June 30, 2022

Late Morning Update:

Marie: Okay, here's the page with the live feed (would seem to be video) of Judge Jackson's swearings-in. Update: At 11:53 am ET, there's a big instruction posted to "Click play button to start." Only there's no play button, as far as I can see. Maybe they'll add it, I don't know. The Supremes might think they're smart, but they're not very good at this newfangled video thing. Maybe they're using the same system the Founders wrote into the Constitution. Update: I refreshed the page at noon, and there's still no play button. Dimwits. Update: It's working at 12:01 pm ET. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Justice Jackson has taken the oaths of office. Everybody left the room & she didn't even kick Roberts in the shins. Maybe that's the meaning of "judicial restraint."

We're killing the planet. Let's see how the Supreme confederates deal with that life-threatening emergency: ~~~

~~~ New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the Environmental Protection Agency/s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, dealing a blow to the Biden administration's efforts to address climate change. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court/s three liberal justices in dissent, saying that the majority had stripped the E.P.A. of 'the power to respond to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.' The ruling appeared to curtail the agency/s ability to regulate the energy sector, limiting it to measures like emission controls at individual power plants and, unless Congress acts, ruling out more ambitious approaches like a cap-and-trade system at a time when experts are issuing increasingly dire warnings about the quickening pace of global warming." This is part of a liveblog, so likely will move down the page. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's story is here.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for the Biden administration on a controversial immigration policy, saying it had the authority to reverse a Trump-era policy that requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are reviewed in U.S. courts. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing for himself and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the court's three liberals, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden on Thursday said the Senate should carve out an exception to the 60-vote filibuster to codify abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned the precedent set by Roe v. Wade. 'The most important thing to be clear about is I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade in the law, and the way to do that is to make sure the Congress votes to do that,' Biden said at a press conference at the NATO summit in Spain. 'And if the filibuster gets in the way, it's like voting rights, it should be we provide an exception for this, requiring an exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision,' Biden added." MB: Not mentioned in Samuels' report, but Biden also said he thought the filibuster should be abandoned to pass legislation guaranteeing other privacy rights -- which is to say those rights that Clarence Thomas thought it would be a good idea to "revisit": gay rights, gay marriage rights, contraceptive rights. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: “President Biden on Thursday condemned what he called the 'outrageous behavior' of the Supreme Court in deciding to overturn Roe v. Wade and said for the first time that he supported ending the filibuster to protect a woman's right to an abortion."

Marc Santora & Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Russian troops have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea after repeated assaults by Ukrainian forces, a move that is a setback for Moscow's forces and possibly undermines their control over vital shipping lanes for grain in the Black Sea. The retreat came after sustained Ukrainian attacks -- including with powerful, newly arrived Western weapons -- made it impossible for Russian forces to hold the island, a small speck of land 20 miles off the coast of Odesa that has played an outsized role throughout the war."

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena Wednesday for the testimony of Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel to ... Donald J. Trump who repeatedly fought back against extreme plans to overturn the 2020 election, after he resisted testifying publicly. In a statement accompanying the subpoena, the leaders of the committee said they were seeking Mr. Cipollone's deposition testimony because investigators needed to 'hear from him on the record, as other former White House counsels have done in other congressional investigations.'... The subpoena of a White House counsel, a rare step for a congressional committee, sent a clear signal of the aggressive tactics the panel is willing to use to try to force cooperation of even the White House's former top lawyer, who most likely could invoke attorney-client privilege in response to many questions.... A lawyer familiar with Mr. Cipollone's deliberations, who was not authorized to speak for the record, said that the subpoena was needed before the former White House counsel could consider transcribed testimony before the committee.... In April, Mr. Cipollone and Patrick F. Philbin, who was his deputy, met separately with the panel...." The AP's report is here.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Representative Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican and vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, described... Donald J. Trump in stark terms on Wednesday night as a threat to the republic who had 'gone to war with the rule of law.... At this moment, we are confronting a domestic threat that we have never faced before -- and that is a former president who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic,' Ms. Cheney said in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., where her address was met with a sustained standing ovation. 'He is aided by Republican leaders and elected officials who made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man,' she said, continuing, 'Even after all we've seen, they're enabling his lies.'... 'Republicans, she said..., 'have to choose,' because they 'cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution.'" CNN's report is here.

Scott Wong & Peter Nicholas of NBC News: "Republicans and other sources are rebutting elements of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the Jan. 6 committee, handing Donald Trump and his allies ammunition as they seek to discredit her and portray her as an unreliable witness.... And former co-workers in the White House came to Hutchinson's defense, saying that she would have been in close proximity to the president and privy to the kind of information she testified about.... Eric Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer who has provided damning testimony about Trump’s plot to overturn the election, is now saying that he wrote a handwritten note as the violence unfolded at the Capitol -- not Hutchinson, as she testified.... Hutchinson ... testified publicly that she was sure she had written the note and that it featured her handwriting.... Before Herschmann's statement, Trump also criticized the handwriting on the note as 'that of a Whacko.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The pushback is without significant merit, IMO. Everything Trump says is a lie, so forget about that. Hershmann may have written such a note, but that doesn't mean Hutchinson didn't write one, too. As for exactly what happened in the SUV, Hutchinson testified that she knew only what those in the vehicle had told her. Could those people have exaggerated? Macho men working for macho Trump? Case closed. Moreover, some of those knocking her testimony are doing so anonymously, and none is speaking under oath. And there's this: ~~~

     ~~~ Jackson Richman of Mediaite: "Former Trump administration officials pushed back on Wednesday on the man who served as the head of ... Donald Trump's security detail pushing back on former administration official Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony.... Former Trump administration official Olivia Troye defended Hutchinson on CNN Wednesday morning, saying she would have no reason to lie and that Ornato should have to make his denials under oath. In tweets on Wednesday afternoon, both Troye and fellow former Trump White House official Alyssa Farah painted [Tony] Ornato [-- who Hutchinson testified told her about Trump's violent behavior in the SUV --] as repeat offending liar.... Farah retweeted Troye and added, 'Tony Ornato lied about me too. During the protests at Lafayette sq in 2020, I told Mark Meadows & Ornato they needed to warn press staged there before clearing the square. Meadows replied: "we aren't doing that." Tony later lied & said the exchange never happened. He knows it did.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Speaking on MSNBC, Carroll Leonnig of the Washington Post, who has reported extensively on the Secret Service and written a book about the agency, backed up Troye's & Farah's remarks. She added that Ornato & agent Robert Engel, who was also in the vehicle, were known to be 'in Trump's camp." She also said, as a general matter, "I've heard the Secret Service deny a lot of things that turned out to be true."

~~~ Betsy Swan, et al., of Politico: "The Jan. 6 committee didn't reach out to the Secret Service in the days before it aired explosive testimony about an alleged physical altercation between Donald Trump and his security detail on the day of the riot, according to an agency spokesperson.... Earlier this year, the committee already asked the head of Trump's detail on Jan. 6 -- who was with Trump riding from the 'Stop the Steal' rally to the White House that day -- about that car trip. That agent, Robert Engel, gave testimony at the time that appears to be consistent with Hutchinson's story but is not known to include the stunning details Hutchinson described."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Cassidy "Hutchinson's account of a chief of staff [Mark Meadows] who was at best disengaged and at worst overwhelmed by the events around him was a key part of her public appearance on Tuesday at a hastily scheduled hearing by the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, and what led to it. Another aide to Mr. Meadows, Ben Williamson, provided a different assessment, saying in testimony to the House committee that Mr. Meadows was responsive when Mr. Williamson said there was a problem. 'Any suggestion he didn't care is ludicrous,' Mr. Williamson said in a statement on Wednesday. Lawyers for Ms. Hutchinson said on Wednesday that she stood by her testimony. Yet ... a number of Mr. Meadows's former colleagues and people who were interacting with him as the riot unfolded painted a portrait of an ineffective chief of staff as a violent scene developed at the Capitol.... Mr. Meadows [was] known among many of his colleagues as someone who spoke out of both sides of his mouth.... Mr. Meadows was often criticized by associates as terrified of Mr. Trump's temper and eager to please him."

Marie: Let's say the Justice Department gets around to indicting Trump for one or more crimes. I'm all for that. Then let's say he goes to trial. The evidence, even as we know it right now, could definitely lead to a conviction. So let's say that happens. You would find me cheering in the streets. Then let's say Trump appeals, as is his right to do, and as he certainly would. Let's say a district court rejects his appeal, then an appeals court rules against him. Yahoo! So then Trump goes to the Supreme Court. And how do you suppose the rogue Supremes would rule? I do not predict a happy (or a just) ending.

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was a figure in ... Donald Trump's first impeachment investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes by a judge who said fraud had become 'a way of life' for Parnas. Parnas, 50, had sought leniency on grounds that he'd cooperated with the Congressional probe of Trump and his efforts to get Ukrainian leaders to investigate President Joe Biden's son. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken didn't give Parnas credit for that assistance, which came only after the Soviet-born businessman was facing criminal charges. But the judge still imposed a sentence lighter than the six years sought by prosecutors. The judge also ordered Parnas to pay $2.3 million in restitution." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Say It Ain't So, Joe. Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "President Biden plans to nominate a conservative lawyer who has represented anti-abortion causes to a federal judgeship in Kentucky, according to Rep. John Yarmuth's (D-Ky.) office. Chad Meredith, the attorney, has previously served as Kentucky's solicitor general and represented a number of Kentucky's top GOP officials in cases curbing abortion access and COVID-19 public health measures. Meredith represented Kentucky's then-Gov. Matt Bevin (R) in a 2019 legal battle against an abortion clinic, saying at one point that effectively eliminating access to abortion in the state would have a negligible impact on women seeking the procedure.... The Courier-Journal reported that the nomination appears to be the result of a deal between Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to facilitate future Biden nominees. Yarmuth opposes the nomination, according to the outlet.... Meredith is listed as a contributor to the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian legal group." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Biden nominates Meredith, every single Democrat (that includes you, Joe M. & Kyrsten!) should vote against his confirmation. Oh, and your move, Susan (R-Concerned).

Stefano Pitrelli & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic and vocal supporter of abortion rights, received Holy Communion on Wednesday during a papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.... The ceremony at the Vatican stood in marked contrast to the decision by conservative San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to instruct the priests in his diocese to withhold Eucharist from Pelosi because of her stance on abortion. In September, Pope Francis had said, 'I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,' although he later added that he had never knowingly encountered during Communion a politician backing abortion rights and reiterated the church position that abortion is 'murder.' But Francis had said that the decision on granting Communion to politicians who support abortion rights should be made from a pastoral point of view, not a political one." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nebraska. Marie Paúl of the Washington Post: "Jeff Fortenberry, a former Republican congressman from Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation after he was found guilty of lying to federal agents about illegal campaign contributions from a Nigerian billionaire. Fortenberry, who resigned this year amid the trial, was convicted in March of one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators -- each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. But while prosecutors were seeking a six-month sentence, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. sided with the defense, which had requested probation. Noting Fortenberry's 'exceptional character,' Blumenfeld also ordered the politician to pay a $25,000 fine and perform 320 hours of community service." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's funny, because Martha Stewart was sentenced to 5 months in prison & 5 months of home detention for lying to federal investigators. Then again, she's only a girl so she couldn't possibly have had Fortenberry's "exceptional character." BTW, Stewart also lost her job as chair of her eponymous media company, so it's not as if she suffered no personal setbacks as a result of her conviction. (NYT link.)

An Historic Moment for a Court Gone Rogue. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as the Supreme Court's first Black female justice at noon Thursday, just minutes after her mentor Justice Stephen G. Breyer makes his retirement official. Jackson, 51, was chosen for the court by President Biden after Breyer this year announced his plans to retire. She was confirmed April 7 but has been waiting for Breyer to finish out the last term of his four-decade judicial career. Breyer's work on the court will end with release of the term's remaining opinions and possibly with the announcement of some new cases accepted for next term. Jackson will be sworn in at a private ceremony at the Supreme Court that will be live-streamed on the court's website. Breyer and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will administer the oaths Jackson must take. Breyer sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday that said he planned to end his service on the high court at noon." (Also linked yesterday.) An NPR report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Court says it will livestream Jackson's swearing-in on its homepage, and at 7 am ET Thursday there's a bubble near the top of that page devoted to Jackson's oath-taking. I'm not sure if the livestream will be audio (which the Court provides, usually after-the-fact, for hearings) or video. A linked press release says only, "The ceremony will be streamed live on the homepage of the Court's website, www.supremecourt.gov."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowed the sweep of its landmark 2020 decision declaring that much of eastern Oklahoma falls within Indian reservation lands, allowing state authorities to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on the reservations. The ruling left in place the basic holding of the 2020 decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma, which said that Native Americans who commit crimes on the reservations, which include much of the city of Tulsa, cannot be prosecuted by state or local law enforcement and must instead face justice in tribal or federal courts. The vote on Wednesday was 5 to 4, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court when the McGirt case was decided, casting the decisive vote." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: "Last Thursday, the Supreme Court jettisoned a century-old New York law -- one that had pretty much banned concealed carry of weapons in the state == because[, according to Clarence Thomas's majority opinion,] 'it prevents law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms.' Of all the flawed assumptions packed into that little, seemingly innocuous passage, 'ordinary self-defense' is the most alarming. The lived experience of Black people in the United States has demonstrated countless times that we are neither seen as 'law-abiding citizens' nor worthy of having 'ordinary self-defense needs' protected by the Second Amendment. The court's only African American justice (

     ~~~ Marie: Not that I have any first-hand (or second- or third-hand) knowledge on the matter, but I'm pretty such Clarence Thomas looks in the mirror and sees a very important White guy.

James Dobbins, et al., of the New York Times: "A tractor-trailer that ended up in San Antonio with more than 50 dead or dying migrants passed through a federal immigration checkpoint inside the United States without being inspected, a top Mexican official said on Wednesday. The truck crossed the checkpoint, operated by the Border Patrol, shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday as it drove north along Interstate 35 from the border region, the official, Francisco Garduño Yáñez, the head of Mexico's National Institute of Migration, said at a news conference that featured images of the truck and its driver at the checkpoint.... The truck stopped roughly three hours later along a desolate road just off the highway, with the people inside either already dead or struggling to stay alive. A young girl managed to climb out and cry for help.... Officials said on Wednesday that at least 53 of the 64 people inside, men, women and some children who came from countries including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, died from the extreme heat inside the truck, which did not have any working cooling system on a day that temperatures topped 100 degrees.... Current and former officials said that most drivers pass through without being subjected to a thorough inspection, both because of legal limits on police searches and the sheer volume of truck traffic. Roughly 20,000 trucks pass through the corridor from Laredo to San Antonio every day." ~~~

~~~ Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "Federal authorities have charged four men in connection with the deaths of at least 53 migrants who were left in an abandoned trailer truck Monday evening in Texas. The 45-year-old driver, Homero Zamorano Jr, faces charges of smuggling migrants into the US, leading to their deaths. A 28-year-old man whom Zamorano texted during the doomed trip, Christian Martinez, is accused of conspiring in the fatal attempt to smuggle migrants into the country. Juan Claudio D'Luna Mendez, 23, and Juan Francisco D'Luna Bilbao, 48, both Mexican nationals, were charged with illegally possessing guns after investigators found them at an address linked to the trailer truck." ~~~

~~~ Reuters, republished in Star News: "At least 51 migrants have died after being trapped inside a sweltering truck found abandoned in Texas, authorities say, as two Mexican nationals tied to the smuggling incident were charged in a US federal court. The deceased migrants, 39 men and 12 women, were discovered on Monday on the outskirts of San Antonio in one of the deadliest human trafficking tragedies in recent history. Two suspects identified as Juan Francisco D'Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D'Luna-Mendez, both Mexican citizens, have been charged with possessing firearms while residing in the United States illegally, according to court documents and US authorities. Investigators traced the truck's vehicle registration to a San Antonio address that they placed under surveillance, and arrested the two men separately when each was seen leaving the residence. A third suspect, described as a US citizen who drove the truck, has also been taken into custody and was expected to be charged, but he remained hospitalised as of Tuesday evening, according to a Mexican official." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jim Mustian of the AP: "The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them.... More than a dozen alleged abuse victims have been interviewed this year as part of the probe that's exploring among other charges whether predator priests can be prosecuted under the Mann Act, a more than century-old, anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines for illicit sex. Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations." (Also linked yesterday.)

A Bad Week for Sexual Predators. Tom Hays & Bobby Calvan of the AP: "Fallen R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his fame to subject young fans -- some just children -- to systematic sexual abuse." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden's top medical adviser for the coronavirus pandemic, sought on Wednesday to discourage doubts about the antiviral drug Paxlovid after disclosing that he had suffered what appeared to be a 'rebound' of Covid-19 after taking a five-day course of the pills. 'Paxlovid did what it was supposed to do,' Dr. Fauci, 81, said in an interview, saying that he believed that the treatment, made by Pfizer, kept him out of the hospital when he first tested positive for the virus on June 15. He added that he thought the drug also reduced the severity of his initial symptoms." ~~~

~~~ Arielle Mitropoulos of ABC News: "After testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that he has joined a growing group of people experiencing a Paxlovid rebound, following treatment with Pfizer's antiviral." Worth reading the whole story if you're considering taking Paxlovid. Fauci tested negative for three days after undergoing the five-day Paxlovid regimen, but tested positive again on the fourth day, and he began to feel "much worse than in the first go around."

Anna Peele interviews Dr. Anthony Fauci for the Washington Post Magazine.

Beyond the Beltway

Mississippi. Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says abortion should be illegal even for a 12-year-old rape victim carrying her father or uncle's child. He made the remark to reporters in the hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, allowing state abortion bans to take effect.... 'No, (the [state] law) does not include an exception for incest,' Gunn said. 'I don't know that that will be changed.' 'Do you think the Legislature should revisit that?' [AP reporter Emily] Pettus asked. 'Personally, no. I do not,' Gunn said. 'I believe life begins at conception. Every life is valuable. And those are my personal beliefs.' (Child pregnancies carry significantly higher health risks than adult pregnancies.)"

** Mississippi. Jay Reeves & Emily Pettus of the AP: "A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till has found the unserved warrant charging a white woman in his 1955 kidnapping, and relatives of the victim want authorities to finally arrest her nearly 70 years later. A warrant for the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham -- identified as 'Mrs. Roy Bryant' on the document -- was discovered last week by searchers inside a file folder that had been placed in a box, Leflore County Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill told The Associated Press on Wednesday.... Keith Beauchamp, whose documentary film 'The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till' preceded a renewed Justice Department probe that ended without charges in 2007, was also part of the search. He said there's enough new evidence to prosecute Donham. Donham set off the case in August 1955 by accusing the 14-year-old Till of making improper advances at a family store in Money, Mississippi."

North Carolina. Lateshia Beachum of the Washington Post: "Two North Carolina workers allege they were fired for not participating in daily company prayer sessions, according to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday. John McGaha and Mackenzie Saunders claim that their former employer, Aurora Pro Services in Greensboro, created a hostile work environment because they refused to attend mandatory Christian-based 'prayer meetings.'... The EEOC lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, on Monday, says Aurora Pro Services ... did not provide religious accommodation for the two non-Christian plaintiffs, discriminatorily discharged them and punitively diminished McGaha's wages."

Oklahoma Senate Race Primary Results. Couldn't Have Happened to a More Deserving Twit. Alexander Kaufman of the Huffington Post: "Despite a history of winning statewide contests and a star turn in the Trump administration, former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt badly lost his bid for a political comeback in his home state on Tuesday, coming in a distant fifth place in the Republican primary to replace retiring Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). Pruitt, who resigned from EPA amid cascading scandals in 2018, trailed in polls ahead of the primary, which resulted in a runoff between U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin and former state lawmaker T.W. Shannon." MB: May we never hear Scott Pruitt's name again unless accompanied by a photo of a perp walk.

Texas. Ken Paxton, Enemy of the People. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Shortly after the Supreme Court struck down the fundamental right to an abortion, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) appeared to express support for Justice Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion that the high court could review other precedents that may be deemed 'demonstrably erroneous,' including those affecting the LGBTQ community. One of the cases mentioned by Thomas was Lawrence v. Texas, which prevents states from banning intimate same-sex relationships. The landmark 2003 ruling struck down a 1973 Texas law that criminalized the act of sodomy. But as Roe v. Wade was overturned, Paxton said he would defend the state's defunct sodomy law if the Supreme Court were to ... eventually revisits Lawrence.... When asked [in an interview Friday] whether the Texas legislature would pass a similar sodomy law and if Paxton would defend it..., the Republican attorney general, who is running for reelection in November..., [said,] 'Yeah, look, my job is to defend state law, and I'll continue to do that.'..."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

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

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "Kyiv and Moscow have traded 144 prisoners each in an exchange that saw the return of some Ukrainian fighters who defended the Azovstal steel plant during a brutal siege before Russia seized control of Mariupol.... Russian forces are continuing their offensive around Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, where regional governor Serhiy Haidai said 15,000 civilians remain as evacuation efforts continue. 'The city itself is under constant fire,' Haidai said. NATO leaders are meeting Thursday in Madrid for a third and final day. President Biden announced at the gathering Wednesday that the United States will increase its military presence in Europe, citing Russia's invasion. The new deployments will include a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland.... Russian President Vladimir Putin still intends to capture most of Ukraine and the war is likely to grind on, the top U.S. intelligence official said."

Ashley Parker & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "Under pressure to find new ways to confront Russia as its deadly invasion of Ukraine drags into its fifth month, President Biden and his NATO allies on Wednesday announced a historic surge of forces along Europe's eastern flank and welcomed Finland and Sweden as soon-to-be members as they promised to defend 'every inch' of NATO territory. The muscular military announcements were intended to send 'an unmistakable message' that NATO remains unified against Russia's growing belligerence, said Biden, standing alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the second day of the NATO summit [in Madrid, Spain].... The United States and its allies have been looking for ways to show that their early determination to help Ukraine and confront Russia would not wane, despite Moscow's recent gains on the battlefield and the growing domestic costs of the conflict for America and other countries."

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Biden, speaking Wednesday on the second day of a NATO summit, unveiled plans for an increased U.S. military presence in Europe, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The new deployments are to include a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland -- a move that ... Vladimir Putin has long resisted -- as well as the movement of two more F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the United Kingdom. Leaders of NATO member states decided Wednesday to invite Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, announcing the move a day after Turkey agreed to drop its opposition to their bids. The addition of the two Nordic countries will bring the alliance to 32 members and underscores how Russia's war in Ukraine is transforming regional security.... Bulgaria says it is expelling 70 Russian diplomats on grounds that they pose a threat to national security. The diplomats must depart by Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

June 29, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

An Historic Moment for a Court Gone Rogue. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as the Supreme Court's first Black female justice at noon Thursday, just minutes after her mentor Justice Stephen G. Breyer makes his retirement official. Jackson, 51, was chosen for the court by President Biden after Breyer this year announced his plans to retire. She was confirmed April 7 but has been waiting for Breyer to finish out the last term of his four-decade judicial career. Breyer's work on the court will end with release of the term's remaining opinions and possibly with the announcement of some new cases accepted for next term. Jackson will be sworn in at a private ceremony at the Supreme Court that will be live-streamed on the court's website. Breyer and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will administer the oaths Jackson must take. Breyer sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday that said he planned to end his service on the high court at noon."

Stefano Pitrelli & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic and vocal supporter of abortion rights, received Holy Communion on Wednesday during a papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.... The ceremony at the Vatican stood in marked contrast to the decision by conservative San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to instruct the priests in his diocese to withhold Eucharist from Pelosi because of her stance on abortion. In September, Pope Francis had said, 'I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,' although he later added that he had never knowingly encountered during Communion a politician backing abortion rights and reiterated the church position that abortion is 'murder.' But Francis had said that the decision on granting Communion to politicians who support abortion rights should be made from a pastoral point of view, not a political one."

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was a figure in ... Donald Trump's first impeachment investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and eight months in prison for fraud and campaign finance crimes by a judge who said fraud had become 'a way of life' for Parnas. Parnas, 50, had sought leniency on grounds that he'd cooperated with the Congressional probe of Trump and his efforts to get Ukrainian leaders to investigate President Joe Biden's son. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken didn't give Parnas credit for that assistance, which came only after the Soviet-born businessman was facing criminal charges. But the judge still imposed a sentence lighter than the six years sought by prosecutors. The judge also ordered Parnas to pay $2.3 million in restitution." The Washington Post's story is here.

A Bad Week for Sexual Predators. Tom Hays & Bobby Calvan of the AP: "Fallen R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his fame to subject young fans -- some just children -- to systematic sexual abuse."

Jim Mustian of the AP: "The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them.... More than a dozen alleged abuse victims have been interviewed this year as part of the probe that's exploring among other charges whether predator priests can be prosecuted under the Mann Act, a more than century-old, anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines for illicit sex. Some of the New Orleans cases under review allege abuse by clergy during trips to Mississippi camps or amusement parks in Texas and Florida. And while some claims are decades old, Mann Act violations notably have no statute of limitations."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Biden, speaking Wednesday on the second day of a NATO summit, unveiled plans for an increased U.S. military presence in Europe, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The new deployments are to include a permanent headquarters for the U.S. 5th Army Corps in Poland -- a move that ... Vladimir Putin has long resisted -- as well as the movement of two more F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the United Kingdom. Leaders of NATO member states decided Wednesday to invite Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, announcing the move a day after Turkey agreed to drop its opposition to their bids. The addition of the two Nordic countries will bring the alliance to 32 members and underscores how Russia's war in Ukraine is transforming regional security.... Bulgaria says it is expelling 70 Russian diplomats on grounds that they pose a threat to national security. The diplomats must depart by Sunday." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Wednesday are here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowed the sweep of its landmark 2020 decision declaring that much of eastern Oklahoma falls within Indian reservation lands, allowing state authorities to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on the reservations. The ruling left in place the basic holding of the 2020 decision, McGirt v. Oklahoma, which said that Native Americans who commit crimes on the reservations, which include much of the city of Tulsa, cannot be prosecuted by state or local law enforcement and must instead face justice in tribal or federal courts. The vote on Wednesday was 5 to 4, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not on the court when the McGirt case was decided, casting the decisive vote."

Nebraska. Marie Paúl of the Washington Post: "Jeff Fortenberry, a former Republican congressman from Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation after he was found guilty of lying to federal agents about illegal campaign contributions from a Nigerian billionaire. Fortenberry, who resigned this year amid the trial, was convicted in March of one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators -- each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. But while prosecutors were seeking a six-month sentence, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. sided with the defense, which had requested probation. Noting Fortenberry's 'exceptional character,' Blumenfeld also ordered the politician to pay a $25,000 fine and perform 320 hours of community service.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's funny, because Martha Stewart was sentenced to 5 months in prison & 5 months of home detention for lying to federal investigators. Then again, she's only a girl so she couldn't possibly have had Fortenberry's "exceptional character." BTW, Stewart also lost her job as chair of her eponymous media company, so it's not as if she suffered no personal setbacks as a result of her conviction. (NYT link.)

Reuters, republished in Star News: "At least 51 migrants have died after being trapped inside a sweltering truck found abandoned in Texas, authorities say, as two Mexican nationals tied to the smuggling incident were charged in a US federal court. The deceased migrants, 39 men and 12 women, were discovered on Monday on the outskirts of San Antonio in one of the deadliest human trafficking tragedies in recent history. Two suspects identified as Juan Francisco D'Luna-Bilbao and Juan Claudio D'Luna-Mendez, both Mexican citizens, have been charged with possessing firearms while residing in the United States illegally, according to court documents and US authorities. Investigators traced the truck's vehicle registration to a San Antonio address that they placed under surveillance, and arrested the two men separately when each was seen leaving the residence. A third suspect, described as a US citizen who drove the truck, has also been taken into custody and was expected to be charged, but he remained hospitalised as of Tuesday evening, according to a Mexican official."

~~~~~~~~~~

I don't care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take the f'ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. -- Donald Trump, before his speech at the Ellipse, Jan. 6, 2021 ("mags" refer to magnetotromic metal detectors) ~~~

~~~ Luke Broadwater & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The first White House aide to testify publicly before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack provided a damning account on Tuesday of how ... Donald J. Trump, knowing his supporters were armed and threatening violence, urged them to march to the Capitol and sought to join them there, privately siding with them as they stormed the building and called for the hanging of the vice president. The testimony from the aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, was extraordinary even by the standards of Mr. Trump's norm-busting presidency and the inquiry's remarkable string of revelations this month. In fly-on-the-wall anecdotes delivered in a quiet voice, she described how frantic West Wing aides failed to stop Mr. Trump from encouraging the violence or persuade him to try to end it, and how the White House's top lawyer feared that Mr. Trump might be committing crimes as he steered the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis."

The New York Times' live updates of Cassidy Hutchinson's startling testimony are here: Luke Broadwater: "... Donald J. Trump knew the crowd he amassed in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was armed and could turn violent, but wanted security precautions lifted because he said his supporters were not there to attack him, according to a junior White House aide who testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the attack. In extraordinary blow-by-blow testimony based on episodes she witnessed in the West Wing of the White House, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, revealed that the president had demanded to march to the Capitol with his supporters even as the riot was underway, at one point trying to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo from a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go.... As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, 'He doesn't want to do anything,' and 'He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'... Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage." ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner: "Hutchinson provided many bombshells. The shocking description of Trump wrestling the Secret Service for control of his car on Jan. 6 so he could go to the Capitol. Portraying Meadows, her former boss, as a man who abdicated responsibility to the nation and hoped to be pardoned. And saying Trump knew that his supporters had dangerous weapons when he asked them to march on Congress.... Cheney says that Trump allies have been intimidating committee witnesses in messages that sound more like Mafia warnings than communications with a former president's aides. 'He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal.'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "Trump, basically a one-man response team for himself, is going after Hutchinson on his social media site, Truth Social. He's using a familiar tack, that he hardly knows 'who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker: "To see a retired three-star general [Michael Flynn] who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & others, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here.

You can watch the full hearing on this committee Webpage. If you missed the hearing, you missed a sliver of American history that, should the country eventually right itself, your grandchildren will read about. ~~~~

~~~ OR, if your busy, you can watch Stephen Colbert's recap, which ends with a stirring rendition of the national anthem, as reimagined by former general Michael Flynn, which has, to recommend it, way easier-to-remember lyrics than the old "Star-Spangled Banner":

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... the breathtaking testimony presented by his former aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, at Tuesday's House select committee hearing portrayed an unhinged commander in chief veering wildly out of control as he desperately sought to cling to power and egged on armed supporters to help make it happen. The president that emerged from her account was volatile, violent and vicious, single-minded in his quest to overturn an election he lost no matter what anyone told him, anxious to head to the Capitol to personally disrupt the constitutional process that would finalize his defeat, dismissive of warnings that his actions could lead to disaster and thoroughly unbothered by the prospect of sending to Congress a mob of supporters that he knew included people armed with deadly weapons.... Mr. Trump, who regularly accuses his critics of being 'crazy' and 'psycho,' bombarded his new social media site during the hearing on Tuesday with posts assailing Ms. Hutchinson and denying the most sensational anecdote she provided to the committee."

Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Knowing that his crowd of supporters had the means to be violent when he exhorted them to march to the Capitol -- and declared that he wanted to go with them -- could nudge Mr. Trump closer to facing criminal charges, legal experts said.... The revelations in the testimony to the House select committee by Cassidy Hutchinson ... provided new evidence about Mr. Trump's activities before the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and chipped away at any potential defense that he was merely expressing well-founded views about election fraud.... Ms. Hutchinson described how [White House Counsel Pat] Cipollone worriedly pulled her aside [January 3, 2021] after learning that Mr. Trump was considering marching with his supporters to the Capitol after his speech near the White House on Jan. 6 -- a decision, he suggested, that could have major consequences. 'We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable,' Mr. Cipollone said, by Ms. Hutchinson's account." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Knowing what he knew, Cippolone still decided weeks later it was okay to defend Trump in his second impeachment trial. As Stephen Gillers laid out in Just Security on January 27, 2021, "A legal ethics rule -- the 'advocate-witness rule' -- says that when a lawyer should be a witness at trial, she cannot also be an advocate in the courtroom. The Senate chamber is not, of course, an ordinary courtroom, but that should make no difference. The goal is the same -- to get the facts and find the truth.... If the impeachment trial were in a courtroom, Cipollone could not head, or even be part of, the defense team." It would be worthwhile to review Cippolone's assertions in the trial to see if he made assertions that contradicted his knowledge as a direct witness. It's no wonder Cippolone refuses to testify.

James Risen of the Intercept: "With her surprise testimony at Tuesday's hearing of the House Jan. 6 ;committee, former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson broke open the inside story of the coup plotting that was underway at the White House before and during the insurrection and in the process suddenly raised Donald Trump's legal jeopardy.... Hutchinson's stunning testimony, the most dramatic since the House hearings started, recalls that of Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide during Watergate who revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee that President Richard Nixon had a taping system in place in the Oval Office.... During Tuesday's hearing, Hutchinson painted a vivid picture of Trump's insane behavior as he sought to prevent Biden from assuming office."

Tim Miller of the Bulwark: "[Tuesday] afternoon a 26-year-old former assistant showed more courage and integrity than an entire administration full of grown-ass adults who were purportedly working in service to the American people, but had long ago decided to serve only their ambition and grievance.... Everything that all of us Enemies of the People had warned about concerning Donald Trump was borne out in her testimony. He was chaotic, reckless, megalomaniacal, fascistic, abusive, cowardly, petulant, anti-American.... What [Cassidy] Hutchinson revealed is something we all privately knew, but now have sworn testimony of every single person around Trump saw what we saw, firsthand. And yet they did nothing.... I hope others learn from her example." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Another person Hutchinson made look really bad was her immediate boss, Mark Meadows, who seemed from her testimony to have busied himself scrolling through his phone on Insurrection Day & did nothing to prevent or even mitigate the catastrophe he had signaled to her was coming. Then he asked Trump for a pardon.

Marie: Hutchinson, who just turned 26, is getting some well-earned praise for her bravery, especially since Liz Cheney offered evidence that Trump & allied thugs were threatening witnesses, Mafia-style & Trump himself called Cassidy's testimony "sick" & "fraudulent" during the hearing. But much praise also should go to Cheney, who appears to have questioned Cassidy in recorded interviews and who did question Cassidy during Tuesday's hearing. Cheney -- and whatever staff assisted her -- engineered the Q&A during the hearing, along with the recorded interjections, into a nearly seamless narrative that rounded out a damning portrait of the dangerous, unhinged lunatic to whom the American people had entrusted the nuclear codes.

Dumb-de-Dumb-Dumb. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's supporters online sought to undercut stunning testimony Tuesday to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, seeking to belittle Cassidy Hutchinson's claims that she was told Trump had lunged for the steering wheel of his vehicle and attempted to throttle a member of his security detail when they refused to take him to the Capitol.... The presidential limousine, known as 'the Beast,' is so heavily fortified that they argued it would be 'physically impossible' for Trump to cross from the back cabin to the driver's seat." The problems with their theory: (1) it is possible to reach from the back of the Beast to the front seat; (2) Trump didn't take the Beast that day; "he actually rode in a Secret Service SUV." ~~~

      ~~~ Marie: I knew (2) because during this part of Hutchinson's testimony the committee rolled video of Trump in the SUV on January 6 while Cheney explained what the video depicted. But the dumbest denier is, not surprisingly, Trump himself, who claimed on social media that it ";wouldn't even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing." That is, he's so unhinged he doesn't know what vehicle he was in when he attacked the driver & tried to grab the steering wheel.

Tuesday's testimony reminded RAS of Baby Trump. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I'm down with that, but an old novelty song by the Statler Brothers kept running through my mind, though I replaced the top line of the refrain -- "counting flowers on the wall" -- with "tossing ketchup at the wall." Without a doubt, the former POTUS* is just as loony as the subject of the song. (Of course, the Statler Brothers' loon is harmless; Trump is a danger to the entire world.) It helps that in this particular performance at the Grand Old Opry, the group is introduced by a fellow named Archie, who arranged to look a lot like a fellow named Adolf:

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A lawyer for Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a supporter of ... Donald J. Trump's efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, told the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot that he saw no reason for her to testify before the panel. The letter from her lawyer, Mark Paoletta ... came after the committee made a fresh request to secure an appearance from Ms. Thomas, who had exchanged text messages with the White House chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, in which she urged on efforts to challenge Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory.... Mr. Paoletta allowed that if the committee revealed additional information, he could reconsider his position."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "John Eastman, an architect of Donald Trump's last-ditch bid to subvert the 2020 election, has dropped a lawsuit aimed at blocking the Jan. 6 select committee from obtaining his phone records. In a late Tuesday filing, Eastman voluntarily dismissed the suit, claiming that he'd been assured the committee was only seeking his call logs -- not the content of any messages held by his carrier, Verizon. The select committee has long contended that it lacks the authority to obtain message content."

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in a Georgia criminal investigation of efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in the state, with prosecutors questioning witnesses last week before a special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani's appearances before state legislative panels after the 2020 vote, the witnesses said. For Mr. Giuliani, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble.... He also participated in a scheme to create slates of fake presidential electors in 2020 that is now the subject of an intensifying investigation by the Department of Justice.... The crux of his conduct [in Georgia] came during two hearings in December 2020, when Mr. Giuliani appeared before state legislative panels and spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines. He told members of the State House, 'You cannot possibly certify Georgia in good faith.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dana Rubenstein of the New York Times: "Two days after Rudy Giuliani claimed a worker had assaulted him at a Staten Island supermarket, the once-vaunted former mayor was spending Tuesday morning like many men his age: complaining about his aches and pains. 'My shoulder hurts like hell and I've got a big lump on the back,' he said, smiling incongruously as he spoke.... 'And I don't complain.' Despite the video that quickly emerged showing that the supermarket worker in question had merely tapped Mr. Giuliani on the back, and despite a Staten Island prosecutor's decision to reduce the charges against the man from a felony to misdemeanors, Mr. Giuliani held fast to his narrative.... Little or none of [what he said] appeared to be true." ~~~

     ~~~ Rudy -- Keeping It Classy. Carl Campanile & Jorge Fitz-Gibbon of the New York Post: New York City “Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that Rudy Giuliani should be investigated for filing a false police report over an alleged assault at a Staten Island supermarket.... 'I looked at the video and someone needs to remind former Mayor Giuliani that falsely reporting a crime is a crime,' Adams said during an unrelated press conference in East Harlem.... 'Tell Adams to go f--k himself,' he told The Post Tuesday. 'What a f--king scumbag.'"

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep ... Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling together some of its disparate strands has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Mr. Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory, and one that has kicked into higher gear over the past week with a raft of new subpoenas and other steps." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The New York Times is live-updating Tuesday's primary election results in several states. Worth scrolling through. The life-threatening slap on the back to his father Rudy did not help Andrew Giuliani, who lost New York's GOP gubernatorial primary to Rep. Lee Zeldin. Tina Peters, indicted friend of MyPillow Guy & election denier extraordinaire, came in third in a three-way race for Colorado secretary of state. Rep. Mary White-Life Miller (R-Ill.) beat out Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) in a newly-gerrymandered district. And most sadly, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) survived a challenge. More on Boebert, world-class Constitutional scholar, below. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of election results are here.

Supremes Again Rule Against Democracy, Black Americans. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a congressional voting map in Louisiana that a federal judge had said diluted the power of Black voters. The court's three liberal members dissented. The Supreme Court's brief order, which included no reasoning, blocked the judge's order and granted a petition seeking review in the case. The justices will, the order said, hold the Louisiana case while the court decides a similar one from Alabama in its next term." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An NBC News story is here.

Chris Hedges on Substack: "The Supreme Court is relentlessly funding and empowering Christian fascism.... Fascists achieve power by creating parallel institutions -- schools, universities, media platforms and paramilitary forces -- and seizing the organs of internal security and the judiciary. They deform the law, including electoral law, to serve their ends. They are rarely in the majority." Whyte O., who recommended Hedges' essay, noted that Hedges can be over the top, but here he has the goods. I agree with Whyte. I think what has happened is not that Hedges has not been over the top but that facts on the ground have caught up with his assertions. As if to offer more evidence ... ~~~

~~~ Boebert Unaware of First Amendment. Adela Suliman & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is 'tired' of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming from a 'stinking letter' penned by one of the Founding Fathers. Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.' She added: 'I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.'... Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert's interpretation of the Constitution was 'false, misleading and dangerous.' Calais-Haase said she was 'extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Ariana Perez-Castells, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an abortion ban that was in place before Roe v. Wade. In the ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Christine Weems ruled that the pre-Roe abortion ban 'is repealed and may not be enforced consistent with the due process guaranteed by the Texas constitution.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.

Hundreds of Auditors Cheated on Their Ethics Exams. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest auditing firms, has agreed to pay a $100 million fine after U.S. securities regulators found that hundreds of its auditors had cheated on various ethics exams they were required to obtain or maintain professional licenses -- and that the firm did not do enough to stop the practice. The penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a firm in the auditing business, which occupies a unique ethical perch in the financial world. These firms are in charge of verifying the accuracy of companies' financial statements and issuing warnings to investors if they identify dubious accounting practices." MB: I don't suppose the Ernst & Young honchos appreciate the multiple ironies here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last year of trafficking young sexual abuse victims to financier Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, on Tuesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison.... [Judge Alison] Nathan said she chose a prison term longer than what she believed the guidelines called for because it was 'important to note [Maxwell's] lack of acceptance of responsibility.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ted v. the Muppets, a Sequel. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "Young Muppet Elmo ... who has been 3½ years old since 1984 ... proudly got his coronavirus vaccine, weeks after the United States made the shots widely available for children under 5.... Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) shared the clip on Twitter -- and blasted the popular PBS/HBO children's show for allowing Elmo to 'aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5.' He added: 'You cite ZERO scientific evidence for this.'... In a statement Tuesday, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, said the public service advertisement featuring Elmo was produced in partnership with the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics." MB: I am personally upset that Elmo didn't give 3-year-olds a scientific seminar on the vaccine.

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Another Extended Assault on the First Amendment. Arelis R. Hernández & Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "A month after 19 children and two educators were killed at Robb Elementary School..., journalists who have flocked to Uvalde, Tex., from across the country to tell that story have faced near-constant interference, intimidation and stonewalling from ... authorities ... [including] bikers claiming to have police sanction. Journalists have been threatened with arrest for 'trespassing' outside public buildings. They have been barred from public meetings and refused basic information about what police did during the May 24 attack. After several early, error-filled news conferences, officials have routinely turned down interview requests and refused to hold news briefings.... Harassment became so bad that the [San Antonio News-Express]'s photo director told photographers to document their treatment by police."

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden is leading an effort to manipulate the oil market at a scale the world has rarely seen, embracing cartel-like tactics in an aggressive but risky attempt to undermine Russia's war effort in Ukraine. At the Group of 7 nations meeting this week in the Bavarian Alps, Mr. Biden has attempted to assemble an upside-down version of OPEC ... with the goal of soothing consumers burned at the gasoline pump and ... helping to speed the end of the war. Instead of limiting supply to maximize revenues..., as a cartel does, Mr. Biden is trying to minimize how much one particular seller -- Moscow -- reaps from each barrel. He led his Group of 7 counterparts to agree on Tuesday to a plan that would cap the price of Russian oil, as a way of driving down the revenue President Vladimir V. Putin is deriving from his most important export."

** Steven Erlanger, et al., of the New York Times: "NATO's top official said Tuesday that Turkey had dropped its objections to the membership of Sweden and Finland, two historically nonaligned nations that, alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have asked to join the military alliance. Turkey's reversal is a blow to President Vladimir V. Putin, who in justifying the invasion of his neighbor bitterly protested previous expansions of NATO -- and Ukraine's efforts to join the alliance -- as a threat to his country's security. Should Finland and Sweden be formally adopted into the alliance, as is widely expected, Russia will look across 800 miles of border with Finland at one of NATO's newest members. The announcement came after Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met for four hours with Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden and President Sauli Niinisto of Finland, as NATO heads of state gathered in Madrid for an annual summit. The 30-nation alliance operates by consensus, which meant that Turkey effectively held a veto over their membership applications."

June 28, 2022

Today is primary day in eight states, including Colorado & New York.

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Cassidy Hutchinson's startling testimony are here: Luke Broadwater: "... Donald J. Trump knew the crowd he amassed in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was armed and could turn violent, but wanted security precautions lifted because he said his supporters were not there to attack him, according to a junior White House aide who testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the attack. In extraordinary blow-by-blow testimony based on episodes she witnessed in the West Wing of the White House, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, revealed that the president had demanded to march to the Capitol with his supporters even as the riot was underway, at one point trying to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo from a Secret Service agent when he was told he could not go.... As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting 'Hang Mike Pence,' Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, 'He doesn't want to do anything,' and 'He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'... Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage." ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner: "Hutchinson provided many bombshells. The shocking description of Trump wrestling the Secret Service for control of his car on Jan. 6 so he could go to the Capitol. Portraying Meadows, her former boss, as a man who abdicated responsibility to the nation and hoped to be pardoned. And saying Trump knew that his supporters had dangerous weapons when he asked them to march on Congress.... Cheney says that Trump allies have been intimidating committee witnesses in messages that sound more like Mafia warnings than communications with a former president's aides. 'He wants me to let you know he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal.'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman: "Trump, basically a one-man response team for himself, is going after Hutchinson on his social media site, Truth Social. He's using a familiar tack, that he hardly knows 'who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is.'" ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker: "To see a retired three-star general [Michael Flynn] who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & others, is here.

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in a Georgia criminal investigation of efforts by Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in the state, with prosecutors questioning witnesses last week before a special grand jury about Mr. Giuliani's appearances before state legislative panels after the 2020 vote, the witnesses said. For Mr. Giuliani, the developments are the latest in a widening swath of trouble.... He also participated in a scheme to create slates of fake presidential electors in 2020 that is now the subject of an intensifying investigation by the Department of Justice.... The crux of his conduct [in Georgia] came during two hearings in December 2020, when Mr. Giuliani appeared before state legislative panels and spent hours peddling false conspiracy theories about secret suitcases of Democratic ballots and corrupted voting machines. He told members of the State House, 'You cannot possibly certify Georgia in good faith.'"

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "As the Justice Department expands its criminal investigation into the efforts to keep ... Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election loss, the critical job of pulling together some of its disparate strands has been given to an aggressive, if little-known, federal prosecutor named Thomas P. Windom. Since late last year, when he was detailed to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, Mr. Windom, 44, has emerged as a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory, and one that has kicked into higher gear over the past week with a raft of new subpoenas and other steps."

Supremes Again Rule Against Democracy, Black Americans. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a congressional voting map in Louisiana that a federal judge had said diluted the power of Black voters. The court's three liberal members dissented. The Supreme Court's brief order, which included no reasoning, blocked the judge's order and granted a petition seeking review in the case. The justices will, the order said, hold the Louisiana case while the court decides a similar one from Alabama in its next term."

Texas. Ariana Perez-Castells, et al., of the Texas Tribune: "Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an abortion ban that was in place before Roe v. Wade. In the ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Christine Weems ruled that the pre-Roe abortion ban 'is repealed and may not be enforced consistent with the due process guaranteed by the Texas constitution.'"

Boebert Unaware of First Amendment. Adela Suliman & Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who faces a primary election Tuesday, says she is 'tired' of the U.S. separation of church and state, a long-standing concept stemming from a 'stinking letter' penned by one of the Founding Fathers. Speaking at a religious service Sunday in Colorado, she told worshipers: 'The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it.' She added: 'I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.'... Gwen Calais-Haase, a political scientist at Harvard University, told The Washington Post that Boebert's interpretation of the Constitution was 'false, misleading and dangerous.' Calais-Haase said she was 'extremely worried about the environment of misinformation that extremist politicians take advantage of for their own gains.'"

Hundreds of Auditors Cheated on Their Ethics Exams. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Ernst & Young, one of the world's largest auditing firms, has agreed to pay a $100 million fine after U.S. securities regulators found that hundreds of its auditors had cheated on various ethics exams they were required to obtain or maintain professional licenses -- and that the firm did not do enough to stop the practice. The penalty, announced Tuesday, is the largest ever imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a firm in the auditing business, which occupies a unique ethical perch in the financial world. These firms are in charge of verifying the accuracy of companies' financial statements and issuing warnings to investors if they identify dubious accounting practices." MB: I don't suppose the Ernst & Young honchos can see the multiple ironies here.

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted last year of trafficking young sexual abuse victims to financier Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade, on Tuesday was sentenced to 20 years in prison.... [Judge Alison] Nathan said she chose a prison term longer than what she believed the guidelines called for because it was 'important to note [Maxwell's] lack of acceptance of responsibility.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

** Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Monday abruptly scheduled a hearing for Tuesday afternoon to hear what the panel called 'recently obtained evidence' and take witness testimony, a surprise move that touched off a wave of speculation about a potential explosive revelation. The hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Capitol Hill, according to a news release issued by the committee, in which it provided no other details about the session.... Pressed on the matter on Monday, aides declined to divulge what additional evidence they planned to present on Tuesday or who would be testifying." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Nicholas Wu, et al., of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee is set to hear from a onetime top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday, an abruptly scheduled hearing whose announcement riveted Washington. Cassidy Hutchinson will testify publicly, according to two people familiar with the committee's plans, after providing crucial testimony to the panel about significant exchanges among top Donald Trump's inner circle in the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Hutchinson replaced her attorney earlier this month as the select committee's hearings began; her former attorney was the Trump White House's chief ethics lawyer, and her new attorney is a longtime ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.... It's unclear why the panel expedited Hutchinson's hearing, or whether she will appear alongside other significant witnesses."

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised ... Donald J. Trump on a key element of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Mr. Eastman on Monday. The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said that F.B.I. agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, stopped Mr. Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant last Wednesday and seized his iPhone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Mr. Eastman's filing said that the phone would be taken to the inspector general's forensic lab in Northern Virginia. The seizure ... is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into the various strands of Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in power after he was defeated in his bid for re-election.... The seizure of Mr. Eastman's phone appears to have come on the same day that federal agents also seized the phone of Jeffrey Clark...." (Also linked yesterday.) A CNN report is here.

Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is closely focused on phone calls and conversations among Donald Trump's children and top aides captured by a documentary film-maker weeks before the 2020 election.... One part of [filmmaker Alex] Holder's testimony that particularly piqued the interest of the members of the select committee and chief investigative counsel Tim Heaphy was when he disclosed that he had managed to record discussions at [a] 29 September 2020 event.... On [that date]..., Steve Bannon said in an interview with HBO’s The Circus that the outcome of the 2020 election would be decided at the state level and eventually at the congressional certification on January 6.... Asked how he expects the election to end, Bannon said: 'Right before noon on the 20th, in a vote in the House, Trump will win the presidency.' The select committee believes that ideas such as Bannon's were communicated to advisors to Donald Jr and his fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, even before the 2020 election.... What appears to interest the panel is whether Trump and his children had planned to somehow stop the certification of the election on January 6...."

Shawn Hubler & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "The battle over abortion shifted to the states on Monday.... Conservatives in roughly half of the states [moved] swiftly to end or dramatically restrict reproductive rights, and liberals in about 20 more [scrambled] to preserve them.... Abortion rights advocates in Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas sued on Monday to halt or delay bans on abortion after a similar court challenge was filed in Arizona over the weekend. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic moved to withdraw a federal court challenge to a ban in South Carolina, but apparently only so the organization could file a fresh challenge in state courts.... [In] Louisiana and Utah..., judges on Monday temporarily blocked enforcement of laws that would have banned abortion. Abortion rights advocates are coalescing around a strategy of asking courts for temporary injunctions that at the very least can allow abortions to proceed in the short term. One of Louisiana's three clinics already said on Monday that it would reopen."

California. Reis Thebault of the Washington Post: "California is poised to become one of the first states in the nation to explicitly enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in its constitution after lawmakers on Monday voted to advance a constitutional amendment, putting the issue on the November ballot. The amendment is part of a flurry of legislative efforts in liberal states aimed at solidifying reproductive rights in the aftermath of last week's Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade. California, which has advertised itself as a sanctuary for people seeking abortions, is trying to lead the way. The bill introducing the proposed amendment easily passed through the state's legislature, where Democrats hold a supermajority, and voters will now consider it during the general election. A wide majority of Californians have said they oppose overturning Roe, and the amendment is expected to pass."

Utah. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "A judge in Utah granted a temporary restraining order to block the state's 'trigger ban' on Monday, allowing abortion services to resume immediately. Third District Judge Andrew Stone in Salt Lake City granted a 14-day restraining order in an emergency hearing requested by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU).... Utah's trigger ban, which the legislature passed in 2020, prohibits abortions with limited exceptions, such as if the procedure is necessary to prevent a pregnant person's death or if a person is pregnant as a result of incest or rape." (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday said she's preparing votes on a number of bills protecting abortion as well as codifying landmark Supreme Court decisions as a response to the court overturning Roe v. Wade.... In a 'Dear Colleague' letter to her caucus, Pelosi hinted at bills to respond to Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson calling for the court to revisit landmark rulings protecting same-sex relationships, marriage equality and access to contraceptives.... Much of this legislation will likely go nowhere in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to bypass the filibuster."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al. of the Washington Post: "To an increasingly vocal group of frustrated Democrats, activists and even members of Congress, [tepid] responses [to the Supreme Court' radicalism] by party leaders have been strikingly inadequate to meet a moment of crisis. They criticize the notion that it is on voters to turn out in November when they say Democrats are unwilling to push boundaries and upend the system in defense of hard-won civil liberties.... Progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have outlined several actions they want to see Democrats embrace: Building abortion clinics on federal land. Funding people to seek abortions out of state. Limiting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction or expanding its membership. Ending the filibuster.... [President] Biden and his team have signaled discomfort with many of these ideas, particularly any far-reaching overhaul of the Supreme Court.... But many abortion rights supporters say Republicans have routinely broken the rules in recent years and benefited enormously from it...."

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The last institutionalists are the leaders of the Democratic party.... In part because its leaders have been on the job for so long -- [President] Biden has been in politics with limited interruption since 1973, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since 1987 and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer since 1981 -- they retain some obvious confidence that the system will work out its own kinks.... For younger Democrats, this is inexplicable. This is a generation that has been directly confronted with a number of dire threats: the growing effects of climate change, mass shootings in schools and the demonstrated dangers of domestic extremism.... That's probably been reinforced by a period of American politics in which ... Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly targeted the solidity of those same institutions."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Especially during election years, GOP elected officials, including Donald Trump in 2020, claimed that the Supreme Court would never overturn Roe v. Wade. "On the one hand, the Republican Party has pushed for it for decades; on the other, even as it has done so, plenty within its ranks have assured that it wasn't happening. The party seemed to want the benefits of the push with its base, without the consequences of the unpopular prospect with the broader electorate. It also knew that overturning Roe was a red line for some key abortion-rights-supporting GOP senators whose votes were needed to confirm the justices who would eventually overturn Roe." Blake cites examples. (Also linked yesterday.)

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks up some ways Susan Collins & Joe Manchin can make some substantive amends for the damage the have caused the country by voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. "... it is not politically or morally sufficient for Collins or Manchin to simply holler 'I was tricked!' when the rights of millions of Americans are at stake. Whether she was deceived, when a public official make an error so egregious, it is incumbent on her to fix the damage. If Collins refuses to do so, voters will draw the conclusion that she wasn't that surprised -- or that sorry -- that she enabled the destruction of women's fundamental right to reject forced birth." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Supreme Court has no power to enforce its decisions. It doesn't have an army. The only thing it has power to do is write PDFs and put them up on its website. -- Daniel Epps, U. of Washington ~~~

~~~ Peter Coy of the New York Times: "People on the losing end of Supreme Court decisions increasingly feel that justice is not being served. That's a scary situation for the high court, and for American democracy in general.... All the Supreme Court really has to go on is the public's acceptance of its rulings as legitimate.... [In the Dobbs case, overruling Roe v. Wade,] Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor ... flatly [stated] in their dissent that the majority's decision 'undermines the court's legitimacy.'... For the losing side, the sting of the decision was made worse by [Mitch McConnell's manipulation of the Court's makeup].... That ... tore a hole in the fabric of democracy."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "You are now governed by a secretive and unaccountable junta in long black robes.... They want a country where women, once again, are at best second-class citizens.... Our rulers want a country in which guns are everywhere -- and the victims of those guns are seen as the price to be paid for a warped idea of 'freedom.'... The junta does not believe the nation's founders were serious about the separation of church and state.... Previous Supreme Court majorities have expanded the rights and opportunities of the marginalized.... The junta clearly sees these rights as suspect.... In the short term, the junta is willing for the United States to be more like the loose collection of sovereign states created by the Articles of Confederation than the strong union created by the Constitution.... The junta clearly wants to transform the whole country to suit its reactionary vision."

Michael Wines & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "... a year after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force, almost no one ... has faced punishment.... Only [one] has successfully concluded out of more than 1,000 it has evaluated. Public reports of prosecutions by state and local officials are equally sparse, despite an explosion of intimidating and even violent threats against election workers, largely since ... Donald J. Trump began spreading the lie that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election.... The depth of election workers' fear was underscored in hearings this month by the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol.... [Some] experts say the lack of both action and transparency was undermining the principal goal of the task force -- to stop the epidemic of violent threats." (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The public listing of ... Donald J. Trump's social media company took a fresh blow on Monday when the cash-rich shell company merging with Mr. Trump's company disclosed in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in New York recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors. The grand jury subpoenas were issued within the past week, according to the filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in October. After the merger, Trump Media would assume Digital World's listing and trade as a public company. The disclosure by Digital World is the first indication that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have joined in the scrutiny of the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, which has been under investigation by financial regulators for months. The investigation threatens to further delay the completion of the merger, which would provide Mr. Trump's company and its social media platform, Truth Social, with up to $1.3 billion in capital, in addition to a stock market listing." (Also linked yesterday.)

What a Surprise! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team's games. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. The case pitted the rights of government workers to free speech and the free exercise of their faith against the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion and the ability of public employers to regulate speech in the workplace. The decision was in tension with decades of Supreme Court precedents that forbade pressuring students to participate in religious activities. The case concerned Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach at a public high school in Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle. For eight years, Mr. Kennedy routinely offered prayers after games, with students often joining him. He also led and participated in prayers in the locker room, a practice he later abandoned and did not defend in the Supreme Court." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post story, which is here, is topped by a photo of Kennedy kneeling in prayer, leaning on a football, in front of the Supreme Court building. According to the caption, this display of piety took place "after the Court heard arguments." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Kennedy's practice of Christianity directly contradicts Biblical teaching. One of the best-known parts of the New Testament is Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus teaches his followers how to pray. As a sort of preamble to his saying the Lord's Prayer -- the only prayer Jesus is credited with saying -- Jesus admonishes the crowd, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:5) So the confederate Supremes' decision in this case is not just bad law; it's bad religion, too.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday sided with two doctors convicted of illegally dispensing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. The ruling was unanimous, though the justices disagreed on the precise rationale. They were united, however, in saying that prosecutors needed to prove more than that the doctors had violated objective standards. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for six members of the court, said that, so long as doctors were authorized to dispense controlled substances, prosecutors 'must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that he or she was acting in an unauthorized manner, or intended to do so.'... The Supreme Court sent the case back to the appeals courts to consider whether the juries in the two cases had been properly instructed and, if not, whether the errors were harmless."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... over the past few days we've received even more reminders of just how extreme Republicans have become..... Where is this extremism coming from?... The Republican turn toward extremism began during the 1990s.... I think I've found [an historical precursor]: the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.... OK, the modern G.O.P. isn't as bad as the second K.K.K. But Republican extremism clearly draws much of its energy from the same sources. And because G.O.P. extremism is fed by resentment against the very things that, as I see it, truly make America great -- our diversity, our tolerance for difference -- it cannot be appeased or compromised with. It can only be defeated."

Marie: I consider myself to be a liberal, but a rather moderate, sensible liberal in touch with reality. Still, I have shocked myself over the past several years, beginning probably with Mitch McConnell's refusal to give the very moderate Merrick Garland a hearing, at some of the seemingly radical, alarmist things I have thought & written. My views & predictions have become more radical since the 2020 election. I sometimes stop and ask myself, "Do I really mean that?" Yet what also has surprised me over the last several months is that other reasonable opinionators have caught up with me. They are, at long last, expressing the same alarm I felt some seven years ago. Krugman notes in the column linked above, "Yet as Edward Luce of The Financial Times recently pointed out, 'at every juncture over last 20 years the America "alarmists" have been right.'"

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Jeffrey Mays of the New York Times: "A law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City was struck down on Monday by a State Supreme Court justice on Staten Island who said it violated the State Constitution. The measure, which was passed by the City Council in December, would have allowed more than 800,000 permanent legal residents and people with authorization to work in the United States to vote for offices such as mayor and City Council. But Justice Ralph J. Porzio ruled that the new law conflicted with constitutional guidelines and state law stating that only eligible citizens can vote. To give noncitizens a right to vote would require a referendum, the judge wrote.... Joshua A. Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky..., said he was surprised by the ruling because the State Constitution does not specify that only citizens can vote." Republicans challenged the ordinance.

New York. Akhilleus the Skeptic asserted in yesterday's thread that Rudy Giuliani may have ever-so slightly exaggerated the force of the slap on the back he got from a grocery clerk who accurately labeled Rudy a scumbag. I'll leave it to you to judge, but it looks to me as if the woman standing next to Rudy, who appears to be a friend of his, touched Rudy's back harder than did the grocery worker. Nevertheless, Rudy had the guy arrested because he thought the guy had shot him & would have knocked him down if Rudy hadn't been so fit. In my view, the worker appears to have simply tagged Rudy to make sure everyone knew who the scumbag was:

     ~~~ Related story linked yesterday. Marie: In additional interviews -- Rudy seems to have given quite a few interviews about being the victim of this horrendous violent crime -- Rudy said he "could have been killed" by that pat on the back and claimed "it hurt tremendously." When he learned the changes against the vicious perp had been downgraded & released from jail, he said he wasn't worried for himself because the Mafia already had threatened him, but he was worried this dangerous thug was free to come after "you" and beat you up. My advice: hide inside your house surrounded by an arsenal, and pray that's enough to fend off this savage young punk. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Chelsia Marcius of the New York Times: "A grocery store worker accused of assaulting Rudolph W. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him. The worker, Daniel Gill, had been charged with second-degree assault, a felony, in the immediate aftermath of the episode. Prosecutors later reduced the charges to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment.... The [original] complaint charging Mr. Gill says he hit Mr. Giuliani so hard that the blow resulted in 'substantial pain to the back and left side of his body' and caused Mr. Giuliani to stumble forward.... 'Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice to simply get his attention, as the video footage clearly showed,' [a] statement [from the Legal Aid Society, which represents Mr. Gill, said]."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So good work, Akhilleus. ~~~

     ~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "Not for the first time, Americans face a conundrum over whom to believe: Rudy Giuliani, or their own lying eyes?... The supermarket shenanigans, as captured in the video, resemble not in the slightest the preposterous tale of criminal brutality that Giuliani turned them into.... The progenitor of the 'big lie,' stripped of his law license for that, is now fibbing in the produce aisle.... Informed that authorities were downgrading the charges and releasing the worker, Giuliani declared that New York had become 'the wild, wild West' and that the employee posed a grave risk to public safety." Milbank recounts many of the ridiculous things Giuliani said about the non-incident.

Texas Horror. Arelis Hernández, et al., of the Washington Post: "The bodies of 46 migrants were found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio on Monday, the deadliest smuggling incident of its kind in U.S. history. The horrific incident comes amid a record influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, where authorities are on pace to record more than 2 million arrests during fiscal 2022. Rescuers pulled 16 people from the truck who were still alive and conscious, including four minors, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters. They were taken for medical treatment. Three people have been taken into police custody, authorities said." The Texas Tribune story is here.

Virginia House Race. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "A Republican nominee in a closely watched House race in Virginia made bizarre and false comments about rape victims, saying in leaked audio recordings that she wouldn't be surprised if a woman's body prevents pregnancies from rape because 'it's not something that's happening organically,' and that the rapist is doing it 'quickly.' The nominee, Yesli Vega, a supervisor and sheriff's deputy in Prince William County, made the remarks at a campaign stop last month in Stafford County, according to Axios, which published the audio recordings on Monday." The Axios story is here. MB: Your guess is as good as mine about what this law enforcement officer means by "organic."It's hard to believe anyone can be so stupid. But there you go.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again urged the United States to name Moscow a state sponsor of terrorism -- a designation that would trigger significant penalties -- after a Russian missile strike on a shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people.... Leaders of the Group of Seven nations, an assembly of economic powers, collectively condemned the strike as a war crime, and the U.N. Security Council is set to discuss the strike at a meeting on Tuesday.... In eastern Ukraine, Kyiv's troops are still holding back Russian forces in Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian foothold in the Luhansk region.... NATO leaders are gathering Tuesday for a summit in Madrid, as the transatlantic alliance seeks a long-term strategy for the war on its borders and for global issues such as soaring commodity prices. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday that the Western military bloc will sharply increase the number of its high-readiness troops to 300,000.... Ukraine has received advanced multiple-launch rocket systems dispatched by Washington and appears to be employing them 'very well,' the Pentagon said. The trial of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who U.S. officials say is wrongfully detained in Russia, will begin July 1. She has been in custody on a drug charge for four months." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Russia Conducts Another Major Terrorist Attack on Ukrainians. Valerie Hopkins, et al., of the New York Times: "Hundreds of people were out shopping, chatting and meeting with friends in a shopping mall in central Ukraine on Monday, a rare moment of normalcy amid the horror of war. Then a Russian missile struck. The attack left at least 16 dead and at least 10 missing at the shopping mall, near a railway station in the industrial city of Kremenchuk, located in Ukraine's central Poltava region. 'People just burned alive,' Denys Monastyrskyi, Ukraine's interior minister, said in an interview. In four months of conflict characterized by indiscriminate violence, the strike was just the latest vivid and bloody example of Russia's willingness to target civilians at a nonmilitary site, with people going about their daily lives."

News Lede

New York Times: "An Amtrak train carrying more than 200 passengers crashed into a dump truck in rural Missouri on Monday, killing three people and injuring dozens, the authorities said. It was the second fatal accident involving the railroad service in two days. Two of the people killed were on the train, and the other was in the truck, the authorities said.... Eight cars and two locomotives derailed, Amtrak said, and most of the cars ended up on their sides.... The crash came one day after another Amtrak passenger train