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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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…
BREAKING: The Supreme Court has struck down President Trump's tariff authority, saying his claim of emergency authority to issue sweeping tariffs to America's trading partners was unlawful. supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…
Roberts, writing for the majority, says Trump's claim of an emergency to issue unbounded tariffs on whoever he feels like flies in the face of decades of law and practice. supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…
Gorsuch, in his concurrence, worries that granting a president sweeping new powers based on vague delegations from Congress would risk "permanent accretion of power in the hands of one man." supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf…
NEW: Judges are asking increasingly pointed questions about why ICE is detaining pregnant/nursing mothers — and whether a 2021 policy sharply restricting the practice remains in force.
They’ve ordered many released, warning of threats to safety/health.
The admin has told different judges different things re the policy. But outgoing spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin did defend the treatment of pregnant women in their custody and added “being in detention is a choice.” Self-deportation, she said, is another.
ICE's policy to sharply limit detention of pregnant/nursing mothers was adopted in 2021. It says ICE shouldn't detain pregnant/nursing mothers unless there are "exceptional circumstances." What are exceptional circumstances? Threats to life or national security. politico.com/news/2026/02/1…
Some people do Friday Zillow. We do Friday habeas. Here are some cases of people who have been detained by ICE and ordered released by judges who said the detention was illegal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Mexican man with no criminal history and six US citizen kids.