memeorandum: An Assertive Turkey Muscles Into Russia's Backyard (David Gauthier-Villars/Wall Street Journal)

12:30 PM ET, December 12, 2020

Top Items:

‘An Indelible Stain’: How the G.O.P. Tried to Topple a Pillar of Democracy — The Supreme Court repudiation of President Trump was also a blunt rebuke to Republican leaders who had put their interests ahead of the country's. — The Supreme Court repudiation of President Trump's desperate bid …

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider NJ, RedState, Washington Times, Breitbart, Raw Story, The Week, Florida Politics, Blue Virginia, Business Insider and KTAR.com

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump's spin on his big Supreme Court failure is as bad as his legal case — The Supreme Court on Friday night delivered its widely expected-but-still-significant rebuke of President Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. In a brief statement, the court dismissed the case Trump had called “the Big One.”

Discussion: Bloomberg

Republican Party of Texas:

Chairman Allen West's Response to SCOTUS Decision — Austin, TX, Release: December 11, 2020. For Immediate Release — Below is Chairman Allen West's statement regarding the decision by the Supreme Court to dismiss Texas' constitutionally legitimate and critical lawsuit.

Discussion: Law & Crime, Slate, Townhall, The US Sun, Business Insider, The Hill and Political Wire

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Rejects Texas Suit Seeking to Subvert Election — The suit, filed directly in the Supreme Court, sought to bar Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from casting their electoral votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected …

Discussion: Vox, Raw Story, National Review, alicublog, The Boston Globe, RedState, Common Dreams, Outside the Beltway, Reason, Holy Bullies …, CANNONFIRE, New York Post, Mother Jones, CNN, ABC7, Political Wire, Salon, SCOTUSblog, Althouse and The Root

Celine Castronuovo / The Hill:

Twitter briefly limits users interacting with Trump's tweets about ‘stolen’ election — Twitter on Saturday prevented users from liking and replying to a series of tweets from President Trump in which he repeated false claims that he won the election and that the race was “stolen” from him, though the company later reversed the move.

Discussion: Business Insider, Politico, HotAir and Mother Jones

Julie Pace / Associated Press:

Analysis: The election is over; Trump's attacks will linger — WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2020 presidential election is over. But President Donald Trump's baseless efforts to undermine it, and the consequences of those undemocratic actions, will linger in America for far longer.

Discussion: NBC News, Spectator USA, The Hill, New York Times, One America News Network, KGET-TV and KTAR.com

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Pelosi Statement on Supreme Court Rejecting GOP Election Sabotage Lawsuit — Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to reject the sham GOP lawsuit demanding that Electoral College votes in four states be overturned and awarded to Donald Trump:

Discussion: NPR, The Hill, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth and Politico

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Byron York's Daily Memo Special Edition: Time for Trump to stop — Welcome to Byron York's Daily Memo newsletter. — Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive the newsletter. — TIME FOR TRUMP TO STOP. President Trump's defenders have pointed out many times, correctly …

Discussion: Raw Story, CBS News, Deadline and CBS Pittsburgh

New York Times:
Republicans Faced Trump's Loss by Embracing Nihilism

Discussion: Michigan Advance, The Dispatch, Washington Post, The Guardian, Iowa Capital Dispatch, The American Independent, Arizona Mirror, The US Sun, Common Dreams, The Hill, Fox News and Politico

Andrew Solender / Forbes:
House Democrat Calls To Exclude 126 Republicans From Next Congress For Supporting Texas Lawsuit

Discussion: Business Insider, Conservative News Today, JONATHAN TURLEY and Raw Story

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
These Republicans may not be capable of shame, but you should know who they are

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel, BillMoyers.com, Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, Outside the Beltway, National Memo, Business Insider, Fox News and CBS Pittsburgh

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Supreme Court dismisses bid led by Texas attorney general to overturn the presidential election results, blocking Trump's legal path to a reversal of his loss

Discussion: CNN, The Verge, Washington Examiner, RedState, SCOTUSblog, Business Insider, USA Today, The Moderate Voice, Newsmax, Variety, NBC New York, Blue Virginia, Bloomberg, Breitbart and No More Mister Nice Blog

Washington Post:
Ken Paxton has had Trump's back. But the Texas attorney general's latest gambit has failed.

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Off the Kuff and The Texas Tribune

CNN:
Supreme Court rejects Texas' and Trump's bid to overturn election

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, Business Insider, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Election Law Blog, BuzzFeed News, USA Today, Orange County Register, Forbes, Reuters and Hackwhackers

Nina Totenberg / NPR:
Supreme Court Shuts Door On Texas Suit Seeking To Overturn Election

Jonathan H. Adler / Reason:
Supreme Court Unanimously Denies Texas Emergency Relief, Refuses to Grant Motion for Leave to File (Updated)

Discussion: The Originalism Blog, Outside the Beltway, Los Angeles Times, Power Line, Breitbart, Instapundit and Business Insider

The Guardian:
Nearly two-thirds of House Republicans join baseless effort to overturn election

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Signal, Florida Politics, NBC News, IJR, The Hill, WV MetroNews, National Review, The Week, USA Today, The American Independent, Fox News, Mic, Raw Story, The Stream and Iowa Capital Dispatch

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Pursues Appointing Special Counsel to Probe Election, Hunter Biden — President has expressed frustration with Attorney General William Barr as efforts to overturn election have failed — President Trump has expressed interest in pursuing the appointment of a special counsel …

Discussion: The Week, The US Sun, Mediaite, Business Insider, Raw Story and Politico

Tom Winter / NBC News:
Email to Hunter Biden raises fresh questions about his tax dealings

Discussion: Big League Politics, Washington Examiner, Townhall and Breitbart

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump absent while Congress works around the clock

Discussion: Fox News, USA Today, Associated Press, The Irish Times, Occupy Democrats, The American Independent, CNN, Politics News and KTLA

The Daily Caller:
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden Called His Father And Chinese Business Partner ‘Office Mates’ In September 2017 Email

Discussion: Fox News and RedState

New York Times:
Material From Giuliani Spurred a Separate Justice Dept. Pursuit of Hunter Biden

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Magazine, IJR, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Lawfare

Joseph Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D. — Jill Biden should think about dropping the honorific, which feels fraudulent, even comic. — Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter.

New York Times:

F.D.A. Clears Pfizer Vaccine, and Millions of Doses Will Be Shipped Right Away — An initial shipment of about 2.9 million doses of the vaccine will be sent around the United States over the next week. — The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday …

NBC News:
How to get a Covid vaccine: Everything we know, from cost to effectiveness

Discussion: NBC New York

Washington Post:

Sidney Powell's secret witness ‘Spyder’ is an IT consultant. He told The Post he never worked in military intelligence. — The witness is code-named “Spyder.” Or sometimes “Spider.” His identity is so closely guarded that lawyer Sidney Powell has sought to keep it even from opposing counsel.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Business Insider

Ben Kesling / Wall Street Journal:

Veterans Groups Call for VA Secretary's Dismissal — Top veterans advocacy groups and some Democratic lawmakers call for Robert Wilkie's removal after investigation found he mishandled sexual-assault investigation — A majority of the nation's top veterans advocacy groups called …

Leo Shane III / Military Times:
Major veterans groups call for VA secretary's ouster following damning report

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

Oracle is moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas — Oracle is the latest tech company to relocate out of California. — The coronavirus pandemic has given a number of tech companies an excuse to exit Silicon Valley. — HPE announced its move to Houston earlier this month.

Discussion: CBS San Francisco, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, KTAR.com and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Politico:

Biden starts countering Trump's messaging on vaccine — President-elect Joe Biden's team is feverishly working to get a messaging plan in place to sell a skeptical public on the first FDA-backed coronavirus vaccine, believing the Trump administration has set the effort back significantly.

Discussion: The US Sun and emptywheel

Washington Post:

Huawei worked on several surveillance systems promoted to identify ethnicity, documents show — Facing international outcry over its testing of a “Uighur alarm” system, Huawei said it is committed to human rights “at the highest level.” But the tech giant has worked with others …

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Breitbart

Conrad Black / The Hill:

Trump's political future depends on whether he can change — Barring a miracle from the Supreme Court, the Trump era appears to be ending, at least for now. And at this point it seems — again, depending on the high court — to be ending in about as undignified a manner as President Trump's millions of critics would have predicted.

Discussion: globalnews.ca