Attention to the Unseen

The Washington Post reports: At a diner known for political chitchat and Coca-Cola memorabilia, former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio walked from table to table on a recent fall morning, asking voters to back him for mayor of his Phoenix-area hometown — and to support the former president who once rescued him from a potential prison sentence. “Are you for Trump?” Arpaio asked one restaurant patron, as town council members, a Republican Party activist and a Bible study group ate…

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Politico reports: Donald Trump can be sued over claims that he incited violence on Jan. 6, 2021, an appeals court ruled Friday, rejecting the former president’s argument that he is entirely immune from being held liable for incendiary remarks that preceded the attack on the Capitol. The three-judge panel concluded that Trump’s actions as a candidate for president would not automatically be protected by “presidential immunity,” turning aside Trump’s sweeping argument that nearly all speech and conduct by an incumbent…

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The Daily Beast reports: A court-ordered financial auditor has caught Donald Trump quietly moving $40 million from the Trump Organization into a personal bank account—seemingly so the former president could pay his whopping $29 million tax bill. Trump isn’t supposed to be moving any money around without alerting Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge in New York tasked with babysitting the Trump Organization for its relentlessly shady business practices. But on Wednesday, she notified a New York state court…

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Reuters reports: An Indian government official directed an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist, who is also a U.S. citizen, on U.S. soil, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday, in announcing charges against a man accused of orchestrating the attempted murder. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Nikhil Gupta, 52, worked with the Indian government employee, whose responsibilities included security and intelligence, on the plot to assassinate the New York City resident who advocated for a Sikh sovereign state…

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Stephen I. Vladeck writes: Where to even start in cataloging the most ridiculous—and alarming—recent rulings to come out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit? There’s a case about whether a class action could go forward that boiled down to a dispute among three Fifth Circuit judges over the meaning of a Bible verse. There’s a case in which the Fifth Circuit allowed three doctors to sue the FDA over a tweet intended to discourage ivermectin use…

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Politico reports: Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo’s consulting firm received $21 million in 2022 from a group that is a pillar of Leo’s aligned nonprofit network, according to a new tax filing. That group, The 85 Fund, is part of an umbrella of nonprofits under investigation by the Washington, D.C. attorney general for potentially violating tax laws. Carrie Severino, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, is a director of the group. The tax filing, obtained by the watchdog…

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The New York Times reports: Even amid the uproar over President Donald J. Trump’s freewheeling use of his pardon powers at the end of his term, one commutation stood out. Jonathan Braun of New York had served just two and a half years of a decade-long sentence for running a massive marijuana ring, when Mr. Trump, at 12:51 a.m. on his last day in office, announced he would be freed. Mr. Braun was, to say the least, an unusual candidate…

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The Guardian reports: For five months this year, homosexuality was prohibited in a Tennessee college town. In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct. The ordinance was essentially a covert ban on LGBTQ+…

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WABC reports: A former Obama administration adviser was taken into police custody Wednesday after a confrontation at a halal cart in Manhattan was caught on camera, police say. Stuart Seldowitz lives around the corner from the halal cart. Several videos captured the former diplomat allegedly harassing the vendor about his Egyptian roots and Islamic faith. Seldowitz was fired from his work with lobbying and communications firm Gotham Government Relations. A hate crime investigation was opened by the NYPD after Seldowitz…

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Politico reports: A federal appeals court issued a ruling Monday that could gut the Voting Rights Act, saying only the federal government — not private citizens or civil rights groups — is allowed to sue under a key section of the landmark civil rights law. The decision out of the 8th Circuit will almost certainly be appealed and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. Should it stand, it would mark a dramatic rollback of the enforcement of the law…

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The Daily Beast reports: When Donald Trump’s beloved federal judge issued yet another head-turning order this week to throw the upcoming Mar-a-Lago classified documents trial into limbo, she actually did him an even bigger favor—she created chaos that can spill over into his other legal battles ahead of the 2024 election. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has pushed back what might have been a one- or two-day meeting with prosecutors to review classified documents until February. On Thursday, she also…

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The Daily Beast reports: Former President Donald Trump can appear on Colorado’s primary ballot despite his having engaged in an insurrection for his role in Jan. 6, 2021, a judge ruled Friday. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit seeking to remove Trump from the ballot on the grounds that Section III of the Fourteenth Amendment bars from public office anyone who has “taken an oath” but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The lawyers who filed the suit…

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The Messenger reports: In theory, Donald Trump is facing down the prospect of four criminal trials in four different cases next year that clash with the core period of his campaign to return to the White House. In practice, as court filings, judicial rulings, public statements and other recent developments have illustrated, Trump could face just one trial on his road to Election Day 2024. By all accounts, including her own, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has no intention of…

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The Hill reports: Longtime Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s legal group saw a major jump in revenue last year, raising $44 million, significantly more than the $6 million garnered during 2021. Miller’s national non-profit, America First Legal, registered as a 501c(3), saw a near 600 percent revenue jump, according to a Bloomberg New analysis of tax fillings provided by Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog group. The revenue increase comes after the group started filing more lawsuits, focused on challenging major law firms,…

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