Fani Willis Admonished, But Trump Prosecution Continues
Plus: Banned at ‘Guernica’
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KIM WEHLE: Fani Willis Admonished, But Trump Prosecution Continues.
ON FRIDAY, THE JUDGE OVERSEEING the Fulton County, Georgia prosecution of Donald Trump issued an eye-popping opinion rejecting efforts by Trump and a handful of his co-defendants to get District Attorney Fani Willis tossed from the prosecutor’s chair. This is a huge win for the rule of law, because if the defendants had succeeded, replacing Willis was an iffy proposition. Although Willis won the motion, Judge Scott McAfee took pains to make crystal clear that she behaved very badly. Ultimately, the judge gave Willis an ultimatum: either Nathan Wade goes or Willis does. Wade—the coworker with whom Willis had the romantic relationship that prompted this entire sideshow—withdrew from the case shortly after the judge issued his ruling.
PHILIP ROTNER: It’s Time for Jack Smith to Seek Judge Cannon’s Removal from the Classified Documents Case.
THERE’S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE to Judge Aileen Cannon’s seemingly innocuous decision on Thursday to deny, without prejudice, Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Florida case against Trump for mishandling classified government documents.
From ten thousand feet, Judge Cannon’s decision might not look entirely crazy. True, denying the motion “without prejudice”—legalese for Trump being permitted to submit the exact same motion over again if he wants—means that she decided nothing at all. Maybe a semi-rational argument could be made that it would make sense to decide the motion after the factual record is more fully developed, but even that gives Cannon more benefit of the doubt than she deserves.
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CATHY YOUNG: Banned at ‘Guernica’.
IT’S THE KIND OF CONTROVERSY that could only happen in the progressive intelligentsia: a row about a literary journal’s retraction of a liberal, Jewish, Israeli writer’s essay on her moral and emotional struggle after the October 7th Hamas attacks and during the war in Gaza.
BILL COBERLY: Noir in a Lost World.
CAHOKIA IS THE NAME given to a large medieval Native American city that existed from about 1050 to 1350 in western Illinois just across the Mississippi River from what is now St. Louis. (Excavations there are still ongoing; we will be exploring its mysteries for many years to come.) But in Francis Spufford’s new novel, Cahokia Jazz, Cahokia is the capital of the State of Cahokia, an erstwhile Native American kingdom that willingly joined itself to the United States after helping the Union win the Civil War. By 1922, when the novel is set, Cahokia is a major metropolis where Native American and African American citizens enjoy full civil rights and freedom from segregation.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! The GOP House is retreating from its own retreat (Daily Beast), which kind of tells you something: they do not get along.
Get ready for Overtime’s March Madness! My Billikens aren’t in it (Go Buckeyes!), but our tourney in the Atlantic 10? Wild.
A quick note of thanks to all who donated to Holly Berkley-Fletcher’s GoFundMe for the Ukrainian family, welcoming Tatiana and Sergei to America.
Quote of the Day:
This is one of those moments when it’s not worth litigating Pence’s previous enabling of Trump, and instead just being grateful that he’s doing the right thing now.
—Sarah Longwell, on Mike Pence declining to endorse Trump.
Two cheers for Mike Pence… Who will not endorse Trump (WSJ).
Has Joe Biden Quelled Democratic Panic? Brian Beutler writes we’ll know next month. 😬
TikTok, You Do Stop… Matt Labash on why TikTok should die (as it’s currently constituted.)
How Viktor Orbán Conquered… the Heritage Foundation (The New Republic).
Fox News sued… By family of Ukrainian journalist (NPR).
How a 41-year-old former ad man birthed a $1.4 billion beverage unicorn… by putting water in a can (Fortune).
TikTok, You Do Stop… Matt Labash on why TikTok should die (as it’s currently constituted.)
In local news… Metro fare evaders in D.C. face fines and arrests starting Monday (WaPo), so get your free rides in this weekend!
John Roberts… Just Dropped the Hammer on Rogue, Lawless Trump Judges (Slate).
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