Item one: Today and into next week, the Florida judge is hearing arguments on the constitutionality of the special counsel’s appointment. And we’ve seen what she’s capable of.
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Starting today in her Florida courtroom, Judge Aileen Cannon, whom Trump appointed to the bench during his waning months in office, is hearing arguments about whether Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel is constitutional. It’s staggering that this is even happening, for a couple reasons.
First, Donald Trump’s legal team is arguing that Attorney General Merrick Garland had no legal authority to hire Smith. This is absurd. Attorneys general—and, sometimes, presidents and the D.C. Circuit Court—have been appointing special counsels since Ulysses Grant tabbed John Henderson to probe the Whiskey Ring. Since the 1970s, The New York Times reports, the courts have routinely rejected such challenges. The Supreme Court upheld the appointment—by Robert Bork, no less—of Leon Jaworski as special prosecutor for Watergate. Other similar challenges have been tossed.
Second, when courts have considered these petitions, they’ve usually done so on the basis of written arguments. To schedule a hearing that will extend over two days is … is what, exactly? A show of fealty to Dear Leader, probably. In addition, Cannon is allowing three lawyers who have filed amicus briefs to make 30-minute oral presentations. As one law professor told the Times: "The fact that Judge Cannon granted the amici request for oral argument seems to suggest that she is seriously considering the constitutional argument against the appointment of the special counsel."
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Join us on Thursday, June 27 to watch the Biden vs. Trump debate with live commentary by TNR editor Michael Tomasky and TNR staff writer Greg Sargent.
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So, yes. Cannon is entirely capable of ruling that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. Lord knows, she has shocked us before. After the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid, she barred prosecutors from using any of the evidence collected there pending a review by a special master. Earlier this year, she issued an order asking both legal teams to submit preliminary jury instructions. The order seemed to embrace a key tenet of the
Trump legal defense. There’s a lot more.
Next Monday or Tuesday, the arguments about Smith’s appointment will wrap up, and sometime thereafter, Cannon will render her decision. Can you imagine this relatively minor judge, one of 29 federal judges for the Southern District of Florida, who sits in the great metropolis of Fort Pierce, can hold the fate of the republic in her hands like this?
Well, she does.
And remember—if she decides that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional, that deep-sixes not just the classified documents case over which she’s presiding but the even more important (in my view) January 6 insurrection case that’s supposed to be heard in Washington, pending the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. (The Justice Department would presumably appeal an adverse determination, so the Smith appointment matter may also end up at the Supreme Court one of these days.)
It’s just mind-boggling to think about this. It’s just never been more obvious that a judge is doing the bidding of the president who appointed her. It’s worth taking a look, by the way, at her confirmation vote before the Senate. It happened on November 12, 2020, five days after Joe Biden was finally declared the winner of the election. She was confirmed 56–21, with 12 Democrats joining the Republicans to elevate her. And 23 Democrats, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, didn’t even vote.
So that’s the indifferent way she got to the bench in the first place. And now, she has the power to let a man who stole national security secrets and spent months ignoring polite requests from the FBI to come down to Palm Beach to see what he had, and who egged on a violent mob to break into the Capitol building and try to hang his own vice president, get away with it all.
And of course there’s the Supreme Court too. Remember the high court’s timeline. The court announced that it would take up the immunity case on February 28. It heard the arguments almost exactly two months later, on April 25. And now here we are, creeping up on two months after that. And still no decision.
Why is all this being slow-walked? It’s obvious enough. They’re trying to help reelect Trump and hasten the arrival of the Christian nationalist post-democratic order. Federal judges and Supreme Court justices can read newspapers and polls. They’ve seen the polls showing Trump’s felony conviction in the Stormy Daniels case is hurting him, especially with independents, and they have no doubt seen this new crop of polls showing Biden creeping into the lead—Thursday, for the first time this year, Biden edged ahead of Trump on the FiveThirtyEight poll tracker. It’s 0.1 percent, but
it’s a lead.
So this is what we’re going to see over these next months. The Trump campaign will be getting a push from corrupt right-wing judges, a right-wing propaganda network (actually, two, three, four, or five of them, depending on how you count), and a bunch of CEOs who want their next tax cut more than they value the continuing survival of the world’s oldest democracy. And Aileen Cannon is the most potent symbol of the whole corrupt network: She cares nothing about the law and the country’s best traditions, and there is no way for any of us to do anything about it.
Well, there’s one thing: Vote, in huge numbers. We’re still enough of a democracy that that matters.
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Item two: Watch this amazing Reggie Jackson clip
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As you may be aware, they played a ball game yesterday at an old Negro League field (and later minor league ballpark) in Birmingham, Alabama. Reggie Jackson played there on the Oakland Athletics’ AA team in the 1960s. On the Fox Sports broadcast, Alex Rodriguez asked Jackson to reminisce about his days there. What Jackson said over the next eight minutes is very much worth watching and is probably the most unvarnished and blunt discussion of sports, history, and race I’ve heard in a long time:
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Watch it. It’s a great reminder of how sanitized 90 percent of what we see on TV really is. And the right doesn’t want schoolchildren to learn this kind of history.
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Last week’s quiz: "… but I like it": On the Rolling Stones, who were amazing last Saturday night in Cleveland. The set list could have used a couple "Miss Amanda Jones" or "Sittin’ on a Fence"–level surprises; that would have been nice. But basically, they were incredible. If they can do that at their age, maybe Joe really can be president for another four years.
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1. Which bassist has been in the Rolling Stones longer, Bill Wyman or Darryl Jones? (OK, Jones I think isn’t officially "in" the band, so let’s say which has played with the band longer.)
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Answer: Trick question—it’s a tie! Wyman was a Stone from 1962 until he left in 1993 (at least, that’s the official version), and Jones took over then. In other words, they’ve both spent 31 years on the job. Even more interestingly, it may end in a tie! That is, it’s entirely conceivable that this is (finally) the band’s last tour, and given that they may not have another album in them, this could be curtains.
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2. Brian Jones was famously never able to write songs (he has defenders who dispute this), but he is said to have written (without credit) the melody to which "mid-period" Stones tune?
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A. "Paint It, Black"
B. "She’s a Rainbow"
C. "2000 Light Years From Home"
D. "Ruby Tuesday"
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Answer: D, "Ruby." I bet a lot of you guessed A, logicking that since he played the melody on the sitar, maybe he wrote it. I don’t know. Maybe he did. But that isn’t known, and my answer is D.
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3. What avant-garde director filmed the Stones working through "Sympathy for the Devil," scenes that were interwoven with various pieces of revolutionary agitprop in a 1968 feature film?
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A. Luis Buñuel
B. Jean-Luc Godard
C. Kenneth Anger
D. Andy Warhol
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Answer: B, Godard. The film was originally called One Plus One, but over the decades, distributors seem to have decided that the rest of the movie is dated and unwatchable (largely true), and the only reason anyone would screen the movie today is to see the Stones, so the name was changed somewhere along the line to Sympathy for the Devil.
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4. According to a 2023 Spin magazine assessment, which Stones album is their greatest?
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A. Sticky Fingers
B. Exile on Main St.
C. Let It Bleed
D. Beggars Banquet
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Answer: A, Sticky Fingers. I would agree. What?!? Not Exile?!? No. Sticky Fingers just has better songs and seems to me a better-made record, done with more care. Witness "Moonlight Mile."
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5. The recording sessions for Black and Blue (1975) involved the Stones auditioning guitarists to replace Mick Taylor, who’d just left the band. Ron Wood came in late and blew the others away, but which other guitarist nearly got the job until Ronnie showed up?
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A. Peter Frampton
B. Nils Lofgren
C. Wayne Perkins
D. Mick Ronson
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Answer: C, Wayne Perkins. He played the scorching solo on "Hand of Fate," one of the greatest guitar solos to appear on a Rolling Stones song ever. Would have been a cool choice, except, as TNR’s Alex Shephard notes, the idea of a Rolling Stone named Wayne is kinda weird.
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6. Keith Richards actually quit smoking! What year did this happen?
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A. 2015
B. 2019
C. 2021
D. This year
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Answer: B, 2019. At the tender age of 76. And knowing him, his lungs are fine now.
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Liberalism has saved this country from the forces of reaction before. Is it up to the task today?
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This week’s quiz: Mountain Momma: June 20 is the anniversary date of West Virginia entering the Union, back in 1863. Ergo, a quiz on my home state.
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1. The residents of the state of Virginia who lived west of the Allegheny Mountains had long suggested that they be a separate state, as they resented the power and domination of the Tidewater-area planters. Which of the two below names were in fact names given to proposed but ultimately rejected states?
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A. Vandalia
B. Kanawha
C. Westsylvania
D. Bergoo
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2. What do West Virginia and Maine have in common?
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A. Southerners in Congress came within one vote of blocking each from statehood.
B. Abe Lincoln played a key role in the statehood of both, for Maine as a young member of Congress and for West Virginia as president.
C. Both lost more men in the Civil War than any other state.
D. They’re the only two states formed by breaking away from the state of which they were originally a part.
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3. What legend of American folklore supposedly lived—and very famously died—in West Virginia?
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A. Johnny Appleseed
B. John Henry
C. Casey Jones
D. Barbara Fritchie
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4. What was unusual about Sid Hatfield, the police chief of Matewan, West Virginia, during the violent "coal field wars" of the 1910s and 1920s?
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A. He was a lawman who sided with labor.
B. He was widely known never to have taken a bribe.
C. He had earlier tried to assassinate President Taft.
D. He had shot down Baron Von Richthofen in World War I.
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5. How many things are there in West Virginia named after longtime Senator Robert Byrd?
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6. Which of the people below is not listed on Wikipedia’s entry of notable West Virginians? (There’s only one.)
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A. Pearl Buck, author
B. Henry Louis Gates Jr., intellectual
C. Jeannette Walls, author
D. Chuck Yeager, pilot
E. T.D. Jakes, minister
F. Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, union leader
G. Dean Martin, singer/actor
F. Bill Withers, musician
G. Chris Sarandon, actor
H. Blaze Starr, erotic dancer
I. Michael Tomasky, definitely not an erotic dancer
J. Brad Paisley, musician
K. Kathy Mattea, musician
L. Lawrence Kasdan, director
M. David Selby, actor
N. Don Knotts, actor
O. Little Jimmy Dickens, musician
P. Jennifer Garner, actress
Q. Brad Dourif, actor
R. Johnnie Johnson, rock’n’roll pianist
S. Mary Lou Retton, gymnast
T. Jerry West, basketball player
U. Nick Saban, football coach
V. Jack Dempsey, boxer
W. Bill Mazeroski, baseball player
X. George Crumb, composer
Y. Peter Marshall, game show host
Z. Soupy Sales, actor/comedian
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OK, I got a little carried away on that last one. Since you only have a 1-in-26 chance, I’ll give you a hint: The person on my list above who is not on Wikipedia’s list was born just across the river in Ohio. Also: Susan, please share this quiz with Dennis! 😊
Answers next week. Feedback to fightingwords@tnr.com.
—Michael Tomasky, editor
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