The district court in Utah has refused to appoint the interim U.S. Attorney to the post even though she’s obviously qualified and her confirmation by the Senate is imminent. It’s an outrageous combination of petty and stupid. 1/3 The Senate should confirm her immediately to show the  district court in Utah and elsewhere that—pace NJ—the default is not that judges pick prosecutors like in Italy or something. 2/3

Why did the Federal Judicial Center put out a publication that, essentially, says fossil-fuel manufacturers should lose climate cases? Why did Elena Kagan write a forward to it? Did they tell Congress this was coming? The impropriety and irresponsibility are staggering. 1/4 As Congress considers the FSGG appropriations, Republicans should ask the FJC why they quietly published a new edition of their "reference manual" for scientific evidence that is so biased it would make Al Gore blush. 2/4

Here’s the thing: SNAP’s authorization has lapsed. So even if the $3b (or however many billion the Judge from Motley Rice thinks) exists, the program requiring its expenditure does not. 1/9

https://twitter.com/ewess92/status/1984732872004002011

They don’t cover this in School House Rock but how a bill becomes a law happens twice for a government program: first when the program is authorized and second when it’s funded via appropriations. McConnell is assuming this is all about approps but it’s actually both. 2/9

At the outset of the current Trump administration, I had an op-ed in the WSJ on how law firms who terrorized the Trump 1 were signaling their Trump savvy to clients. I explained why that was a joke. Well, in today’s WaPo it seems some firms got the message. 1/12 Much of my piece involved how Biglaw gave Trump 1 alumni the cold shoulder, but I also discussed how Biglaw’s pro-bono industrial complex had fielded an army against Trump 1 and might do the same this time. 2/12

The Planned Parenthood TRO is probably the most insane judicial action this administration. A TRO directing an appropriation in the face of enacted statute is like Michelangelo-level resistance. Some have argued SCOTUS should reassign the case and there’s a lot to that. 1/x There’s a fascinating article on reassignment from the Stanford Law Review. It starts with a famous sentencing case where CA2 reassigned a case because the trial judge was both resisting and evading review. (Sound familiar?) 2/x

Jeff Flake gave my my start in politics and for that I’m grateful, but his commentary keeps missing the mark. Bc he’s not really in the game anymore he misinterprets what happened to Tillis, gives flawed advice, and downplays the threat of Democrats. 🧵1/21 Let’s start with TT. As I’ve said before in this context, it’s just not right to say that he refused to cling to Trump to win a primary. His problem was that Trump and Leadership wouldn’t let him move center *on policy* for the general election. 2/21