Marty Lederman's amicus brief did end up giving SCOTUS a way out on National Guard occupations. Risk now - does Trump invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty military to blue cities? And if he does, will the Court stop him? talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...

In a twist, it was Sen. Kennedy (R-LA) who forcefully grilled a Trump nominee today on his preachings about marriage not being "intended" for disabled people, "transgenderism & homosexuality" being "sexual perversions" & wives' obligation to serve their husbands talkingpointsmemo.com/news/kennedy...

What’s worse, Fetterman working harder to get a pardon for Netanyahu than healthcare for his own constituents….or the fact that he did the Netanyahu letter in secret?

Fetterman expressed surprise when I confirmed we had a copy of the letter he wrote to Israel President Herzog, pushing for a pardon for Netanyahu. “I know you guys use things like leaks but I don’t know who did that.” Story from @joshkovensky.bsky.social + me: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fetterm...

Scoop, w the incomparable @kateriga.bsky.social: John Fetterman asked Israel's President to pardon Netanyahu in a previously unreported letter talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fetterm...

Scoop: TPM obtained a letter Sen. Fetterman wrote to Israel President Herzog lobbying for a pardon for Netanyahu. In an interview today, he told me the trial is a "pointless distraction.""I fully support it and I stand on the letter," he said. From me & @joshkovensky.bsky.social ⬇️

New: Judge blocks federalization of California National Guard, writing that by sending them into other states, the Trump administration has created "a national police force made up of state troops"

Sotomayor quoted RBG's famous "umbrella" line today, from her dissent in a case that hobbled the Voting Rights Act. it was an appropriate linkage, as the Roberts Court's destruction of voting rights and campaign finance regulations alike form the foundation of its profoundly anti-democratic legacy

Sotomayor using barely veiled language to ask former Trump SG Noel Francisco if he really doesn't think Trump's primary 'major donor' getting a 'very lucrative job' immediately upon his election is not at least the appearance of quid pro quo

Today the Supreme Court is hearing a GOP attempt to get rid of one of the last remaining campaign finance guardrails. Alito kicking us off by citing the "much maligned - unfairly maligned" decision, Citizens United

The conservatives’ bleating about the big bad bureaucracy gets harder to stomach when juxtaposed w the monarchical presidency they’ve created, making him immune from prosecution for his crimes and now likely putting the entire executive branch under his thrall.  talkingpointsmemo.com/news/roberts...

Well Roberts just referred to Humphrey's Executor as a "dried husk" if there are any optimists out there holding out hope

Right-wing justices as a bloc trying to counter the 'what about the Fed' fear by feigning concern about hypothetical super muscular removal protections - what if you could never fire anyone?! "Are there some cabinet departments that Congress could just take over?" Roberts asks. Super bad faith stuff

Jackson on Congress' theory of indy agencies: "Having a president come in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the PhDs and replacing them with loyalists and people who don't know anything is actually not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States"

Gorsuch says hey, if the libs are so concerned about putting every agency directly in the hands of the president, maybe we should advance my ongoing quest to make agencies totally powerless, win-win

Roberts keeps jumping to argue that their imminent overturn of Humphrey's Executor does not actually threaten the Fed, entire civil service, article 1 courts, etc. Kagan not buying it, says to SG Sauer: "Once you go down this road, it's a little bit hard to see how you stop"

Sotomayor with the lament: 'Neither the king not parliaments nor prime ministers nor England at the time of the founding ever had an unqualified removal power' 'You're asking us to destroy the structure of government'

In a world where 11 months out counts as the “eve“ of an election, any state can safely pass an illegal gerrymander so long as they even slightly run down the clock talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...

Appeals court administratively stays the district court order. Not a great draw for DC - panel is Judges Millett (Obama), Katsas (Trump) and Rao (super Trump)

New: Trump DOJ appeals district court order saying the National Guard are unlawfully deployed in DC (as expected). Meanwhile we wait and wait for SCOTUS to act on the Guard case out of Chicago

Breaking: Judge rules deployment of National Guard into DC is illegal (puts her order on pause until 12/11 for appeals). "The Court finds that the District’s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by Defendants’ actions in deploying the Guards," she writes.

Mass repudiation of Trump...Trump's much ballyhooed realignment seems fragile...GOP redistricting suddenly very risky...DOGE/Russ Vought shutdown punishments coming back to bite him...shot in the arm for congressional Dems on the shutdown...and more: talkingpointsmemo.com/news/electio...

absolute bloodbath for Republicans. One easy takeaway: maybe don't send Virginia specifically sliding towards a recession if you're hoping to win there

Took .2 seconds for Schumer to be asked if he voted for Mamdani. He would not say that he voted for the Democratic candidate: "I voted and I look forward to working with the next mayor to help New York City" ...

Wow - in new filing Trump admin tells judge it intends to give eligible recipients 50% of the SNAP benefits they'd usually get for the month of November — with the massive caveat that it might take some states "a few weeks to up to several months" to disburse the reduced money

After a 3-day trial, Judge Immergut grants preliminary injunction blocking the National Guard from Portland: "Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control..."

Hello from Judge Immergut's (virtual) courtroom in the Portland National Guard case. DOJ's Jean Lin started by explaining that some National Guard were briefly deployed while TROs were being circulated. Immergut says she'll later consider whether this was "contempt"

New: Full 9th Circuit votes to vacate a Trumpy panel's decision allowing National Guard to deploy into Portland. It'll rehear the case, following a successful vote requested by one of the judges. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/9th-cir...

Breaking: AZ AG + Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva are suing the House to compel her swearing in. Mike Johnson has delayed it for weeks; Grijalva has promised to be the last member needed to force a vote on the Epstein files

New: 9th Circuit Judge Thomas requests a vote for a full court rehearing of the Portland Nat'l Guard case. Graber wrote in her dissent today: "I urge my colleagues on this court to act swiftly to vacate the majority’s order before the illegal deployment of troops under false pretenses can occur"

As expected, 9th Circuit panel rules for Trump, allowing deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland. Graber, in dissent, asks colleagues on 9th to vacate the order. "I ask those who are watching this case unfold to retain faith in our judicial system for just a little longer," she writes

probably the most critical piece of information in the great Mills-Platner debate www.bangordailynews.com/2025/10/16/p...

The unanimous 7th Circuit panel - of Trump, Obama and Bush appointees - made once banal, now profound comments about the legitimacy of political protest, as Republicans regularly call peaceful protesters "terrorists." It's worth a read ⤵️ talkingpointsmemo.com/news/7th-cir...

7th Circuit denies Trump admin request to stay district court's block of the Guard deployment: "The facts do not justify the President’s actions in Illinois under § 12406, even giving substantial deference to his assertions"

Judge Immergut in Portland National Guard case says she intends to extend her order blocking any Guard deployments into the city for another two weeks

In the story the GOP justices told Wed, Louisiana’s cracking and packing of black voters to decrease their electoral power isn't racial discrimination - but remedying that theft is. Against white voters. It's the central grievance of Republican politics. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...

Flagging that both Mike Johnson and Tom Emmer have now referred to the No Kings protest scheduled for 10/18 as a "hate America rally." Both singled out the one planned for DC - Johnson said it'll feature "pro-Hamas" people and "antifa," and Emmer said it'll appease the "terrorist wing" of the party

Two Trump judges (Nelson, Bade) on 9th circuit panel really trying to outperform each other in their eagerness to give Trump the ability to deploy the Guard to unwilling states based on events that occurred months earlier. Lotttt of beating up on Oregon's Judge Immergut, who blocked deployments

The political right's greatest project is discrediting experts. Only in a "do your own research" world can their cultural preferences - anti-abortion, anti-gender affirming care - claim equal legitimacy to the left's medically-backed positions on those issues. SCOTUS is a full partner in that effort

1) Trump-appointed judge rules admin cannot deploy Oregon National Guard to Portland 2) Trump admin deploys California Guard there instead, circumventing her ruling 3) CA joins Portland/Oregon in filing for a second temporary restraining order 4) judge schedules emergency hearing (about to start)

Trump DOJ successfully pressed the Obama-appointed judge assigned to the Portland National Guard case to recuse himself, and the case got reassigned to a Trump appointee. But based on some of her questions today, it might not be the advantage the admin hoped for:

was surprised that Kacsmaryk allowed the big mifepristone case out of his clutches, as clearly flawed as the jurisdictional arguments were — but a look at who appointed the active judges at the court he sent it to cleared it up

In unrelated hearing on DC with DC leadership, Rep. Ro Khanna is introducing a motion to subpoena FCC Chair Brendan Carr to come testify before Oversight Committee after the Jimmy Kimmel cancellation

while Republicans howl about DC being a den of iniquity, worth remembering that House GOP still refuses to let the district use $1B of its own taxpayers' money. That plus the economic hobbling from the DOGE layoffs have left the district in a much more damaged state than it was pre-January 20th

Scoop from me & @joshkovensky.bsky.social: After receiving a subpoena and being threatened with criminal/civil investigations by Trump's DOJ, the University of Michigan's statewide hospital system will stop providing gender-affirming care to patients under 19 talkingpointsmemo.com/news/univers...

The state of Texas (+ Florida) now asking to intervene in the case that attempted to revoke FDA approval of mifepristone, which scotus turned back b/c the anti-abortion doctors lacked standing. Missouri, Kansas + Idaho tried to pick up the mantle, prompting the defendants to say, in so many words:

couple dozen national guard sauntering up and down the wharf amid gaggles of tourists and $9 miller lites 🫡🫡🫡

Still think it's underrated the degree to which Trump's willingness to just say a scandal out loud instead of in secret makes it seem Less Bad. In this case, he said explicitly that he wants to end mail-in voting because he thinks it'll help Republicans in the midterms

The hellish Sweeney news cycle is a helpful microcosm of how Dems simply can't win culture war fights - even if they see that the 'liberal' take is dumb & opt out. Or as I call it: “The left and the right are clashing over x. The left is an Oberlin sophomore and the right is the governor of Texas.”

Scoop: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists will no longer accept federal funding, citing changes in funding laws and regulations under the Trump admin. This will have knock-on effects, including on programs meant to improve maternal health. Statement to TPM: