Randall Eliason

Alito is going to retire, and Trump is going to appoint Cannon, isn't he. 🤦

Again, even if all that is successful, under the regs it is up to Bondi whether the report should be made public.

Even if Cannon's order is overturned, the regs leave it up to the AG whether a special counsel's report should be made public. How do we think that's going to go?

Unless there's a Daniel Ellsberg among the former SC staff, we will need to wait for a Democrat AG to - maybe - see the report.

This was my argument more than a year ago - turned out to be right, unfortunately.

As Ryan notes, it’s potentially very important that three of the Court’s conservatives are not buying the notion that Trump can do whatever he wants simply by making up a fake “emergency.”

That doesn’t detract from the enjoyment- it was the three conservatives who were necessary for a majority!

Yes, the 3 conservatives without whom there would be no majority!

Someone let the penguins of the Heard and McDonald Islands know that their long ordeal is coming to an end.

Among the most important signs of how SCOTUS might rein in a President's claim to emergency powers is:

Chief Justice Roberts with Justices Gorsuch and Barrett on the 'major questions' doctrine.

The three express deep skepticism of claims to open-ended emergency powers:

1/

Not gonna lie, it’s kind of fun to see the conservative administration’s key economic policy hoisted on the “major questions doctrine” petard.

A photo of Frodo speaking with Gandalf in the Mines of Moria: "I wish it had not happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But the Dow is over 50,000."

Grand Jury Rebuffs Justice Dept. Attempt to Indict 6 Democrats in Congress

For years I've argued that the "ham sandwich" critique is wrong and that the discipline of having to go through the grand jury to obtain an indictment still acts as an important check on prosecutorial power. Grand juries under the Trump regime continue to prove it.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/u...

OK, the Dunkin’ ad and the singing toilets were pretty funny.

The curious thing, given the inroads Trump made with Hispanics last year, is Bannon's apparent assumption that keeping them away from the polls in November would be good for Republicans.

Sort of like Trump's attacks on mail-in voting - may hurt R's as much or more than D's.

The renovations undoubtedly will include lots of gold trimmings and a giant bust of Trump’s head to go next to JFK’s - but slightly larger, of course.

Nathan, actually (speaking of pedants …)

WaPo’s editorial board STILL doesn’t grapple with why THREE trial judges, and THREE appellate courts found a gag order against Trump was necessary.

It also sidesteps that Smith AVOIDED a 1A battle by selecting charges that didn’t require proving incitement.

There was also nothing on their home page about Jack Smith’s testimony the day after it happened.

Yes but they also wrote a recent editorial making similar arguments.

Opinion | Jack Smith is in First Amendment denial The former special counsel defends an indefensible bid to gag Donald Trump as he ran for president.

It continues to amaze me that the Washington Post appears more concerned about whether Trump’s gag order (prompted by his own unhinged attacks) was too broad than it is about his efforts to overturn the election, including unleashing a mob on the Capitol.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

photo of march, signs for renee good and against ICe, crowded street.

this photo. minneapolis. 💜

📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune

Jack Smith’s Testimony and the Republican Efforts to Rewrite History "I'm not going to be intimidated"

To feed the narrative of "Trump as victim" Republicans had to make Smith appear to be a deranged, rogue prosecutor. Unfortunately for them, he was about as far from deranged as one can imagine.

The same can't be said of some of the Republicans questioning him.

www.sidebarsblog.com/p/jack-smith...

Jack Smith’s Testimony and the Republican Efforts to Rewrite History "I'm not going to be intimidated"

My latest on Sidebars: the Republican approach to the hearing can best be summed up as: “OK, so maybe Trump committed multiple felonies. But can we just talk for a minute about how you had the nerve to subpoena our phone records?”

www.sidebarsblog.com/p/jack-smith...

The Washington Post's Misguided First Amendment Defense of Trump's Attempted Coup "Democracy Dies in Darkness"

I explained here (and in a letter to the Editor of the Post) why that editorial was so, to use a legal term, batsh*t crazy.

www.sidebarsblog.com/p/the-washin...

A proud moment for the Washington Post: Jim Jordan quotes their editorial arguing that prosecuting Trump for Jan. 6 would have violated the First Amendment, and enters it into the record.

And that Hutchinson had much more to potentially testify about than the incident in the car - which is why it made sense not to rule out calling her as a witness.

Halligan Leaves as U.S. Attorney After Mounting Pressure From Judges

"Lindsey Halligan, tapped by President Trump to prosecute his enemies, has left the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Attorney General Pam Bondi said late Tuesday after a judge called Ms. Halligan’s bid to remain in office a “charade.”"
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/u...

You’ve heard of fighting fire with fire?

Well, this is Minnesota in January, so …

Fighting ICE with ice

What they're not telling you is the "internal bleeding" was caused by other agents chest-bumping him and slapping him on the back to celebrate the shooting.