Harry Litman

Alito issues administrative stay, reinstating the Texas map with iits new positions earmarked for Republicans, which the court below struck down as racially driven. Just an administrative stay -- i.e not an indication of where Court will be on merits of removing the stay.

MTG resignation speech sounds like a political campaign send off. she is going to be a very strong thorn in Trump's side going forward. Another likely miscalculation on his part and proof of his lame duck status-- power play that might have worked in Trump 1.0.

MTG figures now to be one of Trump's most visible and powerful adversaries, particularly when he starts hiding behind Bondi to not release all the files.
More generally, she's made the calculation -- and many soon may follow--that the path to future political prominence does NOT run through Trump.

whoa--Marjorie Taylor Greene resigns from Congress effective in new term. Going go give her a far stronger perch to attack Trump from. This is one crazy week

Comey's motion to dismiss makes a direct appeal to judge to be a bulwark against Trump's reprisal prosecutions. Looking forward to discussing, along with latest congressional maneuvers in the Epstein scandals, w/ #JohnKing in for @andersoncooper360.bsky.social at 8:40 PM ET.

Comey has now filed a brief w/ multiple legal points, culminating in the argument "[t]he Judiciary is a vital bulwark against this Administration’s intolerable abuse of executive power; it should fulfill that role by dismissing
this profoundly unjust and unconstitutional prosecution with prejudice."

GJ may not lead to dismissal w/ prejudice, but that's no longer the issue. Rather, it's the competence and credibility of the DOJ and Halligan. So this squirrelly document as I read it just pours oil on the fire. It tries to imply the GJ saw ind #2 but doesn't say so and it looks as if they didn't.

the record would have to be informing Court of actual facts -- and in this situation making 1000% sure you had it right. But the document i think -- it's very vague--doesn't do that. Instead, it just argues that the (unpresented) 2nd indictment is operative. The blunder on not re-presenting to a new

More on this "notice correcting the record." the issue that prompted the gobsmacking revelation in court was that there didn't seem to be time to have done a separate GJ presentation w indictment #2 so when was it presented to GJ;and the stunning answer was "it wasn't." So now a notice of correcting

For Trump, especially in his current position, nothing succeeds like success. Thus the cordial meeting w Mamdani,which of course doesn't suggest any sort of cordial alliance. But Mamdani won big and that's the main metric for Trump.

In an effort at damage control in the Comey case, the Administration has filed a "Notice Correcting the Record" that does anything but. Looking forward to discussing with @nicollewallace.bsky.social + @jheil.bsky.social & #RevAlSharpton on Deadline White House on #MSNOW at 4:30 PM ET.

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

"The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned."

wapo.st/3Mbd9a6

ComeyFlg112025

This is all beyond unfathomable. Now the DOJ says oops we made a mistake about making a mistake; in fact, the grand jury did review and sign off on the second indictment. Begging the Q who was with the grand jury when that happened since Halligan says not her.

www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Subscribe to Talking Feds Substack Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...

TODAY at 8pm EST/5pm PST I'll be on the
@talkingfeds.bsky.social Substack for our weekly LIVE Q&A for paid subscribers. Subscribe here (bit.ly/TFSubstack) and comment your questions below this post

This pattern holds in urban areas throughout country & is the core insight driving many successful anti-violent crime initiatives

“The city’s data analysis showed that three-quarters of shootings in Baltimore involved fewer than 2 percent of city residents.”

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...

House Votes to Kill Bill Allowing Senators to Sue Government

Rule of holes. House voted unanimously to dump last minute provision to permit eight senators to sue because Jack Smith, entirely legitimately, got their toll records. Senate apparently determined to revive

House Votes to Kill Bill Allowing Senators to Sue Government www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...

“There is no indictment” Lindsey Halligan — and the Comey Prosecution — Enter Free Fall

"It’s hard to convey how consummately boneheaded it was to try to slip a revised indictment past the court rather than presenting it to the grand jury."

The Comey Hearing: This Would Be Hilarious If It Weren’t So Scandalous Before Wednesday, Trump’s handpicked Comey prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, had egg on her face. Now it’s an entire omelet.

“Halligan already had egg on her face for a series of blunders. This was more like an entire omelet.”

newrepublic.com/article/2034...

Really American (@reallyamerican) Every woman needs to see this - montage of 19 clips showing Trump insulting, berating and attacking female reporters just for doing their jobs. This is how he treats women. Share this - make it go v...

substack.com/@reallyameri...

Thanks @rparloff.bsky.social . Not just dad. It was a moment of palpable discomfort for Lemons.

The case nachmanoff directed the parties to consider permits the indictment to be dismissed without prejudice based on a test about what the grand jury actually found and actually intended. That’s what we probably will be looking at.

The law on the Halligan failure to present the actual indictment to the GJ may let the DOJ wriggle out. But her misstatements to the grand jury on fundamental constitutional matters are going to be big trouble I think. DOJ just says it’s harmless error analysis. But hard to see harmlessness here.

What a crazy-ass day. Looking forward to discussing Trump’s strategies for nullifying Epstein bill he just signed (w uncharacteristic public silence) AND the Lindsay Halligan debacle from earlier today with @chrislhayes.bsky.social on @ms.now at 8:30 PM ET.

And once more with feeling. Looking forward to discussing the whole crazy are you kidding me gobsmacking moment in court today, and what happens next, with @kaitlancollins.bsky.social on @cnn at 9:15 PM ET

The Lead With Jake Tapper - Harry Litman Powered by SnapStream Cloud Sharing

Pleasure to be on @jaketapper.bsky.social w/ guest host @pamelabrowncnn.bsky.social to discuss the gobsmacking moment in court when the DOJ revealed the Grand Jury never even saw the operative indictment.

video.snapstream.net/Play/uoRBT7o...

Basic DOj argument: so there were a lot of mistakes. Still can’t give over GJ materials

From the DOJ filing just in: “the grand jury coordinator returned to the grand jury room and presented the corrected indictment to the grand jury for person and the deputy for person.“
So presumably, they wanted full grand jury

Sub stack live with @klasfeldreports.com coming up on Adam’s Substack channel in five minutes

quite a morning in Alexandria, where the hearing before Nachmanoff took an extreme curve at the end with the US's revelation that the Grand Jury never even saw the operative indictment. I've just posted a long youtube on the hearing -- and ill be going live a/ Adam Klasfeld on substack at 12:30 ET

HUGE development IN hearing for Comey selective prosecution motion, It turns out that the grand jury NEVER saw the operative indictment. Whole separate basis for dismissal. Standby for more.