1/Trump's nominations of Gabbard & Gaetz are designed to provoke outrage. But they’re also a test for the Senate. A test of whether the Senate will be loyal to the Constitution or whether it will bend the knee to Donald Trump. joycevance.substack.com/p/will-the-sen… 2/Alabama Senator “Coach” Tuberville said Trump was elected by an “enormous vote” (he wasn’t) & “deserves” the team” he wants. But that’s not how it works. Tuberville, doesn’t understand how the Constitution works. Presidents must have the advice & consent of the Senate.

1/ This morning I wrote about the GOP in Georgia trying to stop people from turning in absentee ballots in person over the weekend. But they lost --the law they used is about drop boxes & early voting, not absentee ballots. Embarassing. joycevance.substack.com/p/smells-like-… 2/Instead of taking the loss after the Judge patiently walked them through their error they turned around & refiled in federal court.

1/When Trump asked Judge Chutkan to delay the release of the appendix to the Special Counsel's immunity filing, he claimed it was necessary because Jack Smith is "cherry-picking" the evidence. It sounds like there's something Trump doesn't want made public. But today it will be. 2/Trump called that election interference. Judge Chutkan rejected that argument: "If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access...that withholding could itself constitute—or appear to be—election interference."

1/ Yesterday was an important day in election litigation. Let's catch up: First, in Adams v. Fulton County Judge McBurney held: “some things an election superintendent must do...with no discretion to do otherwise. Certification is one of those things.” This is a big deal. 2/ Why? Because one of the fears in the wake of strengthening the Electoral College Act to make another 1–6 less possible is that those efforts will happen at the state & county level where MAGA officials could refuse to certify. If that happens, the solution is going to court.

1/There is more to this election than the most recent poll: Last week the FBI arrested an ISIS linked terrorist as he bought weapons & ammo from someone he didn't know was with law enforcement to carry out a violent election day attack. But this story has barely been covered. 2/The threat from white supremacist groups also has not disappeared. DOJ has taken extraordinary steps to coordinate with state & local law enforcement to minimize the threat. But you may not have heard a lot about the election threat task force, either. justice.gov/voting/electio…

Memories are short. But I went back thru old tweets to see just how strong the protest against a hush-and-hurry-up confirmation proceeding for now-Justice Kavanaugh was after allegations of sexual assault, which he denied, surfaced.

https://x.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1044052241215311873

Then there was that time Kavanaugh wouldn't let his wife answer a question about whether investigation was merited.

https://x.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1044459648315781121

DOJ has charged (in a complaint not a grand jury indictment, which suggest urgency) an Afghani national in a terrorist plot on election day.Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is charged with material support of ISIS & conspiring to receive weapons & ammunition. justice.gov/opa/media/1372… Per DOJ: Tawhedi "conspired & attempted to provide material support to ISIS & obtained firearms & ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS. As part of the plot, the defendant allegedly took steps to liquidate his family’s assets, resettle members of his family overseas, acquire AK-47 assault rifles & ammunition & commit a terrorist attack in the US"

1/Trump's claim that “illegal aliens” are voting and poised to “steal” the election from him is a lie. Noncitizens can’t just walk across the border and register to vote. It’s a federal crime for noncitizens to vote in a presidential election. That doesn't stop him though... 2/Despite the lack of evidence that noncitizen voting is a problem, last January, Trump began ginning up concern that it is. How bad has it gotten? Read on. apnews.com/article/trump-…

1/ @wapo reports that early in his presidency, the Secret Service warned Trump about concerns about protecting him if he continued to golf at his courses, because of their proximity to public roads. Trump told them his courses were safe & kept playing. washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/… 2/The Secret Service did its job—the gunman didn’t get closer than 500 feet, about a football field & 1/2, to Trump. The gunman didn’t get a shot off, despite the fact that Trump’s outing had not been previously planned, which forced Secret Service agents “to work on the fly”

1/For those of you who want to take a look at the statutes DOJ is using, (I've ironically been discussing with my students in class this past week), start with 18 USC 922(g) the felon in possession charge. Routh has at least one felony law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…

https://twitter.com/Tom_Winter/status/1835697509601067301

2/The criminal history I've seen is probably incomplete, but shows a lot of misdemeanors and one 20 year + old felony. But that qualifies. Prosecutors often use their discretion not to charge a very old felony & say, someone with a hunting gun, but that won't be the case here.

1/Emotions today, September 11, 2024, run the gamut from the joy at the remarkable experience of watching Kamala Harris mop the floor with Donald Trump in the debate last night to the horrific sadness of yet another commemoration of the 9/11 anniversary, 23 years later. 2/Today should be a day of national remembrance and public service. Instead, democracy is fighting for its life. It feels theatrical to write those words, but that doesn't change the fact that they are true. We saw it on full display in the debate last night.

1/Trump is trying to convince people there will be no place for them in Kamala Harris’ America. It is the same strategy he has always used: Divide people—stoke hate. Stoke fear about the changing demographics that mean we are rapidly becoming a majority-minority country. 2/People need reassurance that with the changes, there is still a place for them in America. It's hard to understand people who support Trump even though it’s against their own best interests. It’s easier to understand the political types—they want power & relevance.

1/Friday, Donald Trump’s lawyers and the Special Counsel’s Office filed their joint status report, noting, with lawyerly restraint, that they had conferred and were reporting to the court on their positions “jointly where possible.” In other words, they were largely unable to agree. 2/The bottom line is that Trump’s lawyers are devoted to preventing the public from learning anything about the Special Counsel’s evidence in the case before the election. It’s the same strategy we’ve seen Trump use repeatedly in litigation: delay, delay, delay.

1/While a Kennedy prepares to support a candidate who opposes all the values of service and country his father and uncles stood for, a former Trump White House official took to the podium at the DNC to denounce Trump. 2/Former Pence advisor @OliviaTroye said "Being inside Trump's White House was terrifying, but what keeps me up at night is what will happen if he gets back there. The guardrails are gone. The few adults in the room the first time resigned or were fired."

1/By now, you’ve probably seen the reporting about Georgia, where a pro-MAGA majority on an unelected state election board appointed by partisans is making it systematically more difficult for “people” to vote. Voter suppression is nothing new in the South. 2/But anti-voting activity is ramping up in Georgia because the state that delivered its 16 electoral votes to Joe Biden in 2020 along with two senators to create the Democratic majority in the Senate is firmly in play in 2024. It's important to understand what's going on.

1/ Sentencing Trump now isn't election interference. He's already been tried & convicted; the public has learned all of the facts. DANY should push ahead & insist on sentencing now, as for any other defendant. Enough special treatment for Trump.

https://twitter.com/11thHour/status/1824289119951835468

2/ To the extent Trump argues evidence barred by the SCOTUS immunity decision was improperly used, it's time to employ our common sense. Trump talked w/Hope Hicks about paying off a debt he contracted before he was even elected—the Stormy Daniels hush $—in the Oval Office. So what? That doesn't make the conversation an official act. It was purely private conduct & the evidence was properly admitted at trial. Sentence Trump & he can appeal like any other defendant.

1/The excitement around the Harris-Walz ticket has given Dems renewed hope they'll win. With that hope has come concern that Trump will try to steal the election again. History is full of failed coups that were preludes to successful ones. 2/Past experience teaches anyone who isn’t deliberately trying to ignore it that Trump will not go quietly if he loses. He has too much at stake—like staying out of prison. But it's harder to maneuver than in 2020 b/c he doesn't have the power of the presidency at his disposal.

1/Yesterday, the Special Counsel asked Judge Chutkan for 3 extra weeks to file the joint status report she'd asked for today, b/c they are still "assess[ing] the new precedent” on presidential immunity from SCOTUS. Trump’s lawyers didn’t oppose Jack Smith’s request. 2/What does that mean, and why is the government asking for more delay in the case? Those are legitimate questions, but I would not be quick to criticize the Justice Department here.

1/Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who has already pled guilty and tearfully apologized for her role in pushing the Big Lie following the 2020 election in Georgia, has a plea deal in Arizona. It’s what prosecutors call a sweetheart deal. 2/In exchange for her full cooperation in both state and federal proceedings (this could just be boilerplate language though; we don’t know if anything specific is contemplated in the agreement), all of the charges against her will be dismissed.

1/Yesterday, Judge Tanya Chutkan received clearance from the appellate courts to get back to work in the Special Counsel’s election interference case in Washington, D.C. She did not waste any time. 2/First, she denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the entire case on presidential immunity grounds. She also directed the parties to file a joint status report by August 9, not even a week away, and she set a scheduling conference for the following week on August 16 at 10 a.m.

1/Monday night I had the pleasure of joining @JaredHuffman & @RepRaskin for a deep dive on Project 2025, which is available on YouTube.
2/Congressman Raskin stalked out this territory: it’s no longer appropriate to refer to elected Trump Republicans & GOP appointed SCOTUS justices as “conservatives.” That old-timey word implies a legitimacy that the unprincipled members of the cult of personality don’t deserve.