Hard Pass

With the deadline to file for reelection a little over a month away, two of Utah’s Republican members of Congress are asking a federal court to block the use of new U.S. House districts that could significantly boost Democrats’ chances of winning a Salt Lake City area seat in November.

A lawsuit filed late Monday by U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens and nearly a dozen local officials contends a state judge violated the U.S. Constitution last year when she rejected congressional districts drawn by the Republican-led state Legislature and instead imposed an alternative map submitted by groups suing the Legislature.

The U.S. Constitution and Utah Constitution both give redistricting powers to the state Legislature, the lawsuit asserts, and “courts have no authority to draw a congressional map.” The lawsuit contends Utah’s districts should revert to those last approved by the Legislature in 2021, unless lawmakers come up with new ones.

Utah is one of several states still locked in legal battles over House voting districts ahead of the midterm elections this fall.

“I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep,” Le said. “The system sucks, this job sucks, I am trying with every breath I have to get you what I need.”

I actually feel really sorry for the career attorneys who make the representations in court on the political apparatus' behalf, whatever that may be and absentamy politicalas (Doubt? Look up the Hatch Act). The dedicated career-service professionals who carry out the job across administrations are some of the most dedicated and zealous people you can imagine.

That all changed when I met your dad last night

These attempts at meme-based relevance go hand-in-hand with all the unsuccessful pivots and impersonations that people in the Trump orbit have tried to look cool, culturally relevant or even, God help us, badass: Katie Miller’s excruciatingly dull fascist wine mom podcast, say, or Pete Hegseth’s American flag-lined suit, camo ties, and ongoing impression of Slim Pickens‘ atomic bomb-riding cowboy character in Dr. Strangelove. There’s also JD Vance pretending he enjoys the Internet jokes about him having sex with a couch. All of these gambits try—and fail—to serve the same purpose: to make these people look cool, funny, or with it while they advance a profoundly unpopular agenda.

Not surprisingly, the response from a large sector of the American public has been to continue making fun of this administration, from our increasingly exasperated and radicalized late night hosts—minus the always gutless Jimmy Fallon—to Minnesota protesters braving subzero temperatures to throw snowballs at ICE vehicles, pour a little freezing water on the ground, and let Greg Bovino know his coat looks stupid. Even world leaders openly mock Trump, as in a viral video from earlier this year of the leaders of France, Azerbaijan, and Albania joking about Trump’s inability to keep Armenia and Albania straight, or who might be at war with whom.

A federal judge appears likely to side with Mark Kelly in the Democratic senator’s case alleging the Pentagon is violating his First Amendment rights through its effort to punish him over his urging of US service members to refuse illegal orders.

During a high-stakes hearing in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Senior US District Judge Richard Leon seemed troubled by the Trump administration’s suggestion that he take the unprecedented step of expanding existing loopholes to First Amendment protections for active-duty service members to also cover retirees such as Kelly.

“You’re asking me to do something the Supreme Court or the DC Circuit has never done,” Leon told a Justice Department lawyer defending the Pentagon’s efforts. “That’s a bit of a stretch.”

Exclusive: Trump endorsed national intelligence director’s sweeping review by sending her on Georgia raid last week

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is running her own review into the 2020 election with Donald Trump’s approval, working separately from a justice department investigation even as she joined an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia last week.

Her presence at the raid drew criticism from Democrats and former intelligence officials, who questioned why the country’s top intelligence officer with no domestic law enforcement powers would appear at the scene of an FBI raid.

But Gabbard, whose role ordinarily focuses on overseeing the intelligence agencies, has played only a minimal role in the criminal investigation, according to three administration officials. “She’s doing her own thing,” one of the officials said.

Letitia James, the state’s top law official, said staff members from her office would serve as “neutral witnesses” amid outrage over President Trump’s deportation campaign.

“Things are shrinking, so we’re shrinking around it,” Elias says. “Electronics are becoming embedded, consolidated, optimized, and batteries are the only part of that equation that’s being left behind.”