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
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
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."
NEWS: After canceling thousands of foreign students' immigration records — threatening their ability to study and live in the US — the Trump administration has reversed course and restored them all.
It follows intense pushback from courts across the country.
Details TK
ICE had terminated the records of thousands of students from a federal database called SEVIS that tracks their legal status in the country. The effect of those terminations was in dispute, but many students said they had been barred from continuing their studies and were at risk of deportation.
The reason ICE appeared to have canceled their SEVIS records? Minor legal infractions that showed up in criminal history searches — which the law explicitly says is not a basis to deny a foreign student, studying on an F1 visa, their legal status.
Now, after dozens of judges across the country flagged the likely illegality, ICE says it won't do that anymore. politico.com/news/2025/04/2…
By my count, there had been 103 lawsuits filed in the last 20 days, and judges had issued 50 restraining orders requiring the Trump administration to reverse the SEVIS terminations. Those decisions came in more than 23 states and from judges appointed by several presidents, including Trump. politico.com/news/2025/04/2…
It is unfathomable that Martin was unaware of the widely publicized allegations about Hale-Cusanelli, who he has interviewed for hours and whose case made national headlines for years after Jan.6.
BUSY NIGHT FOR THE COURTS: Late last night, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction barring DOGE’s access to sensitive Social Securitt data, saying the government flouted the law to provide unfettered access to DOGE without a reasonable basis. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
ALIEN ENEMIES ACT: The Trump administration filed an emergency motion to block Judge Boasberg’s initiation of contempt proceedings, saying his suggestion of forcing the administration to prosecute itself — or bring back deported Venezuelans — is unconstitutional.”
DISMANTLING CFPB: Judge Amy Berman Jackson has called a 10am hearing on whether the Trump administration violated her order against large-scale dismantling of the agency. She is seeking details of a purported reduction in force and the order to implement it.