Talking Points Memo

U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C. just awarded summary judgment to Jenner & Block, finding President Trump’s executive order against it unlawful and declaring it null and void. This is remarkably strong language from a George W. Bush appointee who served on Special Counsel Ken Starr’s … JUST IN: Judge Strikes Down Another Big Law EORead more

What interests me most about the Supreme Court’s telegraphed decision ending independent agencies is the ease with which they discard their governing theories (unitary executive) when the results are ones they find unpleasant (ending the independence Federal Reserve). Let’s make a note in passing that as long as … The Court’s ‘Make It Up As You Go’ ConstitutionRead more

A new episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast is live! This week, Kate and Josh discuss the House passage of the “big, beautiful bill” of health care cuts and analyze the big “what happened” report of the 2024 election.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. The Biggest News Of The Week In a tumultuous week that marked four months since Donald Trump’s second inauguration, nothing will have as long-lasting and damaging an effect … The Supreme Court Just Handed A Match To An ArsonistRead more

DHS seems to have pissed off a federal judge in one of the many ongoing litigations around gutting much of the federal government. This one is brought – ironically – by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights against DHS and is about DHS shutting down several statute-mandated offices that … To Keep An Eye OnRead more

The independent agency embedded within the legislative branch that is designed to review federal spending and make recommendations to Congress on cost savings and waste, as well as investigate policy implementation (the real one, not DOGE), has released a new finding that none of us will find surprising.

The Supreme Court majority all but declared Thursday that it is ready to overturn a nearly century-old precedent meant to protect independent agencies from at-will firing by the President. 

Idaho pastor Douglas Wilson can be provocative. He once wrote that “slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races.” He’s said that “sodomy” is worse than “slavery”; abortion, he’s written, is “as great an evil as slavery” due to what he sees as its ability … An Outspoken Christian Nationalist Pastor Expands His Sway In Trump’s DCRead more

After weeks of intraparty fighting, House Republicans passed the reconciliation package that addresses President Donald Trump’s fiscal agenda in a largely party line 215-214 vote early Thursday morning.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. An Essential Prism For Our Time Before jumping into the day’s news, I want to elevate another prism through which to examine the Trump II presidency: white Christian … Welcome To The White Christian Nationalist PresidencyRead more

A federal judge tore into federal prosecutors on Wednesday over the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office’s bizarre handling of the arrest of Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka earlier this month. The judge also reminded prosecutors that the goals of the DOJ’s work should not involve efforts to “advance … Federal Judge Calls Out Trump DOJ’s Targeting Of Political Rivals In Real TimeRead more

The Trump administration sent a planeload of detainees to South Sudan on Tuesday, according to the detainees’ lawyers, allegedly violating a clear court order to provide people sent to third countries with notice and time to challenge their removal.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. ‘This Seems Like It May Be Contempt’ Morning Memo has been carefully tracking where the constitutional clash between President Trump and the judicial branch is most likely to … Trump’s Defiance Of Courts Reaches Incendiary New LevelRead more

The Catalist report is in, the big “what happened” packet interpreting the 2024 election through voting results and voter files, census data and modeling from the Democratic firm that election-studiers anticipate every cycle as soon as the last vote is cast.  This year’s headline: Men, especially young men, … 2024 Election Autopsy Is In: The Men Are Not Alright (But They Are All Right) Read more

DHS is violating a court order to remove a group of detainees to South Sudan, lawyers told a federal judge on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump attended the closed-door House Republican conference meeting Tuesday morning in an attempt to convince two obstinate factions to get on board with the party’s reconciliation package. One group of members has been calling for steeper spending cuts; another group of largely blue-state Republicans has been … House GOPers Claim Bill Will ‘Eventually’ Pass After Trump Bullying. But Not Everything Is ‘Hunky Dory’Read more

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas has directed agency officials to compile a list of cases in line with her own personal priorities for the agency, two sources familiar with the matter tell Talking Points Memo. Those priorities include “defending the biological and binary reality of … Trump-Appointed Leader Of Worker Protection Agency Directs Focus On DEI, ‘Binary Reality of Sex’Read more

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Another Crossing The Rubicon Moment Let’s quickly run through the many telling and odd aspects of the still-unseen criminal case against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) for an alleged … Nothing Normal About Trump DOJ’s Case Against Dem RepRead more

With no further road to kick the can down, we’ve been on the lookout this week for how exactly President Trump will get involved with badgering the House Republican conference into line behind the ridiculously named piece of legislation that will kickstart his fiscal agenda. House Speaker Mike … Trump Hasn’t Yet Been Whipping Votes, And The House Can’t Function Without HimRead more

Here’s an example of the kind of compromise included in the Senate’s updated crypto bill. After bipartisan negotiations this month, the GENIUS Act will now ban stablecoins from using “United States,” “United States Government,” or “USG” in their name. In some ways, it’s important: stablecoins, typically used to … GOP—With Some Key Dem Support—Poised To Give Trump The Green Light On Crypto SchemesRead more

A judge turned the U.S. Institute of Peace back over to its unlawfully fired board members Monday, scolding the administration for using “brute force and threats of criminal process” to commandeer an organization that does not fall within President Trump’s removal powers.

For the second time in as many months, a federal appeals court declined to pause a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a foreign national wrongfully deported to El Salvador. 

It’s become almost commonplace in recent years, and especially in the last four months, that the divisions among Democrats are less progressives vs. “centrists” or liberals than one between institutionalists and what we might call Team Fight. There’s a separate issue which is that there needs to be … Fight or Don’t Fight and Take the ConsequencesRead more

Following a small rebellion last week by far-right members of the House Budget Committee — who were calling for steeper spending cuts — Republicans on the panel managed to move their reconciliation package out of the committee late Sunday night. Yet the most perilous moments for Johnson’s fraught … GOP Leadership Keeps Insisting Its Going To Jam The Medicaid Cutting ‘Beautiful’ Bill Through This WeekRead more

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. This Is Effed Up On So Many Levels In an important federal case in Massachusetts over whether deportees can be sent to third countries rather than their countries … Trump DOJ Admits It Used Bogus Info In Key Deportation CaseRead more

Full statement from Joe Biden’s personal office: Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to … Former President Biden Diagnosed With CancerRead more

This is a follow up to Friday’s piece on how to save American biomedical research. A lot of what follows assumes you’ve read that earlier piece. I realized based on responses I received that there is one point I didn’t make explicit enough. As I wrote, there are … A Follow Up on Saving American Biomedical ResearchRead more

Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️ As President Trump pushes the bounds of executive power, a few major court rulings that will decide how successful he is in the endeavor are inching closer to their finales.

Just after noon today DOGE representatives contacted the Government Accountability Office and demanded its standard level of access to analyze and ‘reform’ the agency. Not long after the GAO contacted its employees via email and explained that they had told DOGE that GAO is a legislative branch agency … DOGE Attempts Takeover of GAORead more

Over the past four months I’ve spoken to dozens of biomedical researchers either at NIH, other government grant-making agencies or at the various American research institutions which receive US government grants. Over that time I’ve developed at least a very rudimentary understanding of the nitty-gritty mechanics of the … A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical ResearchRead more