Here is this week’s SWAJ Research Links, compiled by SWAJ Team Member Mark Kurth.
National Inquiries
The Supreme Court’s Ginni Thomas problem is bigger than legal ethics
No Supreme Court rules exist to address the problem posed by the funding of Crowdsourcers — or any other larger ethics problem posed by Ginni Thomas’ activism.
What You’ll Find on Truth Social, Where Trump Is Going Nuclear
In the chaotic hours following Donald Trump’s Thursday-evening indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, Americans interested in reading the former president’s insta-reactions had to flock to his owned-and-operated platform of choice, Truth Social. Yes, his five-paragraph “official statement” was posted on his Facebook campaign page and shared by reporters, but the tweet-length red meat and endless all-caps posts that defined Trump’s presidency could only be found on the very website he happens to own.
How Alvin Bragg Resurrected the Case Against Donald Trump
Mr. Bragg shook up the Trump team and hired an experienced lawyer away from the Justice Department to help lead it; and he ultimately found new promise in a key witness he had once disregarded as unreliable. The district attorney was also emboldened late last year when his prosecutors won a conviction of Mr. Trump’s company in an unrelated tax case.
MTG Uses ‘60 Minutes’ Interview to Call Democrats Pedophiles
“I would definitely say so they support grooming children,” she claimed, conflating Democrats’ support of trans rights to pedophilia.
“Democrats support, even Joe Biden, the president himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries,” Greene said. “Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.”
Never Again Trump: Can the GOP stop an indicted ex-president?
Things weren’t going so well for Ron DeSantis even before Donald Trump was indicted. The Florida governor had dropped 30 points behind the ex-president in the last pre-indictment poll of Republicans and Republican-leaners.
Jim Jordan raises prospect of defunding federal law enforcement
Gone are the days in which Republicans whine hysterically about Democrats and the drive to “defund the police.” We’ve instead arrived at the point at which a growing number of GOP voices feel quite comfortable talking about defunding the FBI.
How Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘pedophile’ slur made it to ‘60 Minutes’
The “pedophile” slur, a companion of the term “groomer,” is regularly applied by Republicans and right-wing media figures to Democrats and others who stand up for transgender rights, including gender-affirming treatment for adolescents.
GOP Lawmakers Kneel at the Altar of Trump as He’s Indicted
From the GOP’s highest-ranking legislators to its most attention-starved backbenchers, its most ardent MAGA firebreathers to its most consistent Trump critics, the party displayed remarkable consistency in closing ranks around their once—and potentially future—presidential standard-bearer.
Here’s Why the Trump Indictment Charges Are Felonies
The indictment lays out 34 felonies (not misdemeanors) which are based on the theory that the falsification of business records constitute felonies because they were made to cover up other crimes.
What are the other crimes? Election laws and possibly tax crimes are referenced in the statement of facts accompanying the indictment, but the specifics are not spelled out. This minimalist approach may serve Bragg well at this stage.
The new revelations — and key questions — in the Trump indictment
Going into Tuesday’s historic and much-previewed arraignment, a key mystery was exactly how Bragg planned to bring the charges as felonies. The charge at the heart of the case — falsifying business records — can amount to only a misdemeanor, but it becomes a felony if the defendant falsified the records to obscure a separate crime.
Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire
For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.
The Key Lesson for Democrats in This Week’s Elections
Though overshadowed by the day’s biggest political news—the arraignment of former President Donald Trump—Johnson’s and Protasiewicz’s victories are significant. For years, mainstream pundits and moderate Democrats have insisted that the party pivot to the center, particularly on issues like crime and inflation, or risk permanently losing swing voters to the Republican Party and consigning the Democrats to minority power.
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States Fights
Florida House passes parental rights bill restricting pronouns in schools
The proposal tightens restrictions on school lessons about sexual identity and gender orientation, which lawmakers say should happen at home. It also would require libraries pull books from shelves within five days if someone objects to the content in a change opponents contend amounts to censorship.
Abortion foes take aim at ballot initiatives in next phase of post-Dobbs political fights
Groups on both sides of the abortion divide have poured big sums into an upcoming state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that has seen record spending and offers a key test of the potency of the abortion issue among voters in a battleground state. Whether a conservative or liberal candidate wins a swing seat Tuesday on the seven-member high court there could determine the fate of abortion rights in the state. A Wisconsin law, enacted in 1849, that bans nearly all abortions is being challenged in court and is likely to land before the state Supreme Court.
More fights over ballot initiatives on abortion are stirring to life around the country. In addition to Ohio – where a state law banning abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy has been put on hold by a judge – abortion rights proponents have begun to push ballot proposals in South Dakota and Missouri. Most abortions are now illegal in those two states.
White House calls DeSantis ‘shameful’ for signing Fla. permitless gun-carry bill
“It is shameful that so soon after another tragic school shooting, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a permitless concealed carry bill behind closed doors, which eliminates the need to get a license to carry a concealed weapon,” Jean-Pierre said. “This is the opposite of commonsense gun safety.”
Tenn. State Rep Asks Protesters What Gun They'd Prefer To Be Shot With
Lamberth probably thought the question he asked the protesters was deep and Socratic, but it came across as heartless ― especially when accompanied by a shrug.
“So you’re not going to like my answer, and, look, I’m going to say that straight up,” Lamberth warned. “It’s not about this one gun.”
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Vocal Locals
She lost her child in a home birth. Prosecutors charged her with murder
The case comes as women across the US have been increasingly subjected to surveillance, arrest and charges for abortions, stillbirths and other actions that police claimed “endangered” their fetuses, with routine healthcare decisions and pregnancy outcomes treated as crimes.
Chicago chooses between progressive, moderate for mayor
The contest has centered on the increase in violent crime during the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring property taxes. But it also could have implications for Democrats nationally ahead of other elections, including mayoral races in cities such as Philadelphia and Houston. For both progressives and the party’s more moderate wing, the Chicago race is seen as a test of organizing power and messaging, especially with issues salient to big cities, like crime and alignment with law enforcement unions.
Brandon Johnson wins Chicago mayor election; Paul Vallas concedes
With a campaign was bankrolled largely by political funds tied to CTU and affiliated unions, Johnson focused his run around themes of equity, championing working people and addressing the root causes of crime. He spoke regularly about “investing in people,” and his platform includes new taxes that he says will mostly affect wealthier people, such as a higher real estate transfer tax on properties worth more than $1 million.
The big upset in the Chicago mayor’s race, explained
There was also a big ideological divide in the race that mirrors national struggles within the Democratic Party across the country. The party establishment, including a current US senator and a former governor and statewide leaders, rallied around Vallas, the former Chicago schools chief, and he was boosted by business leaders and the largest city police union. Progressives coalesced behind Johnson, who had the support of national and local activist organizations, organized labor, and, more specifically, the powerful Chicago Teachers Union.
This split emphasized the longtime struggle progressive activists, organizations, and candidates have faced to win competitive elections against moderate or conservative establishment politicians.