Attention to the Unseen

Ronald Brownstein writes: The struggle over the sweeping red-state drive to roll back civil rights and liberties has primarily moved to the courts. Since 2021, Republican-controlled states have passed a swarm of laws to restrict voting rights, increase penalties for public protest, impose new restrictions on transgender youth, ban books, and limit what teachers, college professors, and employers can say about race, gender, and sexual orientation. Some states are even exploring options to potentially prosecute people who help women travel…

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The Washington Post reports: Investigate the investigator. That has been the operating thesis of the GOP’s playbook to counter the myriad criminal investigations into Donald Trump, the de facto leader of the Republican Party. Interrogating investigators’ methods and scruples is a strategy that has been utilized by both parties during tumultuous moments, and is a well-worn tool for lawmakers seeking to appease constituents hungry for the appearance of oversight on polarizing issues. The strategy has been effective in shaping public…

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NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump asked to have a Colorado lawsuit aimed at kicking him off the 2024 ballot in the state moved to federal court. In a court filing on Thursday, lawyers for Trump argued the suit brought earlier this week by a group of six voters should be moved from state court to federal court because it centers on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which holds that no person shall hold any office if…

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Heidi Przybyla writes: The Supreme Court’s decision in the 2010 Citizens United case transformed the world of politics. It loosened restrictions on campaign spending and unleashed a flow of anonymous donor money to nonprofit groups run by political activists. In the months before the ruling dropped in January of that year, a group of conservative activists came together to create just such an organization. Its mission would be to, at the time, block then-President Barack Obama’s pet initiatives. The activists…

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Donald Ayer writes: Several distinguished individuals have recently expressed grave reservations about the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. Notably, they appear to have no dispute about the seriousness of his wrongdoing. Rather, their main concern is that “terrible consequences” may result, because the prosecutions “may come to be seen as political trials … and play directly into the hands of Trump and his allies.” Although many Trump supporters will view the situation in just this way, any suggestion that…

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Dennis Aftergut and Austin Sarat write: MAGA Republicans in Wisconsin are gearing up to impeach newly elected state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, just five weeks after she took her seat on the court and before she has cast her first vote. They want to stop her from doing what the majority of Wisconsin voters elected her to do. Their plan is nothing less than a coup attempt, an effort to sideline a duly elected judge not because she has…

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Shirin Ali writes: A battle that’s long been brewing in Texas is finally coming to a head as the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, undergoes an impeachment trial for allegations of corruption, bribery, and abuse of power. It all started after Paxton demanded that $3.3 million in taxpayer money be used to settle a lawsuit against him. (Paxton has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty this week in his first hearing.) Paxton is a polarizing political figure, even beyond…

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CNN reports: A federal appeals court on Friday said the Biden administration likely violated the First Amendment in some of its communications with social media companies, but also narrowed a lower court judge’s order on the matter. The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that certain administration officials – namely in the White House, the surgeon general, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – likely “coerced or significantly encouraged social media…

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Politico reports: The prosecution of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for attempting to overturn the 2020 election will remain in state court, a federal judge ruled Friday as he turned down Meadows’ bid to move the case to federal court. The decision, which Meadows is likely to appeal, is a victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ drive to bring former President Donald Trump, Meadows and 17 other defendants to trial under the state’s broad criminal…

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Thor Benson interviewed CREW President, Noah Bookbinder, to discuss whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from running for office: Thor Benson: There might be a legitimate constitutional argument here, but what do you say to people who say it’s anti-democratic? Noah Bookbinder: There’s a certain irony in the argument that it’s anti-democratic to take somebody off the ballot — that everybody should be able to vote for the candidate of their choice. What happened after the 2020…

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Politico reports: The Georgia district attorney at the heart of former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment on Thursday rebuked House Republicans’ investigation into her office, accusing them of blatantly trying to obstruct a criminal proceeding. Fulton County DA Fani Willis on Thursday sent a fiery letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, responding to his decision to launch an investigation into the Georgia office just hours before Trump appeared in court late last month on charges related to interfering in…

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The Associated Press reports: Concern for U.S. democracy amid deep national polarization has prompted the entities supporting 13 presidential libraries dating back to Herbert Hoover to call for a recommitment to the country’s bedrock principles, including the rule of law and respecting a diversity of beliefs. The statement released Thursday, the first time the libraries have joined to make such a public declaration, said Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and human rights around the world because…

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: Having disqualified himself from public office by violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, Donald Trump must be removed from the ballot, according to a lawsuit filed today by six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters including former state, federal and local officials, represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the firms Tierney Lawrence Stiles LLC, KBN Law, LLC and Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff & Murray LLC. Section 3 of the…

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Mark Joseph Stern writes: Alabama Republicans’ brash defiance of the Supreme Court hit a wall on Tuesday when a federal district court declared that the state’s new congressional maps discriminate against Black citizens in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The decision was entirely predictable given that GOP lawmakers have openly refused to draw districts that comply with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against them. But the opinion is still remarkable for its caustic and exasperated criticism of the state’s…

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The New York Times reports: Wisconsin Democrats are aghast at what they view as another attempt by Republicans to reject the outcome of an election they lost. Many now privately concede that impeaching Justice Protasiewicz is a foregone conclusion. “They’re deliberately trying to overturn the will of the people,” said Sarah Godlewski, the Democratic secretary of state. “We have to understand the risk this is posing. It’s a potential reality that would put Wisconsin’s democracy in jeopardy.” The Democratic Party…

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NBC News reports: Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is demanding that Chief Justice John Roberts take action over an unusual interview conservative Justice Samuel Alito gave in which he questioned whether Congress has the power to impose ethics rules on the Supreme Court. Whitehouse’s complaint, submitted Monday, focuses on a July 28 interview published by The Wall Street Journal, conducted in part by conservative lawyer David Rivkin, in the wake of recent news articles raising questions about Supreme Court ethics. “No…

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