Here are this week’s SWAJ Research Links, compiled by SWAJ Team Member Mark Kurth.
National Inquiries
Mike Johnson and His Delusions of Religious Grandeur are Making People Very Nervous
Speaker of he House Mike Johnson is surely the most obvious theocrat to occupy a space in the presidential line of succession in two centuries. Certainly, no other Speaker has declared himself to be the modern Moses while the majority he purports to lead thins almost to invisibility. Now, it seems that Moses Mike and his delusions of religious grandeur are making people very nervous.
The Good, Bad and Ugly in a New Poll on Trump’s Trials and the Supreme Court
Eight months out, we had questions. Among them: If Trump is convicted of a crime, how will it affect his chances of returning to the White House? What do Americans make of his claim that he should be immune from prosecution even if he actually perpetrated a criminal scheme to steal the last election? Does the public trust the Supreme Court to decide that issue fairly?
To find out, we worked with Ipsos to poll the American people — and we discovered some surprising answers to all of these questions, and several more.
The bottom line is that a conviction in Manhattan may not doom Trump, but it would do real damage.
More than a third of independents said a guilty verdict would make them less likely to support Trump’s candidacy. In a close race, that might matter.
Democratic governors see IVF following a familiar post-Dobbs pattern
Democratically controlled states California, Illinois and Massachusetts passed laws last year that protect IVF providers. And in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently directed the Michigan state health department to issue a reminder that protects out-of-state patients and providers who seek IVF treatments in Michigan.
With Congress unable to move national legislation to protect IVF, Democratic governors see the patchwork of state laws as a way to ensure access. Democratic governors say they know the sudden restriction of a deeply personal issue like IVF might move voters — even for those who don’t support a liberal position on abortion.
Trump says any Jewish person who votes for Democrats ‘hates their religion’ and ‘everything about Israel’
“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion,” Trump said. “They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”
Trump directly slammed Schumer, who recently criticized Netanyahu’s government and called for new elections in a speech on the Senate floor about Israel’s war on Hamas and the resulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America.
Christian Nationalism is Both Smear and Savior to Many Christians
But it is only a smear if they don’t believe it. The more important question, therefore, is what Christian nationalism means to believers. Does it mean simply that the United States as constituted is fulfilling a divine purpose in the world enabling freedom and flourishing? Or is it something more akin to its academic (and activist) meaning – the attempted fusion of the government with Christian control for the benefit of Christians?
States Fights
‘Democracy is teetering’: at ground zero for Trump’s big lie in Arizona
These are troubled times in Arizona. Until 2020, election officials were the largely anonymous folk who did the important yet unseen work of making democracy run smoothly.
“Nobody knew who we were, what we did,” Fontes said ruefully. “It’s a little bit different now.”
All changed with Donald Trump’s unprecedented refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election. His conspiracy to subvert the election has had an explosive impact in Arizona, a battleground state that has become arguably ground zero for election denial in America.
Pro-Trump disruptions in Arizona county elevate fears for the 2024 vote
Arizona voters in 2022 narrowly defeated Republican candidates for governor and other statewide offices who made election denialism a centerpiece of their campaigns. The issue remains a major animating force for the state’s GOP, and Republican lawmakers have gone so far as to try to break up Maricopa in a move widely seen as retribution for the county’s role in Trump’s defeat.
Maricopa supervisors have become accustomed to the crowds of people who heckle and disparage them in public meetings, a tactic that has played out since the 2020 vote in localities around the nation, from California to Texas. In response to escalating disruptions, Maricopa officials have recently become more aggressive in ordering out unruly attendees or adjourning sessions early to try to avoid viral confrontations.
Supreme Court lets ‘insurrectionist’ ban against New Mexico official stand
The Supreme Court has turned away a convicted member of the Jan. 6 mob who was barred from public office in New Mexico under the Constitution’s “insurrection clause” seeking to reverse his disqualification.
The justices on Monday denied Couy Griffin’s petition to consider his effort to overturn the rulings of courts in New Mexico that deemed him ineligible from holding office there ever again.
Texas immigration law is on hold. But the confusion is still mounting.
Even before the latest legal developments, Texas’s implementation of S.B. 4 was causing confusion and uncertainty. But anxiety and fear over the controversial law is reaching a new level as local leaders, police departments, civil rights advocates and migrants await the outcome of a court battle that turned dizzying this week.
Appeals court puts controversial Texas immigration law back on hold
In a brief order, a three-judge panel at the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to wipe away a previous ruling from a different panel that had temporarily put the law, which would allow state officials to arrest and detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally, into effect.
The panel of judges that issued Tuesday night’s order is already set to hear arguments Wednesday morning on Texas’ request to put the law, Senate Bill 4, back into effect pending the state’s appeal of a federal judge’s block on the law.
Supreme Court allows Texas to begin enforcing controversial immigration law
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Texas to immediately begin enforcing a controversial immigration law that allows state officials to arrest and detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally.
The court’s three liberals dissented.
Legal challenges to the law are ongoing at a federal appeals court, but the decision hands a significant – yet temporary – win to Texas, which has been battling the Biden administration over immigration policy.