co-anchor Jonathan Karl. While bringing charges against the former president -- who may challenge President Joe Biden in 2024 -- would be unprecedented and "difficult for the country, not doing so would support a 'much graver constitutional threat,' Cheney said Wednesday in an interview at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that aired Sunday on 'This Week.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sick of hearing that to prosecute Trump would turn the U.S. into a banana republic. What turned the U.S. into a banana republic were Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, not the prospect of holding him responsible for his actions.

Hope Yen of the AP: "More witnesses are coming forward with new details on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot following former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's devastating testimony last week against ... Donald Trump, says [Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.),] a member of a House committee investigating the insurrection.... The next hearings will aim to show how Trump illegally directed a violent mob toward the Capitol on Jan. 6, and then failed to take quick action to stop the attack once it began. Over the weekend, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committee's vice chair, made clear that criminal referrals to the Justice Department, including against Trump, could follow."

Sharon Lerner of the Intercept (June 30) on how Charles Koch bought the Supreme Court's decision to restrict the EPA: "To ensure further growth of his riches even as science showed that the continued use of fossil fuels would accelerate climate disaster, Koch has funneled some of his vast fortune into an extraordinary network of political front groups, lobbying efforts, think tanks, and activist networks that aim to stifle climate action. For decades, the Kochtopus, as some call his many-tentacled political influence machine, has sought to undermine not just the environmental regulation in Koch Industries' path but also the science and philosophy of government on which it is based.... Americans for Prosperity, an astroturf political group founded by Charles Koch and his brother David, conducted extraordinary campaigns to put [Gorsuch, Kavenaugh & Barrett] on the highest bench.... The case itself can also be tied directly to Koch. The challengers are 27 Republican attorneys general, who were supported by the Koch-funded Republican Attorneys General Association."

Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: "Women have been punished for terminating pregnancy for years. Between 2000 and 2021, more than 60 cases in the United States involved someone being investigated, arrested or charged for allegedly ending their own pregnancy or assisting someone else, according to an analysis by If/When/How, a reproductive justice nonprofit. If/When/How estimates the number of cases may be much higher.... A number of those cases have hinged on text messages, search history and other forms of digital evidence."

Beyond the Beltway

Ohio. Andres Simakis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Police released body-camera footage Sunday showing officers firing dozens of rounds at a Black man who left his car while fleeing a traffic stop one week ago, a killing that has sparked outrage, investigations and demands for accountability. Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett said he did not know the exact number of rounds fired at Jayland Walker, 25. But, Mylett added, the medical examiner's report indicates more than 60 wounds on Walker's body.... Evidence indicates that Walker had fired a gun during the car chase, Mylett said.... Among the images polic displayed Sunday were those of a gun that they said they found in his car, beside a loaded magazine.... Police tried to stop Walker's Buick about 12:30 a.m. June 27 for investigation of an unspecified traffic violation and chased him when he did not pull over, the Akron Police Department said. Shortly after an officer said he heard a gunshot come from the Buick, Walker jumped out of the car and ran into a parking lot, with officers following -- and eventually firing."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian forces on Sunday announced their withdrawal from the eastern city of Lysychansk -- their final foothold in the Luhansk region -- in a crucial loss that gives Moscow access to capture much of the rest of eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said continued defense of the city would have fatal consequences, given the Russian troops' 'advantage' in 'artillery, aviation, ammunition and personnel.' President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed in his nightly address that Ukraine would return to Lysychansk.... Russia on Sunday shelled several cities in the Donetsk region, which neighbors Luhansk. In the town of Slovyansk, six people were killed and 20 wounded, officials said.... Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Saturday expressed shock at the destruction in Ukraine during his first visit to the country. He was taken to Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, where Russian forces were accused of deliberately killing civilians and other war crimes." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff, et al., of the New York Times: "The last major city held by Ukraine in the heavily contested eastern province of Luhansk has fallen, military officials on both sides said Sunday, giving Moscow a milestone victory in its campaign to capture the Donbas, the mineral-rich region bordering Russia that has long been in President Vladimir V. Putin's sights. The industrial city of Lysychansk, on a rise overlooking the Siversky Donets River, had held out for a week after Russia seized control of Sievierodonetsk, its twin city across the river. But as Russia inundated Lysychansk with artillery fire and strangled its supply lines, building on months of bombardment and weeks of ferocious street fighting that reduced both cities to grayed-out husks, Ukrainian defenders were forced to retreat.... Western military analysts had expressed little doubt that Moscow would eventually prevail in the twin cities, but with their loss undeniable, pressure redoubled on the United States and its allies to get the more powerful weapons they have promised Ukraine to the front."

News Lede

AP: "At least six people died and 24 were wounded in a shooting at a July Fourth parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, and officers are searching for a suspect who likely fired on the festivities from a rooftop, police said Monday. Highland Park Police Commander Chris O'Neill, the incident commander on scene, urged people to shelter in place as authorities search for the suspect. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference that the gunman apparently opened fire on parade-goers from a rooftop using a 'high-powered rifle' that was recovered at the scene.&" The report has been updated. ~~~

     ~~~ According to CNN, the shooter is believed to be a white male, aged 18-20. ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times live updates of developments are here. @ about 6:04 p.m. ET: ** "Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference that the police are looking for Robert E. Crimo III, 22, in connection with the shooting. He is believed to be driving a 2010 silver Honda Fit with Illinois license plates, Covelli said, and is 'from the area' and goes by the name 'Bobby.'" ~~~

     ~~~ ** 17:52 pm ET, Highland Park police gave a brief news conference & said police had located the suspect in his vehicle in Lake Forest, a suburb not far from Highland Park; the suspect left his car & a brief chase ensued after which the police took him into custody & arrested him. I'll get up a real news report ASAP. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the initial NYT update: "Chief Lou Jogmen of the Highland Park Police said that Crimo had been spotted in his car by a North Chicago police unit. When the police tried to stop him, Crimo fled, leading officers on a brief chase, before they were able to stop him and take him into custody, Jogmen said. Crimo was being taken to the Highland Park Police Department, he said."

     ~~~ Marie: In almost every mass murder, there are multiple mass murderers, too, or at least accessories before the fact: the Second Amendment fetishists in Congress & statehouses who regard their gun lobby money as way more important than the lives of innocent Americans. Ditto the Supremes for their support. I wonder if Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) thinks shooting parade-goers from a rooftop is a lot like shooting prairie dogs on the back 40.

July 3, 2022

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post looks at the Secret Service's role in the January 6, 2021, coup attempt. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Washington Post Editors: The DOJ has no choice but to investigate Donald Trump and others for their parts in the January 6, 2021, coup plot. "The Justice Department has investigative powers that the Jan. 6 committee does not, and there are critical questions that remain unanswered. [AG Merrick] Garland should have no higher priority than using these powers to investigate all of those involved in one of the darkest days in American history."

Fox "News" Makes Viewers Crazy & Stupid. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "A whopping 68% of Fox News viewers blame the Jan. 6 attack on 'Left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad,' the most of any viewership group by almost double.

Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Attempting to recover from their staggering loss in the Supreme Court, abortion rights groups have mounted a multilevel legal and political attack aimed at blocking and reversing abortion bans in courts and at ballot boxes across the country. In the week since the court overturned Roe v. Wade, litigators for abortion rights groups have rolled out a wave of lawsuits in nearly a dozen states to hold off bans triggered by the court's decision, with the promise of more suits to come. They are aiming to prove that provisions in state constitutions establish a right to abortion that the Supreme Court's decision said did not exist in the U.S. Constitution. Advocates of abortion rights are also working to defeat ballot initiatives that would strip away a constitutional right to abortion, and to pass those that would establish one.... And after years of complaints that Democrats neglected state and local elections, Democratic-aligned groups are campaigning to reverse slim Republican majorities in some state legislatures...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While this campaign is a necessity that is all well & good, only the last item on the agenda -- winning majorities in state houses -- gets anywhere near the heart of the problem. Even that is just chipping at the edges of the crisis. As shocking and inhumane as overturning Roe is, the Dobbs decision is just the start of the confederate Supremes' extreme, radical agenda. Confederate Supremes have been chipping away at voting rights for years, and they have just taken a case that -- if they rule for the state, as four of them have suggested they might -- will essentially eliminate voting rights altogether. Clarence Thomas has a plan to overturn gay rights & gay marriage as well as the right to contraception. It is not just abortion rights that must be restored; the entire Court apparatus must somehow be rejiggered. I wish I could see a clear path to getting that done, and at this point I cannot. This country is undergoing an existential crisis, and too few of us have figured that out. Moreover, from what I can see from my window, the vast majority of voters do not have the intellectual capacity or the interest to understand what is happening. So restoring abortion rights, yes. But that is not nearly enough.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... thanks to legislative gridlock, Congress very seldom responds these days to Supreme Court decisions interpreting its statutes -- and that means the balance of power between the branches has shifted, with the justices ascendant.... Congress has largely fallen silent as a partisan stalemate has gripped Capitol Hill, aggravated by the increased use of the filibuster, which has blocked almost all major legislation in an evenly divided Senate.... There are many ... cases in which the court merely interprets statutes enacted by Congress. Its task in those cases is to determine what a law means, not to test its constitutionality. If Congress disagrees with the court's interpretation, it is free to override the decision.... But if recent practices are any guide, congressional action is unlikely." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is very bipartisany of Liptak, but the problem lies principally with Republicans, whose refusal to act on Supreme Court rulings to repair laws, largely because Republicans like the rulings that strike down the laws. The Republican party is an anti-government, states-rights, corporation-loving party, and Republicans will do nothing to clarify laws that give them or the administration authority to oversee or regulate activities of the states and private entities. ~~~

Leah Litman, et al., in a Washington Post op-ed: In a North Carolina "case, Moore v. Harper, the justices will review a North Carolina Supreme Court decision holding that the state constitution prohibits extreme partisan gerrymanders. The Supreme Court's choice to take the case could presage yet another decision that will undermine democracy, by prohibiting other government institutions -- here, state courts -- from protecting voting rights and democracy. Just three years ago, a 5-to-4 Supreme Court prohibited federal courts from addressing whether extreme partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution. But don't worry, the court said, state courts can curb the practice if they conclude it violates state constitutions. Harper invites the Supreme Court to go back on that promise." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The authors write that "... even if the court embraces the revanchist [independent state legislature theory], that would not permit state legislatures to throw out votes already cast to appoint presidential electors of their choosing. The federal Constitution prohibits states from disregarding votes already cast, no matter what the court might say in Harper." Their assertion gives me no confidence whatsoever. I promise you Clarence Thomas & Co. can think up "reasons" to disregard or "reinterpret" this Constitutional provision. Just this last week, they had no trouble at all disregarding the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, one of the best known guarantees in the Bill of Rights. ~~~

~~~ Sam Levine of the Guardian cites some legal experts, including Litman, who opine that the Court has gone bonkers and is just making up stuff to back up its radical rulings: "The court's turn has prompted glaring warnings, both to the public and to history, from its three liberal justices, who have been in the minority in all of the major cases. In December, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wondered aloud whether the court would be able to survive the 'stench' that would come from overturning Roe v Wade and the perception that the court is a political body. She said she didn't think it was possible the court would survive. Months later, when the court did overturn Roe, Stephen Breyer, writing on behalf of the three liberal justices, quoted Thurgood Marshall and wrote: 'Power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court's decisionmaking.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "New civics training for Florida public school teachers comes with a dose of Christian dogma, some teachers say, and they worry that it also sanitizes history and promotes inaccuracies. Included in the training is the statement that it is a 'misconception' that 'the Founders desired strict separation of church and state.' Other materials included fragments of statements that were 'cherry-picked' to present a more conservative view of American history, some attendees said.... Some slides in a presentation pointed out that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson repudiated slavery; unsaid is that both men held enslaved people and helped worked toward a Constitution that enshrined the practice.... Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has made civics teaching a cornerstone of his education policy, and he says he's fighting back against 'woke indoctrination' of students by teachers from kindergarten to colleges." (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas. Shimon Prokupecz, et al., of CNN: "Uvalde school district police chief Pedro 'Pete' Arredondo has resigned his separate position on the Uvalde city council in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in May, according to a statement attributed to him in Saturday's Uvalde Leader-News.... Arredondo's resignation from the city council 'is the right thing to do,' the city said in a news release Saturday responding to the Leader-News' report. But no one from city government 'has seen a letter or any other documentation of his resignation, or spoken with him,' the release reads.... [Arredondo] had not yet attended any public meeting [of the council]. Council members unanimously voted to deny him a leave of absence from future sessions, leaving open the possibility that he could have been removed from office if he continued to miss meetings.... Arredondo was placed on leave from his job as school district police chief by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District last week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's ware on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here: "... in the early hours Sunday, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod killed three people and injured four.... Russia runs supply and communication lines into Ukraine from Belgorod, about 25 miles from the border."

~~~ Dan Lamothe & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The shifting nature of the war in Ukraine has prompted a split among analysts and U.S. lawmakers, with some questioning whether American officials have portrayed the crisis in overly rosy terms while others say the government in Kyiv can win with more help from the West.... 'I don't know ... how it's going to end,' [President Biden] said [Thursday], 'but it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine.'... U.S. officials have downplayed [Russian] gains, calling them halting and incremental, while highlighting the significant number of Russian military fatalities that have come as a result.... Scrutiny [of the U.S. assessment] is fueled by U.S. government assessments of other wars, notably in Afghanistan, where U.S. officials habitually glossed over widespread dysfunction and corruption and sidestepped questions of whether battlefield successes were not only achievable but sustainable."