Short Takes – 6-28-23

John Roberts Has Wrested Back Control of the Supreme Court. Slate.com commentary. Pull quote: “This reasoning is ridiculous. What Republican legislators really want is the freedom to craft gerrymandered congressional districts without judicial intervention. The North Carolina Supreme Court already gave them that freedom. They won! There is no remaining injury for the court to redress. So Roberts made one up, invoking the specter of a “judgment” that the North Carolina Supreme Court has disavowed. Why? He wanted to reach the merits so he could stomp out the independent state legislature theory well in advance of the 2024 election. Which is ultimately good! It is important to get clarity on this issue before 2024. But to accomplish these noble aims, the chief justice had to pretzel the law of mootness. Kavanaugh and Barrett went right along with him, suggesting that they, too, were eager to get to the meat of the case, and coming around to finding the merits of the Roberts style.”

Supreme Court rejects theory that would have meant radical changes to election rules. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: ““Although we conclude that the Elections Clause does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law, state courts do not have free rein,” he wrote. State courts, he added, “may not transgress the ordinary bounds of judicial review such that they arrogate to themselves the power vested in state legislatures to regulate federal elections.””

McCarthy feels the heat as frustrated conservatives grow more aggressive. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “But frustrated conservatives are getting more aggressive, threatening to tank federal funding bills and risk a government shutdown while pushing harder to force the impeachment votes GOP leaders have sought to avoid.”

Intelligence and Russia’s Pseudo-Coup. TopSecretUmbra.com post. Pull quote: “As of today, Minsk reports that Prigozhin is their guest, while how many Wagner fighters have taken sanctuary with him in Belarus is unclear. Illustrating just how strange this whole operation was, Wagner fighters deployed abroad, serving as semi-deniable cut-outs for Russian military intelligence or GRU, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, remain in action and loyal to Moscow, asserts the Kremlin. It’s difficult to see how mercenaries attempting a coup against the state can be deemed fully loyal to that state just one day later, but Russia has never been a normal country...”