I have often wondered what it would be like to tune out Donald Trump’s noise and daily attacks on democracy. I am regularly reminded that millions of Americans — most Americans — do not follow the twists and turns of Trump’s attacks on the rule of law.
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December 12, 2025
I have often wondered what it would be like to tune out Donald Trump’s noise and daily attacks on democracy.
I am regularly reminded that millions of Americans — most Americans — do not follow the twists and turns of Trump’s attacks on the rule of law. Many have work, families and responsibilities that prevent them from keeping up with the news. Others live by the proverb that ignorance is bliss.
Whether it’s because of my job, where I live or simply my temperament, I never seem able to escape the threat of creeping authoritarianism. The first thing I do each morning is read the news. I work all day in politics and law. At night, before bed, I read various newsletters summarizing the day’s events.
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My social media feed is dominated by politics. So are my social circles. It is always around me. Until, for two whole weeks, it wasn’t.
On Tuesday, I argued my fifth case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The previous four cases all involved redistricting. I won them all.
This one was different. It involved defending a campaign finance law from attacks by the national Republican Party and the Trump Justice Department. This subject wasn’t new to me.
I spent the first two decades of my career immersed in campaign finance law, rules and regulations. It is rare for a subject-matter expert to argue before the high court, and I had the privilege to do just that on behalf of all three of the national Democratic Party committees.
The Court has changed since my last argument. It is more conservative and far more skeptical of campaign finance law than it was of the racial gerrymandering claims at the heart of my prior cases.
As a result, most people who knew about this case assured me that I was almost certain to lose. Democrats have adopted an unhealthy pathology of assuming every court case will end in defeat — even when the actual numbers prove that wrong.
Times may have changed, but what has not changed is how I prepared for this argument. For two weeks, I sequestered myself with a small team of lawyers to prepare. Every lawyer approaches oral argument differently. For me, I try to take a fresh look at the case as if I am a judge — or Justice — coming to it for the first time. I do not obsess over the arguments in our briefs so much as try to identify what gaps remain.
Like most lawyers, I tune out the rest of the world during preparation, focusing almost exclusively on the task at hand. For a district court hearing, that takes hours. For a court of appeals argument, it takes a day or two.
But for the Supreme Court, no matter how much I try to condense it, preparation consumes a solid two weeks. This year, that meant starting right before Thanksgiving and working steadily until the night before the argument on Tuesday.
And so for two weeks, I lived like I imagine most Americans do: largely ignorant of the daily political outrages. I got a general sense of what was happening with Trump, but not the sordid details.
When the argument was over and I found myself walking down the Supreme Court’s iconic marble steps, I realized I was reentering a world that had moved on during my two-week hiatus. Within hours, I was flooded with news of the crazy things Trump had said and done while I was focused on constitutional law.
On Wednesday, I wrote to you about the threat posed by the GOP’s continued attacks on voting in court. Yesterday, I dipped back into current events with an analysis of the fight over Warner Bros.
But as I sat down to write my customary analysis of the week’s news, I found myself struggling. I had missed too much — this week and the week before — to put everything into a context that made sense.
So, for today, I just want to thank everyone who has sent me well-wishes and cheered me on. I appreciate those who, despite my absence, supported Democracy Docket and its vital mission. My heartfelt thanks go out to its subscribers and members, as well as the 22-person team that keeps the organization running day in and day out.
Tomorrow, I will ease back into the political fray by providing my analysis of the GOP’s recent election losses. By next week, I’m confident I’ll be completely back up to full speed.
More soon.
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