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The Department of Justice on Wednesday told Washington state officials to segregate ballots from 400 people who it claimed were noncitizens registered to vote.

Thumb on the Scales

Fast Times in East Pennsboro Township – The Scott Perry Boogie Nights Story

The case now bounces back to U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of Los Angeles who has a critical hearing already scheduled for tomorrow. Regardless of how Judge Carter rules after tomorrow’s hearing, the case is likely to wind up back at the 9th Circuit, with the losing side expected to appeal.

The appeals court faulted the administration for its initial lack of urgency in the case, a smackdown that may land Attorney General Todd Blanche in hot water with the Trump White House:

JUST IN: In Trump admin's attack on California midterm elections, 9th Circuit in 2-1 decision dismisses Trump DOJ's appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction. Case goes back to Judge Carter for hearing tomorrow. www.courtlistener.com/docket/75011...

Following an usual Sunday afternoon oral argument, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected for now the Trump DOJ’s bid to interfere in California’s midterm election.

If she can harness bipartisan & pervasive public outrage on the issue, she may be able to not just boost her own reelection prospects, but also help Dems down ballot who may be on the verge of taking back one chamber of the state legislature for the first time in 60 years. More on all of this here:

Mayes is making the waning days of her campaign for reelection all about the widespread backlash to data center construction in her state — and the ways in which she has worked to try to limit an explosion of AI infrastructure in Arizona that drains the state’s already-low water supply.

Mayes acknowledged that her power to block data center construction is limited and that remains the case if she is reelected. But that is what makes this 11th hour drive to make the race about data centers so interesting. More here:

Chuck Schumer Once Decried GOP ‘Silence’ on Trump’s Racist Attacks on Ilhan Omar. Now He’s the Silent One.

John Oliver goes deep on Nazis in the GOP, cites @talkingpointsmemo.com reporting on Marshall Rawson www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnsB...

Before getting into the state of play in the two major election interference cases in California and Alaska, I want to acknowledge an inherent tension in covering President Trump’s attack on free and fair midterm elections. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Friends Still Don’t Let Friends Watch the Early Vote

Trump's attack on free and fair midterm elections that should be familiar to anyone who has lived through the Trump era: The severity of his threat to democracy is matched only by his pure absurdity.

On Prediction Markets

Three Cheers for Small Donor Giving

At TPM, we wrote a bajillion stories on how the 2020 effort to undermine the election came together. A big part of it was creating *the appearance of chaos*. So all the Kraken lawsuits failing wasn't that big a problem, because the litigation created the appearance of a dispute.

Communities can take on corporate power even when the political establishment is aligned against them. The industry entered this fight with tremendous resources. Organized people still forced change.

The Trump DOJ's new efforts to meddle in the election in California and Alaska are reminiscent of 2020.

Nearly two hours of oral arguments just concluded in the California election case, and it looks very unlikely that the Trump administration is going to prevail in this early stage of the litigation.

Join Us On Election Night

A Brief Look At the Israeli Election

In The Weekender: @joshkovensky.bsky.social on the White House officially making Nick Shirley a paid man. @laylaayanna.bsky.social on why some billionaires are pledging to help kids by contributing to Trump Accounts. Don Jr's presidential ambitions and more! talkingpointsmemo.com/the-weekende...

Nick Shirley and the White House Make Their Relationship Official

Follow Up About Political Giving

In its attack on the midterm elections in California, the Trump DOJ has taken an extraordinary new step that exemplifies how far off the rails it has gone under Trump II. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Inside today's Morning Memo: Hours after Blanche denied he had any plan to block state’s from certifying election results, his DOJ filed a new lawsuit to block Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate election—a key race that could decide control of the Senate. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

How To Clean up and Improve the Democratic Fundraising Colossus talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/how-t...

TPM is going live at 1 pm!! Hide your wife. Hide your kids. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/tpm-l...

Come hang at 1pm talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/tpm-l...

Heads I Win; Tails You Lose : DOJ Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification if Republican Loses talkingpointsmemo.com/news/doj-sue...

This week, on TPM's Untitled Live Show (Name TBD), we're asking each other what frightens us.

DOJ Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification if Republican Loses

"Given the centrality today of fundraising emails, Act-Blue, it's hard to remember that 25 years ago political contributions by ordinary people was all but unknown," Josh Marshall writes.

Light Authoritarianism

In its attack on the midterm elections in California, the Trump DOJ has taken an extraordinary new step that exemplifies how far off the rails it has gone under Trump II.

The federal government’s ongoing attacks on Ilhan Omar are part of the Trump administration’s attempt to act as sole arbiter of who gets to be an American.

All Republicans must accept Ramaswamy's ad is awesome, Trump insists.

The Lewandowski news is just about a preliminary DOJ review of a IG referral though, so large chance we never hear another peep about this reported wrongdoing — which looks and smells like a lot of other wrongdoing that people in Trumpworld get away with on a daily basis.

The DOJ is reportedly examining a referral from the Department of Homeland Security IG's office about Lewandowski's behavior while serving as a top adviser to Noem in that same department.

New Developments in the Expanding “Wedgewood” Polling Scandal!

2027, Checks and Balances and Court Reform

Dobbs fallout may have dropped out of the headlines, but existential state-level battles that will decide the fate of women nationwide continue to rage.

13 Contests TPM Will Be Following Especially Closely on Election Day talkingpointsmemo.com/news/13-cont...

Matt Schlapp, CEO of CPAC, speaking at event w/ Marshall Rawson tonight Again: Rawson was active w/ white supremacist group League of the South; marched at infamous Nazi rally in Charlottesville; advocated killing LGBTQ people; wrote "lynchings worked" Has not denounced/apologized for any of it

It’s the very thing that everyone has been worrying that Trump would do for more than a year and yet it doesn’t feel like the totality of what’s happening has really sunk in or embedded itself in the national political conversation as we sit here 12 days out. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Trump's “reality-TV presidency” — complete with cliffhangers, confrontations, and eliminations — increasingly resembles a once-popular show in its later seasons, resorting to gimmicks as it scrambles to sustain an audience.

Meanwhile, the MAGA mediaverse is mostly gung ho. Megyn Kelly eagerly speculates that the ad might be as effective as Willie Horton talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ohio-re...

some Ohio Republicans - Sen Husted, Gov DeWine, SOS LaRose - said they wouldn't have run the Amy Acton mom ad. But none said they'd pull their Ramaswamy endorsement. Other endorsers - Sen Moreno, former Sen Rob Portman- didn't respond to my request for comment. And some, like Vance, embrace the spot