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.

1/JD Vance will sacrifice women’s rights given the opportunity. There is no doubt about where he stands on abortion: he is the guarantee that no matter what comes out of Trump's mouth while campaigning, he will support a national ban on abortion if reelected, 2/Vance’s position has long been that he’s “100% Pro-Life.” He scrubbed that off of his website recently, but you can still find it on the Way Back Machine. web.archive.org/web/2022040715…

1/One of my very smart friends pointed out last night that Joe Biden has gutted so many of Trump’s “arguments." They are gone in one fell swoop: President Biden’s age, Hunter Biden, the whole “Biden crime family” corruption allegations. All out the door. 2/ Nothing says women refuse to accept second-class citizenship like electing one. Nothing.

1/Public education is important. Well-educated citizens are more employable & prepared to compete in the 21st Century economy. Education reduces crime & improves public health & health equity. So of course, Project 2025 eliminates the Dept. Of Education. joycevance.substack.com/p/what-happens…
2/The Education Chapter in Project 2025 is 44 pages long. They are counting on the fact that no one will read it. So we looked at some of the details in Civil Discourse, my newsletter:

1/A week ago, Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation & architect of Project 2025, responded to Democrats plans to take on Project 2025. Roberts said, “Project 2025 will not be stopped,” & that Democrats are “more than welcome to try” to stop it. 2/On Tuesday, Roberts was on Steve Bannon’s War room. It was minus Bannon, of course, because he’s in federal prison. Roberts told a guest host: "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be"

1/ The more I read the immunity opinion, the clearer it becomes that the conservative majority is more concerned with concentrating power in the hands of the president than in how a president might abuse that power. Presidents as kings. 2/There is absolute immunity for a president acting within his constitutional authority and up to the full extent of the outer perimeter of whatever the Court says that authority is. Then, it gets even more troubling.

1/There are a few bright lines for today's immunity decision. Trump's lawyer conceded at oral argument that they were only asking for immunity for *official acts* not private ones, what I've often viewed as President Trump vs. Candidate Trump. Assuming the Court agrees, they may 2/provide a test for lower courts to use in distinguishing between official and private acts. That's likely a fact-based test, which will require judges to let parties argue the evidence, hold an evidentiary hearing, or both. It's also possible that the Court will decide that...

1/Loper Bright v. Raimondo, handed down on Friday by SCOTUS, will have a direct impact on all of our lives. It will upend agency regulations that are used to implement federal law. That sounds dry and far away from our daily lives. But it’s not. 2/The "administrative state" has operated since the Chevron decision in 1984 on the basic premise that Congress passes laws and agencies issue regulations that implement them. What happened when a regulated entity didn’t like an agency’s decision? They could sue.

1/In a 6-3 decision split on ideological lines, SCOTUS says a regulation against camping on public property can be enforced against homeless people.

First, but not the last, decision today. supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf…
2/My personal view is that this is a terrible decision that makes homelessness a crime. But it seemed clear during oral argument that this was where the majority was headed & today's decision unfortunately confirms that.