NEW: Last fall, Ed Martin—Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney in Washington, DC—presented an award to Jan. 6 defendant Tim Hale, who prosecutors described as a “Nazi sympathizer.”

Here’s a video of that moment, in which Martin calls Hale an “extraordinary man” and “extraordinary leader” of “those who have survived January 6.” Who is the man that Ed Martin referred to as an “extraordinary leader”?

In court filings, federal prosecutors described Timothy Hale as a “white supremacist.”

Hale allegedly said “Hitler should have finished the job” and referred to black people as “shit skinned minorities.”

Erez Reuveni argued on behalf of the Justice Department during Friday’s hearing in the Abrego Garcia case.

Reuveni has reportedly been placed on leave.

Here’s one exchange with the judge that may have contributed to his ouster:

https://twitter.com/glennthrush/status/1908619792124178501

Here’s another exchange that might have been disagreeable to DOJ leadership, who have accused Reuveni of failing to “zealously advocate” on behalf of the United States:

THREAD: Law firm statements issued in response to Trump’s executive orders targeting lawyers.

(This thread will be updated as more statements are released. Want to flag something I missed? DM me, email me at anna.bower@lawfaremedia.org, or message on Signal at annabower.24)🧵⬇️ Keker, Van Nest, & Peters:

“We encourage law firm leaders to sign on to an amicus effort in support of Perkins Coie's challenge to the Administration's executive order targeting the firm, and to resist the Administration's erosion of the rule of law."

NOW: Judge Howell is presiding over an emergency hearing regarding Trump’s executive order that targets Perkins Coie, a well-known law firm.

Chad Mizelle, AG Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, is here to represent the Trump administration. Counsel for Perkins Coie wrapped up after addressing questions from Judge Howell about how the EO could harm the firm’s business and ability to practice law.

Perkins Coie’s counsel, Dane Butwinkas, said the national security concerns raised in the EO are mere “pretext.”

I’m sad to learn that my law school classmate, Kiah Duggins, died in the DC plane crash.

Kiah was an exceptionally talented civil rights lawyer & aspiring legal scholar.

I hope you’ll read about her work and the issues she cared about, some of which I’ll 🧵 below.

What a loss. “Abolition and International Human Rights: Taiwan’s Affirmation of Black American Abolitionist Movements,” by Kiah Duggins:

journals.law.harvard.edu/crcl/wp-conten…

BREAKING: Justice Merchan orders Donald Trump be sentenced on Jan. 10 before his inauguration as President.

nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFs/pre… “ORDERED, that defendant appear for sentencing following conviction on January 10, 2025…”

Trump can appear virtually or in person, per order.

NEW: The Georgia Court of Appeals has canceled the Dec. 5 oral argument it previously scheduled to hear Trump’s appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

Argument is canceled “until further order of this court.” The court previously granted a request for oral argument—and as recently as last month extended the time allotted to the parties for argument.

Unclear what precipitated the hearing’s cancellation. But the court *can* issue a ruling based on the briefs without oral argument.

NEW: A Trump-appointed judge has rejected the RNC’s claim that some GA counties violated the law by accepting in-person delivery of absentee ballots over the weekend. The claim "does not withstand even the most basic level of statutory review and reading comprehension," he said. The ruling followed an hours-long hearing before Judge Stan Baker, a federal court judge appointed by Trump.

The RNC & GA GOP already lost a similar suit filed in state court last week.

https://x.com/AnnaBower/status/1852763531009204252

NEW: At a church in rural Georgia, attendees were informed that they are battling a “spiritual war” against election fraud.

Then they were told how to fight back: show up en masse to pressure local officials to withhold certification of the election.

lawfaremedia.org/article/david-… To demonstrate how it would work, a former law professor simulated a local elections meeting.

Attendees role-played large-scale civil disobedience, crowding around a volunteer to physically block law enforcement from removing her from the faux meeting. lawfaremedia.org/article/david-…

Folks, Georgia law does not allow rogue local officials to exclude entire polling precincts from being counted. There’s longstanding case law on that issue. If officials refuse to count a precinct, a mandamus action will surely follow and they will be compelled to certify.

https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1842912766073483692

As I’ve written for @lawfare, the Georgia Supreme Court confronted this issue more than a century ago after local officials tried to exclude an entire precinct in an effort to help their candidate win. The court forced them to count *all* precincts.

lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g…

Coming up at 9 am ET: Judge Robert McBurney is set to hold a hearing on the legality of several controversial rules adopted by Georgia’s State Election Board.

I previewed some of the legal issues at play last week. Catch up and follow along at 9👇⬇️ 🧵

lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g… The bench trial will be live-streamed, but there's no live-stream feed yet. I'll post when it's up. 2/

On Friday, Georgia's State Election Board passed a rule that would require poll workers to count ballots by hand.

Could the rule change upend the November election by delaying the reporting of results by weeks or months?

Almost certainly not. 🧵👇

lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g… As I explain for @lawfare, the confusion seems to stem from a misunderstanding of the distinction between counting *ballots* and counting *votes.*

The rule does not require a hand count of *votes,* which would indeed cause significant delays. 2/

lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g…

NEW: The new election rules in Georgia will almost certainly *not* hamstring the certification of the state’s electoral votes. And even if certification is delayed, such delays do not open up a legal loophole for Trump to steal the presidency. I explain ⬇️
lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g… A new Trump-friendly majority of Georgia’s State Election Board sparked controversy when it approved rule changes that commentators say could delay or outright obstruct certification of Georgia’s election results.

2/

lawfaremedia.org/article/will-g…

NEW: Attorney General Chris Carr says that Georgians who filed ethics complaints do not have authority to trigger a hearing process that could lead to the removal of State Election Board members.

law.georgia.gov/document/docum… Gov. Kemp asked for an opinion on the matter last month, after Democratic state officials and voting rights activists filed ethics complaints against three Trump-friendly members of the Georgia State Election Board. The complainants called on Kemp to remove members of the SEB.

https://twitter.com/annabower/status/1824526684403429567

A crowdfunding campaign that purports to be raising money for the Georgia State Election Board has received more than $6,000 in donations. The page claims that private donations are needed because Gov. Brian Kemp "defunded" the Board.

I asked the Board's chair for comment👇1/ The State Election Board's chairman, John Fervier, told me via email that the Board has no association with any outside group raising funds on its behalf.

"The State Election Board will not be accepting any funds that are raised by outside organizations or groups," he said. 2/

On Monday, an account that purported to be associated with the Georgia State Election Board appeared on X.

I reached out to the chairman of the board, John Fervier, to clarify whether the account reflects official communications from the State Election Board. 1/

https://twitter.com/georgia_seb/status/1828599646387614129

Fervier said the account was set up by another board member, Janice Johnston, without authorization.

“No authorization came from this Board to set up this account…I am currently researching the situation before any further action is taken,” Fervier told me. 2/

BREAKING: A superseding indictment has been returned in Trump's federal election interference case in Washington, DC. Trump is charged with the same criminal offenses as he was in the original indictment. But the new indictment, according to prosecutors, reflects "the Government's efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court's remand instructions" in the presidential immunity decision.

I’m just a lowly legal reporter but as a longtime Swiftie I can say that Taylor Alison Swift is almost certainly not showing up at the DNC tonight sorry One of Swift’s recent concerts was the target of a an attempted terrorist attack and she’s touring again in October. In an Instagram post yesterday, she said she won’t speak publicly about something if she thinks it could endanger fans who come to her shows.

SCOTUS handed Trump a victory by declaring that former presidents enjoy a great deal of immunity from prosecution for official acts.

But could a footnote buried in the court's opinion open up a loophole for the prosecution?

On the elusive footnote 3 🧵: lawfaremedia.org/article/what-s… The footnote arises in one of the more controversial parts of the court’s opinion. The majority, having decided that a president is presumptively immune from being held criminally liable for all official acts, goes one step further in Section III-C.

2/

BREAKING: Judge Aileen Cannon dismisses Trump’s classified documents case based on “violations” of the constitution’s Appointments Clause and Appropriations Clause Read Judge Cannon’s 93-page order dismissing Trump’s charges for u lawful retention of classified documents in Florida: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

NEW: Judge Cannon denies Trump's request for a Franks hearing on alleged false statements or omissions in the affidavit supporting Mar-a-Lago search warrant.

But she GRANTS his request for an evidentiary hearing on particularity of the warrant and attorney-client privilege. In other words: Judge Cannon thinks there needs to be further factual development before she can rule on Trump's motion to dismiss his charges based on insufficient particularity of the warrant and AC privilege.

Read Judge Cannon's full order here: documentcloud.org/documents/2478…