MCCONNELL PULLING A FAST ONE | End To Gerrymandering Could Make The Difference On Guns
November 1, 2017
PULLING A FAST ONE
|Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL floated the idea of changing Senate rules to limit Democrats’ ability to delay confirmation of PRESIDENT TRUMP’Snominees. McConnell has said that Republicans do not want to change the 60-vote requirement for legislation, but he told reporters Tuesday that there may be a way to reduce the time spent on debating judicial and other nominees after they clear an initial hurdle.
TOP-ED
|How could the Supreme Court change gun laws in this country? In The Washington Post, Mark Kaplan and Adam Winkler say the answer is by ending gerrymandering. “Not only has partisan gerrymandering skewed representation in Congress toward the party opposed to gun safety legislation, it has also resulted in the election of more extreme candidates from both parties.” Kaplan and Winkler also note that the National Rifle Association derives much of its power from partisan gerrymandering as well. “Through its endorsements, the NRA is able to swing the intense, single-issue, pro-gun voters who vote in large numbers in Republican primaries. As a result, candidates fear supporting even minimal gun safety reform for fear of losing the NRA’s support and being ‘primaried’ by a more ideologically rigid candidate backed by the nation’s leading gun rights group.”
WEIGHING HEAVY
|Matt Friedman with POLITICO reports the U.S. Supreme Court decision on political corruption continues to weigh heavy on SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ’S current corruption case. The judge continuously pointed back to the 2016 SCOTUS decision when arguing with lawyers over how to instruct the jury on how they should weigh evidence in making their decision on the 18 counts against the Democratic senator.
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day in 1991, CLARENCE THOMAS took his place on the United States Supreme Court.
OTHER NEWS
Teachers Unions Will Argue In Court That 'Agency Fees' Don't Fund Political Activities. But They're Saying Something Different To Members.
The 74“The unions will argue that engagements with the government as an employer are fundamentally different from those with the government as sovereign, and that workplace “coherence” makes it necessary for non-members to subsidize the majority position. They will claim that fee-payers are not supporting unions’ political speech in any meaningful way. Which makes the information being disseminated by the American Federation of Teachers to local activists all the more curious.”
The Pot, The Kettle, And Mitch McConnell
People for the American Way“While only one Obama circuit nominee had been confirmed at this point in his presidency, the GOP-controlled Senate has already confirmed four of Trump’s circuit court nominees. McConnell plans to double that to eight this week, claiming that he is fighting to overcome ‘the often mindless partisan obstruction we’ve been seeing across the aisle.’”