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☆ Opinion | Biden Is Right: End Lifetime Tenure on the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It wasn’t that long ago that many Republicans fully supported the most compelling of Biden’s ideas: term limits for justices. Term limits were also supported by Senator Marco Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz proposed putting justices up for election every eight years. But an 18-year maximum tenure for justices, as Biden and many others have proposed, shouldn’t be ping-ponged around by whatever faction is dissatisfied with the current court. Through the 1960s, the average term on the court was around 15 years; after 1970, it became about 26 years. The founders did not fully anticipate how a justice might become insulated from reality after serving on the court for many decades.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Biden’s, Josh Hawley, John Roberts, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Biden, It’s, —, Clarence Thomas — Organizations: Republicans don’t, Republicans, Republican, it’s Locations: Missouri

☆ Opinion | Biden’s Truth Is Being Overshadowed by His Stumbles
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The president who walked haltingly to the podium as the debate began Thursday night was not State of the Union Joe Biden. Instead, his voice was hoarse, he stumbled over facts, and occasionally he seemed to lose his train of thought and became a little incoherent. And yet, despite his terrible delivery, Biden was at least telling voters the truth. Trump said he never got any credit for getting the country out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course he didn’t; his policies and lack of action made the pandemic far worse.

Persons: haltingly, Union Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Trump Organizations: Union

☆ Opinion | The Supreme Court’s Bump Stock Decision Will Prove Fatal
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There was nothing abstract about the 6-to-3 decision issued Friday morning by the Supreme Court to permit bump stocks to be used on semiautomatic rifles. It is one of the most astonishingly dangerous decisions ever issued by the court, and it will almost surely result in a loss of American lives in another mass shooting. Bump stocks attach to the back of a rifle and use the gun’s recoil to enable shooting hundreds of bullets at a very rapid pace, far faster than anyone could shoot by pressing the trigger multiple times. Bump stock devices were banned the next year, just as all fully automatic machine guns are banned for public use, but the six conservative members of the court seemed entirely unbothered by their deadly potential. The opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, parses in a ridiculous level of detail whether bump stocks truly fit the precise mechanical definition of a machine gun.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, parses, Trump Organizations: Vegas, Firearms Policy Foundation

☆ Opinion | Trump Is ‘Honored’ by a Verdict That Should Shame Him
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Donald Trump could have gone any number of directions on Friday morning in his first speech after becoming a felon. A better human being might have expressed some remorse or a modicum of respect for the jury’s verdict, but that’s not who he is. In fact, what was remarkable about the speech at Trump Tower was how little effect the conviction seems to have had on his permanent vocabulary of grievance. The usual journalistic cliché for speeches like this one is “rambling,” but at least on a ramble you actually go someplace, if slowly. Trump, on the other hand, had no apparent destination.

Persons: Donald Trump, that’s, it’s, ”, Alvin Bragg, Juan Merchan “, he’s, Biden, “ Organizations: Trump, Democratic Party

☆ Opinion | Reason Prevailed in the House. For Just One Day.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The last speaker who prevented a shutdown, Kevin McCarthy, was booted from his position by Republican extremists for working with Democrats to pass a stopgap bill. Mr. Johnson might have tried to appease the howling kennel on the far right by throwing it a treat in exchange for support, as he did with the I.R.S. There were no policy riders or crazy demands for cuts, and as a result, all but two House Democrats voted for it. The far right never trusted Mr. McCarthy, but feels a kinship with Mr. Johnson’s fringe cultural positions. The stopgap bill is weird because it punts that fight to two dates.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Johnson, Johnson’s, that’s, McCarthy Organizations: Republican, Pentagon

archived recording 1 House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson will never give up. May God bless our next speaker, Mike Johnson. And Mike Johnson is already talking about adding a whole bunch of other conditions to keeping the government open and preventing a shutdown. archived recording (mike johnson) We worked through the weekend on a stopgap measure. archived recording 4 That was Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaking with Fox News as the deadline for a government shutdown ticks closer yet again.

Persons: david firestone, David Firestone, I’m, Mike Johnson, — david firestone, it’s, we’ve, Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Tom Emmer, Jim Jordan, He’s, Biden’s, Michael Johnson, Biden, there’s, we’re, Senate can’t, johnson Organizations: The New York Times, Republicans, Republican Party, Taiwan, Israel, Internal Revenue Service, Senate, Fox News Locations: Ohio, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, United States

☆ House Speaker Mike Johnson Is Not a Serious Person - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

But then he imposed a condition on the Israel money: Mr. Biden must agree to cut the same amount out of the money the Internal Revenue Service uses to chase down high-income tax cheats. Earlier this year, Republicans forced Mr. Biden to cut $20 billion from the I.R.S. cut isn’t really going to happen, as House Republicans know, because Mr. Johnson’s bill will die in the Senate, where many leading Republicans already oppose it. cut, he gets to show the same extremists who deposed his predecessor that he can play rough with the White House. If Mr. Johnson has substantive objections to helping Ukraine and Israel that justify the legislative impediments he is constructing, he should state what they are.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson’s, he’s, Biden, Mr, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham of, ” Mr, Graham, “, Mitt Romney, Joe Wilson of, He’s, Ritchie Torres, Axios, Johnson, Thomas Friedman Organizations: Republican House, Internal Revenue Service, Israel, Republican, Republicans, Treasury, Congressional Budget, National Bureau of Economic Research, Senate, Ukraine, Hamas, White, Democrats, Democrat, West Bank, Palestinian Authority Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, U.S, Nottingham, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Moscow, Utah, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, New York, Gaza, West

☆ Opinion | Biden’s Unspoken Message in Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

President Biden flew into multiple headwinds on his risky trip to show solidarity with Israel on Wednesday. Even before his plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, several allied Arab leaders announced they would not see him. He offered a small aid package for residents of Gaza and the West Bank, but can’t do much more until Congress functions again. Rocket and shell fire from Gaza and Lebanon resumed within two hours after his plane left Israel. But the trip was still worth making, as much for what went unspoken as for any tangible goals that were achieved.

Persons: Biden, Jack Lew, Obama Organizations: Israel, Wednesday, Ben Gurion, West Bank, Republicans, Senate, Republican Locations: Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, United States, Washington, Iran

☆ Opinion | Alabama Cherishes Its History of Defying the Federal Courts
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“The Legislature knows our state, our people and our districts better than the federal courts or activist groups,” wrote Gov. In a hearing last month, the three judges on the lower-court panel couldn’t quite believe it when Alabama came back with a map with only a single majority-Black district. Alabama knew full well that it would lose this case and that a second majority-Black district would inevitably be created over its opposition. They didn’t want to appear that they were knuckling under to the power of the federal government. They wanted the court to do it, and they wanted the public to understand that it was the court’s doing.

Persons: —, ”, Kay Ivey, Roberts, Terry Moorer Organizations: Federal, Court, Alabama, Republican Locations: Alabama, Black, “, State, Northern Alabama

☆ Opinion | Raising a Hand for the Man in the Mug Shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Hand-raising is a juvenile and reductive exercise in any political debate, but it’s worth unpacking this moment, which provides clarity into the damage that Mr. Trump has inflicted on his own party. But even Nikki Haley, though she generally tried to position herself as a reasonable alternative to Mr. Ramaswamy’s earsplitting drivel, raised her hand. Only Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson demonstrated some respect for the rule of law by opposing the election of a criminal. Mr. Hutchinson said Mr. Trump was “morally disqualified” from being president because of what happened on Jan. 6, and made the interesting argument that he may also be legally disqualified under the 14th Amendment for inciting an insurrection. Mr. Christie said the country had to stop “normalizing” Mr. Trump’s conduct, which he said was beneath the office of president.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy’s, Nikki Haley, Ramaswamy’s earsplitting, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence’s, fides, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, Hutchinson, Jan, Christie, Trump’s, Ramaswamy Organizations: Capitol, ., Fox News, United Locations: United States, Mexico

☆ Opinion | The Georgia Indictment Speaks to History
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

No one knows whether these charges will lead to convicting Mr. Trump and the other conspirators or in keeping him from power. But even if it doesn’t, the indictment, and the evidence supporting it, and the trial that ideally will follow it, will have a lasting value. Unlike the other three cases against Mr. Trump, this one is an indictment for history, for the generations to come who will want to know precisely how the men and women in Mr. Trump’s orbit tried to subvert the Constitution and undermine American democracy, and why they failed. History needs a story line to be fully understood. But in Georgia, Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, was unencumbered by the narrower confines of federal law and was able to use the more expansive state RICO statute to draw the clearest, most detailed picture yet of Mr. Trump’s plot.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Jack Smith, Mike Pence, Fani Willis Locations: Georgia, American, Fulton County

☆ Why Ron DeSantis Isn’t Beating Donald Trump - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As he flails to reverse a polling decline that is beginning to resemble a rockslide, Gov. Ron DeSantis must be feeling a little clueless about why his political fortunes are crumbling so quickly. Attacking wokeness and bullying transgender people seemed to work so well in Florida, so why aren’t national Republicans in awe of the divisions he’s deepened? A Monmouth University poll published on Tuesday showed Mr. Trump with a 20-point lead over Mr. DeSantis in a head-to-head match, and the advantage grew to more than 30 points when all the other candidates were thrown in. Major donors have started to sour on him, and The Times reported on Thursday that they are disappointed with his performance and the management of his campaign, which he says he will somehow reboot.

Persons: flails, Ron DeSantis, provocateurs, DeSantis, Casey, won’t, Donald Trump, Trump, it’s Organizations: Republicans, Republican, Florida Legislature, Monmouth University, The Times Locations: Florida

As depressing as the outcomes often were, these tortuous paths of jurisprudence were often absurd. A closer look at the opinions helps illustrate how legal decision-making is often deeply entwined with the justices’ deeply held passions and religious beliefs, their occasionally tense relationships with their colleagues and their personality quirks. Here are a few mostly tin medals for the outstanding lowlights (and a few highlights) of the year. ImageMost compassionate opinion correcting a historical American injustice:Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurring opinion in Haaland v. Brackeen upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law intended to prevent the forcible adoption of Native American children by nonnative families. Only the assertion of federal power through the child welfare act ended most of these abuses.

Persons: ’, Neil Gorsuch’s, Justice Gorsuch Organizations: Indian Child Welfare Locations: Haaland

☆ Opinion | A Handy Guide to the Republican Definition of a Crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since the rise of Donald Trump, the Republican definition of a crime has veered sharply from the law books and become extremely selective. For readers confused about the party’s new positions on law and order, here’s a guide to what today’s Republicans consider a crime, and what they do not. Not a crime: Federal crimes. “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” Gov. The F.B.I., which investigates many federal crimes, has also become corrupted by the same political forces.

Persons: haven’t, Donald Trump, Trump, Ron DeSantis, ”, Kevin D, Roberts Organizations: today’s, Department of Justice, Republicans, Democratic Party, Mr, Heritage Foundation Locations: Florida

☆ Opinion | Senators Have Perfected the Art of Obstruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

By contrast, Mr. Tuberville’s petulant demonstration has been going for more than four months. He announced his blockade in mid-February, holding up at least 150 pending promotions for generals and admirals. Individual senators gain the power to effectively block nominations by dragging out old and tedious Senate rules of procedure that are in desperate need of an update. Usually, the Senate majority leader brings up batches of routine military promotions and gets unanimous consent to approve them. But lately they are being taken to new heights by the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

Persons: Tuberville’s, “, ”, Jack Reed, Vance, Mr, Trump, Brian Fallon, Chuck Schumer, MAGA Organizations: Pentagon, Marine Corps, Democrat, Armed Services Committee, Department, Senate, Republican Party Locations: Rhode Island

☆ Ron DeSantis Finds a New Set of Laws to Ignore - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The transfer is only one of the ways Mr. DeSantis is pushing the limits of the campaign finance system. The super PAC supporting his presidential run, bearing the schoolboy name of “Never Back Down,” has made it clear that it has a dangerously broad view of what its role should be. Those ads are bad enough, but Never Back Down is going much further by essentially taking over many of the main functions of the DeSantis campaign itself. As The Washington Post recently reported, the super PAC is opening office space in each of the early primary states, organizing a corps of door-knockers and volunteers, and launching a “Students for DeSantis” effort on university campuses, among other grass-roots organizing work. “This is going to be expansive and a completely different kind of super PAC,” Kristin Davison, the chief operating officer of Never Back Down, told The Post.

Persons: DeSantis, ”, they’ve, ” Kristin Davison, South Carolina — Organizations: PAC, Washington Post, The Times, Labor Locations: New Hampshire , Nevada, South Carolina

☆ Opinion | How to Use the Debt Ceiling to Inflict Cruelty on the Poor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In 2021, 61 percent of the 25 million people on Medicaid were working in full- or part-time jobs. The bill would also require many adults 19 to 55 to work 80 hours a month to receive federally subsidized health coverage from Medicaid. Republicans couldn’t repeal the act through the front door, so they are using the leverage provided by the debt ceiling to try to achieve their ideological aim. It’s been clear for years that these kinds of work requirements don’t actually put people back to work; they just pry people away from the benefits they need. In 2018, Arkansas became the first state to impose very similar work requirements on Medicaid, before a federal judge ended the experiment the next year.

☆ George Santos Pushed Campaign Finance Abuse Past the Usual Line - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

has been hobbled by Congress from investigating them and the Federal Election Commission, which also regulates their expenditures, is regularly deadlocked. Many 501(c)(4) groups claim a large amount of “overhead” in their spending; crucially, it’s rarely itemized and therefore escapes close scrutiny, according to Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center. Mr. Santos might have gotten away with a lot of dubious spending in that category without anyone knowing. But Mr. Santos didn’t structure his fraud the usual way, according to the indictment. That company, which The New York Times says appears to be RedStone Strategies, had nothing to do with supporting Mr. Santos’s campaign but everything to do with supporting his bank account.

☆ Can Brandon Presley Help Mississippi Break from the Past? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Mr. Presley, 45, is one of three elected members of the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, and is the former mayor of Nettleton, a small town in the bright-red northeast section of Mississippi. His most effective tactic is his unrelenting attack on Mr. Reeves and the welfare scandal that has swirled around him and the previous Republican governor, Phil Bryant. At the same time, the state was rejecting a large majority of requests from families for Mississippi’s meager $170 a month in welfare payments. Mr. Reeves was lieutenant governor when all this was going on, and several people at the center of the scandal have been his friends and supporters. That was all Mr. Presley needed.

☆ Opinion: Texas judge’s stunning ruling caps extraordinary week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Tennessee legislators targeted three members of the state House for joining a gun control protest in the chamber, expelling two young Black men while failing to oust a 60-year-old White woman. (He gave the Biden administration a week to appeal the ruling before it goes into effect. Thus, the week that began with Trump facing a judge in Manhattan ended with a Trump-appointed judge overturning more than two decades of medical practice. “They go far too fast to be safe on the sidewalk” and aren’t right for bike lanes or roads either.

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