This was another one of those weeks where a lot of (American) stories are slowly developing as I type this–it feels like the news is holding its breath. Here’s hoping we’re not about to get a deluge.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a prime minister!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
On the Election Rejection front, one ring of the circus went weirdly quiet but we’re still in full swing. Here’s what I have for you:
- Election Rejection: Jan 6 Stuff. This is by far the biggest ring this week, and the biggest news is that the House panel has officially subpoenaed garbage cheeto Donald Trump to testify under oath by November 14. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail and a $6.5K fine for his failure to testify in front of the same panel. Finally, a federal judge held that documents from Trump’s attorney have to be turned over to the panel as well.
- Insurrection Update: FBI Tour of Mar-A-Lago. This front was pretty quiet this week, but we did see one story confirming that the classified documents recovered at Mar-A-Lago included state secrets about China and Iran, shocking basically no one. We’ll likely see follow-up on this one next week.
- Insurrection Update: Other Trump Cases. There was significant news this week regarding the Georgia criminal investigation into the 2020 election. At the top of the week, it sucked to be Lindsey Graham, who failed to convince an appeals court to pause his subpoena to answer questions from the prosecution. But then Graham appealed to the Supreme Court, which has already granted an administrative pause, and I would posit that it sucked to be the rest of us–but more on that below.
On the Biden Rebuilding front, there’s a lot going on as well for another week. Here’s what has happened:
- Biden Miscellany. Remember last week, when I said that it was a good idea to get your application in sooner than December of next year if you had federal student loans to cancel, because there was already a lawsuit challenging it and the judge was considering an injunction? Sadly, that injunction did go into effect before the week was even over. The Biden administration is still encouraging people to apply anyway, and it’s possible they feel emboldened because the Supreme Court opted not to hear an emergency appeal on the matter. At any rate, I’m sure I’ll have more news on that soon.
Your New Normal:
- Contagion Corner. There was a lot of news about how COVID harms the country this week. At the top of the week, the Washington Post ran a story about how COVID mortalities among white people have increased over time instead of decreasing, as they have done with other racial demographics. This was followed by a report from the GAO about how COVID has increased maternal fatalities, which were already much higher in the US than in any other wealthy country. Finally, a story broke just today about how COVID tanked math and reading scores–this past year’s results are the worst in thirty years across the whole country. So basically… COVID is not great for the country’s overall health and mental well-being. (I’m sure you’re utterly shocked by this unforeseen revelation.)
The Bad:
- SCOTUS Interruptus. Comey Barrett may have opted to keep SCOTUS out of the student loan suit, but her colleague Justice Thomas did not opt for the same restraint. Just today, he granted an administrative stay on the 11th circuit order that compelled Graham to comply with the Georgia investigation. This administrative stay is almost certainly so that the full court can consider Graham’s request to freeze the whole thing until the final appeal is over. That said, given Thomas’s wife’s active lobbying on that very issue, the administrative stay is also a frustrating reminder of the fact that SCOTUS effectively has no enforceable code of ethics.
The Good:
- Recent Energy Resilience.* There were a few headlines in the news this week about the first-ever lease sale to be held for offshore wind on the Pacific coast. As I understand it, this is a significant step forward in Biden’s clean energy plan. Hopefully, it’s also the second in a series of sales that will include several more off of Maine and the Gulf of New Mexico. Progress!
So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this frog dahlia hotel and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me recommendations of shows you like!
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