I got a fascinating array of responses to my Tuesday post about the 21st century nabobs, striding over politics and society with their unheard of wealth and indifference to the rules we once imagined bound us. One of the big questions was, What happened to the original nabobs? Were they brought to heel? And several of you asked, Okay, so what are we going to do about this? I wanted to discuss these and other topics.
A lot has been flying around today in some of the key mass deportation/rule of law cases, but I want to tee up for you another major clash that is brewing:
In the convoluted, never-ending saga of the wrongfully deported and then indicted Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a federal judge in Maryland this morning ordered his immediate release from ICE custody — on grounds that are tinged with the bitterest of ironies.
In case you missed it, we kicked off Golden Duke 2025 voting last week and the competition is heating up. Some of you have reached out with your complaints about the exclusion of ne’er-do-wells such as President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) from this year’s awards. We hear you! They suck! They can re-earn their places in the Duke competition when they start sucking in a less demonic and more lighthearted way ❤️
If you haven’t had a chance to participate in selecting 2025’s most admirable vermin please follow this link and vote before time runs out! As you’ll see, we’ve added some new categories this year to meet our uniquely maniacal moment 🙃 Early voting shows that Trump’s $300 Million White House Ballroom might easily take the cake for Best Scandal but the competition to win a Meritorious Achievement in Grifting or Best Supporting Hatchet Man remains tight.
P.S. If you submitted the nomination we ended up publishing for Lindsey Halligan, Tom “Cashbag” Homan or Signalgate, please reach out! We don’t have your email address and want to send your complimentary TPM merch.
I’ve noted many times the central role of Supreme Court reform to any civic democratic future. If you’re a regular reader, you know my arguments. So I won’t recapitulate them here. I’ve also noted how very few Democratic officials seem at all ready for this and a huge amount of work is required to get them here. Luckily there’s time: The first chance to do anything like this is 2029. But there’s another, even more critical, underlying need. A lot of the Democratic public still sees the idea as disconcerting or extreme. And we shouldn’t run away from this perception. Because it is extreme. It is a remedy only justified and really necessitated by a basically unprecedented development in American history which is robbing the public of its right to self-government. (The question is whether there is any precedent is complicated. There are arguably two similar instances in American history. But we can return to that later.) The point is that there is a lot of work to do. Inherently resistant Democratic politicians certainly aren’t going to be brought along if a substantial number of their own voters, perhaps a majority of them, are spooked by the idea.
So this requires a substantial campaign of public education — activist/political groups dedicated specifically and focusedly to the issue, ones that are political activist in nature, ones that draw from the elite legal world. An entire language of explanation is required.
A friend of mine ran an analogy by me which really resonated. Perhaps others have drawn the comparison. I don’t know.
In the late 18th century what would later evolve into the British Raj was coalescing into full British domination of the Indian subcontinent — especially after two key battles in 1757 and 1764 waged not by Britain but a private company called the British East India Company. That made it possible for what were often British men of relatively modest origins to build almost unimaginably large fortunes. Life in India was a matter of extremes for British operatives of the East India Company, a joint stock company which owned what were in effect or sorta Britain’s Indian colonies. Countless young Brits went out to India and died in short order. But if they could avoid dying in a relatively few years they could build these unimaginable fortunes. None of them wanted to stay. Virtually no Britons died of old age in India at the time. The whole point was to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible and get back to Great Britain while they were still alive. Then they would pour that money into an estate and land.
They were called “nabobs,” a corruption of “nawab,” a title in the Mughal Empire which originally referred to a provincial governor but evolved into something more like a hereditary lord as Mughal rule disintegrated.
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While these courthouses are theoretically the gateway to American justice and citizenship, in recent months they have played host to horrifying scenes where many of those who hope to experience the best of this nation are instead forcefully rounded up in the halls by federal agents.
Kate and Josh discuss Kate and Josh Kovensky’s scoop about Fetterman trying to get Netanyahu a pardon, along with a rash of Supreme Court activity.
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