ringwiss
@ringwiss

All-Biden court!

Fun fact: Five out of these seven vacancies were only available for Biden to fill because of blue slips – Trump couldn't reach an agreement with Murray and Cantwell.

Senate Cloakroom
@SenateCloakroom

Confirmed, 50-47: Confirmation of Executive Calendar #8 Tiffany M. Cartwright to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Washington.

Less than two months into Ron DeSantis’ declared run for president, his most important backers in conservative media are already starting to lose faith.

Since the beginning of the Biden presidency, the powerful Murdoch family has favored the Florida governor in the 2024 presidential primary, largely due to a conviction that DeSantis would be a more electable, and less chaotic, evolution from Donald Trump. But in recent weeks, the Murdochs have grown increasingly displeased with the DeSantis campaign’s perceived stumbles, lackluster polling, and inability to swiftly dethrone Trump, multiple sources tell Rolling Stone. They have also seriously questioned whether the governor is capable of defeating Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch in particular has been voicing his doubts and frustrations in private discussions and calls, at times wondering if a DeSantis “comeback” is possible at this point. Murdoch is the longtime patriarch of the family that controls Fox News, the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other media properties that are highly influential among conservatives.

“[Rupert’s] understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway,” a senior Fox source tells Rolling Stone. “And DeSantis is underperforming. Anybody can see that … [and the Murdochs], they’re seeing it, too.”

Abortion rights advocates sued the Idaho government on Tuesday, claiming a state law that prohibits adults from helping minors get an abortion is unconstitutional.

Idaho has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, forcing patients to seek care in neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington, where the procedure is legal. But in April, Idaho lawmakers passed legislation requiring any person under 18 to get permission from a parent or guardian before traveling out of state to get an abortion. The controversial law marks the first major push since the fall of Roe v Wade in 2022 to explicitly block people from traveling across state lines to access abortion.

“It is a new level of government intrusion on what it means to be an American,” said Wendy Heipt, a lawyer at Legal Voice, an advocacy group representing the plaintiffs challenging the Idaho statute.

The new lawsuit said the Idaho statute violates multiple constitutional protections, including the right to free speech, due process, and the ability to travel between states. Under the law, anyone who helps a minor get an abortion could be sentenced to two or five years in prison, but adults are also prohibited from “recruiting” a pregnant minor, a term that reproductive justice advocates in the state said is confusing and vague.

“Does ‘recruit’ mean handing someone a brochure? Does that mean a conversation about options?” said Heipt. “It is incredibly hard for the average person to know what they can and can’t legally do under this law.”

Lourdes Matsumoto, the only individual plaintiff on the case, is an Idaho attorney who works with survivors of domestic and sexual violence, many of whom are minors.

MIAMI — In March, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida laid the groundwork for his presidential run, he joined the Fox News host Brian Kilmeade to play a nationally televised game of catch on his hometown baseball field outside Tampa.

The questions DeSantis faced were as relaxed as the tosses.

“Locker room gets you ready for the press, right?” Kilmeade asked. “Because your teammates, if they like you a lot, they rip you all the time.”

At the time, DeSantis was seen by many in the Republican Party as the strongest possible alternative to former President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly attacked the network and had seen his relationship with its owner, Rupert Murdoch, evaporate.

Four months later, with DeSantis’ campaign having failed to immediately catch fire against Trump, Fox News is not taking it quite so easy on DeSantis anymore.

Over the last week, he has confronted noticeably tougher questions in interviews with two of the network’s hosts, Will Cain and Maria Bartiromo, who pressed him on his anemic poll numbers and early campaign struggles. It was a striking shift for a network that for years has offered DeSantis a safe space as a congressman and a governor.

Other outlets in Murdoch’s media empire have also been slightly less friendly of late.

As Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade embarks on a campaign to become the state’s first female governor, her strong support of abortion rights could bolster her among voters incensed by the state’s near total ban on the procedure.

The issue of abortion rights is likely to be front and center in 2024. A win by Democrats would mark a major victory for abortion rights supporters in Missouri — the first state to ban the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

“I’m leading the fight to restore our abortion rights,” Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said in a video launching her campaign this week.

At her first campaign event in Springfield on Monday, Quade connected the issue of abortion to wider women’s rights issues. She said that when she first ran for the Missouri House in 2016, she told voters why she was a “pro-choice candidate.”

“Talking about how women who grew up in poverty or live in poverty deserve to make their own decisions on what’s best for them and their family,” she said. “Talking about domestic abuse survivors and just talking about folks who deserve to plan their lives.”

A transgender woman, an independent bookstore, and other individuals and institutions have come together to file a lawsuit challenging Montana’s ban on drag queen story hours.

Montana’s ban “is an unconstitutional content- and viewpoint-based restriction on free speech,” says the suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Butte. Moreover, the law is vague and confusing, and could be construed to ban many types of performances, the suit asserts.

House Bill 359, which took effect immediately when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed it into law in May, bans drag story hours at publicly funded schools and libraries, and it also prohibits any “sexually oriented” performances at those venues or on any public property where children are present.

Violators will be fined and are subject to lawsuits; they can be sued up to 10 years after the performance took place and even if a minor’s parent or guardian allowed the child to attend. It appears to be the first state law banning drag story hours even if they include no content that could be perceived as sexual — not that such story hours do.

“HB 359 is calculated to target the LGBTQ+ community, but the bill overshoots this sinister mark,” the lawsuit says. “HB 359 threatens teachers, artists, small businesses, and cultural and scientific institutions with criminal and professional sanctions.”

The suit calls the law “a Frankenstein’s monster” incorporating all the worst provisions of versions proposed in Montana and anti-drag laws struck down elsewhere. “An entity that receives any state funds — e.g., any art museum or independent theater — cannot display a live or prerecorded performance with essentially any sexual content, regardless of artistic merit and even if the audience is limited to adults,” it continues. “HB 359’s penalty provisions are as confusing as they are draconian.”

Kaivan Shroff
@KaivanShroff

NEW: Georgia State Rep. Mesha Mainor, elected as a Democrat, has just officially switched to become a Republican. She is a national disgrace. She has betrayed her community.

Luckily, her Atlanta-based district is left-leaning. Let’s make sure she gets voted out.

More: https://capitol-beat.org/2023/07/georgia-democratic-rep-mainor-switches-to-gop/

Mainor not only voted with Republicans several times already but says her decision is a “moral” one. Just absolutely laughable to say you are switching *to* the modern GOP for moral reasons…means she must not have many morals at all.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has again blocked construction on a segment of a contentious natural gas pipeline being built through Virginia and West Virginia, this time doing so even after Congress ordered the project's approval.

The stay issued Monday by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond comes after Congress passed legislation last month requiring all necessary permits be issued for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The law also stripped the 4th Circuit from jurisdiction over the case.

Environmentalists, though, argued that Congress overstepped its authority by enacting the law, saying it violates the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.

“Congress cannot pick winners and losers in pending litigation by compelling findings or results without supplying new substantive law for the courts to apply,” lawyers for the environmentalists wrote in court papers.

Another insurer is leaving Florida, where homeowners are paying more than ever for insurance, despite the state’s attempt to shore up the wobbling market.

Tuesday, Farmers Insurance informed the state it was dropping home, auto and umbrella policies across Florida, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people. It’s the fourth company to leave the Florida market in the last year — most citing rising risks from hurricanes. Farmers, a large company with a national presence, also has reduced new business in California, citing extreme weather and wild fire threats.

“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” the company wrote in a statement.

Farmers said the decision to withdraw affects about 30% of its overall policies around the state, but not ones issued through its subsidiary companies. Those — including auto insurer Bristol West and home insurer Foremost — are unaffected.

The company declined to speak on the record about how many people would lose coverage. Figures from Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation show that Farmers has about 93,000 current home and auto policies, but an industry source suggests that number is currently closer to 100,000.

Another insurer is leaving Florida, where homeowners are paying more than ever for insurance, despite the state’s attempt to shore up the wobbling market.

Tuesday, Farmers Insurance informed the state it was dropping home, auto and umbrella policies across Florida, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people. It’s the fourth company to leave the Florida market in the last year — most citing rising risks from hurricanes. Farmers, a large company with a national presence, also has reduced new business in California, citing extreme weather and wild fire threats.

“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” the company wrote in a statement.

Farmers said the decision to withdraw affects about 30% of its overall policies around the state, but not ones issued through its subsidiary companies. Those — including auto insurer Bristol West and home insurer Foremost — are unaffected.

The company declined to speak on the record about how many people would lose coverage. Figures from Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation show that Farmers has about 93,000 current home and auto policies, but an industry source suggests that number is currently closer to 100,000.