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: Marko Elez is back in govt (and has been for weeks); Amy Gleason’s job is to recommend DOGE detailees to agencies (who can say no), Luke Farritor has access to 12 sensitive databases.
Here are the details on Farritor’s extensive access as well as the system’s Elez can see. politico.com/news/2025/03/2…
Here is the access for Edward Coristine and Kyle Schutt, who has access to an HHS system related to “unaccompanied alien children.” politico.com/news/2025/03/2…
BREAKING: A second federal judge has barred the military from enforcing its ban on transgender service members. Details TK storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Judge Settle, a George W. Bush appointee, says the Trump administration provided no evidence that transgender service members negatively affect readiness, unit cohesion or lethality.
Here is the description of one of the transgender plaintiffs who would be forced out of the military under the Hegseth policy. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Judge Henderson (GHW Bush appointee) bases her ruling almost entirely on determination that Trump failed to justify claim of "invasion" or "predatory incursion." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Judge Millett (Obama) is focused more on due process and the failure to afford any to the people Trump claimed were members of Tren de Aragua. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Boasberg has taken the bench as he weighs whether to vacate his restraining order on deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
Boasberg comes in hot: Wants to know why the lawyer who originally argued the case didn't show up to hearing Monday. He says the filings since have used "the kind of intemperate and disrespectful language I’m not used to hearing from the United States."
DOJ lawyer Drew Ensign says he believed Boasberg intended the planes to be turned around when he issued his oral order in court over the wekend: "I understood the intent that you meant that to be effective at that time."
BREAKING: A federal judge in Maryland has just barred DOGE from accessing Social Security systems, saying the group is on a "fishing expedition" that jeopardizes people's personal data.
NEW: Judge Hollander ruled that DOGE was granted unusual access to non-anonymized social security data and could not identify any basis for that degree of access.
She wants access limited, installed software removed and data taken out of SSA destroyed.
MORE: Judge Hollander called it ironic that DOGE demanded anonymity for their staffers but “did not appear to share a privacy concern” for people whose data could be exposed at Social Security. politico.com/news/2025/03/2…
Badar Khan Suri has not been charged with any crime, but his lawyer says DHS whisked him to detention Monday night. He's since been trasnferred to a facility in Louisiana. His lawyer compares Suri's plight to Mahmoud Khalil.
We came across the case earlier today on the federal docket in Va., but the habeas petition was not public. A quick search of Suri's name, though, revealed his Georgetown connection -- as well as numerous articles about his wife, Mapheze Saleh.