Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is ripping up legal procedure, the better to keep a high-profile abortion case in his hands as the new administration takes over.
Last June, the Supreme Court found that the anti-abortion doctors aiming to make abortion drug mifepristone less accessible lacked standing, and unanimously shot down the case. Experts expected the challenge to live on in the hands of a few red states — Idaho, Kansas and Missouri — who’d try to take over as the primary plaintiffs. One expert even told TPM that she expected Kacsmaryk to go along with a right-wing strategy to drag the zombie case out, even if it was so thin as to later get shot down.
The first part of that prediction has come true. The DOJ and a manufacturer of mifepristone are trying to end the case — the Supreme Court found that the doctors couldn’t keep litigating it, and the red states “intervened” in a case that is no longer live. If we lived in a normal world, the red states would have to start afresh.
But they don’t want to. They’re not going to get a friendlier judge than Kacsmaryk. By staying, they also get the added perk of being in the 5th Circuit’s domain, the most reliably right-wing appellate court. And Kacsmaryk doesn’t want to lose the case either, particularly amid his Supreme Court audition, knowing that the Trump DOJ will flip its position in the case.
“Notwithstanding dismissal of the original action, the three Intervenor States of Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas (“the States”) wish to continue pressing their claims,” the DOJ wrote in a filing last month. “And they insist on doing so before this Court, even though the States’ claims have no plausible connection to the Northern District of Texas. Particularly now that the original Plaintiffs have dismissed their suit, the States’ Complaint must likewise be dismissed (or transferred)…”
Kacsmaryk isn’t letting it happen. He directed the states on Thursday to submit a new complaint, hand-waving that they’ll get to the venue controversy later.
It’s totally lawless. Kamsaryk wants to keep alive the possibility that he can deliver a death blow to medication abortions, and to get on Trump’s radar while he’s doing it.
— Kate Riga
Here’s what else TPM has on tap this weekend:
- Josh Kovensky breaks down the carnival-esque array of balls for MAGA members hoping to cozy up to Trump and his closest allies this weekend.
- Khaya Himmelman spoke to one of the 60,000 voters in North Carolina whose ballots Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin is trying to get tossed out in order to steal the election from incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, who won the race by just over 700 votes.
- Emine Yücel checks in on Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who this week threatened one of her Democratic colleagues during a congressional hearing, when she asked Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) if she would “wanna take it outside.”
The New Buckraking
It is really, really easy to cash in on the great bootlicking that’s come with Trump’s return to office. We mostly see it from the other side: tech CEOs cozying up to Trump, companies settling bogus lawsuits he brought, news outlets easing up coverage. What’s less visible are those who see it as a business opportunity.
That is where at least some of the pre-inaugural festivities fit in. It’s partly due to a simple bottlenecking effect. The official Trump inaugural festivities are extremely limited, and sold out in early January. That’s left a lot of unmet demand among people trying to cozy up to the once and future President.
It’s being met by a carnival-esque array of balls, featuring various tiers of Trumpworld officialdom. At the top, you have events that promise access to high-level appointees like FBI pick Kash Patel. Other events cater to specific, often picayune constituencies: take the “Coronation Ball,” which features the hosts of the Red Scare podcast and seems pitched at a mix of so-called nationalists and the most irony-poisoned among us. Then again, how else to deal with the next few years?
This weekend, there’s a ball for everyone. Read my piece on that here.
— Josh Kovensky
One Of 60K Voters Griffin Seeks To Disenfranchise Speaks Out: ‘I Want My Vote To Be Counted”
As North Carolina state appeals court judge and Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin filed a legal brief with the state Supreme Court laying out his argument for why he believes 60,000 November ballots should be tossed out, protesters gathered outside the state Supreme Court building to demonstrate against his election-stealing efforts. The protesters gathered at 6:00 am ET on Tuesday, reading all of the 60,000 names of voters whose ballots are being challenged by Griffin.
Although Louanne Caspar, a Wake County businesswoman with a 10-year voting history in North Carolina, did not attend the protest, she’s on the list and she’s not even sure why. In an interview with TPM she said she was “very surprised” to learn last week that her vote was in danger of being thrown out.
“I take every election cycle very seriously,” she said. “I read up, I’m not a one party person, I am registered as a Democrat, but I vote both ways.”
Caspar noted too that she actually works for the Board of Elections on Election Day because she’s a big “rule follower.”
“I would like to know why I could be disqualified, and then second, do I have an opportunity to cure that,” she added.
Griffin is currently challenging 60,000 ballots because they allegedly contain incomplete voter registration and are missing the last four digits of their social security numbers or drivers license on their voter files. Caspar said that she did give the Board of Elections her social security number when she registered to vote, which is why she remains confused as to why her vote is among those Griffin is using to try to overturn the election in his favor.
This week, Griffin, submitted a brief to the state Supreme Court, asking the court to first invalidate 5,509 overseas ballots, who, he claims, failed to show photo identification when they voted, before the court considers the rest of the 60,000 ballots that he is protesting. Griffin is in no way conceding that the 60,000 ballots should not be contested, but rather, as previously reported for TPM, he is merely attempting to protest ballots in a way that is more “palatable.” But the larger effort remains the same—he is attempting to overturn the results, and steal the lead away from Democrat incumbent Allison Riggs.
“I really want to get some resolution from this,” Caspar said. “I want my vote to be counted.”
— Khaya Himmelman
Words Of Wisdom
“I am no child. Do not call me a child. I am no child. Don’t even start … If you wanna take it outside we can do that.”
That’s Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), the most recent wannabe MTG, seemingly trying to start a fight during a congressional hearing this week with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX).
If it’s bewildering to you to hear that a current United States representative is threatening another congresswoman with a “catch me outside how about that” moment over the word “child” … Well, you’re not alone.
Mace claimed on social media her intention was not to fight but to have a more “constructive conversation” off the floor — I’ll let you be the judge of that.
To make things even more ridiculous, following the comments, committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) ruled that Mace’s remarks were not a call to violence, saying she could have been asking Crockett to go outside to “have a cup of coffee or perhaps a beer.” Right.
— Emine Yücel
