memeorandum: In a rare move, China unblocks Chinese versions of Reuters and WSJ sites (Steven Millward/Tech in Asia)

12:20 PM ET, January 6, 2014

Top Items:

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Court stops Utah gay marriages — The Supreme Court on Monday morning put on hold a federal judge's decision striking down Utah's ban on same-sex marriage, thus stopping a wave of such marriages across the state. The Court's order reinstates the state ban and will keep it intact until after a federal appeals court has ruled on it.

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Law Blog, Advocate, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, The Right Scoop and The Volokh Conspiracy

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justices Block Gay Marriage in Utah During Appeal of Case — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions. — The terse order, from the full court, issued a stay “pending final disposition” …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Liberaland, BillMoyers.com, The Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:

Crack Cocaine Limbo — President Obama earned a rare moment of bipartisan acclaim last month when he commuted the sentences of eight long-serving federal prisoners. Their crack cocaine offenses had resulted in the harsh penalties mandated by a sentencing formula that Congress repudiated when it passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Supreme Court Halts Utah Same-Sex Couples' Marriages While Case Is Appealed

Discussion: Election Law Blog

Bill Mears / CNN:
Breaking: High court puts same-sex marriage on hold in Utah

Discussion: Politico

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Supreme Court Puts Utah Same-Sex Marriage on Hold

Discussion: Daily Kos and Americans Against the …

Brittany Green-Miner / FOX13Now.com:
Same-sex marriage opponents call for an uprising

Discussion: The Raw Story, LGBTQ Nation, Talking Points Memo and Advocate

CNN:

First on CNN: Liz Cheney to abandon Senate bid — New York (CNN) — Liz Cheney, whose upstart bid to unseat Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi sparked a round of warfare in the Republican Party and even within her own family, is dropping out of the Senate primary, sources told CNN late Sunday.

Politico:

Liz Cheney: ‘I have decided to discontinue my campaign’ — Liz Cheney is ending her campaign for Senate in Wyoming, the Republican announced in a statement early Monday morning. — Citing health concerns in her family, Cheney said the issues arising prompted her to end her GOP primary challenge to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Monthly, Esquire, Washington Wire, The Daily Beast, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story, The Week and Casper Star-Tribune

Fox News:
Liz Cheney dropping out of Wyoming Senate race

Discussion: PennLive.com, Taylor Marsh and Sister Toldjah

Eliana Johnson / National Review:

Rachel's Show — MSNBC, the left-leaning cable-news network, has settled on one solution to its recent problems. It now has an executive reviewing scripts before they go on the air. The role, which has fallen to Rich Stockwell, a former executive producer of The Ed Show and Countdown …

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Washington Free Beacon, NewsBusters, TheBlaze.com and alicublog

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

The Agony of Frank Luntz — Frank Luntz does not want the buffet. We are on the top floor of the Capitol Hill Club, the members-only Republican hangout a block from the Capitol, where a meaty smell is emanating from steam trays. Today's main course is ham, and Luntz shakes his head.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and TheBlaze.com

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

HILLARY CLINTON'S SHADOW CAMPAIGN — Early last summer in her Georgian-style home near Washington's Embassy Row, Hillary Clinton met with a handful of aides for a detailed presentation on preparing for a 2016 presidential campaign. — Three officials from the Democratic consulting firm …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and TalkLeft

TIME:
Hillary Clinton Campaign Rents Email List to Pro-Hillary Super PAC

Discussion: Yahoo! News and Talking Points Memo

Ed O'Keefe / Post Politics:

Unemployment insurance extension lacks GOP support — A bipartisan plan to once again provide federal unemployment insurance for more than 1 million Americans appears to be falling short of the Republican support needed to clear a key procedural vote scheduled for Monday evening in the Senate.

Discussion: GovBeat, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite and The Hill

Russell Berman / The Hill: House Republicans must choose ambition or caution in 2014

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
W.H. pushes unemployment benefits

Discussion: The Hill, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly, Post Politics, The PJ Tatler, National Review and Connecting.the.Dots

Ron Johnson / Wall Street Journal:

I'm Suing Over ObamaCare Exemptions for Congress — If the president wants to change the health-care law, he must ask Congress to do it. — On Monday, Jan. 6, I am filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to make Congress live by the letter of the health-care law it imposed on the rest of America.

Discussion: The World's Greatest …, CBS DC, Talking Points Memo, Right Wing News, The Volokh Conspiracy and National Review

Robert Stacy McCain / American Spectator:

DeBlasio's Horse-Drawn Carriage Ban: Is It Really About Campaign Cash? — Mayor Bill de Blasio's promise to ban New York City's iconic horse-drawn carriages could backfire, exposing what the newly-elected mayor's critics suggest is a corruption scandal masquerading as an animal-rights crusade.

Discussion: Da Tech Guy On DaRadio Blog and The Other McCain

David / crooksandliars.com/user/7:
Bob Schieffer Calls Out Peggy Noonan For Smearing De Blasio As A ‘former Sandinista’

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Liberaland

ThinkProgress:

One Of The Steubenville Rapists Has Been Freed After 9 Months — Ma'lik Richmond, one of the two young football players who was found “delinquent” of having raped a young girl in Steubenville, OH, last year, has been freed from his sentence at a juvenile detention facility.

Discussion: WTRF-TV, The Raw Story and Global Grind

Sam Webb / Daily Mail:

Feeling glum? Well it is Blue Monday: Rain, debt and divorce make it worst day of the year — You've finished all the mince pies, the weather is terrible, Christmas ended up being horribly expensive and most of us are back to the daily grind. — So it wouldn't come as a surprise if you had started to feel down in the dumps.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

Matea Gold / Washington Post:

Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012 — The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Prairie Weather, Liberaland and The Raw Story

Ashley Killough / CNN:

RNC winter meeting to make time for anti-abortion rights rally — Washington (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will free up a couple of hours during its winter meeting this January so members can attend the annual March for Life in Washington, CNN confirmed Monday.

Discussion: Politico and The Raw Story

Lesley Stahl / CBS News:

The Cleantech Crash — Despite billions invested by the U.S. government in so-called “Cleantech” energy, Washington and Silicon Valley have little to show for it — The following is a script from “The Cleantech Crash” which aired on Jan. 5, 2014. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent.

Discussion: Power Line, MasterResource and ThinkProgress