Top Items:
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Republican Court and the Era of Minority Rule — Democrats have won the national vote in six of the last seven presidential elections, which, with the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, will have resulted in the appointment of eight of its nine justices. And yet four of those justices …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Justice Kennedy deserves this nasty, unflinching sendoff — One of my favorite genres of writing is the charitable obituary written about a political opponent. My remembrance of Judge Robert Bork, the conservative icon President Ronald Reagan tried and failed to put on the Supreme Court …
Richard L. Hasen / Slate:
The Only Thing That Might Stop Trump From Replacing Kennedy With a Scalia Clone — Buckle up, folks. If you did not like what the Supreme Court has done in the last few weeks on voting rights, public-sector unions, and Trump's travel ban, things are going to get a whole lot worse …
Discussion:
Vox, No More Mister Nice Blog, BloombergQuint, Sean Hannity and Law & Crime
Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Justice Kennedy, the pivotal swing vote on the Supreme Court, announces retirement — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced Wednesday that he is retiring from the Supreme Court, a move that gives President Trump the chance to replace the court's pivotal justice and dramatically shift …
Discussion:
Politico, Axios, CNN, Fox News, USA Today, The Atlantic, ABC News, Breitbart, Little Green Footballs, The Daily Signal, Outside the Beltway, The Crime Report and The Daily Beast
Politico:
GOP plans to steamroll Dems on Supreme Court pick — Senate Republicans will move quickly to replace Anthony Kennedy before the midterm elections. — Senate Republicans plan to confirm a new Supreme Court justice to replace retiring Anthony Kennedy before the midterm elections …
Discussion:
Axios, Shareblue Media, Daily Kos and Breitbart
Joshua Matz / Washington Post:
The Supreme Court will now fall to chaos — Joshua Matz, publisher of the Take Care legal blog, was a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy from 2014 to 2015. — The Supreme Court teaches us about liberty, dignity and democracy. It safeguards those principles and helps make the Constitution real in our lives.
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
The horrifying consequences of Justice Kennedy's retirement — Donald Trump is an accidental president. He lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots. And he would be far more powerless if not for the fact that the United States Senate is an anti-democratic relic.
Discussion:
New Republic, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Federalist, Senator Mitch McConnell and NPR
Jack Goldsmith / Washington Post:
Justice Kennedy's retirement leaves the future of U.S. constitutional law entirely up for grabs — Jack Goldsmith, a professor at Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy from 1990 to 1991. — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's retirement from the Supreme Court …
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, The Guardian and CNN
Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:
Anthony Kennedy Just Destroyed His Legacy as a Gay Rights Hero — It's no secret that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his imminent retirement on Wednesday, always had an eye toward his legacy. During this 30-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Kennedy often wrote grandiose opinions …
Discussion:
New Republic, Shareblue Media, twitchy.com, Big Think, Washington Free Beacon, Vox, SCOTUSblog and Constitution Daily
Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
Mitch McConnell's politics of shamelessness have won — Nobody likes him, but he's the most effective politician of his time. — When Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pulled a new rule of American politics out of thin air and said there could be no vote …
Discussion:
Washington Post, HuffPost and Common Dreams
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire — WASHINGTON — Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced on Wednesday that he will retire this summer, setting in motion a furious fight over the future of the Supreme Court and giving President Trump the chance to cement a conservative judicial philosophy …
Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:
Chris Matthews: ‘Hell to Pay’ If Democrats Don't Block Anthony Kennedy Replacement
Chris Matthews: ‘Hell to Pay’ If Democrats Don't Block Anthony Kennedy Replacement
Discussion:
RedState, POLITICUSUSA and Breitbart
Stephanie Ebbs / ABC News:
Here are 25 names Trump could nominate to replace Justice Kennedy
Here are 25 names Trump could nominate to replace Justice Kennedy
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill, Fox News, Catholic World Report, VICE News, Vox, Breitbart, The Federalist and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Bill Hutchinson / ABC News:
Anthony Kennedy, crucial Supreme Court swing vote, retiring after 3 decades
Anthony Kennedy, crucial Supreme Court swing vote, retiring after 3 decades
Discussion:
Townhall, Associated Press, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, The Daily Signal, Raw Story, Towleroad, twitchy.com, Law & Crime, The Week and Daily Wire
Washington Post:
Republicans plan to confirm Trump's Supreme Court pick before the November elections
Republicans plan to confirm Trump's Supreme Court pick before the November elections
Discussion:
Politico, National Review, Mother Jones, HuffPost and Hit & Run
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
McConnell Promises Fall Vote to Confirm Next Supreme Court Justice
McConnell Promises Fall Vote to Confirm Next Supreme Court Justice
Discussion:
Friendly Atheist and Outside the Beltway
Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal:
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Announces Retirement
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Announces Retirement
Discussion:
Vox and Mother Jones
Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo:
LIST: Dem Senators Call On GOP To Wait Until After Election To Fill Kennedy Seat
LIST: Dem Senators Call On GOP To Wait Until After Election To Fill Kennedy Seat
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice, CNN and Mediaite
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Conservative group launches SCOTUS ad to pressure Dems
Conservative group launches SCOTUS ad to pressure Dems
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Salt Lake Tribune and The Guardian
Justin Wise / The Hill:
Bernie Sanders: Sarah Sanders has the right to ‘go into a restaurant and have dinner’ — (I-Vt.) on Wednesday came to the defense of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, saying individuals should “have the right to go into a restaurant and have dinner.”
Discussion:
Mediaite
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Vivian Wang / New York Times:
Who Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? A 28-Year-Old Democratic Giant Slayer
Who Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? A 28-Year-Old Democratic Giant Slayer
Discussion:
Vox, CNNMoney, Washington Post, theGrio, Racked, Politico, Algemeiner.com, HuffPost, CNN, Townhall, AOL, The Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice, IndieWire, CBS Boston, The Guardian, Big Think, Jezebel, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, IJR, VICE News, Taylor Marsh, Common Dreams, Splinter, twitchy.com and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »
Judy Kurtz / The Hill:
Bill Clinton: Trump has poured ‘poison’ down 'America's throat'
Bill Clinton: Trump has poured ‘poison’ down 'America's throat'
Discussion:
Breitbart, Mediaite, Jezebel, Daily Wire and Fox News Insider, more at Mediagazer »
Elizabeth Tyree / WSET-TV:
West Virginia man charged after police said he threw chicken feces at the Red Hen
West Virginia man charged after police said he threw chicken feces at the Red Hen
Discussion:
USA Today, Splinter, Daily Wire, TheBlaze, Raw Story, Law & Crime and Eater
Michael Calderone / Politico:
Times takes heat for missing Crowley's defeat
Times takes heat for missing Crowley's defeat
Discussion:
CNN, The Intercept, HuffPost, Hit & Run and Townhall
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez / americamagazine.org:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her Catholic faith and the urgency of a criminal justice reform
Peter Beinart / The Atlantic:
Why Joseph Crowley's Defeat Should Scare Joe Biden
Why Joseph Crowley's Defeat Should Scare Joe Biden
Discussion:
New York Times and Daily Kos
Reuters:
Manafort had $10 million loan from Russian oligarch: court filing — (Reuters) - A search warrant application unsealed on Wednesday revealed closer links than previously known between President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin.
Discussion:
The Week and Political Wire
New York Times:
Bill Shine Likely as Next White House Communications Director — WASHINGTON — Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive who was close to Roger E. Ailes, the network's ousted chairman, is expected to be offered the job of White House communications director, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Discussion:
ABC News, Vox, Politico, Raw Story, CNN, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Rewire.News, Joe.My.God., POLITICUSUSA, No More Mister Nice Blog, Towleroad, Conservative News Today, Splinter, National Review, The Week, Axios and Deadline
Sara Fischer / Axios:
92% of Republicans think media intentionally reports fake news — Nearly all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (92%) say that traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes, according to a new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.
Discussion:
MSNBC, RedState, Daily Wire, The Resurgent, Breitbart, NewsBusters, twitchy.com and Mediaite
Washington Post:
Man accused of driving into crowd at ‘Unite the Right’ rally charged with federal hate crimes — The Justice Department charged James Alex Fields Jr, the driver accused of murdering a counterprotester at last year's white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, with multiple hate crime counts Wednesday.
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Rasmussen Reports:
31% Think U.S. Civil War Likely Soon — Most voters fear that political violence is coming from opponents of the president's policies, just as they did in the second year of Barack Obama's presidency, and nearly one-in-three think a civil war is next. — Thirty-one percent (31%) …
Discussion:
Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Global Guerrillas and Clayton Cramer
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Inside Facebook and Twitter's secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased — Twitter and Facebook are scrambling to assuage conservative leaders who have sounded alarms — and sought to rile voters — with accusations that the country's tech giants are censoring right-leaning posts, tweets and news.
Discussion:
Politico, Engadget and New Republic, more at Mediagazer »
Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
Some rules of civility for the Trump era — “Now, it is well known,” Sir Walter Scott observed, “that a man may with more impunity be guilty of an actual breach either of real good breeding or of good morals, than appear ignorant of the most minute point of fashionable etiquette.”
Harron Walker / Jezebel:
Private Messages Reveal the Cis Journalist Groupthink Behind Trans Media Narratives — Over the past few years, Jesse Singal has become a leading public intellectual and one of the most prominent journalists covering trans issues, including but not limited to adolescent transition.
Discussion:
The Atlantic
The Hill:
HHS watchdog launches probe into conditions at child detention centers — The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) inspector general is launching a review of the conditions at the agency's shelters for unaccompanied migrant children. — The probe will only focus on safety and health concerns …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Associated Press and Daily Caller News Foundation
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Post dismisses reporter for lax attribution in ‘aggregated’ news stories — The Washington Post has dismissed a reporter for inadequately attributing material and closely parroting sentences from other publications in articles based on outside news sources.
David Siders / Politico:
DNC fight over superdelegates nears resolution — Democratic National Committee officials on Wednesday moved forward with a proposal to reduce the influence of superdelegates in the party's presidential nomination process, edging closer to resolving a long-simmering dispute between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Discussion:
Washington Times
Meena Venkataramanan / ABC News:
Trump is the ‘most effective uprooter of liberalism’: Newt Gingrich talks GOP, midterms, space — Asked about criticism that President Donald Trump has a tendency to mislead, former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich acknowledged that the president “often says things you can catch him on” …
Sean Murphy / Associated Press:
GOP incumbents ousted in Oklahoma amid teacher challenges — OKLAHOMA CITY — At least six Republican incumbents were bounced from office during Oklahoma's primary election, including several who were targeted by pro-education groups. — Tuesday's primary election was the first test …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Emma Anderson / Politico:
Greece open to migrants deal with Germany — Greek PM says it's ‘not fair all these people to go to Germany.’ — Athens is open to a deal with Angela Merkel to take back asylum seekers who head to Germany from Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said. — Ahead of Thursday's summit …
Discussion:
CNBC and Financial Times
ProPublica:
We've Found $16.1 Million in Political and Taxpayer Spending at Trump Properties — Most came from political entities such as the Trump campaign, but government agencies chipped in, too. “I could offer clarity,” one federal employee explained, “but I choose not to.”
Discussion:
Shakesville