This is simply bonkers. The White House is in active discussions with DOJ about settling Trump's lawsuit against the IRS in his favor, *precisely because* a judge might soon throw it out. WH apparently wants DOJ to agree to "settle" the lawsuit *before* that happens. Insanity.

HOLY CRAP: Never seen anything like this: "DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case. It has misrepresented and withheld information to both this court [and Judge O'Connor in Texas... Its representatives have, under oath, misrepresented salient facts."

#BREAKING: MY Nicolle: “I’ve not heard you this angry in a long time.” Marc Elias: “…have we learned nothing?…has the broader legal community not leaned anything?…have people not learned that when you do this to Black voters it turns out bad for democracy for everybody? So yeah, I’m angry. I’m angry because of the appalling SILENCE that is going on right now around this case and the aftermath.”😳

What Clyburn is saying here is actually very important. The court found a way to rule that a 75% white district (higher than SC’s total non Hispanic white pop.) is legal if you call it a political gerrymander, but a 40 or 45% Black district is an illegal racial gerrymander.

The redistricting chaos we’re seeing in AL, FL, LA, TN, and VA is something #SCOTUS knowingly enabled, and it belies both the putative purpose of the “Purcell principle” and the Court’s repeated insistence that it’s staying out of the political process: stevevladeck.com/p/227-were-…

🇺🇸BREAKING: Someone placed a $920 million crude oil short at 3:40 AM. 70 minutes later Axios reported the US and Iran were close to a deal. Oil dropped 12%. The trade made $125 million in profit. Minutes after that Iran launched the “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” and oil surged 8%. $760 million placed before Trump’s last announcement. $920 million placed before this one. Every major announcement in this war has been front-run by someone who knew it was coming. What kind of war is this? This is more like a trading desk with an army. Never stop connecting the dots.

RT @JReinerMD: Last year half of CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program staff were fired. This is the group responsible for investigating cruise s…

The same justice as who said no, we can’t change what was then an unconstitutional district in Alabama that favored white voters because it was too close to the election. The Purcell principle applied when it worked for their side. But not this time. Partisan hacks.

Having used the shadow docket to halt maps favorable to minority voters because elections were approaching, it would be indefensible for the Court to refuse to apply the same standard now—when voting has begun in Louisiana and is days away in Alabama. democracydocket.com/opinion/…

Drawing a map that gives New Orleans no representation via executive order. A disgraceful assault on democracy and hard earned civil rights in the south:.

No better time for the people to restrain both the supermajority and minority wing of our superlegislature

1/2 Louisiana just interrupted an election where early voting had started. In Alabama, we were saddled with an unconstitutional map for an extra two years after a 2/22 ruling by SCOTUS deemed it too close to the election to do anything about it. Purcell is in the eye of the beholder, not much of a principle.

Two different technical, procedural moves from #SCOTUS yesterday have one thing in common: The Court is behaving differently in otherwise similar cases based upon the ideological/partisan valence of the dispute. Results aside, that's not a healthy trend: stevevladeck.com/p/226-two-m…

The Court slow walked taking it up. Slow walked deciding it. Avoided giving express direction to the lower courts. And created an entire series of atextual loopholes through which a president could abuse their power with impunity. There’s something amiss with this “analysis.”

This is incorrect. SCOTUS held that Section 5 of the VRA applies to redistricting back in 1969. It's true that *Section 2* claims against district maps didn't start until the 1980s -- after Congress amended the provision in 1982 (an amendment now undone by Callais).

Justice Kagan: "I dissent. The Voting Rights Act is—or, now more accurately, was—'one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation's history.' It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality. And it has been repeatedly, and overwhelmingly, reauthorized by the people's representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say it is no longer needed—not the Members of this Court. I dissent, then, from this latest chapter in the majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act."

Roy Moore "dated" 14-year-old girls as a 30 something lawyer and was kicked out of a mall for being creepy. (Trump still endorsed him). An ad ran on those facts, he sued, and an Alabama jury awarded him an 8 million dollar verdict. Today, the 11th Circuit vacated it. /1

Let’s be entirely clear about what this does. It blocks a man who was duly elected from taking office. It is wrong. House votes to merge New Orleans court clerks offices. Bill moves to governor’s desk nola.com/news/louisina-house…

A vascular surgeon friend spent $50,000 and over 2 years navigating the U.S. immigration system from petitions to waivers to medical exams. He did everything right. Lived legally in the country for 9 years now. Completed 8 years of US training. His green card petition was approved based on EB1A for extraordinary ability. Based on that, he signed a job in an underserved rural area that had been searching for his specialty for years, accepted a $100,000 signing bonus, bought a home, and enrolled his children in school. Then everything stopped because USCIS stopped processing application based on where he was born. No final step. No physical green card. Not even the work permit or travel document normally issued while you wait for your green card. Even his H-1B extension that hospital filled has been sitting for 6 months despite premium processing. In 1 week, he may lose his job, his health insurance, and his entire financial stability. He told me: “I don’t want this anymore.” He is now thinking of leaving the country. But then the question becomes: Who pays the mortgage? Who covers the loans he took? Who repays the signing bonus he accepted in good faith? When the government takes your money, approves your petition, invites you to build your life around it, and then freezes at the last step… That is not policy. That is not vetting. That is state-inflicted financial ruin, and punishment for trusting the legal process. #UscisPause #LiftTheHold

RT @PeterHotez: This is a lie. Measles has a well established mortality and morbidity rate among unvaccinated children. Once measles enter…