NEW: Rep. Ted Deutch became the 23rd lawmaker to call for an impeachment inquiry since Mueller testified -- and with him, a majority of House Democrats now say they'd vote to take that step.
-Deutch is chair of the Ethics Committee; 12 out of 20 standing committee chairmen would vote for an impeachment inquiry
-17 out of 24 Dems on the Judiciary Committee publicly support an inquiry. (And Nadler has backed it privately)
-Majorities of other investigative committees also support an inquiry, including 9/13 on the Intelligence Committee.
-Backers think there are a lot more to come; a slew of progressive members are still on the sidelines. But 218 is still a long way away, especially w/o Pelosi.
Dems who support an inquiry tell me they're watching two players:
-Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a Dem leader who is running for Senate and helped elect a lot of the freshmen in 2018
-Rep. John Lewis, who has deferred to Pelosi on the issue.
Their support could move a lot of other Dems.
One more notable fact:
-Though just 2 of the 6 chairmen Pelosi tasked with invsetigating Trump have come out for an impeachment inquiry (Engel and Waters), a majority of all their committee members support such a move.
61 out of the 114 on these panels want to take that step.
WHY SOME COUNTS DIFFER: A lot of the impeachment whip counts vary by a couple members. We included in ours everyone who confirmed - either to us or in statements - that they would vote for an inquiry.
Some members were explicit with us but haven't been public about it otherwise.
That includes members like Reps. Bass and Pallone -- who both say they're not necessarily agitating for an impeachment inquiry but would vote for one if it came before them.
To us, that's the key metric of support in a body that measures things by voting.
Dem #119 who would vote for an impeachment inquiry: Rep. AGUILAR is the 24th lawmaker to back an inquiry since Mueller testified.
There's some confusion out there about Pallone. Here's what he told me on July 18 - the day after the Al Green vote.
"Personally I think that he's obstructed justice and he's done all these terrible things that would qualify for impeachment. So that's why I vote that way..." 1/2
Pallone said he had qualms about whether it was worth the House's time because the Senate would just kill it. But he said he personally supports - and would vote for it.
"If the opportunity comes to vote, I will vote for it."
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This is wild. To try to prove Comey knew that "86" had a violent alternative meaning, the FBi interviewed Sammy the Bull, a notorious mass murderer and mobster who has praised Trump in recent years. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Funny enough, Gravano told the FBI to corrborate his view with longtime prosecutor/judge John Gleeson. Comey's team took him up on it and got this sworn affidavit from Gleeson. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
The FBI also based its case on an acquaintance of the Comeys, who told the Secret Service he must have known the violent meaning of "86," but may have based that view on a Rudy Giuliani podcast? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
NEWS: The Trump administration has activated a secretive and never-before-used legal process to quickly deport foreign nationals deemed to be “alien terrorists” or their immediate family members.
The Alien Terrorist Removal Court has existed but lain dormant since 1996 until Wednesday, when acting AG Blanche certified a classified submission to the court.
The judge asked for a "more thoughtful" submission by July 22.
Like the FISA court, the ATRC's 5 judges are selected by Chief Justice Roberts.
Judge Boasberg noted the court's existence last year when DHS sought to summarily deport 130 Venezuelan nationals Trump labeled "terrorists" under the Alien Enemies Act. politico.com/news/2026/07/1…
NEW: We've published a massively upgraded table of more than 15,000 rulings in ICE detention cases issued by judges amid President Trump's enforcement surge
Now you can sort by district, by judge, by substance, etc. — and click through to read the rulings politico.com/news/2026/05/1…
The bottom line: The federal judges have ruled more than 13,300 times — the overwhelming majority of the 15,100 rulings — that ICE had detained people in violation of the law or their due process rights.
ALSO NEW: Our latest anaylsis shows that despite the 5th Circuit's Feb. 6 ruling in favor of ICE's mandatory detention policy, judges there have overwhelmingly continued to reject detentions as a violation of detainees' due process rights.
At issue are hundreds of cases in which people have been ordered deported — sometimes after serious criminal offenses ranging form murder to rape to drug trafficking, but whose home countries won't accept them, or who have won protections from torture/persecution. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…
These people have served their criminal sentences but were released — sometimes years, and even decades ago — after ICE was unable to deport them.
The Trump administation has been re-detaining them and claiming to have restarted or reinvigorated deportation efforts, but courts have routinely found this to be predicated on "hope" rather than concrete progress. politico.com/news/2026/04/1…
Judge Kea Riggs, a Trump-appointed judge from Arizona, has ordered ICE provide a bond hearing a man in the United States for 25 years with no criminal record, who is the father of two US citizen kids, one of whom needs a heart transplant. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
We also have what appears to be the first and only ruling so far on the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy in the Northern District of West Virginia. John Bailey, a George W. Bush appointed judge, ordered the release of a man from Georgia. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
'UNIMAGINABLE CRUELTY': Judge Gary Brown, a Trump appointeee from NY, absolutely thrashes DHS' treatment of a man who came to the US. at age 9 and deemed an abuse/neglect victim, has no criminal record and became a college grad.
NEW: Four federal judges have formed a firewall against ICE in West Virginia — and say they’ll punish state and federal officials if they continue detaining people in ways the court has ruled illegal and unconstitutional.
For weeks, Judges Joseph Goodwin (Clinton), Robert Chambers (Clinton), Thomas Johnston (GWB) and Irene Berger (Obama) have been ordering the release of dozens of detainees ICE and its WV partners have picked up since Jan 1. But they’re not stopping there
They are calling out violations of court orders, sloppy paperwork in detention cases, the destruction of families, the erosion of civil liberties and a climate of fear wrought by masked agents operating on WV’s roadways. Contempt is next, they say. politico.com/news/2026/03/0…