The fight to ratify the ERA, which was proposed by Congress in 1972, is a bitter lesson in just how hard it is to amend the United States Constitution. Though the amendment was quickly approved by 35 states, its momentum stalled after opponents scared conservatives with warnings that it would lead to things like unisex bathrooms and same-sex marriage. After the 35th state (Indiana) voted to ratify in 1977, no other state joined on until 2017 when Nevada took it up.

Yet, if Virginia’s new Democratic majority does ratify the ERA after the new lawmakers take their seats this January, there is a world of uncertainty about what happens next.
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The truth is that no one actually knows if the ERA will become part of the Constitution if Virginia becomes the 38th state to ratify it. But there are also very good reasons why Virginia Democrats may want to give it a shot despite this uncertainty.

Should the ERA become part of the Constitution, the immediate impact would be fairly minor. The ERA would marginally expand the Constitution’s protections against gender discrimination, but those protections are already quite robust. That’s because of a pioneering legal strategy, spearheaded by future Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 1970s, which convinced the Supreme Court that the Constitution already provides most of the benefits women would enjoy under the ERA. (More on that below.)

Yet, while the ERA would not have much of an immediate impact on American constitutional law, it is unclear whether Ginsburg’s legacy is durable. There are five justices on the Supreme Court right now who believe that the constitutional cases protecting against gender discrimination may not have been correctly decided. If Trump gets to fill more seats on the Supreme Court, those decisions that expanded protections for women will grow even more endangered.

The strongest case for ratifying the ERA, in other words, is not that it will revolutionize American law now. Rather, it’s that it will insulate many existing protections against gender discrimination from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court in the coming years.

A lawyer representing the anonymous whistleblower who exposed the Ukraine extortion scandal on Thursday sent the White House Counsel a letter urging him to warn President Donald Trump to “cease and desist” his attacks against his client, and asking him to remind the president he will be in “legal and ethical peril” should the whistleblower or his family be harmed.

“I am writing out of deep concern that your client, the President of the United States, is engaging in rhetoric and activity that places my client, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower, and their family in physical danger,’ the letter, published by CNN, reads. “I am writing to respectfully request that you counsel your client on the legal and ethical peril in which he is placing himself should anyone be physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates’, behavior.”
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“Respectfully, your client’s rhetoric and behavior fall well beneath the dignity of the office,” Bakaj added.

“These are not words of an individual with a firm grasp of the significance of the office which he occupies, nor a fundamental understanding of the significance of each word he articulates by virtue of occupying that office,” Bakaj also told Cipollone.
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“In light of this, it is reasonable to submit that your client’s activity constitutes a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512, Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant. Furthermore, because my client is a lawful whistleblower and a prospective congressional witness, any threats to influence, obstruct, or impede my client’s cooperation is a violation of 18 U.SC. § 1505, Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees. Finally, reprisal against my client for cooperating with a congressional inquiry would be a violation of 18 U.SC. § 1513, Retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant.”

This man is playing fetch with a Beluga Whale. This is INCREDIBLE. ❤️

We honestly don't deserve these Majestic Creatures. 😭

Protect them at all costs.

PLEASE STOP USING PLASTIC

You know Trump's popularity is tanking when they have to resort to extortion to protect the delicate snowflake from booing IN ALABAMA!

Yet, while we see all this, we also see an election being fought in which antisemitism in the Labour Party, inspired by its leader, is mentioned only occasionally as an afterthought. Brexit, austerity, the NHS, education and myriad other issues are, of course, vital. But how can the racist views of a party leader — and the deep fear he inspires among an ethnic minority — not be among the most fundamental of issues?

That is why we are seeking your attention. If this man is chosen as our next prime minister, the message will be stark: that our dismay that he could ever be elevated to a prominent role in British politics, and our fears of where that will lead, are irrelevant.

We will have to conclude that those fears and dismay count for nothing.

But we think you do care.

We believe that the overwhelming majority of British people abhor racism.We ask only that, when you cast your vote, you act on that.

I’m struck by Trumpworld’s obsession with the whistleblower. Exposing him wouldn’t help Trump’s case a bit. But it’s clear that outing him would be really satisfying psychologically to Trumpsters. One forgets how central to Trumpism are petty vindictiveness and cowardly bullying.