memeorandum: What the speech has done already (Ezra Klein)

4:10 PM ET, January 25, 2011

Top Items:

Judicial arrogance — With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of “residency” and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot. — With the election just four weeks away …

Discussion: The Caucus, NBC Chicago, CBS Chicago, Big Government, Pirate's Cove and New York Times

Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:

Supreme Court: Emanuel stays on ballot while his case is considered — The Illinois Supreme Court has ordered the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to put Rahm Emanuel's name back on the mayoral ballot. — The court has not decided whether to hear Emanuel's appeal …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Mediaite, Lez Get Real, TPMDC, Swampland, Political Byline, Election Law, Daily Kos and Clout St

Mary Ann Ahern / NBC Chicago:

Court Will Hear Rahm's Case — To view this video you must to have Flash Player 9.0 or later installed. Click to download the most recent version of Flash. — The Illinois Supreme Court will consider Rahm Emanuel's appeal. — Earlier today, the court granted Emanuel a partial stay, putting him back on the mayoral ballot.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:

Supreme Court will hear appeal of ruling knocking Emanuel off ballot — The Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear the appeal of a court decision that knocked Rahm Emanuel out of the mayoral race. — Earlier Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Weasel Zippers

Matt Yglesias / Yglesias:

Breaking the News — The basic phenomenon is nothing new, but the only thing preventing me from saying that the ratio of articles about Rahm Emannuel's mayoral bid to information about Emannuel's views on urban policy is almost infinite is my strong suspicion that the denominator is actually zero.

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Breaking: Rahm back on ballot

Discussion: HillBuzz.org

David Kidwell / Chicago Tribune:
Judges who ruled against Emanuel once slated by pol backing Chico

Discussion: Guardian

First Read / msnbc.com:
Ill. court issues stay; Rahm back on the ballot

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Jennifer Epstein / Reuters: Obama wants Rahm Emanuel back on the Chicago mayor ballot

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Illinois Supreme Court will hear Emanuel's case

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Indecision Forever and PostPartisan

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Emanuel takes steps to stay in Chicago mayoral race

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, CNN and TPMDC

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Emanuel narcissistic, opponents tell court

Discussion: The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

President Obama to Propose Partial Budget Freeze and Earmark Ban Tonight* — Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose a five year budget freeze …

Discussion: The Note, TalkLeft, protein wisdom, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Top of the Ticket, Michelle Malkin, Wonkette, FITSNews, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Liberal Values, Washington Wire, TPMDC and Pajamas Media

Ezra Klein:

What the speech has done already — The president won't give his annual State of the Union address until later tonight, but in an important way, the speech has already worked. For the past week or so, news report after news report has dutifully relayed the argument the president is planning …

Discussion: Blue Virginia

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Pelosi spurns Cantor on seating — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) invited Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to sit next to him at the State of the Union address — but the former House Speaker says she's already committed. — “I thank @GOPLeader for his #SOTU offer …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Alan Colmes' Liberaland:
Michele Bachmann Not Doing Republicans A Favor By Giving Tea Party SOTU Response

Discussion: The Plum Line, Little Green Footballs, The Fix and Lez Get Real

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Pelosi not sitting with Cantor, despite his invitation

Discussion: The Hill, The Note, The Politico, James Pethokoukis and The Political Carnival

First Read / msnbc.com:
Cantor invites Pelosi to sit together at SOTU

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Weigel

New York Times:

Broad Protests Across Egypt Focus Fury on Mubarak — CAIRO — Thousands of people calling for the end of the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak clashed with riot police in this Egyptian capital on Tuesday, on a day of some of the most serious civil unrest in recent memory here.

Discussion: National Review, News Desk, Boing Boing and Tablet Magazine

BBC:
Cairo protest: Clashes on Egypt's ‘day of revolt’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Little Green Footballs, Informed Comment and The Awl

Dan Murphy / Christian Science Monitor:
Inspired by Tunisia, Egypt's protests appear unprecedented

Discussion: Telegraph, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, BlogPost and AmSpecBlog

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

CNN justifies airing Bachmann speech: “Tea Party has become major force in American politics” — CNN, which is taking some criticism from both sides for agreeing to air Michele Bachmann's response to Obama's speech tonight, sends over a statement justifying the move:

Discussion: GOP 12, Politics Daily, Weigel, Daily Kos and The Hill

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Bachmann says she's “not in competition with Paul Ryan”

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Simmi Aujla / The Politico:
Bachmann: SOTU rebuttal is not a ‘competition’ with Ryan

Discussion: Cubachi, Crooks and Liars, USA Today, Washington Monthly, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Plum Line and Pajamas Media

The Hill:

GOP to push for D.C. gay marriage ban — House conservatives say they will pursue legislation that would ban gay marriage in the nation's capital. — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress.

Discussion: HillBuzz.org, Outside the Beltway, Lez Get Real, Pam's House Blend, Wonk Room, AMERICAblog Gay, The Moderate Voice and Balloon Juice

Jess Bravin / Washington Wire:

Six on Supreme Court to Attend State of the Union — Call them the Civility Six. — Chief Justice John Roberts and five associate justices are expected to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, sending a message of national unity after the murder …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Hit & Run

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Scalia: No plans to attend Obama's State of the Union address

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The Note, The Politico, theblogprof, Pundit & Pundette, Left Coast Rebel, Questions and Observations, The Hill, TPMDC, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Balloon Juice, Fox News, Daily Pundit, CBS News and Outside the Beltway

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Thomas Cites Failure to Disclose Wife's Job

Discussion: Law Blog, Prairie Weather, JONATHAN TURLEY and Washington Wire

New York Times:

'98 Embassy Bomber Is Sentenced to Life Without Parole — Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first former Guantánamo Bay camp detainee to be tried in the civilian court system, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Jawa Report, Washington Post, Law Blog, The Investigative Project …, National Review and Balloon Juice

Associated Press:
Guantanamo detainee gets life for embassy bombings

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Hill

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Various matters — (updated below) — The combination of a mild (I'm hoping) flu and the all-consuming fixation by many on Obama's speech tonight makes this a good time to raise several discrete matters worth noting: — (1) Last month, The New York Times' Charlie Savage reported that the DOJ …

Discussion: Firedoglake, msnbc.com, The Independent, Guardian, Runnin' Scared and Balloon Juice

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

“History tells us” something that history doesn't tell us, say sociologists stumbling to protect Frances Fox Piven. — Here's the expression of “outrage” by the officers of the American Sociological Association: … So vigorous debate about Piven's ideas is really important …

Discussion: asanet.org, Instapundit, The Wire, Daily Pundit, American Power, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Anchoress and Pajamas Media

Teri Buhl / The Atlantic Online:

E-mails Show Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions — Lawsuit alleges the bank took extreme measures to defraud investors, and now JPMorgan may be on the hook Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America …

Discussion: The Big Picture

Ross McGuinness / Metro.co.uk:

Dentist uses sexy dresses to distract patients — Advanced drugs can cure many ills, new technology can revolutionise surgery but sometimes a low-cut, sorry lo-tech, solution is all you need - one dentist has bought herself and her ten nurses tight-fitting, cleavage-maximising dresses to distract worried patients while they work.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and JammieWearingFool

Reuters:

Financial Crisis Commission Finds Cause For Prosecution Of Wall Street — The bipartisan panel appointed by Congress to investigate the financial crisis has concluded that several financial industry figures appear to have broken the law and has referred multiple cases to state or federal authorities …