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Year 4, Week 42 (November 1-7)

November 9, 2020November 10, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Well readers, I was banking on a rapid news cycle to justify the return to our normal schedule, and I sure wasn’t disappointed! Thankfully, most of this week’s news was gentler than last week’s horrorshow, but don’t let that lull you back to sleep–we’re not out of the woods just yet.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a landscaping company!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We mostly saw some disturbing Presidential election things that landed in this section, but we also saw more Original Flavor Disregard of Governing Norms.Here’s what I have for you:

Concession Cancelation. Early Saturday morning, election data began to suggest a conclusive victory for Joe Biden; by mid-afternoon, the Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election. A huge chunk of the country began celebrating in the streets, and under a normal administration, this would be the whole story–but it’s the Trump Administration, so nobody’s shocked that this somehow leads to a Constitutional Crisis Corner. Trump is still moving forward on his bogus lawsuits as I type this, refusing to acknowledge the lack of evidence of his claimed voter fraud as he makes it extremely clear that he will not be conceding in this or any other lifetime. To punctuate the point, his person at the General Services Administration flat-out refuses to officially affirm the election results, a necessary step for beginning the transition process. Meanwhile, a number of Republicans are backing his play, and the Department of Justice has authorized a probe of the 2020 election–again, despite the utter lack of evidence to suggest voter fraud was a thing. Needless to say, though Saturday gave us a bit of a breather, we need to be watching election news very, very carefully.

Post Office Election Sketchiness. I said I would keep folks posted on the court case where the U.S. Postal Service failed to sweep USPS locations for ballots left behind, and I do have more updates. Most notably, in addition to the USPS total failure to comply with the order, it became clear by Friday that the U.S. Postal Service processed 150,000 ballots after Election Day, and more than 12,000 were in swing states Trump is suing over. Unsurprisingly, the judge was not impressed, and hinted that he may hold officials in contempt of court.

White House Revolving Door Still Spins. Trump may be a lame duck, but that hasn’t stopped him from venting his spleen by firing people. News began filtering down by Friday that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was preparing a resignation letter because he expected to be fired after the election. And Esper was absolutely correct, because Trump fired him today, making him the fourth official fired in the past week. Esper’s firing is particularly disturbing because it’s believed he was let go in part due to his reluctance to deploy U.S. troops in domestic cities, which has potential implications for the two paragraphs above.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Other Election Updates. Obviously I led with the biggest stuff, but there is still more election news to know, ranging from “unusual result” to “just plain weird”. Both GA senate races are definitely going to a runoff, which will be held on January 5, and it’s honestly an open question who will hold the Senate majority as a result–an unusual result to cap an unusual year. We also still lack conclusive Presidential tallies in several states, though Biden definitely has enough electoral college votes to win. Of course, the lack of finality didn’t stop people from celebrating en masse, and even other countries congratulated us, which seems like something of a referendum abroad. Nonetheless, House Democrats are already fighting about why they didn’t perform better, though they look likely to retain their majority as I type this. And in hilarious weird news, Team Trump held a press conference outside of Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, right between a sex shop and a crematorium–which, as Ali Davis put it, is where we all are, metaphorically speaking. (One presumes that the team tried to book the Four Seasons Hotel and missed.)

Et Tu, Fox News? One incredible consequence of the past week has been absolutely no media tolerance for Trump nonsense, even in corners of traditional support. Several networks straight-up cut away from his remarks on Wednesday or called his statements ‘lies’ or ‘falsehoods,’ which is a substantial shift in tone. Even Fox News, frustrated by the administration’s criticism, blatantly cut away from the White House Press Secretary mid-sentence today. “I just think we have to be very clear that she’s charging [that] the other side is welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting,” said Fox anchor Neil Cavuto as he cut the feed. “Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue showing you this.”

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. As I noted last week, COVID numbers look really bad–case numbers are continuing to set new records, and hospitalizations are rising quickly too. The White House continues to have high-profile infections: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows tested positive sometime last week, apparently asking people not to disclose this fact, and as of today Ben Carson tested positive as well. The stimulus legislation is also going nowhere as I type this, though that might change in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, we have more positive news on this front than we’ve had in a long time, because Pfizer announced their early vaccine data suggests 90% effectiveness. (Unsurprisingly, the stock market loved this news.) President-Elect Biden also announced his COVID-19 advisory board today, which is full of very qualified medical professionals.

Au Revoir, Paris Agreement. The United States officially left the Paris Agreement this week, formalizing a Trump decision that has been several years in the making. Of the 200 countries that signed this agreement, we are the only ones to walk away, making the whole thing even more painful. President-Elect Biden has signaled that he will rejoin the agreement as soon as possible, but it may take time for this to occur.

The Good:

Promising Biden Beginnings. Despite not taking office until January at the earliest, President-Elect Biden is already moving forward on several key issues. As I mentioned above, he announced a COVID-19 task force today, and speaking as a health law professional I am very reassured by its members. He also signaled he will issue executive orders to undo damage on several critical issues upon assuming office, such as rejoining the Paris Agreement, undoing the Muslim ban, and revoking the global gag rule. Not everything can be undone by executive action, but given his extensive political experience I do trust President-Elect Biden to know exactly what can be remedied quickly.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this compilation of election memes and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) 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 photos of your pets again!

Year 4, Week 41 (October 25-31)

November 4, 2020November 5, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I’m gonna level with you all: I really hate this mad tea party ride we’re all trapped on for the week. We do have some relatively firm facts, which I will certainly report on, and I feel very confident that there was a lot of voter suppression and racism this year. Beyond that? We’re stuck reading tea leaves as I write this, even the day after a major election. And that’s hard to sit with, but I’m here if I can be a support, and I think we all deserve to have the good news first this week.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a polling place!–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!

The Good:

LGBT Representation. As I mentioned above, we may not know much, but we do know we hit some LGBT representation landmarks yesterday! In Ohio, a police officer fired for being gay became the new sheriff in her county, beating out the guy who fired her. Additionally, we know there will be at least eleven openly-LGBTQ representatives in the 117th Congress, including our first-ever openly gay Black representatives. Additionally, San Diego is poised to elect its first-ever openly gay mayor, though that region still has votes to tally. Progress!

Substance Use and Recovery Reform. Oregon voted by referendum to pass an incredibly progressive piece of recovery legislation yesterday, and I’m really excited about it! The referendum decriminalized personal possession of several types of narcotics and created a state-funded recovery program that will be subsidized in part by taxation of marijuana. An Oregon official described the approach as “like taking a sledgehammer to the War on Drugs,” because the approach heavily prioritizes a public health framework for recovery rather than a criminal one. I’m honestly really really excited to see this approach pioneered!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We did see some disturbing Presidential election things that landed in this section, but we also saw more Original Flavor Disregard of Governing Norms this week. Here’s what I have for you:

I Hereby Claim You Are The Worst. As foretold by prophecy, Trump didn’t even wait for election results to begin messing with them. By Tuesday night he was issuing some disturbing tweets and a preemptive acceptance of victory, which state officials simply ignored as they resumed counting on Wednesday morning. (Twitter, for its part, applied warnings to his tweets labeling them as election misinformation.) When it became clear that counting was continuing on Wednesday, and that pausing the counting would actually lose him the election, Trump pivoted to suing for recounts in three states, despite the lack of official results in those states. He also announced on Twitter that he was “hereby claiming” three states’ electoral college votes, despite absolutely no legal authority to do so. Needless to say, we knew this part of his re-election plan was coming, but that doesn’t make it fun to see in action, and I have suggestions for response below.

Trump Tax Redux. In the wake of the election, surprise, we’re back to this again! Current news is that Deutsche Bank is now trying to sever ties with 45 after the election, apparently because they are tired of the liability he creates. This is particularly noteworthy because several of his giant loans from them become due in the next few years. And just in case we forgot, the New York Times would also like to remind us that Trump has not, in fact, paid income tax most years (despite his recent claims otherwise). As Deutsche Bank appears to be sensing, all of these things are likely to carry consequences for Trump if he’s kicked out of the Oval Office in January.

The U.S.: Not A Party. A federal judge issued his full ruling this week explaining that Trump can’t make a defamation case go away by adding the U.S. Government as a party and then claiming sovereign immunity applies. This means E. Carroll’s lawsuit can go forward, at least for now, and we have more precedent clarifying that Trump isn’t acting in his official capacity as President when he says mean things about private citizens on the Internet. Which sure is a thing we have to build precedent about, because 2020 is the year that never stops giving.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Other Presidential Election Updates. There is plenty of Presidential race news other than Trump’s twitter tantrums, of course. In the days leading up to the election, there was a giant rush of court cases about voting laws, several of which did make their way to the Supreme Court. At the time that I type this, outlets are estimating Joe Biden has anywhere from 253 to 264 of 270 needed electoral college votes, with several swing states still inconclusive–in North Carolina and Pennsylvania’s cases, because the Supreme Court mandated full counting of ballots in said court cases. There was also a court case ordering the U.S. Postal Service to reverse mail collection limits and sweep USPS locations for ballots left behind–and the USPS did not comply. It’s not fully clear what this means for the 2020 election, other than “more evidence of voter suppression,” but the case is ongoing and I’ll keep folks posted.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. Our eyes were fixed on election news this week, but COVID news remains quite bad, and it deserves our attention as well.On Friday, the United States broke a global record with a horrifying 100,000 new COVID cases in one day and over 9 million cases total. Many of these jumps are biggest in swing states, where Trump rallies have created superspreader events. Nonetheless, the administration claimed in the week leading up to the election that it “END[ED] THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC”–a truly stunning claim even from an administration known for its blatant lies–and that a daily death rate of nearly 1,000 was “almost nothing.” There is also some indication it is obfuscating which hospitals have reached capacity, as hospital admissions are also increasing. Top health official Dr. Anthony Fauci, unsurprisingly, is warning that we are reaching “a critical point” as we head into the winter, and describes the U.S. as “in a bad position” with regard to the virus. Equally unsurprisingly, Trump is already openly talking about firing Dr. Fauci, even though he can’t legally do that.

Black Lives Still Matter. There was a lot of unrest in Philadelphia in the week leading up to the election due to the shooting of Walter Wallace Junior in front of several family members who say they were trying to de-escalate the situation. Philadelphia imposed a curfew and called in the National Guard by mid-week, but protests continued for the entire week. The situation was further inflamed when Philadelphia police seized a toddler and used him for a photo op. This contextualized Philadelphians’ unrest today after the election, when Black communities protested both voter suppression and extrajudicial shootings as one interrelated issue.

The Potentially Very Bad:

Senate Race Updates. Control of the Senate is looking way tighter than we want it to, and we’ll have to sit with that for at least a week. At least five races still require voter counts as I type this, though the exact number of confirmed seats is varying from outlet to outlet. North Carolina may count through November 12, and Alaska will take at least a week as well. We may get full results sooner in Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona, particularly because some outlets are already calling the Arizona race. Compounding that long wait, several close races resulted in states staying red, and only one net gained seat (Colorado) has been confirmed by every outlet. We’re definitely stuck with Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham another term, and Susan Collins is the presumed victor in Maine as well. The Democrats may end the election season with a slight majority in the Senate, but it’s absolutely possible that they won’t, and that would make rebuilding very hard even if Biden does take the Presidency.

What We Can Do:

Protect the Counting Process. This one shouldn’t be a big deal, but thanks to the scary tweets that Trump has been issuing and threats to send armed federal officers into voter counting locations, it is–we need to make sure state officials actually count all valid votes under their own election laws. Some GOP officials are already breaking with Trump on this one, and Democrats are calling for every vote to be counted en masse. Several cities are seeing protests or rallies on this topic as well, advocacy tools like Count All Votes are starting to pop up, and Democracy Docket can keep you up to speed on all of Trump’s lawsuits. Especially if you live in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, or Wisconsin, please call your reps and state party to keep up pressure on this issue and find out what is being done to protect the counting process!

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this soothing Townsend video and the world’s largest devil’s toothpaste experiment, as well as an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) 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 a Tums value pack!

Year 4, Week 40 (October 18-24)

October 26, 2020October 27, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

We’re at T minus one week, give or take, and all I have to show for it is an empty bottle of Tums. If you’re feeling the stress too, feel free to reach out–this is rough, and I want to support you. We’re already doing it for the antacid industry; we might as well do it for each other!

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a debate!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We’re back to a mix of COVID and election news in Disregard of Governing Norms, which are two garbage tastes that don’t taste great together. Here’s what I have for you:

Guess Who’s Coming to COVID. Five–count ’em, five–members of the Pence staff working on the Coronavirus Task Force now have tested positive for COVID-19, including Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short. Though infection can happen to any of us, the Pence team was famous for refusing to wear masks even though they were literally in charge of telling us all to wear masks, so this seems fair to file under the “disregard of governing norms” folder. Meanwhile, Pence is continuing to travel despite repeated exposure to five different COVID-positive people. I think this Twitter user speaks for us all when she notes, “If that doesn’t sum up this administration I don’t know what does.”

Surprise, It was Iran! Probably. Voters in three states received threatening emails this week telling them to “vote for Trump or else!” from the email address “info @ officialproudboys.com,” but investigation showed that the emails had originated overseas. Eventually, the Department of Homeland Security said that Iran was responsible, and that Russia was likely interfering as well. Both Russia and Iran deny these charges, which in the before times I would say is a likely lie, but since our own President lies fifty times per day I no longer believe we have any stones to throw here.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Other Election Oddities (Again). The final debate came and went on Thursday, and Trump did in fact show up even though his microphone could be muted. (Everyone was pretty well-behaved, although Trump did say of COVID, “I take full responsibility, it’s not my fault.”) Meanwhile, people are still worried about the U.S. Postal Service, which will be responsible for delivering millions of ballots but is still having issues even though the June changes have been recalled. Perhaps because of this, early voting numbers are historically high, but reports of in-person voter intimidation are coming in as well. We can probably expect things to amp up even more in the coming week.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. This section is starting to feel like Groundhog Day, because I keep having to type the same things over and over–you can probably guess the entire paragraph by now, but let’s go through it anyway. Congress keeps failing to reach a COVID relief deal, mostly because an increasingly-zombified and distracted Mitch McConnell is too focused on Amy Comey Barrett to bother with good-faith negotiation, but Nancy Pelosi keeps saying there will be a deal anyway. (This is your obligatory reminder that Mitch McConnell is up for re-election in his home state of Kentucky, and his opponent could use your support.) Meanwhile, we have record-breaking infection numbers yet again, with 85,000 infections on Friday marking the highest daily instance of new cases since the pandemic began in March. The CDC has expanded its definition of “close contact” accordingly. Though there is evidence to suggest that Trump rallies have kicked off infection spikes, we’re not alone in this struggle, as Europe is seeing a surge as well. We can probably expect things to continue to get worse as we head into winter and outdoor gatherings become impracticable, which makes it particularly frightening that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows just straight-up abdicated responsibility for controlling the pandemic, saying, “We’re not going to.”

SCOTUS Hearing Updates. This story somehow got even more disturbing in the past week. On October 22, Democrats refused to show up to the committee vote as a last-ditch attempt to pause the process. The 12 Republican members unanimously voted to move forward, and the matter proceeded to the Senate floor. (If that last piece of news enrages you, by the way, you are not alone, and I believe it should. Five of those GOP members are currently up for re-election, and several of the races are quite close right now; their opponents could use support. Just sayin’. ) Then after a couple of days of floor debate, the Senate GOP moved to limit debate on Sunday and teed up a final vote this evening–and shock of shocks, everybody but Susan Collins voted along party lines. So now Amy Comey Barrett is on the court in time to hear arguments about the Affordable Care Act in a couple of weeks, but don’t worry, Joe Biden has promised to study the damage by commission if he’s elected President! So that will definitely be an effective form of damage control. Oh wait, my mistake; late-breaking sources inform me that this is a terrible form of damage control that will probably get people killed. Be prepared to call your reps and do a lot of yelling, y’all.

Black Lives Still Matter. This was another bad week for racial justice. An officer in Illinois opened fire on a car apparently without provocation, killing Black teen Marcellis Stinnette and hospitalizing driver Tafara Williams. The grand jury on the Breonna Taylor case was in the news again for confirming that no homicide charges were even offered, while the charged officer gave an interview saying the case “wasn’t a race thing.” And to cap everything off, Jared Kushner went on television to claim Black Americans just need to try harder in order to be successful. So, y’know, real banner week all around.

The Good:

MAGA2020!. This one is less “good news” and more “it has been a terrible week and here is your schadenfreude,” but this week was truly painful and we all can have little a schadenfreude, as a treat. A Dutch ethical hacker who had successfully broken into Trump’s Twitter account in 2016 went ahead and did so again this week, taking screenshots to prove it, and his claim has been treated as credible by Dutch authorities. This repeat performance was feasible because Trump’s password–and I truly cannot believe I am not making this up–was ‘MAGA2020!’ and he disabled two-step authentication. So, uh, that happened.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this cat and window cleaner friendship and this autumn elephant holiday, as well as an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) 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 a Tums value pack!

Year 4, Week 39 (October 11-17)

October 19, 2020October 20, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

We have two weeks until Election Day, and though the news is less frenetic than it was a week ago, that doesn’t mean it’s much more pleasant. It’s impossible to predict what we’ll be seeing by this time next week, given how unprecedented everything continues to be. But one thing’s for certain, y’all: I don’t think the chocolate supply in my house is going to make it.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a Hatch Act!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We have a more-or-less ordinary mélange this week in Disregard of Governing Norms, which is a depressing sentence to type. Here’s what I have for you:

October Constitutional Crisis Surprise. The Trump administration had multiple instances of illegal election stuff this week, so I’ve given up and just started documenting them in the Constitutional Crisis Corner. Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act eight times in a 48-hour period on Twitter, making her the fourteenth Trump staffer to commit that kind of violation this election season. Then Trump gave a soundbite in Arizona today that sounded an awful lot like normalizing quid pro quo dealings yet again, though he halfheartedly framed his interaction with Exxon as a hypothetical donation he didn’t want. So I guess the surprise this year is… probably more law violations with no consequence? But that’s not particularly surprising.

Original Flavor CCC. We also had some familiar First Amendment problems this week. Allegations persist that U.S. marshals shot an activist suspected of shooting without even trying to arrest him, which the U.S. Marshal’s official statement seems to tacitly support. Moreover, eyewitnesses are now saying they didn’t even announce themselves as police before shooting. Extrajudicial shootings are always concerning when there’s evidence of excessive force, but Trump went ahead and illustrated exactly why this is a problem by praising the marshals who “didn’t want to arrest him” because the entire judicial process “took fifteen minutes.” Then the administration followed that up by again signaling it will refuse to send COVID aid to “anarchist jurisdictions,” which, spoiler, is just as illegal now as it was the last time they threatened this.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Other Election Oddities (Again). Even the non-illegal election stories this week were really weird. The New York Post attempted to support Trump with a story about Hunter Biden fed to them by Rudy Giuliani that was so dubious that Facebook and Twitter limited reader access to it, and apparently Fox News refused to run it. (I honestly hope Hunter Biden sues them for libel.) We also had competing town halls on Thursday instead of a debate because Trump refused to debate remotely. As I type this, Trump is already making demands about Thursday’s debate that seem like he may be laying groundwork to get out of that one too–my pet theory is that he hates the debate commission’s plan to mute the microphones during candidate rebuttals. We’re also seeing a lot of chaos in the courts regarding voting laws, although there was a positive SCOTUS case today that I’ll talk more about below. But early voting numbers are very high, which hopefully means that people are successfully voting.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. We appear to be seeing a surge of COVID cases in much of the nation as I type this, with rolling averages hitting new highs in 37 different states, and over eight million cases nation-wide. Johnson and Johnson was in the news because it was forced to pause its large-scale vaccine testing due to an “unexplained illness” in a participant. The administration is oscillating between advocating for herd immunity and slandering their own top health official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, because he doesn’t like the herd immunity idea. (Just to reiterate, herd immunity is an incredibly unethical, dangerous, and flat-out non viable option for dealing with this pandemic.) And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has set a Tuesday deadline for a stimulus deal, though I’m not sure why she bothered when it’s clear no deal is forthcoming.

SCOTUS Hearing Updates. The remainder of the Amy Coney Barrett hearing… happened… and though she mostly presented well on the floor, the whole thing was still incredibly horrifying in both substance and process. A lot can be gleaned by what Barrett refused to answer, as she was willing to confirm some ideas but not others. Among the list of things she signaled in her multi-day hearing: She might not preserve peaceful transfer of power; she won’t care about unconstitutional immigration enforcement; she wants to overturn Roe v. Wade; and she probably also wants to revoke same sex marriage. At the conclusion of the hearing, ranking Democrat member Dianne Feinstein thanked committee chair Lindsey Graham and hugged him, which is disturbing on a number of levels given his refusal to get tested for COVID. Now that the hearing is over, we can expect a Judiciary Committee vote on October 22, which probably will bear no relation to anything said at the hearing, and Senate floor debates begin October 23.

SCOTUS Census Decision. While all of this was going on, the Supreme Court went ahead and more-or-less gave the Trump administration permission to end the census count on October 15, fifteen days before it was supposed to end per federal district court order. This order is related to a second case SCOTUS will hear in the near future, about whether the Trump administration can just unilaterally exclude undocumented people when calculating congressional seats based on population. Needless to say, the first decision doesn’t bode well for the second case–and that’s particularly upsetting because the government arguments on the latter case uncomfortably echo discarded precedent about whether to count human beings as people during the American era of slavery.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There was one positive Supreme Court decision today, which is something I guess. The court was evenly split in a 4-4 decision, which in this instance means the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision remains in place. The PA court’s decision was upholding a PA law permitting extended mail-in voting due to the pandemic, so this is good news for voting rights. That said, I do want to caution that a 4-4 split would likely have become a 5-4 split and come down the other way if Barrett were already on the bench. We’ll need to keep a close eye on those proceedings over the next couple of weeks.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this baby pygmy hippo and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) 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 more chocolate so that I can keep drafting!

Year 4, Week 38 (October 4-10)

October 12, 2020October 13, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

You’d think, by now, I would have watched enough media to know that things always escalate as they move towards the season finale–and yet every Monday I’m somehow still surprised. Suffice to say, we can all use the reminder that things will keep getting worse in the short term, but I’m holding out hope that we’ll end on a high note. For the duration, daily summaries like WTFJHT remain particularly helpful.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tax record!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

After only a week of Trump COVID news, he wants us to forget about his infection, which means we’re back to discussing his taxes! So that’s the current week in Disregard of Governing Norms. For bonus fun, we’re also discussing totalitarianism and terrorist definitions of treason. Here’s what I have for you:

Trump’s Taxes Again. With Trump back on the campaign trail, we’re back to his taxes. First a federal appeals court ruled that the Manhattan DA could enforce his subpoena on said tax returns, so that decision is now headed to the Supreme Court. This appears to have reminded everybody that the New York Times piece existed, and the New York Times ran another piece discussing some sketchy fund redistributions in 2016 which involved running money from Trump’s Vegas hotel through other businesses into his political campaign. Tax records also showed even more evidence of emoluments clause violations, which isn’t surprising but may impact other lawsuits.

You Keep Using That Word, Treason. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means. This week’s “can’t believe I’m not making it up” award definitely goes to an FBI complaint alleging several people planned to kidnap Michigan’s governor and “charge” her with “treason” due to her COVID protection decrees. Unsurprisingly, this can be traced back to Trump’s incitement in April, when he was urging his followers to “liberate” Michigan. The charges were announced as part of a complaint charging thirteen people with domestic terrorism, probably in part because the kidnapping plan also involved storming the capitol building and starting a civil war as well as taking several legislators hostage–pretty much the textbook definition of treason, though the irony is probably lost on them. And speaking of treason, around the same time the FBI made this public, Utah senator and waste of flesh Mike Lee tweeted that “rank democracy” can “thwart liberty,” which doesn’t exactly support our existing government either.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). Election news remains on the floor, both morally and logistically speaking. The California GOP was in the news for creating fake ballot drop-off boxes, which needless to say would create a great deal of voter confusion during a pandemic. On the debate front, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris did duke it out in person in Salt Lake City, and the general consensus is that both Kamala Harris and that fly that landed on Pence’s head for two minutes straight were the frontrunners of the day. Trump announced that he won’t participate in virtual debates, despite his current infection with a deadly disease, because he’s claiming that he can’t be contagious due to his Republican COVID cure, magical thinking. (To be absolutely clear, the White House has not released any negative COVID test results, Trump is still in the medically-understood window of contagion, and staff infection numbers continue to rise as I type this. There is absolutely no reason to believe Trump is non-contagious besides his say-so.) The stand-off on this topic has canceled the second Presidential Debate, though it’s unclear what will happen to the final debate scheduled for October 22. Meanwhile, armed with his handy-dandy new nonsense claim of immunity, Trump has already returned to the campaign trail in person and he plans to remain there every day for the next month. Against that backdrop, it’s unsurprising that Nancy Pelosi has introduced legislation that would create a panel to determine Trump’s fitness to serve under the 25th Amendment.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19. The FDA unilaterally published its proposed rules for vaccine standards, leaving the White House more-or-less forced to sign on. When he got back to the White House, Trump retaliated by announcing that he would refuse to sign any COVID relief until after the election, which of course made the Dow plummet again, but he walked that back within a day or two and now says Americans should get stimulus payments again–though neither the House nor the Senate likes his proposal. At the White House, staff remain at high risk of infection, with Stephen Miller, a Coast Guard admiral, and 33 other people total testing positive in the last couple of weeks. (Deadline erroneously reported that Mike Pence had COVID this week as well, but the Pence team has put out no such statement.) Meanwhile, rolling averages hit new highs in 13 states, mainly in the American West and Midwest, and the administration blocked a CDC order requiring masks on public transportation. So basically, our COVID landscape remains a hot mess, and the SCOTUS nomination hearing might make several things worse, though I’ll talk more about below.

SCOTUS Hearing Updates. The Judiciary Committee hearing regarding Amy Comey Barrett started today, and I cannot overstate how messed up all of it is. Utah Senator and human plague rat Mike Lee showed up in person, despite being diagnosed with COVID only nine days earlier and showing no evidence of a negative test, and took off his mask to talk to people (and breathe all over the Senate microphone). Presumably, overseer Lindsey Graham allowed this because Graham also refused to take a COVID test on Friday, despite being present at the superspreader Barrett event two weeks ago. (Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was also present and refused to get tested, so he might be positive as well, and isn’t this a fun game?) Unsurprisingly, many Democrats refused to show up in person, including Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who correctly identified how reckless the entire thing was in her remote opening statement. Nonetheless, we have several more days of all of this, during which time we can expect Democrats to keep saying we shouldn’t gut the Affordable Care Act during a pandemic and Republicans to keep ignoring them. Then the whole thing will be capped off by an in-person Senate floor vote on October 22, and I hate everything.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were a few bright spots from a court perspective this week. The judge who blocked the administration’s attempts to curtail census counting has issued a clarifying judgement making it extra super-duper clear that yes, the census counting must continue until October 31 despite everything going on. And in Florida, a movement in response to a recent court decision has donors supporting re-enfranchisement efforts for those convicted of crimes, including paying court fees so that people are eligible to vote. Relatedly, in California, a federal judge has ruled that the IRS cannot deny stimulus payments to convicted people purely on the basis of their incarceration and must extend the claim deadline for this population.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this Tiktok musical number and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) 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 the means to hibernate until November!

Year 4, Week 37 (September 27–October 3)

October 5, 2020October 6, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I read my intro from last week as I began drafting this evening and had a good, long laugh–apparently, I thought that week’s news cycle was particularly accelerated. (Oh you sweet summer Kara.) Needless to say, we’ve all aged a hundred years since I wrote that, and news stories are flying incredibly fast. Daily summaries like WTFJHT remain particularly helpful as we all try to make sense of the chaos.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a rose garden!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

Given everything going on, nobody is talking about Trump’s tax returns anymore, which is itself a new low for Disregard of Governing Norms–but the current chaos on this front is so bad that it might not even matter. Here’s what I have for you:

COVID in the White House. News broke at about 1:30AM Thursday night that Melania and Donald Trump had tested positive for COVID-19–apparently for the second time that day, though we didn’t learn this until much later. At first he was expected to remain at home, but he was eventually taken to Walter Reed hospital on Friday afternoon with fever and congestion, and we later learned he was given supplemental oxygen as well as an experimental antibody cocktail before the transfer. By the next day, he was being given Remdisivir and dexamethasone, both of which can potentially signal serious health complications. Now, you might be reading this and thinking, “That’s an awfully fast onset of severe symptoms,” which is certainly what I thought at the time, but it turns out the news has a response for that! First Chris Wallace admitted that Trump had dodged the on-site test at Tuesday’s debate, and then on Saturday Trump’s own doctor said that he was doing well “just 72 hours into his diagnosis” on Saturday–which, for those of you doing the home game, was definitely not 72 hours after early Friday morning. Though his doctor later insisted he misspoke, it appears increasingly likely that Trump had probably been COVID-positive by the time of the debate, whether he knew it or not, and it would also appear that he is seriously sick as I type this. Nonetheless, he took a trip around the hospital on Sunday, and was discharged from the hospital a few hours ago, even though many experts agree on the increased risk of the second week of infection. The administration is adamant that Pence will not be taking the reins anytime soon, despite the many difficulties of Trump governing while all of the above is happening.

GOP Superspreading. Trump was far from the only high-profile member of the GOP to test positive for COVID this week, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the Rose Garden event for Supreme Court nominee Amy Comey Barrett on Saturday was a superspreading event, although the White House refuses to use contact tracing for it. (Coney Barrett herself apparently had COVID this summer, and has not tested positive at this time.) At the time that I type this, eleven high-profile people who were present on Saturday have tested positive, and fifteen people affiliated with the White House have contracted the virus overall. Among those on the list: 1) Trump advisor Hope Hicks; 2) former counselor Kellyanne Conway; 3) campaign manager Bill Stepien; 4) former NJ governor Chris Christie; 5) WI senator Ron Johnson; 6) Utah senator Mike Lee; 7) NC Senator Thom Tillis; and 8) White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnaney. Additionally, IA Senator Chuck Grassley was also present and refused to get tested, so he might be positive as well, and there were also several outbreaks at the Secret Service training center. Joe Biden is still testing negative at the time that I type this, though he could still be in an incubation period.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). With everything going on, it’s easy to forget that the first Presidential debate on Tuesday was less than a week ago–and the entire country watched Trump fail to condemn white supremacy, instead telling the Proud Boys to “stand down and stand by.” (The hate group, for their part, immediately made it clear that they’ll be taking these statements as a set of marching orders.) There was also news about a massive Trump campaign strategy to deter Black Americans from voting in 2016, as well as news about a massive gubernatorial strategy now to make dropping off ballots in Texas increasingly difficult for marginalized voters. And, of course, people are starting to wonder what it will mean for the election if Trump isn’t able to run, given that voting has already begun in many states.

The Bad:

COVID and Congress. All of the COVID news above has implications for the legislative branch as well. In relief news, the House passed a second COVID relief bill, with Nancy Pelosi meeting with Steven Mnuchin since Trump is, uh, indisposed right now. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has postponed the Senate’s return by two weeks, calling everyone back on October 19–but he still wants to have confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett on October 12 as originally planned. The astute of readers may note that two of the infected GOP senators are on the Senate Judiciary Committee, while four more were present at the Comey Barrett event on Saturday–and the whole committee is only nineteen members. If Democrats refuse to participate and any GOP members are still quarantining on Monday, the committee may not have quorum to proceed, and Mitch McConnell may learn it’s nice to want things.

Appalling Immigration Updates. Despite Trump’s hospitalization, we still had an influx of impressively bad and occasionally weird immigration news. The administration announced that only 15,000 people maximum would be admitted as refugees for Fiscal Year 2021, which for context is only slightly over one-tenth of the number admitted in Obama’s final year–definitely a historic low in every sense of the term. We also started to hear about ICE raids planned in sanctuary jurisdictions yet again, though it’s unclear whether that will move forward with everything else going on. And just before she tested positive, tapes leaked of Melania Trump dropping f-bombs about both concern about migrant children and, improbably, Christmas.

Black Lives Still Matter. Information about the Breonna Taylor grand jury proceedings was released this week at a grand juror’s request, and unsurprisingly, the records show that homicide charges were not even presented as an option. Meanwhile, protests continue in Portland, where a local police officer drove his motorcycle into a protester and the total arrest toll has crested 1,000 people. Also, the Proud Boys did indeed show up in droves to join the fray, as discussed in last Tuesday’s debate–and speaking of Proud Boys, gay twitter co-opted their hashtag this week in glorious retaliation for the hate group’s recent everything. In other positive news, California passed a law this week establishing a path towards reparations for Black Americans impacted by our history of slavery.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were a few bright spots from a court perspective this week, though much of the news was a hot mess. The judge who blocked the administration’s attempts to curtail census counting has issued a clarifying judgement making it extra super-duper clear that yes, the census counting must continue until October 31 despite everything going on. And in Florida, a movement in response to a recent court decision has donors supporting re-enfranchisement efforts for those convicted of crimes, including paying court fees so that people are eligible to vote. It’s a coalition effort that is making a real difference for the collective re-enfranchisement of a very marginalized group–one that had been denied the right to vote for life for a long time before the right was granted by majority referendum. Especially in 2020, it means a lot to see groups pushing back against court efforts to overrule that collective will.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this turtle sukkah and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully less chaotic) 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 more caffeine because I will obviously need it!

Year 4, Week 36 (September 20-26)

September 29, 2020September 30, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news this week is ten pounds of chaos in a three-pound bag, and it can be hard to even keep track of everything happening. I’ve done my level best to give you a quick tour-de-force, but the news cycle is accelerated to a truly impressive level even by our modern standards, so who knows what will have changed by the time this roundup goes out. Daily summaries like WTFJHT may be particularly helpful right now!

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tax attorney!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

I know I say this every week, but this week was yet another new low for Disregard of Governing Norms. Here’s what I have for you:

Tax Return Tango.* As I type this, everybody’s talking about the New York Times article summarizing Donald Trump’s taxes, which lo and behold are pretty terrible. The info dump involved was huge, and there’s a lot to unpack here, so the New York Times has also quite helpfully put out a summary. That said, there are some points that I think deserve particular discussion, so I’m going to spend a few minutes unpacking them here with the careful caveat that I am not, in fact, a tax attorney: 1) Trump’s massive debt as a sitting President is a really, really big deal because it’s a risk to national security, as Nancy Pelosi has already noted–that kind of debt creates leverage that can be used to influence behavior, which is why it traditionally is a reason to deny security clearance; 2) Ivanka’s “consultant” fees appear to be a pretty big deal too, because they illustrate yet more instances of Trump family double-dipping; and 3) Everybody’s yelling about the $750 paid in taxes during 2016 and 2017, and his tax avoidance is insulting, but the bigger story there is what gave him the legal means to do that–his history of constantly running a deficit.

Your Regularly-Scheduled Illegality. There sure was a lot of news about illegal government action other than Trump’s taxes this week, not that you’d know it given the last 24 hours. Among the laundry list: 1) Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is under investigation now for Hatch Act violations, which is practically a rite of passage in this administration; 2) An executive order was issued “combating sex and race stereotyping” that forbids diversity and inclusion training of any vendors that contract with the federal government; 3) Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf is accused of awarding $6M in contracts to his wife’s security firm, which would definitely be self-dealing (and he hasn’t even had his confirmation hearing yet); 4) The Department of Justice is refusing to let senior officials testify before Congress because they “scold[ed] and insult[ed]” William Barr back in July; and 5) A National Security Counsel member is claiming the White House made things up to block publication of John Bolton’s book because the facts reported in said book made them look bad.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). This was another nightmare week for election news. At the top of the week, Trump ‘joked’ this week that he wouldn’t accept a peaceful transition of power, noting, “Get rid of the ballots and there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.” Unsurprisingly, watchdogs and other experts began to sound alarms about the state of this election, and the head of the Federal Election Commission was not impressed. Then Trump straight-up stated that he wants a nominee on the bench by the time the election happens because he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election–in other words, he wants to determine who gets to make a determination about whether he’s a valid President. (More news on SCOTUS developments below, though at this rate they’ll end up in the election section eventually.) The Pentagon is beginning to plan for the possibility that he’ll try to deploy the military at some point during this election process. Meanwhile, the head of the FBI indicated that they aren’t seeing instances of voter fraud by mail-in ballot (probably because spoiler, the data says they’re not), and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows started publicly attacking him for it and undermining the FBI’s credibility. Folks, I know we’re all pretty inured to everything by this point, but I think it’s worth stepping back and thinking about that last point; the current White House chief of staff publicly stated that we can’t trust the current FBI’s investigation process because the head of the FBI said we can have safe free elections during a pandemic. That’s just absolutely bananas, and it hurts the entire country.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19.* COVID news remains dispiritingly terrible for another week, and much of it is outright bizarre. The U.S. passed the threshold of 200,000 deaths this week, and experts warn that that number might double as we move into winter; additionally, total instances of infection have surpassed 7 million. Internationally, the virus has claimed over a million lives in the past ten months. News also broke that the Pentagon diverted about a billion dollars of COVID relief fund, instead spending the money on jet parts and uniforms. Meanwhile, several vaccines are beginning Stage 3 trials–which would be good news, except that Trump is already threatening to override the FDA if they are appropriately cautious about vaccine safety. And speaking of vaccines, some media outlets are starting to pay attention to the low rate of child vaccination for other infections during the pandemic, which may in turn impact orders to reopen schools.

Black Lives Still Matter. The biggest piece of news to know on this front is that there was no justice for Breanna Taylor; the grand jury considering whether her shooters should be punished handed down a single indictment that related to endangering neighbors by shooting the walls, rather than any charges related to her murder. This, of course, kicked off major protests in Louisville and the arrest of the city’s sole black female legislator. New body cam footage and increasingly contradictory case information case have prompted a massive call for grand jury information to be released, which the Kentucky AG appears to be considering.

Supreme Court Updates. Recently passed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was laid in state at the Capitol building this week, and is the first woman and first Jewish person ever to receive this honor. Meanwhile, Trump announced his nomination on Saturday, and it was indeed Amy Coney Barrett, which remains extremely concerning. Additionally, it would appear that Mitch McConnell now has enough votes to put the matter on the Senate floor, and a hearing is now scheduled for October 12. Incredibly, some Republican voices (apparently including Mike Pence) want to skip the hearing entirely and just vote her in, which is utterly unprecedented. And as mentioned above, Trump straight-up stated that he wants a nominee on the bench by the time the election happens because he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election. Needless to say, it remains extremely important that we call our Senators repeatedly to make our opinion of this Senate vote known, especially because it may inform the approach taken by Democrats in response.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. A federal court found this week that U.S. Census counting must continue through its original date, which would force the administration to continue until October 31–though the administration is already appealing the decision. Meanwhile, 3,500 U.S. companies are suing Trump over his tariffs on Chinese goods, which probably were in fact arbitrary and capricious. And finally, a New York state judge has ordered Eric Trump to testify in an ongoing fraud case no later than October 7th, which should prove interesting at the very least.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve beaver construction documentation and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) 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 more hours in the day!

Year 4, Week 35 (September 13-19)

September 21, 2020September 22, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Okay. I know I said the news was going to keep getting worse as we head into the election season, but the news this week is Capital-B-Bad, y’all. I’m running out of ways to say “I’m here if anybody needs anything,” but I am. And we all have a lot of work to do.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an injunction!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

I know I say this every week, but this week really was a new low for Disregard of Governing Norms. Here’s what I have for you:

Administrative Anarchy. First Attorney General William Barr signaled he wants to charge protesters who damage property with sedition, which is… a disturbing expansion of governmental power, to say the least. But I’m guessing it was intended to be an opening salvo, because he followed that up by declaring New York City, Portland, and Seattle “anarchist jurisdictions”–evidencing either further fascist tendencies or the fact that his house lacks a dictionary. Per the declaration itself, this is really just a fancy way of announcing that the administration is about to pull federal funding from those cities because people have been protesting there. Folks, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how illegal all of this; it runs counter to our First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, and a comparable attempt to punish cities that support immigrants in 2017 was enjoined as illegal by several courts because the move violates separation of powers. That said, a joint statement from the three mayors of impacted cities notes this declaration’s unconstitutionality as well.

Your Regularly-Scheduled Illegality. Even before Barr made his announcements, this wasn’t a great week for governmental behavior. News broke that DC military police considered using a heat ray against protestors back in the summer when they cleared out a peaceful assembly so that Trump could take a photo in Lafayette Square. An HHS spokesperson accused CDC scientists of sedition because their work on COVID “undermines President Trump.” (Said spokesperson is now “taking a medical leave” to sit in a corner and think about what he’s done.) Trump called teaching about systemic racism “child abuse” and announced he would sign an executive order against the practice. And just as the cherry on top of it all, he’s also now facing yet another sexual assault allegation from the 1990s, this time by model Amy Dorris. For those of y’all playing the home game, Dorris joins over a dozen women to have made similar allegations.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). Needless to say, things keep taking further turns for the bizarre and we’re still about forty days away from Election Day as I type this. At a campaign rally, Trump threatened to sign an executive order that prevented Biden from being elected, because jokes about authoritarianism are hilarious, amirite? He also indicated he expects a winner declared on election night, despite states’ need to accommodate remote voting during a pandemic. Watchdogs are so alarmed by this that they’ve started pressing media to detail how they will handle Election Night reporting–and in particular, what they will do if one party (read: Trump) simply declares himself the winner before counting is done. And of course, the news about Ruth Bader Ginsburg above creates a whole new spectre as we enter the final days of the election process, but we’ll talk about that more below.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19.* COVID news remains dispiritingly terrible for another week, and much of it is outright bizarre. DHHS Secretary Alex Azar declared himself in charge of FDA policy this week, indicating that new matters will require his approval and signature before they can be finalized. His announcement comes on the heels of yet more shifts in the CDC’s posted rules; namely, information about aerosol transmission that was added on Friday was then removed on Monday as an “error.” This change comes as more news trickles out about last month’s changes, also reversed this week, which removed recommendations for asymptomatic testing–apparently, that change was made without CDC scientists’ review and over their objection. These developments, unsurprisingly, leave people worried about the CDC’s functionality as a scientific entity. Meanwhile, many countries in Europe and South America are experiencing a surge in cases, making experts worry about another wave of outbreaks. And in Oregon, wildfires have apparently exacerbated COVID infection.

Immigration Updates. There’s a lot of immigration news to watch right now, and almost all of it is pretty dire. The Ninth Circuit undid protections for people sheltering in the United States due to catastrophe in their home country, which throws the fate of nearly 400,000 people into limbo. Meanwhile, the Second Circuit undid protections for people seeking lawful permanent status in its jurisdiction, permitting blanket denial of disabled and indigent applicants to be enforced across the country. In Georgia, an ICE whistleblower alleges that an ICE medical vendor performed so many medically unnecessary hysterectomies on detainees they started calling him “the uterus collector,” and subsequent reporting suggests he wasn’t even a board certified gynecologist. News also broke that the U.S. has expelled nearly 9,000 unaccompanied minor children since the pandemic began, which is an incredibly high number and strongly suggests that legal process has not been followed. A witness in an ongoing sexual assault case against ICE officers in El Paso was deported in apparent retaliation for her testimony. And finally, the Washington Post reported that high coronavirus numbers in ICE custody can be partially linked to failure to follow protocols about transporting patients, which were themselves brought about so that ICE agents could be deployed at protest sites.

The Passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Long-time Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on Friday evening, apparently from complications due to pancreatic cancer. Needless to say, the nation is devastated, and this has a lot of implications for the Supreme Court and our government. NPR reports that a few days before her death, she informed her granddaughter, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to act immediately, despite his refusal to confirm Obama nominee Merrick Garland under less extreme circumstances. Trump has also signaled he will nominate a new justice “without delay,” apparently meaning before the next Presidential debate (let alone the election). It’s still an open question whether the Senate has the votes needed to confirm an unknown nominee, and it’s also possible the identity of the nominee will prove relevant. (The nominee is very likely to be Amy Coney Barrett, by the way, which is definitely my nightmare fuel for the week.) It is extremely important that we call our Senators repeatedly to urge them to postpone a Senate vote until after the election, and ideally until the next Presidential term.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. We had a few promising court cases this week. In Seattle, a federal judge blocked the current Postmaster General’s attempted operational changes to the mail system, calling them “a politically motivated attack.” (This is particularly welcome news as a report was also issued this week estimating that the policies disrupted up to 7% of total first class mail.) In unrelated but also positive news, an order scheduled to go into effect on Sunday that banned WeChat and Tiktok is already blocked by federal court, who noted that the ban would likely infringe on First Amendment rights.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this laptop ballad and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) 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 more cozy blankets for autumn napping!

Year 4, Week 34 (September 6-12)

September 14, 2020September 15, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

We’re in the middle of yet another apocalypse multipack as I type this, with much of the West Coast in crisis and the rest of us not exactly thriving either. It gets overwhelming very quickly, but I’m here if I can help. Your good friend Comfort Food is here also.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a technical glitch!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We continue to see an uptick in Disregard of Governing Norms, which is another thing we can expect to increase as we get closer to the election. Here’s what I have for you:

Your Regularly Scheduled Illegality. We had a lot of overt illegality again this week. First, in a stunning show of “l’etat, c’est moi,” the Justice Department has intervened on 45’s personal defamation case against a woman who alleges he raped her. For folks playing the home game, this is a really big deal–it’s a pretty blatant signal that the Department of Justice has been co-opted into Trump’s personal law service, which is not the role it is supposed to serve. A senior Department of Homeland Security official also alleged in a whistleblowing complaint this week that he was instructed to stop reporting on Russian interference in the 2020 election, because it “made the President look bad.” (Which does in fact do, but if that was this administration’s motivation I’ll eat my laptop.) And also in sketchy election news, the administration has signaled it may host a campaign event at the White House on Election Day, which would be a very blatant violation of the Hatch Act as well. Of course, this is hardly surprising given the giant indoor campaign rally he held this week, addressing thousands of people in clear violation of Nevada law.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). There was a significant amount of odd election news even discounting the sketchy Trump shenanigans listed above. In Florida, a federal appeals court blocked the re-enfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of denizens with criminal records who cannot afford to pay court fines. In slightly more positive Florida news, Mike Bloomberg also promised to spend at least $100M in the state to help Joe Biden’s campaign–and though he said he would support the campaign of whoever wins, this kind of donation from a former candidate has got to be an election first. And the Fourth Circuit is considering a North Carolina law that would require voters to show ID, which has been enjoined by state courts already and hopefully will remain enjoined through the November election.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19.* Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s laughably inadequate new COVID response bill was introduced in the Senate this week, where it promptly failed in a matter of days. The situation at schools remains messy, with many remote learners experiencing tech glitches and colleges struggling to quarantine infected students or sending them back to their hometowns. Meanwhile, the administration’s obvious interference with the vaccine process has prompted many pharmacy CEOs to take a voluntary pledge that they will engage in safe practices. And finally, a newly-released tell-all book says Trump has known exactly how deadly COVID would be since March, despite leading the public to believe otherwise.

Black Lives Still Matter. There is still news on the Black Lives Matter front for another week, though it’s mostly aftermath from the previous week. In Rochester, the Police Union President and Mayor are both arguing about which one of them should resign, while several officers and the Chief of Police have stepped down. Meanwhile, a witness to the shooting says the suspect shot by police in Portland, Oregon last week was never arrested or even warned before he was fatally shot.

Fire Crisis on the West Coast. We’re experiencing an unprecedented rate and range of wildfire all along the American West coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle, and it’s only the beginning of fire season. At the time that I type this, over five million acres have burned, and more than two dozen people have died. In many places, the entire sky is orange, and air quality is dangerously poor along points on the entire coast. These unprecedented fires are not a coincidence; data shows that climate change is causing increasingly dangerous conditions–though of course, Trump is claiming the opposite.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. We had a few promising court cases this week. A federal court refused to let the Trump administration drop undocumented people from the census (again), ruling that it would violate the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law. And a different federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from sending voting disinformation to denizens of Colorado, finding that the state would suffer irreparable harm if the mailer went out.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this pigfren taking the subway and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) 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 more comfort food, I’m running out!

Year 4, Week 33 (August 30–September 5)

September 7, 2020September 8, 2020 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Well, if I had been foolish enough to hope that the news would improve during my break, I certainly would have been disappointed. We continue to scrape the bottom of the existential barrel, and this isn’t going to let up as we move towards November. My advice is to just go ahead and invest in ice cream now, y’all.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a census!–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!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

We seem to be seeing an uptick in Disregard of Governing Norms, which is another thing we can expect to increase as we get closer to the election. Here’s what I have for you:

Your Regularly Scheduled Illegality. By this point, the Trump administration blatantly breaks laws so often that the question isn’t whether they did anything illegal this week, it’s simply a matter of what. The first story of the week, unsurprisingly, involves Postmaster General Louis DeJoy yet again. This time, he’s in the news for pressuring workers at his former company to donate to GOP campaigns, which would then be ‘rewarded’ with reimbursement bonuses. (For those of you playing the home game, this is pretty obviously illegal even in a private context, as it appears to be a way around campaign contribution limits). Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is already calling for an investigation, which Trump doesn’t appear to be blocking. To be fair on that last point, though, Trump may be distracted by this week’s failed attempt to end the Census early, which is the second illegal activity of the week. I say “failed” because a federal judge ended up weighing in on this one, issuing a restraining order that keeps the administration from changing anything before a hearing can happen mid-September.

Trump vs the Military. Trump managed to sink his relations with the American military even further this week, which is rather impressive all things considered. First the Atlantic ran a story that Trump referred to fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers” when refusing to visit an American military cemetery in Paris in 2018. An AP reporter confirmed the story, and so did the National Security correspondent at Fox News. Trump then responded by calling for the Fox News staffer to be fired. Folks, I know it’s 2020 and we get inured to a lot of nonsense, but I want to take a step back and really look at that last detail for a moment–a sitting U.S. President called for a journalist to be fired because she publicly confirmed sources on a story about him that she didn’t even write. (Needless to say, Fox supported its correspondent on this one.) The whole thing also made more people notice the administration’s attempt to cut funding to a military newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, which Trump announced would be walked back.

“Anti-American” Diversity Training. Because the first two paragraphs weren’t enough for one week, the Trump administration also announced by memorandum that federal employers may not conduct diversity trainings, which the memorandum refers to as “anti-American propaganda.” The memo also instructs federal agencies to come up with a list of all training contracts that include the terms “critical race theory” or “white privilege.” Y’all, if I were reading this in a story, I would be really mad about how lazy and one-dimensional this was.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Election Oddities (Again). Other than a bright spot when Ed Markey won the Democratic primary here in Massachusetts, this week was a surreal nightmare on the election front. Trump decided to fight mail-in voting by suggesting to his supporters that they should try to vote multiple times, presumably because there will definitely be evidence of voter fraud if his followers create it. This left officials in multiple states scrambling to remind constituents that this is, in fact, illegal. It is also closely related to the current Russian tactic for interfering with our election, shocking no one.

The Bad:

State of the COVID-19.* COVID news is a bit more mixed than usual today, which might be attributed to the approaching election as well. The CDC issued a nation-wide eviction moratorium, which will prevent nonpayment evictions until the end of the year. And new studies confirm that steroids can help people who become severely ill due to COVID infection. But Trump has refused to work with the WHO to develop and distribute a vaccine, and yet his CDC is telling states to prepare for its distribution as early as October–which, incidentally, is a good six months before the WHO thinks vaccines will be ready. Meanwhile, FEMA is saying it will no longer fund cloth masks for schools, despite the increasing chaos at college campuses. Finally, at least one federal official has started advocating for a herd immunity strategy, which is both ignorant and evil from a public health perspective–at this point, any time you see a news outlet call an approach or statement “controversial,” you can just go ahead and assume that’s news code for “this is in some way terrible.”

Black Lives Still Matter. This was another rough week for brutality against Black Americans. In Rochester, New York, a video was released from March that showed police fatally suffocating 41-year-old Daniel Prude with a “spit hood.” Prude was apparently one of several Americans who have been injured or killed by this type of restraint, and he’s also one of many Americans killed by police while in mental health crisis. Meanwhile, Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend is suing the Louisville police for misconduct. And in Portland, police fatally shot a man suspected of shooting a conservative counterprotester, rather than apprehending him alive.

The Good:

No More ICE Academy (for now). This week, ICE announced that it will be postponing its plans for a vigilante group in Chicago it was calling a “Citizens Academy.” Though ICE is claiming the postponement was due to COVID, it seems equally likely that the sustained advocacy campaign against the project had something of an effect. Either way, we now don’t have to worry about this particular form of threat until the spring, and I’ll take it.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this otter and kitten grabbing a catnap and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) 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 more hours in the day!