See you never, "independent state legislature theory"

Tuesday, June 27, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA

- Audio recording of Donald Trump ([link removed]) , who definitely didn’t steal classified documents.

Let’s usher independent legislature theory into the ash heap of history, shall we?

* On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected so-called “independent legislature theory,” a fabricated, right-wing interpretation (“interpretation”) of the Constitution which holds that state legislatures have essentially unreviewable authority to set election rules ([link removed]) , including over the objections of state courts. The case, Moore vs. Harper, arose from the North Carolina GOP’s objections to state court rulings against the state’s heavily gerrymandered congressional map. (Republican judges in the state have since upheld that map, after retaking the state Supreme Court in the 2022 midterm elections.)

* In a 6-3 decision, the Court tossed out the theory, which, if upheld, would have empowered state legislatures to make decisions on all aspects of elections ([link removed]) —everything from congressional districting, to voter registration, to how voters cast their ballots—without the possibility of challenging those decisions in state courts. This is a big setback for the GOP coup crew, who have strategically gerrymandered congressional districts so aggressively that they’ve maintained control of state legislatures and congressional delegations despite losing statewide offices. Now, those states—like all-important Wisconsin—are one step closer to having their maps set right, and the Trump crew has to sit with the sadness of the closing of a big loophole they hoped to exploit to steal the 2024 election.

* So who dissented? You know brothers-in-bribe-taking Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito did, but very much back on his bullshit, Justice Neil Gorsuch joined them as well. (In fairness to Alito, of all people, he merely argued that the case should be dismissed as moot.) Independent state legislature theory is so far outside the realm of acceptable judicial interpretation that it’s shocking it received even one vote, let alone three. Justice Thomas authored the minority opinion, criticizing Roberts’ decision as vague and difficult to enforce ([link removed]) , but none of the three offered an alternative standard, nor did they argue that legislatures should be outside of the scope of judicial review. Thanks for your input, fellas.

One conclusion all of the justices seemed to reach is that federal courts should still have the ability to review state election-law changes that violate federal law or the Constitution. So at least there’s that.

* Our old frenemy Chief Justice John Roberts authored the opinion of the Court, in which he noted that independent legislature theory was last discussed by the Court in Bush vs. Gore, which handed George W. Bush the election. Bush then went on to appoint Roberts to the Court in 2005. His opinion in Moore vs. Harper does not set parameters laying out the limits of state-court power over election law, and Roberts maintains that the Court’s opinion on the Elections Clause is “complex and content specific.”

* You may recall that disgraced former president Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman used independent legislature theory as the basis of his argument that in the aftermath of the 2020 election, then-Vice President Mike Pence could use his power to refuse certification of the election results. Eastman remains committed to this bunk theory, and said today that the ruling ([link removed]) will make legislatures “impotent to address questions of obvious illegality and fraud” in presidential elections, and called the Court’s decision “a litigation bonanza without a clear answer.” ([link removed]) Well, John, we’ll see you at the litigation bonanza in hell.

The right-wing promulgation of independent state legislature theory was nothing less than a partisan attempt to hijack American elections. The Court’s decision seals off some legal pathways for Trump to undermine democracy (again) in 2024, but as long as anti-democratic Republican officials exist, the fight for free-and-fair elections continues.

Pride is about fighting the freaks, but also just… the fact that being gay and trans and even bi is a great time, and this is America so we’re celebrating that by making stupid memes and buying stuff. All Pride month long, you can shop from some of our favorite queer-owned businesses and authors at Crooked’s Little Gay Pop-Up Shop in the Crooked Store. Support the LGBTQ community while you browse a Crooked-curated selection of cool shit, like spices from Diaspora & Co, kids books Ron DeSantis has probably already banned, and much more.

Head to crooked.com/store ([link removed]) to shop the pop-up all month long.
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Like many businesses across the United States, Yellow—the trucking company formerly known as YRC Worldwide—received a pandemic-relief loan from the federal government. Unlike many such businesses, its loan was to the tune of $700 million ([link removed]) , part of a deal with the Trump administration (which had ties to the company and its executives) which yielded the federal government a 30 percent equity stake in the company. The company had lost more than $100 million in 2019, and has more than $1.5 billion in outstanding debts, including the government loan. It settled a federal lawsuit in 2022 for defrauding the Defense Department. Now, Yellow is on the precipice of declaring bankruptcy. On Tuesday, the company sued the Teamsters Union, blaming them for trying to “cause Yellow’s economic ruin,” for blocking the company’s proposed “restructuring plan” (which likely translates to mass layoffs of unionized employees while
executives get fat payouts).

Yellow’s financial plundering is part of a larger, alarming trend of companies defaulting on their pandemic-relief loans, many of which they obtained fraudulently. Trillions of dollars in federal funds were misdirected and mismanaged, and many corporate borrowers are “failing to pay even the interest payments on their loans,” according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. The United States Small Business Administration apportioned about $1.2 trillion in pandemic loans. On Tuesday, the inspector general overseeing that agency reported that over $200 billion, or a whopping 17 percent, was given to “potentially fraudulent actors.” A 2022 report from the Democratic members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis found that Yellow obtained its loan over objections from career officials at DOD, and suggested that this was the work of overt cronyism by the Trump administration. Anyways, can’t wait for the Supreme Court to tell us that president
Biden cannot cancel a paltry $10,000 per borrower in student loan debt!

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is preparing to hand over its weapons to the Defense Ministry ([link removed]) as the Kremlin shores up internal security after this weekend’s mutiny.


Five living presidents, two Supreme Court Justices, 11 governors, and 100 legislators are descended from slave-owners ([link removed]) , per a Reuters investigation.


Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) railed against President Biden’s green-energy incentives on Tuesday ([link removed]) …at an electric-battery factory that received funding because of those incentives.


Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 23-year-old who carried out the deadly mass shooting against LGBTQ victims at Club Q in Colorado Springs, CO, pleaded guilty to dozens of charges of murder and attempted murder on Monday ([link removed]) , and was sentenced to life in prison.


A heat wave suffocating Texas and Oklahoma is spreading across the Gulf Coast ([link removed]) , and 45 million Americans are under heat advisories.


The Supreme Court overturned the stalking conviction of a Colorado man who sent hundreds of unwanted messages to a female musician ([link removed]) , ruling that the state prosecutors had not proven that he was aware of the “threatening nature” of his messages, and were protected by the First Amendment. Cool!


The No Labels Party’s own polling found that its third-party candidate would help Donald Trump, the exact scenario it purportedly wanted to avoid ([link removed]) , but party cofounder Holly Page shrugged it off and said, “It really doesn’t matter.” No Labels also hired a canvassing firm associated with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Love these label-loving people! (The label is “Republican.”)


Ryan Seacrest will replace Pat Sajak as the next host of Wheel of Fortune ([link removed]) because I guess we haven’t suffered enough as a nation.

Turns out that many of our nation's Silicon Valley overlords who are running roughshod over humanity (see: Elon Musk) are regularly self-medicating with powerful psychotropic drugs like ketamine and LSD ([link removed]) .

The majority of American companies, most of them large employers with 5,000 or more workers, have been covering obesity drugs for years. But the hype and high demand for the latest generation of anti-obesity therapies stands to box many of these workers out. The most famous of these medications is the diabetes injectable Ozempic, which has been touted as a revolutionary weight loss drug, and seen access restricted after an explosion in its off-label use by people who do not have diabetes. Another, similar drug, Wegovy, which is designed specifically for weight loss, has seen a huge bump in prescriptions. But Wegovy’s high price and the massive uptick in demand have set health-insurance companies scrambling ([link removed]) to deny coverage for it, which is in turn forcing employers to choose between depriving workers of the $1,000-per-month drug, or
increasing health-care costs for everyone on their plans. Prescriptions for Wegovy rose a staggering 619 percent between December 2022 and May of this year.
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Despite inflation, millions of Muslims are still making their sacred pilgrimage to Mecca ([link removed]) .

The Women’s Tennis Association announced on Tuesday that it will finally offer women the same prize money as men ([link removed]) at the sport’s top events.

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) signed an executive order today banning conversion therapy in Arizona ([link removed]) .
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