Paul Krugman notes the sharp turn back to the Democratic fold that many Latino voters who went for Trump in 2024 made in the recent elections. He thinks the 2024 turn had to do with anger at rising prices blamed on Biden, and a refusal of many Latinos to take Trump at his word that he'd begin rounding up and deporting immigrants.

Krugman thinks Latinos won't be coming back to the GOP fold.

#Trump #Republicans #Latinos #Hispanics #immigrants
/1

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/are-hispanics-americas-new-jews

"The brutal choice facing Republicans: Do Washington Republicans finally stand up to Trump to stave off voter anger or do they keep turning a blind eye to the Constitution?"

~ Julie Roginsky

#Trump #election #Republicans
/4

https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/the-brutal-choice-facing-republicans

"The biggest impact of last night’s result may be to collapse D.C.’s collective denial about the sheer scale of Donald Trump’s unpopularity. A mix of spectacle, aggression and speed have created this on-going pageant of Trump’s power. ... These results tell a clear story: an electorate eager to send a message to Donald Trump and clip the wings of his untrammeled power."

~ Josh Marshall

#Trump #election #Republicans
/3

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-few-day-after-the-election-thoughts

In an editorial entitled "Trump Really Was on the Ballot," the right-leaning Republican Wall Street Journal says,

"President Trump on Wednesday blamed Tuesday’s Republican election defeats on the government shutdown and the fact that he wasn’t on the ballot. If he really believes this, the GOP is heading for bigger problems in 2026."

#Trump #election #Republicans #WallStreetJournal
/2

"There’s no way to sugarcoat or deep fry it. Donald Trump was a big orange drag on races around the nation. But of course, he’s neither ready to accept responsibility nor capable of doing so.

Trust me, Trump was on the ballot. If you don’t believe me, ask Fox."

~ Jay Kuo

#Trump #election #Republicans #FoxNews
/1

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/what-a-night

"Elections are the one opportunity we have to see what the people think. And what they think is clear: Trump sucks. We saw the poll that came out the day before Election Day. His disapproval rating was a record 63 percent. People are deeply sour about nearly everything (reduced border crossings being the sole exception), and they blame him for every single bit of it."

~ Michael Tomasky

#Trump #election #NewJersey #California #Virginia #ZohranMamdani #Democrats
/15

https://newrepublic.com/article/202710/2025-election-verdict-america-remorse-trump

"Trumpism was never about governing. It’s about grievance. And you can’t build a movement on grievance forever; eventually, the people notice the smell."

~ Michael Cohen

#Trump #election #NewJersey #California #Virginia #ZohranMamdani #Democrats
/14

https://www.meidasplus.com/p/the-sweet-smell-of-gop-failure

"So yesterday showed us what a wave election looks like. And what was the best predictor of the vote, and the probable source of the wave? Donald Trump. …

2025’s off-year elections were, to a remarkable degree, a referendum on Trump."

~ William Kristol

#Trump #election #NewJersey #California #Virginia #ZohranMamdani #Democrats
/13

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/vive-la-resistance-blue-wave-elections-spanberger-sherrill-mamdani

"To a large degree, it was a referendum on Trump, and anti-Trump forces won across the board."

~ Dan Froomkin

#Trump #election #NewJersey #California #Virginia #ZohranMamdani #Democrats
/12

https://www.headsupnews.org/p/the-resistance-is-ascendant

"Trump sent 'election monitors' to California to 'observe' the vote on Prop 50, presumably to challenge ballots in a close election. However, Proposition 50 won 65% to 35% on a huge turnout."

~ Robert B. Hubbell

#Trump #California #Prop50
/11

https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/election-day-2025-a-strong-signal

That material includes full transcripts of #Trump handpicked #USAttorney #LindseyHalligan’s September presentation to the grand jury that returned the indictment charging Comey on counts of making false statements to Congress.

“This is not a typical case,” Fitzpatrick said near the end of the roughly one-hour hearing in federal court in Alexandria. “Right now, we’re in a bit of a feeling of indict first & investigate second.”

#law #LegalEthics #Trump #RevengePolitics #retribution

A federal judge Wednesday scolded prosecutors pursuing charges against fmr #FBI dir James B. #Comey for what he described as an “indict first & investigate second” approach to the case that has put an unfair burden on Comey’s defense.

US Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick described the #DOJ’s approach to Comey’s prosecution as “highly unusual” & ordered its attorneys to hand over a raft of potential evidence by end of day Thursday.

#law #LegalEthics #Trump #RevengePolitics #retribution

#GiftArticle

Judge scolds #Comey prosecutors for ‘indict first & investigate second’ approach

U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick described the #DOJ’s approach to James B. Comey’s prosecution as “highly unusual.”

#law #LegalEthics #Trump #RevengePolitics #retribution
https://wapo.st/4orYWUJ

#Sotomayor also mentioned the additional 10% tariff #Trump slapped on Canada for airing an advertisement he didn’t like during the World Series.

These clearly don’t fall under the admin’s claim of a #trade “emergency”.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

At one point, #Sotomayor listed some of the #tariffs #Trump had imposed, & the wide ranging reasons he had done so — pointing to examples like #Brazil. That country is facing steep duties as Trump looks to protect his political ally, #Bolsonaro, from prosecution.

She concluded with a rhetorical question: “The point is, those may be good policies, but does the statute…[give]…without limit the power to the president to impose this kind of tax—does it require more than the word ‘regulate’?”

#law

#Sotomayor: “We’re forgetting here is a
very fundamental point, which is the #Constitution is structured so that if I’m going to be asked to pay for something as a citizen, that it’s through a bill that is generated through #Congress, & the president has the power to veto it or not, but I’m not going to be taxed unless both houses, the executive & the legislature, have made that choice, correct?”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

An emerging theme, from the conservative justices, is that the president’s concededly broad power to shut down #trade generally may include the lesser power to impose #tariffs. That echoes the admin’s position.

Justice #Sotomayor jumped into the questioning & refocused the case back on a primary argument against the tariff programs, that the #Constitution gives #Congress, NOT the president, the #power to #tax.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

We are approaching the 2½-hour mark in #SCOTUS’ tariff oral argument. So far, the justices have heard argument in defense of Trump’s #tariffs from Solicitor General D. John Sauer. They then heard the argument against the tariffs from Neal #Katyal, lawyer for small businesses who challenged the tariffs.

Now, they are listening to the argument against the tariffs by Benjamin Gutman, the solicitor general of Oregon, who represents a group of states that challenged the tariffs.

#law #Trump

One major issue hanging over oral arguments is the extent to which the #Trump admin must refund tariff revenue in the event that the justices find its policies to be illegal.

Speaking on behalf of the challengers, #Katyal acknowledged it is a “difficult” question. But he generally seemed to suggest the court had many options at its disposal & could reconcile that later—including, for example, by limiting its decision “to prospective relief.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal responded to #Kavanaugh that #Algonquin was one import. Not #tariffs broadly applied to numerous countries across the board.

“Algonquin was expressly a trade statute,” Katyal said. “It’s everything this case isn’t.”

He said the Algonquin decision had a reference to #duties in a specific provision & an extended, clear legislative history describing the powers given to a president.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

Justice #Kavanaugh points to FEA v. #Algonquin, a 1976 tariff that was upheld by #SCOTUS.

The court unanimously ruled for President Gerald Ford in a case about the imposition of #tariffs on oil imports, based on a different statute that also doesn’t mention the word tariffs.

“The court 9-0 rejected the argument” that the absence of the word tariff doomed Ford’s action, Kavanaugh said.

#law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/426/548/

#Katyal argued that the president has other authority to impose #tariffs, without relying on a national emergency.

For example, he cited Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to combat trade deficits by imposing tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days without congressional approval.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal said that the government has argued in this case that #refunds could be issued later if #tariffs are overturned.

The government opposed a preliminary injunction in this case by saying “oh, don’t worry, we’ll give the refunds later,” he said.

It’s unclear how much would be refunded or who would get money back if the tariffs are halted.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

"I find it easier to chart a concrete path towards a complete breakdown of the constitutional order than to envision a democratic turnaround. The Trumpists have shown their hands – we already know the strategy they want to pursue."

#Trump #Republicans #autocracy #authoritarianism #fascism #democracy
/2

"Trump’s rise was much more itself the result, rather than the cause, of a long-term radicalization of the Right, of anti-democratic tendencies that have come to dominate the GOP after pulling the party to the right for decades. At the same time, however, the Republican Party and the political Right more broadly have also significantly radicalized further since Trump emerged as their leader about a decade ago."

~ Thomas Zimmer

#Trump #Republicans #autocracy
/1

https://steady.page/en/democracyamericana/posts/21880233-f204-4b87-9733-54d91cbcf247

“I wonder if you ever thought that your legacy as a constitutional advocate would be the man who revived the nondelegation argument?” #Alito asked of #Katyal, who served in the Obama admin.

Katyal was quick to respond. “Heck yes, Justice Alito. I think Justice #Gorsuch nailed it on the head when saying that when you’re dealing with a statute that is this open-ended – unlike anything we’ve ever seen – to give the President this power.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #Trump #economy

Justice #Alito asked #Katyal about his argument that the #Trump admin’s #tariffs violate the “nondelegation doctrine,” a legal theory that prevents #Congress from delegating its legislative powers to other branches of government. The doctrine has been pushed in recent years primarily by #conservative legal groups.

#SCOTUS #law

Justice #Alito asks whether #SCOTUS should address #Trump’s authority to impose #tariffs under authorities other than the law at issue in the case. That would be unusual, and his question indicates that he may think the administration is in trouble on the central issue in the case.

#PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

More than 90% of imports are subject to some aspect of #Trump’s #trade policy — #tariffs he announced this year or during his first term, or a sweeping exemption granted to some products, at least temporarily.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal argues that “the president is seeking the power to set aside all of our trade treaties unilaterally under the word ‘regulate.’ I just don’t think it can bear that weight.”

A NYT analysis today shows just how fundamentally #Trump has already altered the trading system from the one based on #US agreements at the #WTO & #trade agreements approved by #Congress.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/05/business/economy/trump-tariffs-us-imports.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

"I don't think you can just separate it when you say, 'Well, this is a tax -- it's Congress' power,'" #Roberts said. "It implicates very directly the president's foreign affairs power."

Katyal responded that a president’s emergency powers are not limitless, & that the public needs to know what these limits are.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Roberts pushed back on Katyal's claim that #tariffs fall squarely within #Congress' taxing power.

Roberts said: “Sure, the tariffs are a tax, & that’s a core power of Congress, but they are a foreign-facing tax, right? And foreign affairs is a core power of the executive.”

He added that #Trump's tariffs at issue in the case "were quite effective in achieving particular objectives," noting that Trump’s tariffs have undoubtedly given him leverage in making recent #trade deals.

#law #SCOTUS

#ClarenceThomas asked #Katyal if his argument wouldn’t also apply to #embargoes. Katyal said it did not, since #tariffs are ways of regulating revenue.

“Embargoes stop the shipment, tariffs start the tax bill. ...Tariffs are constitutionally special because our founders feared revenue raising, unlike embargoes,” Katyal said. “You know, there was no ‘Boston Embargo Party,’ but there was certainly a Boston Tea Party.”

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

Justice #Alito probed Katyal’s argument against #Trump’s #tariffs asking, “Do you think all tariffs are revenue- raising?”

Katyal, said it was clear that President Trump’s tariffs were “obviously revenue-raising.” Katyal added that even in the government’s brief to the court it said the tariffs were “going to raise $4 trillion.”

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Chief Justice #Roberts says the admin’s #tariffs program “implicates very directly the president’s foreign affairs power.”

#Katyal pointed specifically to the example of #Switzerland, a #US #ally with whom we have a trade surplus — NOT a deficit, & #Trump’s imposed tariffs currently sit at 39%. “That is just not something any president has ever had the power to do in our history,” he said.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Katyal’s arguments started with a now familiar statement: “Tariffs are taxes,” adding, “Our founders gave that taxing power to Congress alone.”

He went on to say that #Congress knows exactly how to delegate its tariff powers to the executive branch, & every time it has done that it acted “explicitly, always with real limits. #IEEPA looks nothing like those laws.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal noted what appeared to be skepticism of the #tariffs from Justices Amy Coney #Barrett & Neil M. #Gorsuch, asserting that upholding Trump’s #tariffs would be “a one-way ratchet” of delegating power from #Congress to the presidency, adding “we will never get this power back if the government wins this case.”

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal started off his presentation to the justices by arguing that their decision “comes down to common sense.” He argued that “it’s simply implausible” that when #Congress enacted #IEEPA, it “handed the president the power to overhaul the entire tariff system & the American #economy in the process, allowing him to set & reset tariffs on any & every product from any & every country, at any & all times.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump

Sauer presented the government’s case for more than an hour. Now up is Neal K. #Katyal, the lawyer for the businesses who have challenged #Trump’s #tariffs. The court has given him 20 minutes to present his argument.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

#Barrett questions whether such global tariffs are required to address what the statute requires: “unusual & extraordinary threats”
Barrett is skeptical of the scope of #Trump’s #tariffs. “I mean, these are kind of across the board…is it your contention that every country needed to be tariffed because of threats to the defense & industrial base? I mean, Spain? France? I could see it w/some countries but explain to me why, this many countries, needed to be subject to the reciprocal tariff policy”

Justice #Gorsuch suggests that #Congress may have crossed a constitutional line in delegating too much authority to the president under the administration’s theory.

Gorsuch warns of “a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people’s elected representatives” in Congress.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Gorsuch has questions about both “major questions” & “nondelegation”. He is asking Sauer to provide limits on the broadest reading of the administration’s arguments in favor of #tariffs.

Sauer agreed that another, very different president would have the authority to declare climate change an emergency & impose tariffs to deal with it.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Gorsuch has mostly worried about #Congress giving away too much of its power to federal agencies. It’s unclear whether he’ll have the same reservation with the president involved.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Congress can delegate some of its powers to the executive branch, but there are limits.

Some of the conservative justices want to reinvigorate a legal doctrine that was last used in 1935.

Justice Neil #Gorsuch voted in dissent in June to strike down universal service fee on phone bills as an #unconstitutional delegation of congressional power. The challenges hope to attract his vote on #tariffs on the same basis.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

There have been multiple questions about the exact meanings of the words used in #IEEPA, the #law that #Trump is using to impose the #tariffs, particularly as it pertains to presidential powers.

Justices are asking Sauer about he interprets the verbs used in the section under presidential power, & particularly second "B" (in pic), what does it mean to "regulate," the meaning of "importation" & what is meant by "license."

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Alt...

IEEPA (a) IN GENERAL (1) At the times and to the extent specified in section 1701 of this title, the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe, by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise— (A) investigate, regulate, or prohibit- (i) any transactions in foreign exchange, (ii) transfers of credit or payments between, by, through, or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or a national thereof, (iii) the importing or exporting of currency or securities, by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; (B) investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and.

Sauer told justices the #tariffs are “regulatory tariffs.”

“They are not revenue-raising tariffs. The fact that they raise revenue is only incidental,” he said, arguing that #Trump was not exercising an authority to #tax but rather to #regulate foreign commerce.

But Trump has regularly touted the amount of money tariffs have purportedly brought in.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Part of the questioning is now revolving around whether the president can use #IEEPA to ban products, but not put #tariffs on them. IEEPA is used to ban imports in a #sanctions context, for example with #trade embargoes on Russia or Iran. But American consumers probably would not respond kindly if #Trump were to ban imports altogether.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

"Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where that phrase together 'regulate importation' has been used to confer tariff imposing authority?" Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

Justice Amy #ConeyBarrett is drilling down to a key question in the case: Does the word “regulate” allow #tariffs?

The #Trump admin argues that it does, & that’s why they say he can impose & change tariffs during national emergencies.

Barrett grilled him on that point, questioning whether regulate has frequently been used to allow for tariffs.

Barrett is a conservative who’s gone her own way on some cases, & her vote will be key in the case.

#SCOTUS #law #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

Chief Justice #Roberts says the major questions doctrine seems to apply here. If so, that is bad news for the #Trump admin.

“The vehicle is the imposition of #taxes on Americans, & that has always been a core power of #Congress,” Chief Justice Roberts says.

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy