memeorandum: Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Struck Down as Judge Cites Burden on Citizens (Rick Lyman/New York Times)

8:40 AM ET, January 18, 2014

Top Items:

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

Obama's NSA ‘reforms’ are little more than a PR attempt to mollify public — Obama is draping the banner of change over the NSA status quo. Bulk surveillance that caused such outrage will remain in place — In response to political scandal and public outrage, official Washington repeatedly uses the same well-worn tactic.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Reaction, The Dish, Electronic Frontier Foundation, New York Times, Little Green Footballs, Freedom of the Press … and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Skip Navigation / ACLU:
ACLU Comment on President's NSA Speech

Discussion: New York Times, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and News Desk

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Says Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data Will End

Discussion: The White House and Washington Wire

Washington Post:
Transcript of President Obama's Jan. 17 speech on NSA reforms

Discussion: New York Times, The Federalist, Liberal Values, Politico, Hot Air, Right Turn, The Plum Line, PoliticusUSA, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run, The Volokh Conspiracy, American Prospect, BuzzFeed and Balloon Juice

Brian Fung / The Switch:
Everything you need to know about Obama's NSA reforms, in plain English

Discussion: ACLU, Gigaom, Hot Air, The Dish, Post Politics, Booman Tribune and Washington Post

Rick Lyman / New York Times:

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Struck Down as Judge Cites Burden on Citizens — In a strongly worded decision, a state judge on Friday struck down Pennsylvania's 2012 law requiring voters to produce a state-approved photo ID at the polls, setting up a potential Supreme Court confrontation …

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette and The Raw Story

Karen Langley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pennsylvania judge strikes down state's voter ID law

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:
Initial Thoughts on Today's Ruling Striking Down Pa's Voter ID Law on State Grounds

Discussion: Guardian, msnbc.com, The Week, Colorlines and Washington Monthly

Emily Schultheis / Politico: Pennsylvania judge strikes down voter ID law

ThinkProgress:

Company Behind West Virginia's Chemical Spill Files For Bankruptcy — According to the Charleston Gazette, Freedom Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. — On January 10, a tank owned by Freedom spilled 7,500 gallons of 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM) …

Discussion: The Impolitic, CleanTechnica and BillMoyers.com

Kate White / Charleston Gazette:

Freedom Industries files for bankruptcy — CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Freedom Industries, the company that fouled thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. — The company's assets and liabilities are “unknown,” according to the filing.

Discussion: Associated Press and The Verge

Reuters:

Chris Christie Aides Subpoenaed In Bridge Scandal — More than a dozen New Jersey officials, including top aides to Governor Chris Christie, were served with subpoenas on Friday as the state assembly begins its investigation into a massive bridge traffic jam that was apparently politically motivated.

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
Chris Christie's Crisis Plunges Republican Party Deeper Into The Wilderness

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Bemidji Pioneer, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, New Jersey Online and Politico

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Romneyworld buzzes over Chris Christie troubles

Discussion: New Jersey Online, CNN, The Week, First Read and USA Today

Ruben Navarrette / CNN: Christie bridge: Get over it — Political dirty tricks

Washington Post:

Iraq's Maliki says he has asked for weapons from U.S., will also seek training for troops — BAGHDAD — Iraq has asked the United States for new arms to beat back the dramatic resurgence of al-Qaeda-linked militants in a western province and would like U.S. troops to train its counterterrorism forces …

Discussion: ABC News and Lawfare

Nick R. Martin / Talking Points Memo:

Judicial Giant Quietly Retired Under Investigation For Travel Expenses — When federal appellate court judge Boyce F. Martin Jr. announced his retirement in July, he was praised as “one of the giants of the Kentucky judiciary.” — But what was unknown publicly until Friday was that Martin left …

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Hillary? Really? — This week's Time magazine splashes the question on its cover: “Can Anyone Stop Hillary?” The Weekly Standard is happy to provide our friends at Time with an answer to their query: Yes. Hillary Clinton can be stopped. How? Let us count the ways.

Discussion: Mediaite, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story

CNN:

2 students shot in Philadelphia high school gym; suspect nabbed — (CNN) — A student pulled a handgun Friday afternoon inside a Philadelphia high school gymnasium, firing and hitting two students, police said. — The injured boy and girl, each 15, were transported in stable condition …

Discussion: Liberaland

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Wonkblog sells out. — Ezra Klein is back in line. The Journolist founder, who now runs Wonkblog for the Washington Post, took some flak from other left-liberal journalists last year when he acknowledged that the ObamaCare exchanges had serious technical flaws.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Andreessen Horowitz raising $1.5 billion for new fund — Andreessen Horowitz is raising its fourth fund in six years. — FORTUNE — Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is in the process of raising around $1.5 billion for its fourth fund, Fortune has learned.

Discussion: Re/code and TechCrunch

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Club for Growth pans Lankford, Cole for Coburn seat — Oklahoma Republican Reps. Tom Cole and James Lankford could have difficulty picking up conservative support, if they try to replace retiring Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). — Coburn's retirement is likely to set off a GOP primary scramble …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Fix and Daily Kos

CNN:

Supreme Court to take major look at privacy in digital age — (CNN) — The Supreme Court will undertake a major examination of privacy in the digital age, after accepting review Friday of a pair of appeals over whether police must obtain a warrant to search data on the cellphone of a person under arrest.

Discussion: The Verge