The Supreme Court’s decision today to take up Moore v. Harper set off alarms across the election law world. The case offers a dramatic reimagining of the balance of powers at the state and federal level. And, importantly, the legal theory at the heart of the case shares considerable DNA with the animating theory that Trump and his cronies drew on as they sought to get the courts to overturn the 2020 election.
Earlier today we heard from TPM Reader JR in Illinois who was sad and dejected after hearing mealymouthed answers from the offices of Senators Durbin and Duckworth about whether they were prepared both to pass a Roe bill and change the filibuster rules to give it an up or down vote. Now we just heard from TPM Reader FH who got a fundraising email from “Dick Durbin” (I use the scare quotes whenever referring to a pol’s online fundraising alter ego) in which he asks FH if he can “count on your support before our midnight deadline” for his fight for reproductive rights.
Then he announces the hearing (emphasis added): “Simply put, I’m doing everything I can to fight back. I’m leading the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing about this SCOTUS decision next month and I’m still fighting tooth and nail to protect reproductive rights at the federal level.”
I want to thank everyone who’s contributed to the TPM Journalism Fund over the last 24 hours and over the last couple weeks. When we started this drive I was … well, I hesitate to say ‘skeptical’ that we’d reach our goal but I thought we had our work cut out for us. We’re now increasingly confident we’ll get there. But the last leg of the race is always the most challenging. Yesterday we started at $150,000, 3/4 of the way to our goal. We’re starting today just over $170,000 over $180,000. That’s a big jump in 24 36 hours, especially when we’ve been at it for two weeks. Again, we all really appreciate it. Big things ahead. If you’d like to contribute, just click right here.
I just called the DC offices of my Senators — Warner and Kaine. I asked the staffers whether the Senators supported suspending the filibuster to codify abortion rights.
Warner’s office said that the Senator supports legislation to codify abortion rights but that he does not have a position on the suspending the filibuster for it. Kaine’s office was similar, except that Kaine’s position is that he supports a rule change to reinstate the talking filibuster.
A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Josh and Kate discuss the latest Jan. 6 committee hearing and the Supreme Court’s decision ending the constitutional right to an abortion.
You can listen to the new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast here.
In case you missed it, John Light and Kate Riga did a quick debrief on Twitter Spaces about the Supreme Court’s latest big decision. Take a listen through the link below and follow us @TPM to join the next one.
I just called the DC offices of Senators Durbin and Duckworth. Both liberal stalwarts, obviously, but neither staffer showed particular awareness of the question of whether the filibuster will need to be suspended to enact abortion protections.
Neither seemed clear on any kind of promise that the Senate would do something concrete if people vote in the Fall.
Over the last couple weeks I’d shared reports from TPM Readers struggling to get a response from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire on whether she supports making Roe law and changing the filibuster rules to allow that bill to get a straight up or down vote. This morning I chatted with Shaheen’s Communications Director Sarah Weinstein who confirmed to me that Shaheen not only supports making Roe federal law (which she and 48 other Democrats attempted to do a few weeks ago) but also “supports amending the filibuster rules so a bill to codify Roe could pass by simple majority.”
INSIDE: Sinemanchin … Leahy’s Surgery … J.K. Rowling
You Know, So The Kids Don’t Get Indoctrinated: An advisory group of nine educators in Texas has submitted a proposal to the Texas State Board of Education for the state’s second grade curriculum that would teach kids that slavery was actually just “involuntary relocation.”
Feds Subpoena Arizona GOP Leader Who Led Fake Election Audit: More federal subpoenas are popping up in Arizona that appear to be part of the investigation into the Trump effort to subvert the 2020 election.
Arizona state Senate President Karen Fann (R), who spearheaded her state’s bogus 2020 election audit that went absolutely nowhere, was served a subpoena by the FBI requesting certain records in the federal investigation. Fann said she’ll comply with the subpoena.
