Attention to the Unseen

David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher write: On the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Roberts Supreme Court, one point of consensus persists: Most Americans believe money corrupts the political process — and they want to overturn the Citizens United precedent that empowers oligarchs to buy elections. And yet, in two little-noticed cases — including one spearheaded by Vice President J.D. Vance — the high court could soon do the opposite, eliminating the last restrictions on campaign donations and…

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Adam Klasfeld writes: Donald Trump’s efforts to demonize and try to criminalize peaceful protest have grown more flailing and desperate as No Kings 2.0 approaches on Sat., Oct. 18. There’s been Trump’s absurd campaign to brand “antifa” as terrorists, even though anti-fascist activists are not a formal group and there is no such thing as a domestic terrorist organization under U.S. law. The First Amendment wouldn’t allow it, which is why Trump’s identical declaration about antifa during his first term…

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Don Moynihan writes: As Trump deploys a combination of ICE, National Guard troops and other paramilitary forces to multiple American cities, he is implementing a three-step plan. The plan involves different parts of the national security state, immigration enforcement, and the military: Purge – eliminating those deemed not to be aligned with Trump. Merge – combine different components into a single omniforce. Surge – impose Trump’s control over Democratic cities; instigate enough unrest to justify escalation; find examples to brutalize…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: A federal team in El Paso that once pursued child traffickers has been disbanded. A Kansas task force focused on stemming the flow of fentanyl has been redirected. Highway checkpoints near the southwest border—some on roads long identified as major drug-trafficking routes—have gone unstaffed. The shift reflects a broader realignment in federal law enforcement. Thousands of federal agents once tasked with investigating drug smuggling, sexual exploitation and organized crime have been redirected to immigration enforcement…

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The New York Times reports: More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public. At issue are the quick-turn orders the Supreme Court has issued dictating whether Trump administration policies should be left in place while they are litigated through…

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The New York Times reports: Escalating a standoff with federal prosecutors, a judge in Washington on Thursday formally declined to accept an indictment against a man whose case he said had morphed into an “unprecedented workaround” of the normal system of justice. The highly unusual rejection came from Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a magistrate judge, who refused to accept an indictment that prosecutors secured from a local grand jury in Washington only after a federal grand jury had declined to…

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  The Oregonian reports: A nine-day-old snippet of testimony in front of Oregon lawmakers is rocketing around social media as Portland awaits word from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on President Trump’s troop deployment plans. Oregon’s top military leader offered some reassuring — or infuriating, depending on one’s political perspective — comments about the role of National Guard soldiers during a proposed federal troop deployment to Portland. Speaking before a state Senate subcommittee, Brigadier General Alan…

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Axios reports: Members of Congress pushed back Friday against the White House announcing layoffs of federal workers as part of the government shutdown. Why it matters: The blowback includes Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who called the layoffs “arbitrary” and said she “strongly” opposes them. “Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said. Members of Congress from the Washington, D.C….

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Chicago Sun-Times reports: With an unusually loud bang of his gavel Wednesday morning, a federal magistrate judge agreed to dismiss charges against a Chicago couple found lawfully carrying loaded pistols last month outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview. A grand jury on Tuesday returned a “no bill” in the case of Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo, a prosecutor explained. In doing so, the grand jurors refused to hand up an indictment in the high-profile case resulting…

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