It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court dropped its Dodds decision reversing Roe v Wade on Friday, because it understandably eclipsed a week that was already heavy with important developments.
Two of those developments were other radical Supreme Court decisions: one blowing a hole in the wall between Church and State, and the other tossing out a century-old New York gun law, while casting doubt on just about any other gun regulation. I’ve grouped those three decisions together in “Three Supreme Court decisions with long-term consequences”, which should be out shortly.
Two other news stories would have dominated most weeks. Congress passed (and Biden signed) the first significant new gun-control legislation since the Clinton years. It’s far from what Biden wanted or the country needs, but it is something in an era when we’re used to getting nothing.
And then there were two more January 6 hearings, one detailing the ways Trump pressured everyone from local election officials to state legislatures and secretaries of state to help him stay in power after he lost the election, and one focusing on his attempt to corrupt the Justice Department, and how close it came to succeeding. Both included dramatic testimony (like Georgia election worker Shaye Moss describing how her life was ruined after Trump targeted her by name with false accusations of election fraud) and stunning revelations (like the six Republican congressmen who asked Trump for pardons).
I’ll cover most of that in the weekly summary, but there is one short thing I decided to pull out into a second featured post: I’ve been hearing a lot of pessimism about what the 1-6 hearings are accomplishing, with the assumption that they’re having no effect because Trump’s cultists aren’t watching them. I think that’s backwards, and shows a misperception of how conservatives change their minds. I’ll try to get that out around 10 or 11 EDT. The weekly summary should be out by 1.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
Not “unfortunate”; it was on purpose.
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You are correct, never underestimate the tendency of the right wing to turn on its heroes. I remember how, just after winning a landslide presidency, it didn’t take long before Woolworth,s was selling toilet paper with Nixon’s face and no one would admit to having voted for him.
The SCOTUS dropped the Roe Killing decision on a Friday and shortly afterward left town until the first Monday in October. By then the outrage will abate, they assume. They say they are simplifying things but they have stirred up a hornet’s nest and the country grows more divided by the minute, this time between pro-choice and anti-abortionists. Lawsuits will fly as people try to fight against Solito’s Abomination. How is it that the Christian Nationalist SC Justices can write their Catholic doctrine into US law and policy???