The same old Susan Collins charade. As soon as a controversial nominee or a bill has enough votes to pass, she announces she will vote no when it doesn’t matter. She never casts a deciding vote against Trump. Now she will claim this shows how she is so “independent.”

🚨BREAKING: A federal court dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit seeking access to Colorado's unredacted voter registration list. The department is 0-20 in its sweeping legal hunt to acquire private voter data from states.

Of course you had the alternative.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "As to the idea it could be revived in the future, I think it's highly unlikely that could happen without the cooperation of the DOJ. And I think Mr Blanche gave us the assurances that it was dead and would not be revived and in this case we have no alternative but to take his word" 🙃

The Senate Judiciary Committee advances Todd Blanche's nomination in a party-line vote and Grassley ends the hearing

Whitehouse: "Next we get to this crooked slush fund Trump family tax amnesty scam. We've got these two new pieces of paper. One signed only by Blanche, one not signed by anybody. Neither of which has any legal effect whatsoever. They are decorative. Can you trust Todd Blanche? I do not."

The Hawaii Supreme Court opened the door for criminal defendants to challenge convictions based on discredited evidence, diverging from the U.S. Supreme Court.

One Hawaii Justice Is Using State Constitutionalism to Challenge Federal Constitutional Orthodoxy

Justice Todd Eddins has consistently reminded us that state courts need not agree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s reasoning or conclusions — and neither do we.

statecourtreport.org

A faith group that hosted a call with Todd Blanche — who assured listeners of his commitment to make Dobbs “permanent in every single state” — insisted it was off-the-record…then posted it on YouTube 🤔

Blanche assures anti-abortion supporters that Dobbs will be ‘permanent in every single state’

The acting attorney general made the remarks during a private call with faith leaders.

politico.com

The Republicans have already shown themselves to care not at all for our Constitution. There’s apparently no bottom to this if they confirm Blanche, who has weaponized the Justice Dept to be a personal legal arm for Donald Trump, protecting his wealth and lawbreaking and persecuting his opponents.

Whitehouse: "Today I think is a sad and embarrassing day for this committee as it looks like on a party-line vote we are going to advance out of this committee probably the most discreditable person ever to seek the office of attorney general. Let's start with the Epstein files ... "

Today. Now with @skyeperryman.bsky.social too!

Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)@lawyers4goodgov.bsky.social · 2d ago

Join L4GG Founder and Executive Director Traci Feit Love, Stacey Abrams, Ashley Upkins, and Dahlia Lithwick for a conversation about the courts, legal strategy, and how lawyers and advocates can take action. August 4 at 7 p.m. ET RSVP: L4GG.org/Litigate

The @nytimes inexplicably continues to assert that "the Justice Department ... gave [Trump] the audit protection as part of a deal to end the lawsuit." Nope. It wasn't included in the "deal." It's a unilateral--and blatantly unlawful--decree by the Acting AG. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/b...

Republicans Let Trump Keep Unparalleled Benefit: I.R.S. Immunity

The rebellion against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general, now seemingly contained, at no point fundamentally questioned President Trump’s new protections from the I.R.S.

nytimes.com

For Slate's summer series By the People, I wrote about how D.C. v. Heller is both a paragon of popular constitutionalism and its own dark mirror. Progressives can learn real lessons from how it was won—if they ignore its bogus originalism and look at what really went down. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Conservatives Perfected the Ideal Legal Tactic. It’s Time for Liberals to Use It.

While Heller was built on phony history, it reflected a genuine, hard-fought shift in public understanding.

slate.com

Episode Three of By the People, our series on popular constitutionalism and what Americans can do to make constitutional change. Marc Solomon in conversation with @mjsdc.bsky.social about the fight on the ground for marriage equality shows.acast.com/amicus-with-...

By The People | Two Steps Forward, One Step Back | Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Everyday activism created a perfect storm at the Supreme Court in 2015. There’s a lot we can learn from it today.

shows.acast.com

Episode Three of By the People, our series on popular constitutionalism and what Americans can do to make constitutional change. Marc Solomon in conversation with @mjsdc.bsky.social about the fight on the ground for marriage equality shows.acast.com/amicus-with-...

By The People | Two Steps Forward, One Step Back | Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Everyday activism created a perfect storm at the Supreme Court in 2015. There’s a lot we can learn from it today.

shows.acast.com

New York sues Kalshi, says prediction market is running 'illegal gambling operation'

New York sues Kalshi, says prediction market is running 'illegal gambling operation'

It comes after a federal judge earlier this month denied Kalshi's attempts to intervene against the state's Gaming Commission.

cnb.cx

Trump officials say they found 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in just four states. Those states don't know where the numbers came from, and some worry what the claims may portend for the midterms. n.pr/4xa5sTT

Trump's noncitizen voter data remains a mystery. But the claims raise midterm fears

Trump officials say they found 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in just four states. Those states don't know where the numbers came from, and some worry what the claims may portend for the midterms.

n.pr

Oh, it's bad. He doesn't say Blanche is pulled, but, he does. I think the only fair reading of this is that Trump is not willing to let Blanche back down on the audit immunity.

Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 7d ago

NYT on the Blanche vote delay that’s the result of Cornyn and Tillis not being on board due to where things stand with the IRS audit immunity provision. “‘I can see why he wants it, because it provides immunity from audits no other taxpayer would get,’ Mr. Cornyn added. “

Todd Blanche‘s confirmation vote may be off for this morning, but he still has an obligation to produce documents from the Epstein files today.

Joyce White Vance@joycewhitevance.bsky.social · last wk.

Judge Sullivan has given acting AG Todd Blanche 5 days to produce unredacted versions of some Epstein Files documents & proof that the reasons given for making the redactions were true. Here’s what’s significant about that: joycevance.substack.com/p/an-importa...

As senators delayed a crucial vote on Blanche’s AG nomination over concerns about the weaponization fund, a million-dollar DOJ payment to an anti-abortion activist underscored how taxpayer $$ could be funneled to people claiming to be victims of government persecution www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/u...

With Blanche Nomination at Stake, Payouts to Trump Allies Continue

A seven-figure settlement was announced hours before senators skeptical about the so-called weaponization fund delayed a crucial vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general.

nytimes.com

Trump absolutely cratering by many metrics in new CNN poll: 66% say he puts himself over country 61% disapprove of ballroom, arch, etc 57% say lacks sharpness to serve (!) 73% say he's out of touch w/regular people (!!) His personalist project is over. New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2137...

We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism

It’s all there in a new CNN poll, and it’s heartening to see: Large majorities are sick of Donald Trump’s vanity, venality, and megalomania.

newrepublic.com

man I will just never get over the fact that the collective response to the pandemic, and an absolutely miraculous vaccine development, was to destroy public health in this country and smear everyone involved I generally take a positive view of humanity overall but it's so depressing

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Moreno to Fauci: "Who the fuck did you think you were?"

The Supreme Court invited exactly this when it held that the president's attempt to conduct "sham" "investigations" was a core executive power immune from all regulation, including criminal prosecution, in Trump v. United States.

Deborah Pearlstein@debpearlstein.bsky.social · last wk.

"Secret Service agents who questioned the former FBI director James B. Comey were told to send details of the interview to Air Force One so President Trump could review them....One government document said that 'POTUS was requesting a copy of the interview notes to use in his 6pm press conference.'"

Ben Wikler's new book is very good. Even if you already know this stuff, hearing how someone with immense communications and organizing skills explains it to an informed audience is grounding. www.thriftbooks.com/w/this-is-th...

This Is The Plan: How to End America's... book by Ben Wikler

Buy a cheap copy of This Is The Plan: How to End America's... book by Ben Wikler. If you are looking at the spiraling crisis of American politics in the Trump era and wondering how the hell we get out...

thriftbooks.com

Oh this is nuts.

Thomas Frampton@tframpton.bsky.social · last wk.

Super normal stuff: Citing "extraordinary" misconduct, the other six members of the Louisiana Supreme Court have forced the Chief Justice to recuse himself from a case (after he refused to do so on his own).

Sat down to write about the Hugging Face/AI incident. Ended up drawing this instead.

I'm a regular listener of Amicus (pod about SCOTUS), hosted by @dahlialithwick.bsky.social and @mjsdc.bsky.social. I am totally digging their current By the People series (pod & articles). it's giving me hope about a possible future where SCOTUS is not a Guardian Council. slate.com/bythepeople

By the People

As a thought experiment, we bring you popular constitutionalism—local, organic farm-to-table making of legal meaning.

slate.com

My new one @slate.com: Kalshi Says It’s “Voter Suppression” to Ban Betting on Elections. LOL. gift link: slate.com/news-and-pol...

Kalshi Says It’s “Voter Suppression” to Ban Betting on Elections. LOL.

States have good reasons for making betting on elections illegal.

slate.com

With @mjsdc.bsky.social: Ep. 2 of By the People, our series on ordinary people making constitutional meaning. Lyle Cherneff on 8 year old Elizabeth Turner, whose mother filed a habeas petition to free her from forced "apprenticeship" after emancipation. shows.acast.com/amicus-with-...

By the People | For the Children | Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

When freedom was snatched away, Elizabeth Turner’s mother fought back, and changed the Constitution.

shows.acast.com

Reva Siegel on Birthright Citizenship and Popular Constitutionalism

The Supreme Court’s Biggest Case of the Term Shows Popular Constitutionalism in Action

The birthright citizenship case the Supreme Court just decided demonstrates how deep-rooted this practice is.

slate.com

That's not a thing. That's an original injunction against the trial courts. That's insane.

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2w ago

On Tuesday, the full Fifth Circuit granted DOJ's request for a "precedential stay" of district court rulings holding that the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for immigration detainees w/in 90 days of their arrest. Today's "One First" explains why that's a really big (and problematic) deal: