Newsom’s Identity Politics Pick to Fill Feinstein’s Seat Isn’t from California, Raising Constitutional Questions

California Governor Gavin Newsom has tapped Laphonza Butler, a far left abortion-on-demand activist, to fill the Senate seat long held by Democrat Diane Feinstein, who died Friday.

There’s one very big problem. Butler, a lesbian who fits Newsom’s identity politics-driven pledge to pick a black woman to serve out Feinstein’s current term, isn’t a resident of California.

Read the full story

A Closer Look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s Bold Plan to Take Down the Administrative State

President Calvin Coolidge once said, “unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy.”

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to pick up where old Silent Cal, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump left off, proposing a plan to halve the size of the federal administrative state in his first year in office — should he be elected.

Read the full story

Legal Experts: Politically Motivated, Yes, But Trump Could Be in Trouble with Latest Indictment

While many Americans feel former President Donald Trump is the target of a political witch hunt by the Biden administration and its allies, the latest allegations against the Republican Party’s top presidential candidate are troubling, according to a leading constitutional law expert. 

Trump arrived in Miami Monday, a day ahead of his arraignment in federal court on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 37-count indictment, including 31 counts alleging the former president violated the Espionage Act prohibiting willful retention of national defense information. He’s also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements.

Read the full story

State Voting Laws Banning Student IDs Won’t Tank the Youth Vote, Experts Say

State laws that prohibit students from using their school-issued IDs to vote are unlikely to suppress youth voter turnout, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

States including Idaho, Ohio and Georgia have laws on the books that limit what identification students can present to prove they are an eligible voter when at the polls. While critics of these laws argue that preventing student IDs from being used is a barrier to voting, several experts told the DCNF that there are other ways students can vote and that these laws likely will not have an overwhelming impact in preventing young voters from casting a ballot.

Read the full story

Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald Says Judiciary Committee Will Push for Answers in Manhattan DA’s ‘Bizarre’ Prosecution of Trump

The House Judiciary Committee will continue to seek answers from Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his “bizarre” prosecution of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI-05) says. 

Fitzgerald, a member of the powerful committee, said Bragg’s decision to drop his lawsuit against the Republican-led Judiciary Committee is a victory for the committee and its chairman, U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH-04). 

Read the full story

Manhattan DA Has No Authority ‘To Enforce Federal Campaign Finance Crimes’: Ex-FEC Commissioner

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump is legally “dubious” and motivated by political ambition, alleges legal expert Hans von Spakovsky. 

“It’s an extremely dubious prosecution, and I say that as a former commissioner on the Federal Election Commission,” he told Just The News.

Read the full story

Constitutional Law Expert: Democrats’ Call for DOJ Probe into Tennessee State Lawmakers’ Expulsions Is ‘Ridiculous Political Grandstanding’

The left’s press to paint the expulsions of two disorderly Democratic lawmakers from the Tennessee House of Representatives as an assault on civil rights is moving into overdrive, but constitutional law experts predict the effort will go nowhere — even for President Joe Biden’s politically weaponized Justice Department. 

A group of U.S. Senate Democrats led by Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling on the DOJ to investigate the Republican-controlled Tennessee House’s removal of State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis). 

Read the full story

Stanford Law Accreditation, Required Courses Under Scrutiny After Students Shut Down Judge

Scrutiny of Stanford Law School is growing after it refused to discipline students for repeatedly disrupting a conservative federal appeals court judge and even pledged to prevent judges from identifying them by blurring their faces from a video it was paid to make.

House Education Committee Republicans asked the American Bar Association (ABA) in a Friday letter to investigate whether the school was out of compliance with ABA accreditation conditions based on its treatment of 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kyle Duncan.

Read the full story

Leftists Sue Ohio Secretary of State Over New Voter ID Law

Attorneys for the Elias Law Group announced over the weekend they are representing several left-leaning institutions seeking to nix Ohio’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification to participate in an election. 

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans and the Union Veterans Council are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R). The firm working the case is headed by Marc Elias who has handled cases for Democrats in the 2020 presidential contest and numerous other national elections. 

Read the full story

After Warnock Win, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to Propose Ranked Choice ‘Instant Runoff’ System

Controversial Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) is planning to present several electoral system proposals, including ranked choice voting, to state lawmakers following the runoff between Senator Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R), which handed a win to Warnock.

In an interview with the New York Times following the runoff election, Raffensperger said he would offer three proposals to Georgia lawmakers, including one to establish a “ranked-choice instant runoff” system, whose main goal would be to eliminate having voters return to the polls after the general election, and the costs associated with doing so.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Political Consultant: Philadelphia Suburbs a Hotbed of a Legal Version of Ballot Harvesting

Pennsylvania just completed its third year of no-excuse mail-in voting, with Democrats scoring major victories in statewide and legislative offices. According to a political strategist from the state’s southeast, one factor affecting the Democrats’ 2022 success was its engagement in a legal form of “ballot harvesting” in the suburbs west of Philadelphia.

Athan Koutsiouroumbas, a managing director of the Harrisburg-based consultancy Long Nyquist and Associates, refers in a Monday commentary for RealClearPennsylvania to Democrats’ efforts to encourage mail-in voting in Delaware County. He called the effort a “completely legal ballot-harvesting juggernaut.” 

Read the full story

Youngkin, Hogan Ask U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to Enforce Federal Law About Protesting in Front of Judge’s Residences; Federal Prosecutor Says, ‘We Are Aware of the Situation’

Responding to protests in front of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ homes, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland citing U.S. code about protests to influence judges. They ask Garland to mobilize resources to help state and local law enforcement protect U.S. Supreme Court justices and enforce 18 U.S. Code Section 1507.

“Federal law prohibits picketing the home of a judge with the aim to influence the judge’s decision making process,” Youngkin and Hogan wrote, arguing that the protests are an effort to influence justices to change their minds after a draft opinion showed the Court was on the brink of reversing Roe v. Wade.

Read the full story

Virginia Senate and House Disagree over How to Restore Felon Voting Rights

The Senate and the House of Delegates face a disagreement over constitutional amendments to end felon disenfranchisement. SJ 272, introduced by Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) and HJ 555, introduced by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) both effectively restore felon voting rights after the term of imprisonment is completed. However, the two bills feature different language, and on Wednesday, the Senate shot down an attempt by the House to change SJ 272 to match HJ 555. Now, the two chambers will attempt to draft a compromise bill in conference.

Read the full story

Virginia House Subcommittee Votes to Change Bill to Automatically Restore Felon Voting Rights After Release from Prison

Delegate Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) both pre-filed bills that would automatically restore felon voting rights after the felons complete their sentences including probation. After discussion in a subcommittee Monday, the two bills will be combined under HJ555, and subcommittee members unanimously voted to change the bills to automatically restore voting rights after the felon has been released from prison, before completion of probation or other elements of the sentence.

Read the full story