The Weekly Sift

Ordinarily, things that you see coming aren’t shocking. Tax day, your best friend’s wedding, the visit your mother booked in March — whether you’re looking forward to it or dreading it, it’s not going to be shocking.

People who watch the Supreme Court like I do have seen the Callais decision coming for a long time. John Roberts and his conservative majority have been out to scuttle the Voting Rights Act for more than a decade. They’ve been chipping away at this section, then that one — always reassuring the public that it didn’t really matter, because the rest of the VRA was still there to protect minority rights, at least until the next case.

It was only a matter of time before they finished it off, and Calais looked like the case to do it. And yet, reading Justice Alito’s majority opinion this week was shocking all the same. The bad history, the gaping holes in his logic, the complete non sequiturs, but most of all the arrogation of Congress’ power into the Supreme Court — I could still be shocked by the level of corruption that has gotten into our highest court. They’re not even trying to do law any more, or to convince us that they are.

So I had to write about it. This week’s featured post “What to do about a lawless Supreme Court?” should be out by around 10 or so EDT.

The weekly summary has another court case to discuss: the Fifth Circuit’s attempt to keep the primary abortion drug from passing through the mail. And then there’s the complete joke Todd Blanche is making of the Justice Department with its absurd indictment of James Comey for posting a picture of seashells on a beach. The Iran War continues to drag on, because Trump can neither win it nor admit defeat. And that means gas prices will continue to rise and the economy will suffer. Trump’s popularity will continue to tank and it will become ever more essential for him to find ways to cheat in the fall elections.

Expect to see the weekly summary around noon or so.