“Voting is a muscle and it has to be used or it atrophies.”
That’s how
’s Michael introduced today’s Election Day conversation, as a reminder to subscribers who haven’t yet headed out to the polls for high-stakes elections across the country.On Tuesday, Donald Trump reminded voters of the stakes of the election by publicly announcing his intention to defy multiple court orders by refusing to keep funding SNAP benefits until the government shutdown ends. His announcement came one day after a senior Department of Agriculture official informed a judge of plans to fund half of the food assistance needed for the month of November. That promise fell far short of a federal judge’s order. But Trump now wants to withhold those benefits entirely, using the sustenance of more than 40 million people in the United States for political leverage.
Here are some other topics that we covered:
In Virginia, the federal judge said that the government failed to provide the complete transcripts showing what Trump-installed prosecutor Lindsey Halligan told the grand jury before James Comey’s indictment. The materials will be used to determine whether Halligan was unlawfully appointed, and if so, whether Comey’s indictment will be dismissed.
Judge Immergut’s ruling on a permanent injunction to keep the National Guard out of Portland is imminent. She indicated that she would rule on Friday.
With Supreme Court oral arguments imminent in the tariffs litigation, Popok flags a phrase to look out for: the “major questions doctrine,” the Roberts Court’s go-to principle of statutory interpretation.
Popok summarizes the doctrine: “If the Congress wanted you to have that power, or that ability, or that program, or that right, or forgiving student loans, they wouldn’t have buried it in some text. They would have a separate affirmative statute on that particular issue.”
Trump justifies his tariffs by authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a law that doesn’t contain the word “tariffs,” let alone explicitly authorize them: “Why isn’t that a major question since it’s Congress’s right to tariff, not the president?” Popok notes.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was going to have an evidentiary hearing today on his motion to dismiss on the basis of vindictive prosecution, but it was delayed because the government didn’t provide the evidence on time. Popok and I explain what happened and preview what’s up next in that case.
Watch our conversation in full at the top of this newsletter.
