It's 2:55 a.m. and I just figured out how Pence massaged the rules of the Electoral College counting session to avoid introducing the "rival" slates of Trump electors.
These are the instructions VPs have given out at the start in each of the last 5. Note the difference?
TLDR: The law specifies that the VP must introduce all "purported" electoral votes. This year, that might've included the unserious/mock Trump electors.
But Pence worked with the parliamentarian to interpret it so only electors backed by a state "authority" would be introduced.
Note how Pence emphasizes, before introduced each state that not only is the slate of electors "regular" and "authentic," but that the parliamentarian has advised him is the only one backed by a state "authority."
That is not a regular acknowledgment at these sessions.
A lot of people interested in this process. Even had Pence introduced these electors, which it’s not entirely clear he had authority to do, they would be legally invalid and unable to be counted by Congress. It would have accomplished nothing except making a lot of people angrier
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NEW: Trump's latest legal rejection comes from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which ruled his tariffs in response to "national emergencies" were illegal. politico.com/news/2025/05/2…
The three-judge panel that ruled against Trump? Appointees of:
HERE WE GO: Latest hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case is underway with Judge Xinis on the bench.
XINIS says she intends to do as much of this in open court as possible, despite discussion of privileged materials. they can use the husher/phones if they need to reference confidential info, she notes.
XINIS signals frustration with the Justice Department for not making available officials with firsthand knowledge of Abrego Garcia's status and efforts to facilitate his return, despite her order. She notes the depositions were crammed with "I don't knows" from the witnesses.
The judges’ message has sharpened amid Trump’s increasingly aggressive effort to short-circuit due process for those he deems. And it’s coming from judges appointed by presidents of both parties — including Trump himself.
Trump has questioned whether he owes a constitutional right of due process to those he deems gang members or terrorists. His aides say they’re following the constitution and that Trump’s electoral mandate to carry out mass deportation should win the day. politico.com/news/2025/05/1…
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Boasberg is pressing DOJ about Trump's comment that he could pick up the phone and have El Salvador send back Abrego Garcia. Doesn't that mean U.S. effectively has custody over deported migrants, he's asking?
DOJ LAWYER ABISHEK KAMBLI:
“That goes toward the president’s belief about the influence that he has.”
"Influence does not equate to constructive custody."
JEB: “Is the United States paying El Salvador to house these migrants?”
KAMBLI: “There is no agreement or arrangement whereby the United States maintains any agency or control over these prisoners.”
JEB: But there’s a formal notice of a $4.76 million grant to El Salvador dated March 22
KAMBLI: There were grants that were made to El Salvador for law enforcement and anti-crime purposes that can be used.
MORE: Boasberg pins down DOJ lawyer on whether the Supreme Court upheld Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (it didn't) as Trump and his aides falsely claimed.
JEB: "The Supreme Court did not decide one way or the other about the validity," he notes.
KAMBLI, reluctantly agreeing, says "It did have that line that ... they did not analyze that precise issue."
BREAKING: A judge has ordered the immediate release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia student detained amid Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.
@liz_crampton was in the Vermont courthouse where the decision just came down.
@liz_crampton NEW: Columbia pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi walked out of court today after a judge ordered his immediate release from ICE detention. His words to Trump: "I am not afraid of you."