Attention to the Unseen

The Guardian reports: In the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency, a young lawyer with crisply shorn blond hair approached the podium at a gathering for Texas members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group that wields immense power in the US judicial system. As vice-president of the group’s Fort Worth chapter, Matthew Kacsmaryk had the honor of presenting the first speaker. “We are blessed to have Judge Edith Jones,” Kacsmaryk announced. Jones, a longtime judge on the US…

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NPR reports: Two Republican legal challenges to the legitimacy of ballots cast by U.S. citizens living abroad, including U.S. military members, hit setbacks Monday. A Michigan state judge dismissed one of three lawsuits that GOP groups filed in swing states in recent weeks, while in a North Carolina-based case, a state judge rejected the Republican National Committee’s request for the court to order that returned ballots of some overseas voters be set aside and not counted until the voters’ eligibility…

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The Guardian reports: Rudy Giuliani must give control of his New York City apartment, a 1980s Mercedes-Benz once owned by Lauren Bacall, several luxury watches and many other assets to two Georgia election workers he defamed. Lewis Liman, a US district judge in New York, appointed Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss as recipients of the property and gave the former New York mayor and Trump confidante seven days to turn over the assets. A jury ruled that Giuliani…

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The Washington Post reports: Republican lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina challenging the legitimacy of overseas ballots have prompted a backlash among military personnel, their spouses, veterans and elected officials. Scores of veterans and active-duty members of the armed forces have posted online or contacted their elected representatives out of concern that their votes might not be counted. Military and elected leaders, along with voting rights advocates, have decried the lawsuits as well, calling them a betrayal of the…

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Democracy Docket reports: A Georgia judge ruled Monday that certifying election results is a mandatory duty for county election officials. In his opinion, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney stated that “certifying election results…is mandatory” and “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.” Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration (BRE), filed the lawsuit…

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Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump has proposed a fascist plan to deploy military forces against U.S. citizens who oppose him on election day. “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” the former president told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo when she asked if he expects “chaos on election day” from immigrants. “We have some very bad people, some sick people, radical left lunatics…. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really…

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NBC News reports: Donald Trump is ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals, while dropping a long trail of suggestions that he favors outlawing political speech that he deems misleading or challenges his claims to power. In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. “She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump, who was found…

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Aziz Huq writes: The new Supreme Court term that began this week isn’t overflowing with obvious blockbusters. The justices have taken one big culture-war case — a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming health care for trans youth — but turned down invitations to deepen the court’s assault on the administrative state. Will such modesty last? One reason to think not is this: The presidential election cycle is just getting to the point where political conflicts could mutate into constitutional…

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Mark Joseph Stern writes: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is threatening TV stations that air ads in support of an abortion rights ballot initiative with criminal penalties, including jail time. DeSantis and his allies are already spending large sums of taxpayer dollars to fight Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution if voted into law in November. His “election police” have interrogated and intimidated residents who signed petitions to put it on the ballot. His administration created a publicly funded, state-run website condemning…

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By Doug Bock Clark and Heather Vogell This story was originally published by ProPublica An examination of a new election rule in Georgia passed by the state’s Republican-controlled election board suggests that local officials in just a handful of rural counties could exclude enough votes to affect the outcome of the presidential race. The rule was backed by national groups allied with former President Donald Trump. It gives county boards the power to investigate irregularities and exclude entire precincts from…

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