Republicans in South Carolina oust five-term Congressman Tom Rice in their primary

He was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Hardcore Trumper Russell Fry beat him.

Trump gets a split decision in South Carolina as Rice is beaten, while Mace survives

Source: NPR

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump has gone 1-for-2 in his endorsements of challengers to incumbent members of Congress from South Carolina.

Rep. Tom Rice, one of just 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot, has been defeated in a GOP primary by a Trump-backed challenger.

According to a race call by The Associated Press, South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry, who had Trump's endorsement, easily topped Rice, a five-term U.S. representative, giving Fry the 7th District's Republican nomination.

In the 1st District, meanwhile, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace bested her Trump-supported challenger, according to the AP.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/14/1105009105/south-carolina-rice-fry-mace-arrington-trump-endorsements

Republicans flip a Democratic-held House seat in South Texas, at least for now.

Source: NY Times

A U.S. House district in South Texas will send a Republican to Congress for the first time in its 10-year history.

Mayra Flores, a Republican and respiratory-care health aide, scored a significant victory in a special election on Tuesday for the party, which has been trying to capitalize on its successes in 2020 in the Democratic stronghold of the Rio Grande Valley. She will be the first Latina Republican from Texas in Congress.

Ms. Flores defeated three opponents in the special election to replace former Representative Filemon Vela, a Democrat who retired this year before the end of his term. She captured more than 50 percent of the vote in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, according to The Associated Press, and will avoid an expected runoff with Dan Sanchez, a Democrat and former commissioner in Cameron County.
Her win may only be temporary, however.

The special election was held to determine who would fill the remainder of Mr. Vela’s term until the end of this year. Voters in the general election in November will decide who will become the district’s permanent representative beginning in January. Representative Vicente Gonzalez, who currently represents a neighboring district, is the Democratic nominee for November, and is widely favored to win the race against Ms. Flores, who is also running to fill the seat permanently in November.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/us/politics/mayra-flores-texas-election.html

It's primary day today in four states

Maine
Nevada
North Dakota
South Carolina

Any ones to look out for?

Manchin says bipartisan gun agreement takes 'no rights away, no privileges away'

Source: CNN

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Monday defended a newly reached bipartisan gun deal as a pragmatic step forward that won’t threaten gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.

“It’s based around children. It’s based around prevention and intervention. That’s what it’s based about. So we have to take what we have as a positive, and work off of this. This piece of legislation as drafted should not be threatening to any law-abiding citizen in the United States of America. Not one,” Manchin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.”

“And no law-abiding gun owner should be offended by this. We take no rights away, no privileges away. We don’t basically threaten you’re going to lose anything at all, except maybe if we don’t do this, you might lose a child or a grandchild,” he added.

Manchin is part of a bipartisan group of senators that has announced an agreement on principle for gun safety legislation. The deal includes “needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can’t purchase weapons,” the group said in a statement Sunday.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/politics/joe-manchin-bipartisan-gun-agreement-cnntv/index.html

When is the most likely week for the big Supreme Court rulings?

Realistically, will it be sometime this week (today being Monday June 13th), next week (week of the 20th), or the week after (week of the 27th)? The week after that is Independence Day. I'm pretty sure that they are on recess that week, all the way until October (I need a job like that!).

I understand that only the Justices know for sure what day/week they will release their decisions, but based on past rulings, what's your guesstimate?

Supreme Court curbs ability of immigrants to challenge indefinite detention with bond hearings

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday curbed the ability of immigrants to challenge indefinite detentions, holding that U.S. immigration law does not require the government to hold bond hearings for noncitizens detained for six months.

In a pair of decisions, the high court shot down claims from immigrants who entered the country illegally and asserted the law required, after prolonged detention, that an immigration judge assess whether they posed a flight risk or were a danger.

But in an 8-1 ruling that brought together the conservative and liberal wings of the court, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the law is silent on the point. The court sent the lawsuit back to lower federal courts to reconsider in light of that assessment.

"On its face, the statute says nothing about bond hearings before immigration judges or burdens of proof," Sotomayor wrote. "Nor does it provide any other indication that such procedures are required."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/13/supreme-court-immigrant-bond-hearings-detention/7609909001/

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has upheld a federal policy of locking up immigrants for months or years

Supreme Court lets stand the death sentence of Texas inmate

Source: CNN

The Supreme Court on Monday let stand the death sentence of a Texas inmate, rejecting his arguments that Texas state courts had failed to follow the justices’ earlier ruling in his case about whether he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial and sentencing.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor – joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan – dissented.

The case centers on Terence Andrus, who, in 2008, at 20 years old, unsuccessfully attempted a carjacking while under the influence of PCP-laced marijuana. He fired multiple shots, killing the car owner, Avelino Diaz, and a bystander, Kim-Phuong Vu Bui. He was charged with capital murder and later sentenced to death.

New lawyers for Andrus said that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate or present mitigating evidence, including the fact that Andrus’ childhood was marked by neglect and that he grew up surrounded by violence and abuse. His mother, for example, had Andrus, her second of five children, when she was 15. She sold drugs – in view of her children – and engaged in prostitution.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/13/politics/texas-death-row-sentence-terence-andrus-supreme-court/index.html

Ocasio-Cortez won't commit to backing Biden in 2024: 'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it'

Source: CNN

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday would not commit to backing President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, saying instead that “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“I think if the President has a vision, then that’s something certainly we’re all willing to entertain and examine when the time comes,” Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who wields a significant amount of influence over the party’s progressive wing, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” when asked if she plans to support Biden in his 2024 reelection bid.

“That’s not a yes,” Bash said, to which the congresswoman replied: “We should endorse when we get to it, but I believe that the President’s been doing a very good job so far, and, you know, should he run again, I think that I, you know, I think … we’ll take a look at it.

“But right now, we need to focus on winning a majority instead of a presidential election,” she added, referring to this year’s November midterm elections.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-biden-reelection-2024-cnntv/index.html