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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HAPPENING NOW: In federal court in MN, DOJ is struggling to articulate why a person following an ICE vehicle — so long as they are obeying traffic laws — can be stopped for "reasonable suspicion" of a crime.
Judge Menendez sharply questioning that contention.
Judge Menendez has not tipped her hand entirely yet but she seems concerned that DOJ provided no firsthand evidence to counter the specific, evidence-backed claims by protesters that they were arrested / seized in retaliation for First Amendment speech.
Under questioning from Menendez, DOJ struggling again to articulate why ICE officers can draw guns on drivers who are following them, so long as those drivers are not breaking traffic laws or posing any other articulable threat.
BREAKING: A day after the Minneapolis shooting, Secretary Noem quietly signed a new policy barring congressional visits to ICE facilities without a week's advance notice.
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Smith was barred from discussing any nonpublic parts of his classified documents probe by Judge Cannon's order prohibiting DOJ from divulging any nonpublic info about it.
DOJ opted against having a lawyer present for Smith's deposition.
In a late night filing, DOJ says Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be returned to detention because he is subject to laws governing detention during deportation proceedings — and “may seek a bond hearing” before an immigration judge. However … storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
The administration has been arguing in thousands of cases that people in Abrego’s position are not entitled to bond hearings at all — and rather are subject to mandatory detention. Hundreds of judges across the country have ruled that position illegal politico.com/news/2025/11/2…
And DOJ knows, but doesn’t mention here, that the immigration courts are all bound by a recent Board of Immigration Appeals ruling — breaking with decades of precedent — finding that bond hearings are not available to virtually anyone facing deportation proceedings. politico.com/news/2025/09/0…
HAPPENING NOW: Taylor Taranto, a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant who was convicted for bringing weapons to Obama’s neighborhood, has returned to DC and has been roaming Rep. Jamie Raskin’s neighborhood — alarming police.
Today, DOJ asked a judge to immediately re-jail him.
Taranto lives in WA state but drove across the country in recent weeks. He has filmed ominous videos from the Pentagon parking lot and was wandering Raskin’s Takoma Park area at 2am. DOJ says it’s nearly identical conduct to what he was charged for in 2023.
Judge Nichols, who convicted Taranto in a bench trial earlier this year, is weighing whether to detain him immediately for violating his supervised release conditions.