memeorandum: Yale Law School Accepted a Donation for Clarence Thomas's Portrait. Five Years Later, the Painting Is Nowhere To Be Seen. (Eliana Johnson/Washington Free Beacon)

10:40 AM ET, April 29, 2023

Top Items:

Mattathias Schwartz / Insider:

Jane Roberts, who is married to Chief Justice John Roberts, made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms, whistleblower documents show — Jane Roberts was paid more than $10 million by a host of elite law firms, a whistleblower alleges. — At least one of those firms argued …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, New Republic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, RedState, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Balloon Juice, PoliticusUSA, Accountable US, The Mahablog, Pharyngula, Mock Paper Scissors and New York Times

Nicholas Reimann / Forbes: Chief Justice John Roberts' Wife Made Over $10 Million As Legal Consultant, Report Says

Wall Street Journal:

Justice Samuel Alito: ‘This Made Us Targets of Assassination’ — The author of the Dobbs abortion ruling answers attacks on the court's ‘legitimacy.’ He says he thinks he knows who leaked the draft and is certain about the motive. — Washington — Justice Samuel Alito was supposed …

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Alito thinks he knows who Dobbs leaker is — and says it's not a conservative

Discussion: Fox News, The Guardian and National Review

Bryan Metzger / Insider:
Justice Alito says he has a ‘pretty good idea’ who leaked the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade but doesn't have the proof to name them publicly

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:

As Biden Runs Again, Black Voters' Frustration Bubbles — In interviews, Black voters, organizers and elected officials pointed to what some saw as unkept promises — raising questions about the enthusiasm of Democrats' most loyal voters. — President Biden began his re-election campaign …

Discussion: Associated Press

Joey Garrison / USA Today:

VP Kamala Harris becomes Republicans' go-to target after Biden launches 2024 reelection bid — WASHINGTON — Republicans have sharpened their attacks against Kamala Harris since Joe Biden announced his reelection bid Tuesday in a push to make the 2024 election as much about the vice president as the president.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Fox News, Bernard Goldberg's Commentary, The Western Journal, New York Times, IJR, RedState and Washington Post

Politico:
Biden's New Hampshire mess

Discussion: Raw Story, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, NBC News and New York Magazine

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

Republicans Effectively Voted to Raise Taxes. They're Fine With That. — House GOP backed repealing clean-energy tax credits without offsetting tax cuts — WASHINGTON—Republicans finally found a tax increase they can support. — The party, united for decades around the view …

Discussion: Associated Press and DOWNWITHTYRANNY!

ABC News:

5 dead in Texas shooting, suspect armed with AR-15 is on the loose — The shooting took place in Cleveland, Texas — about 55 miles north of Houston. — Five people are dead after being shot in a home by a suspect armed with AR-15 style rifle, police say.

Discussion: CBS News, Cyprus Mail, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press and Fox News

Jared Gans / The Hill:

Federal judge blocks Illinois assault weapons ban — A federal judge has temporarily blocked an assault weapons ban in Illinois, ruling that multiple plaintiffs who sued alleging that the law violates their Second Amendment rights have a “reasonable likelihood” to succeed in their argument.

Discussion: KFXP-TV, JONATHAN TURLEY, Chicago Sun Times and Lake and McHenry County …

New York Times:

Montana Governor Signs Law Banning Transgender Care for Minors — Gov. Greg Gianforte had been urged by his son, who is nonbinary, to reject the bill. A transgender lawmaker was barred from the House floor after the debate. — HELENA, Mont. — The Republican governor of Montana …

Discussion: Breitbart, Fox News, RedState, Daily Montanan, Washington Examiner, Montana Free Press, Daily Kos, freedombunker.com and HuffPost

Kit O'Connell / The Texas Observer:
Ag Commissioner Sid Miller Doubles Down on Transphobic Dress Code

Discussion: DCReport.org and LGBTQ Nation

Amy Beth Hanson / Associated Press:
Montana latest to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post, PinkNews, Los Angeles Times, ABC News, Associated Press, Daily Montanan, Joe.My.God., New York Daily News and LGBTQ Nation

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

He blew the whistle on Trump's Truth Social. Now he works at Starbucks. — The former high-ranking executive of Trump's media company says he's shared 150,000 internal documents with federal investigators. Many of his new strip-mall coworkers have no idea who he is.

Discussion: Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Politico:

DeSantis allies go to war with an unlikely foe: Nikki Haley — When the super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis turned its fire on Nikki Haley, it said volumes about the shifting dynamics of the 2024 campaign. — For months, the presidential primary looked like the Ron DeSantis-Donald Trump show.

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Florida Politics, Wide World of News, The Daily Caller, Tampa Bay Times, Raw Story, The Political Insider, LGBTQ Nation, Political Wire and New York Post

New York Times:
Florida Lawmakers Clear a Potential Presidential Roadblock for DeSantis

Discussion: CNN, Florida's Voice, Breitbart, Associated Press, New York Post, Florida Politics, Just The News, Political Wire, Politico, Page Array, Joe.My.God., Raw Story, Washington Post, The Post Millennial and The Daily Caller

NBC News:
'I think he's in trouble': Growing number of Ron DeSantis donors and allies hope for a shake-up

Discussion: Raw Story, Bloomberg, Just The News and The Hill

Eliana Johnson / Washington Free Beacon:

Yale Law School Accepted a Donation for Clarence Thomas's Portrait. Five Years Later, the Painting Is Nowhere To Be Seen. — In the spring of 2018, Yale Law School dean Heather Gerken happily acknowledged the receipt of a donation from the Texas billionaire Harlan Crow to fund the commission …

Discussion: Power Line

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:

The Kyrsten Sinema Theory of American Politics — Kyrsten Sinema knows what everybody says about her. She pretends not to read the press coverage—"I don't really care"—but she knows. She knows what her colleagues call her behind her back ("egomaniac," “traitor").

Victor Swezey / The Daily Beast:

Montana Lawmaker Suggests She'd Rather Her Daughter Die by Suicide Than Transition — “Someone once asked me, 'Wouldn't I just do anything to help save her?' And I really had to think and the answer was, ‘No,’” Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe said. — Intern — A Montana state representative …

Discussion: Raw Story and NBC News

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Montana state lawmaker's remarks about trans daughter draws backlash

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

George Santos, Instead of Shrinking From the Spotlight, Steps Into It — Mr. Santos seems to be testing whether his notoriety will translate into a form of celebrity, if not eventual acceptance. — WASHINGTON — As he strode into a bar packed with margarita-sipping young Republicans here the other night …

Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:

The North Carolina Supreme Court Signs Off on a Political Gerrymander — We've talked about the North Carolina gerrymandering case, also called the independent state legislature theory case, that the Supreme Court is considering this term and how the Court's continued jurisdiction was compromised …

New York Times:

Prosecutors in Jan. 6 Case Step up Inquiry Into Trump Fund-Raising — The Justice Department has been gathering evidence about whether the former president and his allies solicited donations with claims of election fraud they knew to be false. — As they investigate former President Donald …

Discussion: Raw Story, WPRI-TV, ABC News, CBS News, The Hill and Alternet.org

Brenda Goodman / CNN:

Doctors watching for more cases after mysterious cluster of brain infections strikes kids in southern Nevada — Disease detectives with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating a cluster of rare and serious brain abscesses in kids in and around Las Vegas, Nevada …

Discussion: Las Vegas Review-Journal, NBC News, The Daily Caller and CBS News

Elliott Wenzler / The Colorado Sun:

Colorado governor signs four gun bills into law in a historic change to the state's firearm regulations — Gov. Jared Polis signed four gun measures into law Friday in what's likely the most consequential tightening of gun regulations in Colorado history. — The bills expand …

Discussion: Raw Story, Florida's Voice, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, UPI, The Hill, Associated Press, ABC13, Washington Examiner and Joe.My.God.

Jared Gans / The Hill:

Over half of registered voters say political attacks on trans kids, families are a ‘major problem’: poll — More than half of registered voters believe political attacks on transgender children and families are a “major problem,” according to a Fox News poll.

Jason Zengerle / New York Times:

Fox News Gambled, but Tucker Can Still Take Down the House — For the quarter-century-plus that the Fox News Channel has been coming into America's living rooms, it has operated according to a cardinal tenet: No one at the cable network is bigger than Fox News itself.

Discussion: The Hill and Mercury News

Patrick Whittle / ABC News:

What to know about tick, Lyme season following a mild winter — After a mild winter in the U.S., scientists are watching to see if there will be an uptick in ticks this year — PORTLAND, Maine — After a mild winter in the U.S., will there be an uptick in ticks this year?

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

All 9 Supreme Court justices push back on oversight: ‘Raises more questions,’ Senate chair says — In a rare joint statement, the judges said they wanted to “provide new clarity.” — There's no conservative-liberal divide on the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to calls for a new, enforceable ethics code.

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, Washington Post, Alternet.org and The Nation

Dennis Aftergut / Verdict:

Trump's Nonsensical Letter to Congress Attacking the DOJ's Mar-a-Lago Case Shows He Has No Defense — On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump's lawyers sent a desperate, 10-page letter to Rep. Mike Turner, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The punch line comes in its conclusion …

Discussion: Raw Story