Attention to the Unseen

NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump’s comments Wednesday night about his handling of classified documents appeared to contradict statements by his lawyers, and provide potentially important evidence for federal prosecutors investigating whether to charge him with a crime, legal experts say. Trump’s lawyers told Congress last month that the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago compound got there by accident. But when questioned about the issue at a CNN town hall, Trump said he had “every right” to take…

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The Lever reports: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas changed his position on one of America’s most significant regulatory doctrines after his wife reportedly accepted secret payments from a shadowy conservative network pushing for the change. Thomas’ shift also came while he was receiving lavish gifts from a billionaire linked to other groups criticizing the same doctrine — which is now headed back to the high court. The so-called “Chevron deference” doctrine stipulates that the executive branch — not the federal…

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In order to preserve the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas must resign. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington today sent a letter to Thomas calling on him to resign and outlining why his resignation is a necessity. “This is not something we do lightly,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “This is a place we never wanted to be, but it has become clear that Justice Thomas likely violated civil and criminal laws and has created the…

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RonNell Andersen Jones and Dahlia Lithwick write: [N]o one should lose sight of the fact that Carroll’s win actually represents a staggering turning point: Even under the most free-speech-protective standard imaginable, Trump is accountable for his lies about her. At its core, and understandably, the two-week Carroll trial homed in on the dominant harm Trump inflicted on the former columnist—a traumatizing and life-altering sexual attack in a dressing room of a department store near Trump Tower. (Disclosure: One of us…

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Dahlia Lithwick writes: In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas resigned his seat at the Supreme Court for accepting $15,000 in exchange for a series of paid lectures at American University. Part of the Fortas scandal also involved news of him accepting a stipend for doing legal work for a very rich friend (money he had actually returned when the benefactor was indicted and before the outcry). None of Fortas’ colleagues defended him for this. No one blamed the press or even…

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The New York Times reports: The first recent wave of legislation tightening voting laws came in 2021, when Donald J. Trump’s false claims of voter fraud spurred Republican lawmakers to act over loud objections from Democrats. Two years later, a second wave is steadily moving ahead, but largely under the radar. Propelled by a new coalition of Trump allies, Republican-led legislatures have continued to pass significant restrictions on access to the ballot, including new limits to voting by mail in…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: The Proud Boys organization has expanded its reach since Jan. 6, 2021, researchers say, withstanding criminal prosecutions and lawsuits against members who joined in the breach of the U.S. Capitol. The group’s former chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and three lieutenants were found guilty of sedition charges on Thursday. The historic verdict followed a lengthy jury trial in Washington’s federal courthouse, just steps from the Capitol complex stormed by Proud Boys and other supporters of then-President Donald…

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Politico reports: Prosecutors are seeking the most severe sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — a 25-year prison term — for the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, characterizing it as a necessary punishment to deter future attacks against democracy. The Justice Department says Stewart Rhodes and his allies were among the most significant drivers of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol, amassing a stockpile of weapons nearby in Virginia…

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  The Washington Post reports: For nearly three decades, Leo has helped and led campaigns in support of the Supreme Court nominations of all the conservative judges now on the high court — John G. Roberts Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. He also has had the ears of the most recent Republican presidents. When President George W. Bush planned to praise racial diversity in his 2003 criticism of affirmative action, Leo…

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The Washington Post reports: Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents…

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