There were so many things that happened yesterday in the Supreme Court’s hearing on presidential immunity that it’s hard to know to start. But one part that captured it for me was Sam Alito’s line of argument that presidential immunity might be necessary to make it possible for presidents to leave office voluntarily, or that without some broad grant of immunity it would make refusal to leave office more likely. Here’s one of the quotes. “If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is gonna be abl ..read more

Josh Kovensky is back at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan this morning and, while we likely won’t have a liveblog today, you can expect some longer dispatches from him as the proceedings move forward, identifying big themes in the trial as well as bringing us breaking news. The liveblog will be back periodically throughout, during important moments when things are moving particularly quickly. So check back regularly ..read more

This is special single-issue edition of TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. ‘Because We Destroyed Our Democracy On Our Own’ For long moments during yesterday’s Supreme Court oral argument on presidential immunity in Trump v. United States, the clock stopped and the outside world ceased to be and all I was left with was the blood rushing in my ears and a sinking feeling in my stomach. When Justice Samuel Alito, the most villainous political figure in my lifetime, asserted without any irony that prosecuting a president for refusing to relinquish power after losing an election mig ..read more

I was watching cable news this afternoon at the gym. And I saw one of those examples of what has now become a Trump/Roberts Court-era set piece, where principled and very smart lawyers and/or legal academics have to say, I guess I was a chump. Sure the Roberts Court is partisan, I thought. But there’s a threshold level belief in the rule of law. I’m not trying to make hay out of others’ mistakes. My guiding heuristic has been that the Roberts Court, especially in its post-2017 iteration is thoroughly corrupt and will generally do whatever is in the interests of the GOP so long as it doesn’t pu ..read more

Donald Trump needs a good grudge like the rest of us need air. But from time to time, those who wrong him debase themselves and shred their own dignity so thoroughly to get back in his good graces that he makes an exception. Lindsey Graham is a good example. So is Ted Cruz ..read more

The Supreme Court conservatives seemed to solidify around a middle-ground position on Donald Trump’s claims of absolute presidential immunity Thursday, a win by another name for the former president as it would add months of delay to the Jan. 6 case ..read more

For most of this election season so far, FiveThirtyEight hasn’t surfaced its own presidential race average. Compiling these averages in a sophisticated and honest way is actually kind of complicated. (They explain their methodology here.) We used to play in this space with PollTracker. So I know from experience. For me it’s not that I put so much weight on the specific number. It’s just a simpler way of visualizing the trend over time. Well, now they’ve finally rolled theirs out. So I don’t have to be so reliant on RealClearPolitics, which has both a clumsy methodology and goes to comical leng ..read more

Kate chats with TPM’s Josh Kovensky about life inside the courtroom as the Trump hush money trial unfolds. Belaboring The Point is now on YouTube! Check out the latest video episode of the podcast here ..read more

Kate Riga is liveblogging the Supreme Court oral arguments on Trump’s insane presidential immunity claims here. Josh Kovensky is liveblogging the Trump hush-money trial here ..read more

The Supreme Court finally hears Donald Trump’s attempt to knock the legs out from under Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case on Thursday. The arguments come over four months after Smith initially asked the justices to decide whether Trump could claim sweeping immunity to protect him from prosecution related to the insurrection. So far, a district judge and D.C. Circuit panel both ruled against Trump’s unprecedented interpretation of presidential power. Follow our live coverage below ..read more