One of the more insidious aspects of today's ruling is that, by granting a stay that is entirely inconsistent with an existing, not-yet-overruled Supreme Court precedent, it sends a message to the Executive Branch and the lower courts that it is okay to ignore Supreme Court precedents.

I'm only half-joking...

The backlash to ABC/Disney canceling Kimmel has been swift, and severe. The whole episode underscores something I've been blogging about for a while: A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-lot-of-p...

A periodic reminder that if just four GOP Senators joined forces with Democrats to elect a new non-MAGA Majority Leader, they could put a stop to most of the madness. Fat chance.

Reminder— In principled times, the U.S. prosecuted prosecutors & judges who used their offices & powers to abuse, charge, prosecute, convict, incarcerate, & murder those they hated, based in their evil politics. Nazis Nuremberg US v. Josef Altstötter, et al. encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/a...

Did Homan declare the $50K on his income tax returns?

Does ICEman belong in cooler?

Entire speech is here, a model of leadership for Democrats and the Nation. youtu.be/d1qXWxsBNB4?...

Jason Crow shows how Democrats should address the current moment. @crow.house.gov @hcrichardson.bsky.social Worth reading in full. heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-...

Oops www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general...

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If the "public interest" standard by which the FCC is supposed to judge merger applications and license renewals authorizes the agency to punish news organizations based on the speech they carry, it should be struck down as contrary to the First Amendment.

This could be quite a powerful boycott - especially if it includes cancelling Disney cruises & theme park vacations…merchandise & channels.

Bob Iger's wife, Willow Bay, is the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism...

Uh, you could just offer an amendment to the CR to prevent it from happening. To paraphrase Lincoln's famous riposte to Gen. McClellan, "If you don’t want to use the [Senate Democratic Caucus,] I should like to borrow it for a while..."

The FCC does some useful things around broadband access, spectrum allocation, consumer protection, and universal service. Defund everything else. The Commission is being used as a weapon for authoritarian repression of free speech.

Has anyone in the Senate or House Democratic Caucus floated a challenge to Schumer or Jeffries? If not, why not? 

Now is not a time for poll-tested political maneuvers. It is a time for courageous leadership.

"I’m yawning because this plan just sounds so safe and poll-tested. I’m yawning because it is essentially playing defense (again)... And mostly I’m yawning because Donald Trump is not merely a threat to the health care subsidies, ... he’s a threat to our way of life, on countless levels."

If ever there was a time for "the fierce urgency of now..."

If ever there was a time for "the fierce urgency of now..."

That guy who once gave a speech about there being no Red America and no Blue America, but only a United States of America, where is he now?

That guy who once gave a speech about there being no Red America and no Blue America, but only a United States of America, where is he now?

USA was Leader Of The Free World. Now it's the Free World's Crazy Ex...

USA was Leader Of The Free World. Now it's the Free World's Crazy Ex...

On this dark day for the country, let us remember a dark day 24 years ago, when heroes ran toward the danger. youtu.be/A9LpsP0goJ8?...

On this dark day for the country, let us remember a dark day 24 years ago, when heroes ran toward the danger. youtu.be/A9LpsP0goJ8?...

States can sue directly in the Supreme Court, and doing so to confront this threat to the Union would be amply justified. open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

I agree with this. In fact, I have been saying it for months. (See below). And I'll go one step further: Democratic Senators who do not insist on passage of amendments to stop Trump's abuses should face primaries.

A song for today... youtu.be/r4BJpC-esA8?...

No Donald, Chicago is not your war zone

A song for today... youtu.be/r4BJpC-esA8?...

Why leak a botched 2019 mission now? Because Trump probably wants them to do something outrageous and those on the inside want to tell him there's no way it stays secret...

In a world of vanishing truth, behold The New Yorker's legendary fact-checkers. Vaunted www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Ominous poem recalls another ominous time...

Bill Cassidy, if he had guts I know...), has plenty of leverage with the Administration. Chair of a major committee, he could refuse to advance nominees in his committee's jurisdiction, put holds on nominees on the floor, vote against bills, etc. If only he had the guts...

Happy first week of school to constitutional law professors, many of whom grew up with what Michael Waldman brilliantly called "generational nostalgia" for the Warren Court, and who now much teach about a Supreme Court that has bent the knee to a lawless Executive.

Happy first week of school to constitutional law professors, many of whom grew up with what Michael Waldman brilliantly called "generational nostalgia" for the Warren Court, and who now much teach about a Supreme Court that has bent the knee to a lawless Executive.

When the Supreme Court's flag burning decision came down, I drafted a statement for Sen. Kennedy supporting the decision and opposing a Senate resolution condemning it. The Washington Post ran it in a box on the editorial page the next day. Sen. Kennedy sent it to Justice Brennan, who responded.

“Instead, the FBI enlisted the local police and stormed Bolton’s house at dawn. To send a message. Not to Bolton. But to the rest of us. If you are not nice to President Trump, he will bring the full force of the state down upon your life.” open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Bolton has been a pillar of the DC conservative establishment since he was a young lawyer representing Jesse Helms in the 1980s. The message here is unmistakable: No one is safe from Trump's revenge.

In the largely insular world of antitrust law, this really is a bombshell. Tunney Act, passed after Nixon DOJ sought campaign contributions to approve merger, was intended to stop this kind of abuse. Alford will make a star witness if the judge decides to hear evidence.

Listening to the press conference with European leaders (Heaven help me), I'm struck how much they have learned about how to "work" Trump. Very much like one works a stubborn toddler. Repeat their words, praise, rinse, repeat...

Actually, Trump got exactly what he wanted -- a respite from Epstein headlines.

The mother and child reunion is only a motion away…

Behind every great villain, there lies another great villain. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/o...

On the actual legal issue of whether the administration has illegally withheld funds, there is not much doubt. But for every technicality where the courts find a reason not to stop the lawbreaking, the net effect is to empower it. Collectively, they have failed the moment.

This letter has not received the attention it merits. The Solicitor General essentially told the Federal Circuit that if Trump's tariffs are illegal (Narrator: They are illegal), the resulting liability will bankrupt the country and trigger a Great Depression.

More like a new Molotov-Von Ribbentrop pact...