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 Adam Edelman / NBC News:
New Mexico to become the first state to offer universal child care — The program may offer a blueprint for other states on an issue that was prominent during the 2024 campaign. — New Mexico will become the first state in the country to begin offering free universal child care, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced.
2025-09-10 17:55:01 UTC
NBC News
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William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Hey, Donald: The Red Carpet Didn't Work — Lots of Epstein news yesterday—the White House's ridiculous denials that Trump wrote Epstein a birthday letter, and the media's bizarre failure to hold their feet to the fire about those denials—but Andrew got it all out of his system already in videos with Sarah and JVL.
2025-09-10 17:55:01 UTC
The Bulwark
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David Klion / The Guardian:
Disgruntled NYT journalist to ‘anti-woke’ power grab: how far can Bari Weiss go? — After leaving the New York Times, she turned her Substack into a unshakeable pro-Israel voice. Now as Paramount eyes acquisition of her company, Weiss is poised to become Trump's ally among media elites
2025-09-10 17:45:01 UTC
The Guardian
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Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
Former top FBI officials sue, say Kash Patel fired them to stay in Trump's good graces — The suit, which names Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, was filed by former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll as well as Steven Jensen and Spencer Evans. — WASHINGTON — Three former top FBI officials …
2025-09-10 17:40:01 UTC
NBC News
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CNN:
Schumer moves to force vote on Epstein files release in brazen breach of Senate protocol — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer moved on Wednesday to force a vote on releasing documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, putting the contentious issue front-and-center in the chamber.
2025-09-10 17:40:01 UTC
CNN
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The Hill:
Republicans bash Florida's anti-vaccine stand: ‘Horrible idea’ — Republicans on Capitol Hill are sounding alarms over Florida's move to end vaccine mandates for school children, voicing fears about the spread of preventable infectious diseases and what it means for their home states.
2025-09-10 17:35:00 UTC
The Hill
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pbump:
The climate of fear is self-imposed — I am not generally in the habit of criticizing the editorial decisions of The Washington Post, my employer for 11 years and an institution that continues to do good, important work in covering the unwinding of American democracy.
2025-09-10 17:25:00 UTC
pbump
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Matt Viser / Washington Post:
Is the signature Trump's? Epstein birthday book feeds speculation. — Trump denies it is his, and experts say they can't be sure. The White House welcomed a forensic analysis of the loopy D and long tail. — just now — For much of his presidency, President Donald Trump has been focused …
2025-09-10 17:25:00 UTC
Washington Post
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Andrew Howard / Politico:
Mills is interviewing staff for a possible Senate run — Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is interviewing staff for a potential Senate bid, a person familiar with the process confirmed on Wednesday. The news was first reported by Punchbowl. The interviews come as Mills is “seriously considering” …
2025-09-10 16:55:00 UTC
Politico
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Today's links
Hate the player AND the game (permalink)
The epigram for my forthcoming book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It is a quote from Ed Zitron: "I hate them for what they've done to the computer" (Ed even…
2025-09-10 16:51:59 UTC
10 Sep 2025
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The Guardian:
Leak exposes Washington Post boss Will Lewis's role as secret adviser to Boris Johnson while PM — Extensive meetings in 2022 between Lewis, then vice-chair of AP, and Johnson were not disclosed in transparency records — The publisher of the Washington Post, Will Lewis …
2025-09-10 16:50:00 UTC
The Guardian
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Mia McCarthy / Politico:
Capitol agenda: What the CR timing dispute is really about — The Trump administration wants a stopgap funding plan through Jan. 31. Appropriators are prepared to go their own way. It's about more than a date — it's the latest proxy battle in the larger clash over whether to pursue …
2025-09-10 16:10:00 UTC
Politico
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Appeals court, weighing Trump's Library of Congress takeover, reinstates copyright chief — A federal appeals court ruled the nation's top copyright official can continue serving in her post following President Donald Trump's attempt to fire her. A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court …
2025-09-10 16:05:01 UTC
Politico
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Marita Vlachou / HuffPost:
Federal Agents Retreat From Immigration Raid In Upstate New York Amid Protests: ‘Gestapo’ — The operation took one man into custody, according to local outlet WXXI. — Federal agents pulled back from a raid on rooftop workers at a rental site in upstate New York on Tuesday morning …
2025-09-10 15:45:00 UTC
HuffPost
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New York Times:
Boat Suspected of Smuggling Drugs Is Said to Have Turned Before U.S. Attacked It — The Trump administration has argued that the summary killing of 11 people it accused of running drugs was legal under the laws of war. — A Venezuelan boat that the U.S. military destroyed in the Caribbean …
2025-09-10 15:35:01 UTC
New York Times
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Alex Horton / Washington Post:
National Guard documents show public ‘fear,’ troops' ‘shame’ over D.C. presence — Internal documents reviewed by The Post show how domestic missions rooted in politics risk damaging Americans' trust in the military. — The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment …
2025-09-10 14:20:00 UTC
Washington Post
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Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
“The Axios Show” exclusive: Lutnick says U.S. should take a chunk of universities' patent revenue … The debut episode, featuring our conversation with Lutnick in his Commerce Department office, will be out later this week. … - The next step, Lutnick says, is to guarantee the U.S. gets …
2025-09-10 14:15:03 UTC
Axios
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Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
They Don't Want to Live in Lincoln's America — Although it has long since entered the pantheon of American rhetoric as one of our nation's great orations, there was a time, however brief, when the Gettysburg Address had its critics. — The president's funeral sermon …
2025-09-10 14:05:00 UTC
New York Times
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ABC News:
'It's not my signature': Trump says about alleged Epstein ‘birthday book’ letter — Trump was asked by ABC News for comment on the alleged note. — US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the restaurant Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2025.
2025-09-10 13:45:00 UTC
ABC News
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Marty Lederman / Just Security:
The Many Ways in Which the September 2 Caribbean Strike was Unlawful ... and the Grave Line the Military Has Crossed — Now that the President has submitted the required War Powers Resolution report to Congress, we can begin to take stock of just how extraordinary and significant last Tuesday's lethal strike in the Caribbean Sea was.
2025-09-10 13:35:03 UTC
Just Security
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Matt Viser / Washington Post:
After declaring D.C. ‘safe,’ Trump dines out in the city — The president boasted in recent days about the success of the federal takeover of D.C. police. During his first term, he ventured only to the restaurant at the hotel he owned. — President Donald Trump on Tuesday night arrived …
2025-09-10 13:10:01 UTC
Washington Post
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Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
Trump Gets Called Hitler on First Ever D.C. Restaurant Trip — NAZI SURPRISE — The president wanted to make a point about safety on D.C. streets. — President Donald Trump got an icy reception after stepping out onto the streets of Washington, D.C. Tuesday night to eat at a local establishment for the first time ever.
2025-09-10 13:05:00 UTC
The Daily Beast
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Trump greets Roberts at the US Capitol on March 4, 2025. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images When it comes to how the framers structured the Constitution, federal judges – especially Supreme Court justices – are an inherent danger to democracy. That’s because, unlike presidents and members of Congress, they are unelected. Their personal predilections have profound effects on the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, yet voters cannot choose them at the polls. Nor can they fire them at the ballot box. Unless they’re impeached, which is nearly impossible to pull off, federal judges keep their jobs for life – even if they issue rulings that seem to violate the Constitution itself. Which over and over again appears to be what’s happening with the far-right justices these days, half of whom were hand-picked by Donald Trump personally. Subscribe now The latest shocker came down on Monday, in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo – an unexplained 6-3 decision that halted a lower court’s injunction staying the Trump administration from picking up people from the streets of Los Angeles based solely on some combination of four factors, including their ethnicity, use of English, or type of work. What the Trump administration is doing looks a lot like racial profiling, which, in 2023, the same majority went out of its way to outright ban in college admissions. The Court nonetheless held that to pause this practice for ICE agents would irreparably harm Trump to the point where he is entitled to an emergency order overriding the lower court’s order that immigration authorities temporarily stop doing this until the legality of the policy is sorted out. Vasquez Perdomo implicates the Fourth Amendment, not necessarily the Fourteenth, but the point is obvious: racial discrimination looks like a one-way ratchet from the perspective of the justices in the majority. ‘Emergency’ Rulings: The Court’s Gift to TrumpMonday’s decision was roughly the 20th “emergency” ruling that this Court has issued to greenlight Trump’s spree of lawlessness since taking office again on Jan. 20.
Read more
2025-09-10 13:02:38 UTC
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New York Times:
NATO Says It Scrambled Fighter Jets to Shoot Down Russian Drones Over Poland — The incursion was the first time alliance planes had engaged enemy targets in NATO airspace. Poland's leader called it “a large-scale provocation.” — More than a dozen Russian drones entered Poland overnight …
2025-09-10 13:00:42 UTC
New York Times
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Qasim Nauman / New York Times:
Poland Says It Shot Down Russian Drones That Entered Its Airspace — The Polish military called the incursions an “act of aggression.” It said the drones crossed the border during a wave of Russian strikes in Ukraine. — Poland said on Wednesday that it had shot down Russian drones …
2025-09-10 13:00:42 UTC
New York Times
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Kamala Harris / The Atlantic:
The Constant Battle — The first excerpt from 107 Days … The first stop on the day's calendar had been planned months earlier. At a meeting in the Oval Office discussing her work uplifting Black executives and entrepreneurs, Dr. Stacie NC Grant had invited me to address the annual gathering …
2025-09-10 12:30:01 UTC
The Atlantic
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Politico:
Democratic governors build vaccine firewall against RFK Jr. … “We're ... creating a public health infrastructure that used to exist under the federal government, but with RFK, Jr. at the helm, has been completely disrupted and dismantled,” Healey told reporters Monday at the state Capitol.
2025-09-10 12:00:04 UTC
Politico
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BBC:
Anti-Islamic US biker gang members run security at deadly Gaza aid sites — The firm guarding sites where aid is distributed in Gaza has been using members of a US biker gang with a history of hostility to Islam to run its armed security, a BBC investigation has found.
2025-09-10 11:25:00 UTC
BBC
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Mark A. Welsh III / president.tamu.edu:
GENERAL (RET.) MARK A. WELSH III — I am reaching out today to follow up on a statement I distributed through social media yesterday regarding an ongoing issue with one of our 16,000 course sections. I directed the Provost to remove the College of Arts and Sciences Dean and English Department Head from their administrative positions.
2025-09-10 06:30:00 UTC
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Andrew Howard / Politico:
Democrats add 1 more vote in Congress after Virginia special election — Democratic Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw defeated Republican Stewart Whitson easily on Tuesday, with the Associated Press calling the race at 7:36 p.m. Eastern time. The race for the seat …
2025-09-10 06:25:01 UTC
Politico
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Barak Ravid / Axios:
Israel's attack in Qatar infuriated Trump advisers, officials say — On Tuesday morning, the U.S. military spotted Israeli jets flying east toward the Gulf. The U.S. sought clarification, but by the time Israel provided it missiles were already in the air, three U.S. officials say.
2025-09-10 05:05:00 UTC
Axios
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Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
You Really Need to See Epstein's Birthday Book for Yourself — This time, the conspiracy theorists were right. — Looking back, I don't know what exactly I was expecting when I opened “Request No. 1,” the PDF file containing the contents of Jeffrey Epstein's 50th-birthday book.
2025-09-10 03:35:00 UTC
The Atlantic
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CNN:
Poland says it has shot down drones that entered its airspace during Russian attack on Ukraine — Poland's military said early Wednesday that it had shot down drones that violated its airspace during a Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine, in what is potentially a major provocation for Europe.
2025-09-10 02:40:00 UTC
CNN
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Steve Kopack / NBC News:
Judge temporarily blocks Trump's firing of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook — The ruling means Cook will remain on the board of the central bank until her case is heard at length. — A federal judge on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's firing …
2025-09-10 02:25:00 UTC
NBC News
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Ramon Antonio Vargas / The Guardian:
Photo of novelty check suggests Epstein ‘sold’ Trump a woman for $22,500 — Convicted sex offender appears in birthday scrapbook photo with giant check signed by ‘DJ Trump’ — A scrapbook for Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday released on Monday contains a photo of him holding …
2025-09-10 02:20:00 UTC
The Guardian
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Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and challenger Josh Kraft advance to one-on-one general election — The incumbent and her Democratic challenger finished first and second in Tuesday's primary election, NBC News projects. — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and challenger Josh Kraft will move …
2025-09-10 01:00:05 UTC
NBC News
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Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Donald ❤️ Jeffrey — Caution: I'm going to avoid euphemism and reproduce images from the Epstein birthday book because I want everyone to see Jeffrey Epstein through the eyes of the people who knew him best. — Also: You're getting a bonus Secret pod today. Probably around 1:30.
2025-09-10 00:55:00 UTC
The Bulwark
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Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
The Government Wants to See Your Papers — And the Supreme Court decides that the Fourth Amendment might not be for everyone. … This kind of behavior by government officials is now legal in the United States. — Yesterday, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court allowed ICE officials …
2025-09-10 00:35:00 UTC
The Atlantic
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Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Democrats Narrow Gap in House After Victory in Virginia Special Election — James Walkinshaw will fill a seat left open by the death of his former boss, Gerald Connolly, and shrink the Republicans' majority in the chamber. — A Northern Virginia Democrat coasted to victory in a special election …
2025-09-10 00:35:00 UTC
New York Times
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President Donald J. Trump / The White House:
Memorandum for the Secretary of Health and Human Services the Commissioner of Food and Drugs — In 1962, the Congress vested the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the authority to regulate prescription drug advertising. These advertisements can mislead the public about the risks and benefits …
2025-09-10 00:10:00 UTC
The White House
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Anthony L. Fisher / MSNBC:
Trump is taking America down a slippery slope where the military can kill anyone — The president ordered the killings of suspected drug smugglers without due process and has used increasingly violent rhetoric about sending troops to U.S. cities. — President Donald Trump …
2025-09-09 23:30:00 UTC
MSNBC
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Associated Press:
Man faces federal charge in killing of Ukrainian woman on Charlotte train — The Justice Department on Tuesday charged a man accused of fatally stabbing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month with a federal crime that could carry the death penalty.
2025-09-09 23:30:00 UTC
Associated Press
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Atlanta, GA — A Fulton County judge found Tuesday that Georgia’s attorney general lacked authority to bring racketeering charges against protesters named in the sprawling Cop City RICO case, calling into question the foundation and future of the massive legal effort to criminalize a movement.
While Judge Kevin Farmer has not yet issued an official ruling cementing his decision, his finding that the attorney general’s office doesn’t have the authority to bring Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization, or RICO, charges in this case effectively derails the prosecution’s strategy of connecting protesters to a conspiracy against Cop City and the state itself.
Farmer indicated from the bench that he intends to dismiss conspiracy and related arson charges. If such a ruling comes down, the new vastly reduced case would only include five defendants accused of domestic terrorism, down from the 61 people currently named in the indictment.
In 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr brought a far-reaching RICO indictment against dozens of opponents of Atlanta’s recently built Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as Cop City.
For years, a diverse movement organized to stop the expansive police training facility from being built in a wooded area south of metro Atlanta. Using a blend of tactics ranging from petition drives to sabotage, the movement to “Stop Cop City” brought national attention to the issue of policing and power in Georgia and beyond. As protests and actions took place, the state and federal government began to charge movement participants criminally, including with domestic terrorism and racketeering.
But on Tuesday, more than two years into the legal process surrounding the case, Judge Farmer found that the Attorney General lacked authority to charge the defendants under the state’s RICO statute.
Under Georgia’s RICO legislation, in order for the attorney general to bring a RICO indictment the person indicted must be “dealing with or for the state” when committing the alleged offense. Defense attorney Andrew Hall successfully argued that his client, and others named in the indictment, were not dealing with or for the state, thereby requiring special permission from the governor for the attorney general to bring RICO charges.
“At this time, I do not find the attorney general had the authority to bring this RICO case,” Farmer said from the bench Tuesday morning.
“The mechanisms were in place, and steps just weren’t followed,” Farmer said of Carr’s failure to get permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment against the movement to stop Cop City.
All day Monday and into Tuesday morning, lawyers representing four of the 61 defendants in the conspiracy case brought against Cop City protesters argued a list of motions to dismiss various parts of the massive indictment that implicates their clients.
One motion, brought by attorney Andrew Hall, argued the state erred when it indicted his client under the state’s RICO statute.
Hall asserted that Thomas Jurgens, who was arrested at a music festival opposing Cop City on March 5, 2023 while acting as a legal observer for the National Lawyers’ Guild, was wrongfully implicated in the conspiracy as he was not “dealing with or for the state” as part of his alleged crime.
On that basis, Hall asked the court to dismiss the only count against his client in the indictment for lack of prosecutorial authority. Judge Farmer ultimately agreed with the argument, finding that the attorney general’s office should have sought permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment.
Farmer, while deliberating from the bench, questioned whether he should dismiss the entire indictment on these grounds or just dismiss the RICO and subsequent arson charges. While the original indictment included numerous other counts of money laundering, those were each dropped last year, leaving only the RICO, domestic terrorism and arson counts at the time of Tuesday’s hearing.
Farmer made clear that the attorney general’s office had the authority to pursue the domestic terrorism charges even if the other two counts are dismissed.
While Farmer is likely to dismiss the first and third counts in the indictment, namely RICO and arson charges, the second count of domestic terrorism may stand.
The state may appeal Farmer’s ruling, in which case the issue would return to court, but barring an appeal the RICO charges will not proceed.
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 The post Judge Finds Attorney General Can’t Bring RICO Charges in Cop City Case appeared first on UNICORN RIOT.
2025-09-09 23:23:40 UTC
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Gino Fanelli / WXXI News:
ICE agents in the Park Ave neighborhood spark large-scale protest — Federal immigration agents were seemingly forced to retreat from a roofing job site Tuesday in the Park Avenue neighborhood after being confronted by more than 100 protesters. — The group shouted “shame” and “Gestapo …
2025-09-09 23:05:01 UTC
WXXI News
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Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
Fired CDC director who clashed with RFK Jr. set to testify in Senate — The hearing would give Susan Monarez a high-profile opportunity to respond to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claims about her ethics and their conversations about vaccines. — Just now — Susan Monarez is set to testify …
2025-09-09 23:05:01 UTC
Washington Post
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Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Can Trump Deflate the Epstein Scandal? — Suppose that you work for the Trump White House and the boss calls you in with a special request: He wants stronger pushback against the attempts to keep the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in the headlines. — What might you offer him?
2025-09-09 23:00:29 UTC
New York Times
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Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court again gives no explanation in ruling for Trump, this time on immigration — The provisional decision only applies to one judge's decision in Los Angeles, but the Trump administration hailed it as a major win as it seeks to ramp up immigration enforcement.
2025-09-09 23:00:29 UTC
NBC News
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Anna Bower / Lawfare:
The Judicial Learning Curve — District court judges watch each other struggle with the Trump administration—and adapt. — annabower.bsky.social — Meet The Authors … Around 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, a supervisor at the Compass Connections children's shelter …
2025-09-09 23:00:29 UTC
Lawfare
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Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Chief Justice Roberts Lets Trump Block Foreign Aid for Now — Acting on his own, the chief justice issued an “administrative stay” pausing a trial judge's ruling while the full court considers the matter. — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Tuesday temporarily paused …
2025-09-09 23:00:29 UTC
New York Times
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Jen Rice / Democracy Docket:
Missouri House Sends GOP Gerrymander to the Senate — The Missouri House in a 90-65 vote approved a Republican congressional gerrymander, advancing the map to the Senate as part of a national plan to try to rig the 2026 election by eliminating Democratic seats in Congress.
2025-09-09 23:00:29 UTC
Democracy Docket
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