BREAKING: Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's resigning from Congress — effective January 5, 2026.

NEW: Supreme Court temporarily pauses lower court ruling against Texas gerrymander, orders opponents of the new map to file a response by Monday at 5 PM

BREAKING at SCOTUS: Texas Republicans file emergency plea to rescue their gerrymandered map

!!!

Seems totally appropriate and not at all gratuitous

DEPORTATION HITCH: Trump drive to re-deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia hits hurdle over 2019 'mistake.' Lack of final deportation order could allow him to re-open asylum claim. 'You can’t fake it til you make it. You got to have it,' says Judge Xinis (Obama/MD) www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

If only there were a cloud or something to back things up to

Even if SCOTUS comes to the rescue of Texas Republicans' gerrymander, the electoral results next year may be quite different from what the GOP expects. Why? Because they based the new map on possible misconceptions about Hispanic voters. www.economist.com/united-state...

People are asking ”well if the court dismisses the Comey indictment for various kinds of fuckmuppetry by the moronic and debased Trump Justice Department, the statute of limitations has run and so Comey is free, right? It depends on the particular kind of fuckmuppetry. /1

Reagan-appointed appellate judge having an absolute hissy fit on paper against the Trump-appointed district court judge who ruled against the TX gerrymander

Further pressure on SCOTUS to rule quickly in Louisiana v. Callais, the case where the conservatives are likely to eliminate meaningful remedies for vote-dilution claims under Sec 2 of the Voting Rights Act (which would undermine the civil rights grps' win today) www.texastribune.org/2025/11/18/t...

A little confused why, in Trump v. Illinois (the National Guard case at SCOTUS), we see only a reply brief from Trump today. The Court seemed to have invited reply briefs from both parties. I guess the order did not specify what time today the reply briefs were due, so Illinois has another 90 mins?

Not for a lack of second-term emoluments. There have been some...other...things to litigate

Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.

Tomorrow, all briefs will be in hand for SCOTUS to rule on Trump's emergency plea to deploy National Guard troops. The law does not seem to be on his side. My @economist.com analysis www.economist.com/united-state...

Adventures in premises

NEW at SCOTUS: an emergency application from the Chamber of Commerce opposing, on free-speech grounds, CA's new law requiring large companies to disclose their climate-related financial risks. Of note: the counsel of record is Eugene Scalia, son of the late Antonin Scalia

What will SCOTUS do in 2026? My contribution to The World Ahead 2026, The Economist's predictions for the coming year @economist.com www.economist.com/the-world-ah...

As predicted in lots of places, including this morning's "One First," the extra 48 hours that the full Court bought for itself on Tuesday (by overriding Justice Jackson and extending her "administrative stay") was enough time for Congress to moot the SNAP case: www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-192-...

NEW: as expected, the SNAP showdown at SCOTUS ends in a fizzle: Trump withdraws his application to avoid fully funding SNAP because the government shutdown has ended and those benefits will be funded through the end of the year

NOW UP: the SCOTUS oral argument calendar for January - a pair of cases about transgender girls & women in high school and collegiate sports on Jan. 13 - Trump's bid to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve on Jan. 21

NEW: SCOTUS extends the administrative stay on the SNAP ruling, letting Trump continue to deny full benefits while the shutdown continues. Justice Jackson notes her dissent.

The Supreme Court had three religious freedom cases last Term. With @richschragger.bsky.social and @nelsontebbe.bsky.social, our latest comments on them, extending our analysis of religious preferentialism under the First Amendment. harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...

UPDATE: Trump administration confirms it continues to seek a stay to deny full food stamp benefits but says the application may soon be mooted when the government reopens

SNAP at SCOTUS: Justice Jackson issues supplementary order giving the Trump administration until 4 PM today to file a brief justifying its request to deny full food stamp benefits, with plaintiffs’ brief due tomorrow at 8 AM.

Populism

I need to emphasize what I say down-thread: this is a temporary, procedural move known as an administrative stay issued in haste by Justice Jackson. Little to nothing should be read into this ruling for how SCOTUS might ultimately rule on SNAP—either way.

BREAKING: the Supreme Court has granted Trump administration’s request.

The Trump administration requested action from SCOTUS by 9:30pm. That’s 15 minutes from now.

So the justices will weigh the irreparable harm to the government of having to transfer the funds against the irreparable harm of tens of millions of people not eating

NEW at SCOTUS: the Trump administration turns to the justices on an emergency basis to thwart a lower-court ruling requiring full funding for SNAP benefits during the government shutdown

NEW at SCOTUS: the Court decides 6-3 that Trump can require transgender people to list their biological sex on passport applications. Justice Jackson writes a long dissent, joined by Sotomayor and Kagan.

I’m on this morning’s The Intelligence, our daily podcast, talking SCOTUS & tariffs. It’s the only non-paywalled @economist.com podcast so listen & share (and subscribe)! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

It was not a good day for the president's trade war. My @economist.com analysis of today's tariff showdown at SCOTUS www.economist.com/united-state...

Mamdani mentions Jews and the “scourge of antisemitism” — then Muslims and Islamophobia.

Hope is the theme of Mamdani’s victory speech. More than a few glimmers of Obama.

Really looking forward to the Speaker of the House claiming to be unaware of the election results.

“All three Pa. Supreme Court justices are retained following a historically expensive race” electionlawblog.org?p=152909

Now that he’s won the iPhone really needs to stop transliterating his name as Mom Donnie

Mamdani quotes Eugene Debs in the opening line of his victory speech

Who did it better

Dems chances of winning the House a year from now looking ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Big if true…as Trump will never be on the ballot again

Bescaffolded SCOTUS not looking…tariffic…on eve of Learning Resources v. Trump

How Trump could lose tomorrow's SCOTUS case but keep fighting his trade war www.economist.com/finance-and-...

On my way to DC for tomorrow's tariff showdown at SCOTUS. After reading a bunch of briefs and commentary, I'm less confident in my prediction that Trump will probably win. But I'll predict that if the conservative justices try to suddenly wriggle out of love for the Major Questions Doctrine...

JUST IN: Judge Immergut renews her block on President Trump’s National Guard deployment to Portland, saying her three-day trial showed there was no credible evidence justify Trump/Hegseth’s incursion on Oregon’s sovereignty. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NYC marathon elite men nearing the 10k mark. Patrick Dever of the UK leading the pack

Is anybody else noticing an unexpected, steady surge of new followers in the last few days? Puzzling to me, think some of y’all might be bots.

Let's pause to appreciate the pithy title of the states' brief opposing Trump's tariffs