Here are this week’s SWAJ Research Links, compiled by SWAJ Team Member Mark Kurth.
National Inquiries
Canada warns LGBTQ residents of the risks of traveling to the US due to some state laws
“Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the U.S. have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events,” Global Affairs Canada said in a statement to CNN.
Neither the statement nor the travel advisory single out specific states or laws.
The updated travel advice comes after US-based advocacy group Human Rights Campaign declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ people in June.
GOP lawmaker warns Republicans may be 'walking the plank' with voters over abortion: 'What are we doing?'
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is warning that Republicans may be “walking the plank” as GOP lawmakers push for a range of abortion restrictions.
Mace has often criticized her fellow Republicans over what she calls “extreme” stances on abortion, particularly when it comes to victims of rape and incest, in addition to protecting the life of a pregnant person.
Trump’s co-defendants are already starting to turn against him
In court documents and hearings, lawyers for people in Trump’s orbit — both high-level advisers and lesser known associates — are starting to reveal glimmers of a tried-and-true strategy in cases with many defendants: Portray yourself as a hapless pawn while piling blame on the apparent kingpin.
“History has shown the 18 co-defendants that Donald doesn’t care about anyone but himself,” said Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, referring to the 18 people charged alongside Trump in the Georgia election racketeering case.
“I suspect it will be every defendant for himself,” Cohen added.
Senator files ethics complaint against supreme court justice Samuel Alito
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said recent public comments by Alito “appear to violate several canons of judicial ethics, including standards the supreme court has long applied to itself”.
Whitehouse lodged the complaint in a letter to the chief justice, John Roberts.
Alito is an acerbic voice in the conservative bloc that dominates the court, counting Roberts among its members. Earlier this year, Alito was the subject of a report by ProPublica detailing an undeclared fishing holiday with the billionaire Paul Singer.
Why Hunter Biden might not be the slam dunk issue GOP commentators hoped
For months, “Where’s Hunter?” and “Biden Crime Family” has become a rallying cry of the right. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is signaling he may move forward with an impeachment inquiry against the president this year over alleged corruption related to Hunter Biden’s activities.
But in the 2024 primary, the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden is falling flat. Instead, there is a growing recognition within some corners of the GOP — and among former President Donald Trump’s rivals, significantly — that the issue may not resonate as much as they once hoped, and that fixating on it could only help Trump.
“The reason Trump’s opponents aren’t talking about it is because talking about Biden corruption and problems plays right into Trump’s entire narrative,” said Gregg Keller, a Republican strategist in Missouri.
Would Trump pardon the Proud Boys?
The DOJ and FBI are destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots, right before our very eyes,” he wrote on social media. “The Court System is a RUBBER STAMP for their conviction and imprisonment.”
Trump had already embraced the idea of offering pardons to those convicted of their roles in the Capitol riot. Last year, even before announcing his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, he pledged that he would offer “full pardons with an apology to many.”
Column: Elon Musk comes around to blaming the Jews
Over the weekend, Musk launched a ferocious, spittle-flecked attack on the Anti-Defamation League, which describes itself (accurately enough) as “a global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens.”
Musk decided that the ADL is responsible for (in his words) “most of our revenue loss [at X]. Giving them maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~$4 billion.”
He asserted that the U.S. advertising revenue at X is “down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” And he tweeted that he has “no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League.”
US supreme court likely to determine Trump’s 2024 eligibility soon – ex-judge
Some legal experts believe Trump could be disqualified under section 3 of the 14th amendment. The measure bars someone from holding federal office if they have “previously taken an oath … to support the constitution” and subsequently “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same”. Interpreting that language, Luttig and some other prominent conservative scholars have concluded Trump’s actions on January 6 and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election bar him from running for president.
Authoritarianism Expert Predicts Why The GOP Will Implode, For Good
Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat thinks the GOP’s increasingly extreme positions can only backfire on the party.
“This is why ― what Trump calls ‘The Final Battle’ ― they’re going to try no matter what to get back into the White House so they can shut down democracy, because they know that otherwise they won’t ever be able to legally win again,” Ben-Ghiat said.
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in prison, longest for a January 6 defendant
The sentence from District Judge Timothy Kelly is the longest given to anyone in relation to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.
“It is kind of hard to put into words how important the peaceful transfer of power is,” Kelly said. “Our country was founded as an experiment in self-government by the people, but it cannot long endure if the way we elect our leaders is threatened with force and violence.”
“Mr. Tarrio was the ultimate leader, the ultimate person who organized, who was motivated by revolutionary zeal,” Kelly said at the end of the three hour hearing, adding that he has shown “no remorse.”
“What happened that day did not honor the founders, it was the kind of thing they wrote the Constitution to prevent,” the judge said.
The right is making public education intolerable. That’s not an accident.
A key architect of this plan is Michael Farris, formerly the head of the anti-LGBTQ+ legal group Alliance Defending Freedom and a long-time advocate for homeschooling. Farris was recently caught on a recording with fat-cat Christian backers promising to “take down the education system as we know it today.”
Farris has hopes of siphoning money from public education for vouchers for private schools. The Supreme Court has already started clearing the way for more widespread use of vouchers by religious schools, many of which actively discriminate against LGBTQ+ students.
Sarah Palin on Jan. 6 Sentences: ‘What’s the Use in Being a Good Guy?’
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday gave a mind-boggling take on the lengthy sentences recently handed down to several people who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Newsmax host Eric Bolling said he was personally “blown away” by sentences of “15, 17, and 18 years for nonviolent crimes,” and asked Palin: “What do you say to all these lefties?” “It’s so disheartening,” Palin replied. She went on to say that such sentences make “the populace lose a lot of faith in our government” and claimed they were evidence of “the two-tier different justice systems.”
Lawsuit filed to remove Trump from ballot in CO under 14th Amendment
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause, bars any person from holding federal or state office who took an “oath…to support the Constitution of the United States” and then has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump stood before the nation and took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” After losing the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump violated that oath by recruiting, inciting and encouraging a violent mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a futile attempt to remain in office.
Constitutional debate over Trump’s eligibility to run more extensive than realized
“We have been thinking about this in my office for quite some time, before the start of the year, assuming that this will play out,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in an interview.
Underscoring the seriousness with which she has been treating the topic, Griswold noted that “there have been conversations among secretaries” about it.
The legal theory argues Trump is constitutionally disqualified from running for president under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause,” which states that anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after taking an oath of office to defend the Constitution is forbidden from holding public office.
The theory has rarely been tested in modern times, creating a significant degree of uncertainty around who even has the ability to make the determination on whether Trump should be kept off the ballot — let alone what legally is considered “an insurrection or rebellion.”
Judge rejects Mark Meadows’ bid to move Georgia election interference case to federal court
The Friday ruling has significant implications for the former president and his 18 co-defendants in the Fulton County district attorney’s sprawling racketeering case, though the judge said the ruling did not apply to the other defendants. Meadows was the first of five defendants who already filed motions to move the case to federal court – and Trump is expected to do so, too.
States Fights
Judge says DeSantis’ congressional map is unconstitutional, orders lawmakers to draw new one
Judge J. Lee Marsh’s ruling is a rebuke to the governor, who previously vetoed the Legislature’s attempts to redraw Florida’s congressional maps and pushed lawmakers to approve his map that dismantled a North Florida seat formerly held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat.
Tennessee’s Blount Pride Fest Doubles Attendance After Anti-Drag Threat
Blount Pride is an annual LGBTQ+ celebration in Maryville, offering music, art, drag performances, and community resources. But this year’s festival came under legal threat last week when Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond warned that he would prosecute organizers if they violated a short-lived anti-drag law.
After a last-minute lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and a ruling from a federal judge, the festival went on as planned, with more than twice as many attendees as last year.
Court tosses Alabama congressional map after GOP refuses to draw second Black district
The three-judge panel wrote that it was “deeply troubled” that the state legislature declined to draw two majority-Black districts. The same court ruled last year that it should draw a second majority-Black district to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling from the lower court earlier this year.
An independent court-appointed expert will now draw Alabama’s congressional map for the 2024 election. Republicans in the state are expected to appeal the decision, which could eventually make its way to the Supreme Court again.
State Rep. Gloria Johnson of ‘Tennessee Three’ launches US Senate bid
“We need somebody that’s gonna care about Tennessee families and lifting them up and making sure that it’s them that we’re trying to cut costs and not cutting costs for corporations and billionaires. We’ve got to make sure that Tennessee families are earning a good wage, have access to affordable health care, have great schools for their kids, and can live in dignity and be able to retire,” Johnson said during remarks, according to a campaign news release.
The Texas Bans on Abortion “Trafficking” Are Even Scarier Than They Sound
Last week, the Washington Post reported on a major new anti-abortion strategy: local “trafficking” laws that make it a crime to transport anyone to get an abortion on roads within city or county limits. Specifically, in certain counties in Texas, anyone can sue an organization or individual they suspect of violating the ordinance.