The Tennessee Holler
@TheTNHoller
Q: “What keeps you up at night?”
JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: “The state of our democracy.” 🇺🇸 😕
https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1943521331598794856
The Washington Post
@washingtonpost
As anticipated, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was most often aligned with the court’s two other liberal justices. But she also demonstrated a willingness to part ways with her liberal colleagues to express her own vision of the law.
“Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak”:
… Jackson on Friday completed her rookie term as the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court, making a forceful debut from the bench and in writing while showing signs of an independent streak. As anticipated, she was most often aligned with the court’s two other liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — putting her on the losing side of high-profile, contentious decisions involving affirmative action in college admissions, gay rights and President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
But Jackson also demonstrated a willingness to part ways with her liberal colleagues, even when they were on the same side of an issue, to express her own vision of the law. She authored more solo dissenting opinions — three — than any of the three most recent justices to join the court did as newbies.
And Jackson surprised some observers by teaming up several times with conservative Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, typically in cases involving a conflict between government power and the rights of individuals.
“She was not going to sit on the sidelines. She dove in and made her presence known,” said New York University law professor Melissa Murray, who also was among the attorneys Biden considered nominating to fulfill his promise to name as Stephen G. Breyer’s successor the first Black female justice.
Biden “may have been looking for a Black woman, but she wasn’t just any Black woman,” Murray said. “She was excellent and prepared and made a critical difference in a number of cases.”…
From the outset in October, Jackson was an enthusiastic questioner, speaking more often during oral arguments than any other brand-new justice in at least the past three decades. She also had more to say than any sitting justice, with the exception of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on two occasions, according to data analyzed by Adam Feldman and Jake Truscott for the Empirical SCOTUS blog.
Jackson, 52, joined the bench after years of running her own courtroom as a federal district judge in Washington, pumping out orders and opinions. Perhaps for that reason, Jackson displayed a level of confidence not typical of a first-term justice, Feldman said.
“We’ve come to assume that first-year justices are in an acclimation period where they keep their heads down and are willing to join on to other justices’ views and develop jurisprudence over time. She hasn’t fit that prototype,” Feldman said. “She has a lot to say and isn’t willing to cut corners to get her views out to the public.”…
Sean Marotta, an appellate attorney and close watcher of the court, said Jackson appears to be positioning herself as a “thought leader” for the left wing of the court in the way that Thomas has for years done on the right. Thomas led the court in dissents this term, writing a total of nine.
“So far, it seems Justice Jackson is leaning towards sharing her own views without compromise,” Marotta said. “She was nominated because she has strong views, and she’s holding true to them.”…
“It is difficult to remember a term in which a new justice arrived with such a powerful voice,” said Gregory G. Garre, a Supreme Court practitioner who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush. “Justice Jackson has staked out a position on the far left of the court with Justice Sotomayor, but she has breathed new life and a fresh perspective on many arguments on the left.”…
She is not-so-small part of Joe Biden’s legacy to this country.
And, NEVER EVER FORGET THE DEPTH OF HER QUALIFICATIONS
Aallyah Wright
@aallyahpatrice
The USDA says it has “sufficiently” addressed its history of discrimination. As a result, it is dropping the label “socially disadvantaged,” which includes Black farmers, and will no longer consider race or sex in its decision making on programs.
NEW:
https://x.com/aallyahpatrice/status/1945872885140115928
Bill Madden (@maddenifico) posted at 9:52 AM on Thu, Jul 17, 2025:
The reason Trump is desperate to get the morally bankrupt Emil Bove a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is because it’ll pave the way for Trump to nominate Bove for the US Supreme Court, where he’ll protect the pedophile at all costs. https://t.co/4KZP0lXYTl
(https://x.com/maddenifico/status/1945859053168566345?t=Cqt5lslqJl-IwuBGTIUOPQ&s=03)
Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) posted at 8:34 PM on Thu, Jul 17, 2025:
Republican election clerks in Colorado say a GOP strategist claiming to work with the Trump administration asked for insider access to voting systems. They refused. #copolitics https://t.co/pG3z7SGMeA
(https://x.com/KyleClark/status/1946020718166028442?t=qoAWI9Z64uBXnUr4hA4Y5Q&s=03)
emptywheel (check) (@emptywheel) posted at 8:58 AM on Thu, Jul 17, 2025:
Say @SenThomTillis: Let’s be clear what the vote on Bove today is about. He gave DHS an order that violated the orders given by Judge Boasberg.
The effect of Bove’s order is that hundreds of men, many innocent, got sent to a concentration camp.
That man cannot be a judge. https://t.co/IsWRyLKHiL
(https://x.com/emptywheel/status/1945845675180110205?t=uoZWNkBNT8N67KXSkv5cOg&s=03)
Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) posted at 8:34 PM on Thu, Jul 17, 2025:
Republican election clerks in Colorado say a GOP strategist claiming to work with the Trump administration asked for insider access to voting systems. They refused. #copolitics https://t.co/pG3z7SGMeA
(https://x.com/KyleClark/status/1946020718166028442?t=xaeC7LWvVIwHLvWPMR9xrw&s=03)
Henry M. Rosenberg (@DoctorHenryCT) posted at 8:23 AM on Fri, Jul 18, 2025:
This Spring CBS gutted 60 minutes, cancelled 2 FBI shows citing costs & is cancelling Stephen Colbert supposedly for the same reason. If CBS is not willing to invest in entertainment & defend its news shows, who needs them?
(https://x.com/DoctorHenryCT/status/1946199160840970466?t=ihiiw0du0CucKyWYIR5fyg&s=03)
NBC News (@NBCNews) posted at 7:48 AM on Fri, Jul 18, 2025:
People who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act could soon see their monthly premiums sharply increase as subsidies expire and insurers propose a major premium hike for 2026. https://t.co/xOzSW0BEAn
(https://x.com/NBCNews/status/1946190225811665242?t=Xbo7nm0Gl-0GXmPxkag1Lw&s=03)
Sara Spector (@Miriam2626) posted at 7:08 AM on Fri, Jul 18, 2025:
I’m a former prosecutor. Grand jury transcripts are not going to shed light on anything new in the #Epstein debacle. Grand juries only need probable cause to indict someone. Releasing these transcripts isn’t transparency. It’s a temporary distraction until the next news cycle.
(https://x.com/Miriam2626/status/1946180271390216548?t=FVJVgtZlNewiI0mMra7g1w&s=03)
Jean Jacques Dessalines 🇭🇹🇵🇸🇳🇪🇲🇱🇧🇫🇨🇺
@JeanJacquesDes7
She was fired for revealing the truth about Epstein.
https://x.com/JeanJacquesDes7/status/1945851926332977256
Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 7:32 AM on Fri, Jul 18, 2025:
Oh hell!
There’s a summer COVID surge called the “nimbus variant.” I don’t know who comes up with these names, but if you’re sick, please stay home.
Razor‑blade throat: standout symptom—feeling like razor blades or broken glass. It’s often extremely painful when swallowing. https://t.co/5Qm9DDhndC
(https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1946186312287227976?t=tKFkRQjdqlqdhhpRNf4QbA&s=03)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has moved from her private residence into a U.S. military installation, “after her cozy living arrangement with senior adviser Corey Lewandowski” was exposed by the Daily Mail.
David Wildstein
@wildstein
Breaking: U.S. Attorney Alina Habba told her staff that she will depart the office next week after failing to secure enough votes for the state’s seventeen U.S. District Court Judges to remain beyond her initial 120-day term.
https://x.com/wildstein/status/1946149698152407051
They have a revival of Evita in London
Part of it has the actress playing Evita singing it on a balcony, to an audience in the street. 🧐🧐
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hgC42M/
40th Anniversary Cast Announcement for Les Miserables
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hgtoP6/
This was when Disney was DISNEY 🤗😢
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hgQ4sW/
Interesting video about the New Yorker article discussing how Nepotism is changing the NBA
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8hgYAEx/
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 5:21 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
Definitely remember these rulings when Trump dissolves the Supreme Court
A high court working overtime via a shadow docket to convince a megalomaniac that he is all-powerful is easily one of the most institutionally suicidal moves in the history of human civilization https://t.co/kSvaPogpem
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1944885004607348838?t=yftubIZ64ve1BX4zC82fNQ&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 8:04 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
This is horrific. ICE is racial profiling KIDS now and the things is if they snatch you up people your family may not find you. Thank God coach was there.
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1944926052901683341?t=k3Q1Ha5Vq3ye9roVp4JbNg&s=03)
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) posted at 8:20 AM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
ICE is detaining so many people above normal capacity and with so little warning to the procurement staff of detention centers that people are literally going hungry. https://t.co/FQzBYh5V8w
(https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1944748732005638357?t=BIx83WcSrW7772F3YUJJaw&s=03)
Alice Smithee 🌊⚖️ 🐝 (@ASm1thee) posted at 7:41 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
Kamala Harris was an EXTRAORDINARY candidate. She got within 120k votes of beating a media & Musk backed CULT LEADER in only 100 DAYS, got RECORD fundraising, & became the 1st candidate since Obama who’s popularity GREW over the course of a race.
Maybe sit this one out?🙄
(https://x.com/ASm1thee/status/1944920170566144492?t=H90ZG16XFJ4F6cu_eDSUlA&s=03)
The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) posted at 9:55 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
WASH POST: “Trump has declared millions of undocumented immigrants no longer eligible for a bond hearing…”
Enriching their private prison company friends who make money the longer they keep them locked up, often with no criminal record. https://t.co/IePy9Jkg4W https://t.co/b9ThjbRYp0
(https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1944953956389593406?t=F0quKgJSvlMlG975zmDsAg&s=03)
Willie Ross Jr. Knee Deep (@RossKneeDeep) posted at 0:35 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
MAGA wants you to believe that the majority of the brown people that ICE is snatching up are convicted felons. So, the hundreds of guys they line up at construction sites in zip ties or at little league baseball games are all convicted felons? What about the ones they grab in
(https://x.com/RossKneeDeep/status/1944994253626568740?t=kUvBpXTL_KqWI2MOvtMDMA&s=03
Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) posted at 6:23 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
All but one Republican voted to keep the Epstein files hidden from the American people.
There can no longer be any doubt that Democrats want the files made public, whereas anyone who is in thrall to Jeffrey Epstein associate Donald Trump does not.
Pretty clear what is going on.
(https://x.com/SethAbramson/status/1945081873400578158?t=QLlB-PO0Lx1XpWkGRQkZFg&s=03)
Randi White (@RandiWhite) posted at 1:28 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
Miami just conned its way out of elections this year and we’re acting as if it’s not a test run.
Stop looking to 2028.
2026 needs the attention so we can get to ‘28.
I don’t say that as a candidate. I say that as a Black Voter that’s the base of the party.
(https://x.com/RandiWhite/status/1945007462756626788?t=HVGsYaWV5NuvFsuJ8P1zUQ&s=03)
Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) posted at 11:21 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
🚨Let’s name names.
These are the 6 Republicans on the House Rules Committee who voted to block the release of the Epstein files:
– Virginia Foxx (NC)
– Michelle Fischbach (MN)
– Erin Houchin (IN)
– Nick Langworthy (NY)
– Austin Scott (GA)
– Morgan Griffith (VA)
They had a choice: transparency or silence.
They chose silence.
The public deserves the truth, not protection rackets in suits.
We’re not forgetting this.
(https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1944975631244009615?t=XmgOrzXeJaABqlvqC9EffQ&s=03)
Blank Slate (@blankslate2017) posted at 9:39 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
The high court is corrupt. Every Dem needs to internalize this. Demand reform. It’s a long term project but can be achieved more quickly than one might think if voters are focused.
(https://x.com/blankslate2017/status/1944949821292601468?t=k8NlmwRbTYfhvTDvQkXSLA&s=03)
Biden/Obama/HRC/Harris Democrat (@KTforBiden) posted at 5:02 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
These POWER HUNGRY assholes are not Democrats.
@TheDemocrats need to wake up and realize that they ARE the opposition!
They DO NOT WANT UNDER THE UMBRELLA, they want DEMS from under the umbrella!
They USED a WAR on the other side of the world to turn ppl AGAINST the Dem party.
(https://x.com/KTforBiden/status/1944880322212192420?t=2PXjAMI2f8ASMAzVacK4Ug&s=03)
Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) posted at 3:48 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
My quick take on Monday #SCOTUS ruling in the Dep’t of Ed. downsizing case—and how the justices’ inconsistent treatment of the student loan cases during the Biden administration illustrates in technicolor why the Court really needs to explain its rulings:
https://t.co/4nnv4UdVh7
(https://x.com/steve_vladeck/status/1944861629717610962?t=uUCdSALDQ-u4o_cnRBWGbg&s=03)
Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) posted at 11:14 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
🚨BREAKING: President Trump has personally reached out to top conservative influencers, asking them to dial back their criticism over how his administration is handling the Epstein case — per CNN.
When the spin team gets a call from the top, you know the fire’s real.
(https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/1945154987840971108?t=XVVDXXWtH9Uv_UbBC6KPTQ&s=03)
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) posted at 8:42 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
The Trump admin sent an Irish tourist in ICE custody to a federal prison that was leasing beds to ICE, where he says “we were treated less than human.”
Staff at the prison would throw his medicine on the ground rather than deliver it to him in person. https://t.co/9hdKobC54f
(https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1945116821180256373?t=vY5LhYKjcX0xEgF_WDKs2w&s=03)
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 11:47 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
This is a powerful @ChrisMurphyCT video on “Alligator Alcatraz,” the inhumanity of it and why it should “sicken” us. But I think we need to grapple with the degree to which these spectacles are seen as propaganda coups in the MAGA-verse, as I argue here:
https://t.co/oOH97r9grg https://t.co/pvhf0jAf1k
(https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/1945163303224795321?t=UHch7Bb3cfQui9J3HxtKjg&s=03)
Maine (@TheMaineWonk) posted at 10:36 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
🚨 JUST IN: Trump Appointed Judge reverses a Biden admin rule that wiped medical debt from the credit reports of nearly 15 million people.
Why does this Administration go out of their way to hurt families?
https://t.co/HtKSpT9Ir6 https://t.co/iOLN4EhcKd
(https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1945145403000684581?t=UUD437iPJWVq_3NxpMepjA&s=03)
CathyNotToday2 🌿 (@Cathy2NotToday) posted at 7:43 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
Wait … not only are Floridians paying these obscene salaries .. ICE AGENTS ARE GETTING A $1500 BONUS for every person they arrest ?
That makes them taxpayer funded bounty hunters .. no wonder they are masked
(https://x.com/Cathy2NotToday/status/1945101902330401221?t=IeqDt-yHpTqIF_PtyVEgIQ&s=03)
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) posted at 10:56 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
The Trump admin has ordered 500 tons of emergency food aid—enough to feed 1.5 million malnourished children for a week—to be incinerated rather than be distributed.
https://t.co/EKbi4AifsK
(https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1945150385968046128?t=AZKBwh6Xx-JQ3JVLmjgKHQ&s=03)
Jay McGill Says Abolish the Political Extremes (@Jay_McGill94) posted at 6:07 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for America fucking up the 2016 election.
All consequences lead to the 2016 election.
McConnell was not going to allow Obama to fill the vacancy caused by Scalia’s death.
Ginsburg was not going to leave the post because she feared
(https://x.com/Jay_McGill94/status/1944896603090792836?t=_dprGrVQoLyYHbXyCQJtBQ&s=03)
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 11:01 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
Crockett: “I need people of color to understand that the scheme of the Republicans has consistently been to make sure that they mute our voices. I fully anticipate that’s where they are going with this map.” https://t.co/tZigfd1JXh
(https://x.com/atrupar/status/1945151722201944324?t=Pk0V3JJznc57cDBAnhJarw&s=03)
Jay McGill Says Abolish the Political Extremes (@Jay_McGill94) posted at 0:15 PM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
I will never shut the hell up about 2016 (or 2024)
The Supreme Court was on the line in BOTH elections.
Chances are that Trump adds AT LEAST one justice before he leaves.
(https://x.com/Jay_McGill94/status/1945170363484078111?t=LVYyfYUvdyS0MtyI2PpCpQ&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 8:51 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
part of being in the #resistance going forward will be openly mocking red-state conservatives for the trash-ass education that they now have planned for even most white people who live there
it also hits harder if a white liberal is doing the mocking
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1944937874987917537?t=PzOZg-hfvrnaybXL3U7bdA&s=03)
Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) posted at 11:55 AM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
BREAKING: Trump brags about how he has the power to manipulate the stock market through public statements. We already knew this. But what an insane thing to say out loud. https://t.co/UU3OiMSbgC
(https://x.com/MAGALieTracker/status/1944802929313021985?t=6iFOMeKC5f7UpJIhkuNqqw&s=03)
Mother Jones (@MotherJones) posted at 9:19 PM on Mon, Jul 14, 2025:
When an American president can get away with threatening people’s citizenship simply because he feels unfairly criticized, then journalists, political opponents, and everyday citizens had better beware.
https://t.co/Imw00kBsfm
(https://x.com/MotherJones/status/1944944758893216176?t=WLMCxCE_JHh0MTyMm-7IUQ&s=03)
Loni Love
@LoniLove
Barack Obama and Michelle Obama hit back at divorce speculation on her “IMO” podcast.
https://x.com/LoniLove/status/1945502051347177722
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com
Follow
Trump: “AOC — look. I think she’s very nice. But she’s very low IQ, and we really don’t need low IQ. Between her and Crockett, we’re gonna give ’em both an IQ test to see who comes out best. I took a real test at Walter Reed medical center and I aced it. Now it’s time for them to take a test.”
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3ltzhxc6zjp2r
BaseballHistoryNut
@nut_history
The Hank Aaron tribute they just had at the #MLBAllStarGame is one of the greatest sports tributes I’ve ever seen. Well done
@MLB
https://x.com/nut_history/status/1945312411051024765
Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) posted at 0:35 PM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
BREAKING: In a stunning admission that Donald Trump’s big, ugly bill does indeed cut Medicaid funding, Josh Hawley is introducing a resolution to remove the very cuts he just voted for. This is insane.
(https://x.com/DemocraticWins/status/1945175467964653873?t=tTnTwU25G-N0-gHDBzTgxg&s=03)
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, PhD 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) posted at 11:41 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
If you’re wondering how much public money the state is spending to staff this immigrant detention center in the middle of the Everglades, look no further as we have the contract for CRS (Critical Response Strategy). They are the ones “managing” the facility. https://t.co/ejmd0HGDoQ
(https://x.com/AnnaForFlorida/status/1945161750296326444?t=TlvkpgzklcMO4C-RajXMMg&s=03)
NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) posted at 2:27 PM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
Texas AG Ken Paxton threatens to arrest Democratic lawmakers if they flee state to block GOP redistricting plans.
(https://x.com/NewsWire_US/status/1945203549723402452?t=t3krIZu2FwvH8zOBjFOGjQ&s=03)
The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 10:33 AM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
for Xers & Jones Generation folks who once watched “Justice League” cartoons as kids: the Hall of Justice is based on a real building in real life, the basis of the one in the cartoons & the movies
Director James Gunn used the real building for outside shots https://t.co/ML1pg6S3uf
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1945144636613304751?t=TCCUJze12yL9vQk928iFng&s=03)
Candidly Tiff (@tify330) posted at 10:25 PM on Tue, Jul 15, 2025:
David Hogg took another L tonight. His endorsements are not holding much weight. Spent $150k to on ads for Deja but not sure it helped much. Running on being young is not enough. https://t.co/OoBUHOPs5V
(https://x.com/tify330/status/1945323975023771798?t=hW9KS0Ar6rEfjh6Oz1dihA&s=03)
Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis
@jeffjarvis
The fascists are tearing down democracy, brick by brick.
DOJ hits states with broad requests for voter rolls, election data
https://x.com/jeffjarvis/status/1945441898841120943
Hunter Biden says Democrats lost election for not staying ‘loyal’ to his father
The former president’s son made the comment in his first interview since the election. He also denied that there was a cover-up of Joe Biden’s health.
July 16, 2025
Hunter Biden, in his first interview since the 2024 election, denied there was a “grand conspiracy” to cover up issues with his father’s health and said Democrats only lost the race because they abandoned President Joe Biden.
“We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party,” Hunter Biden said on a new podcast hosted by Jaime Harrison, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “That’s my position. We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down.”
more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/16/hunter-biden-joe-biden-interview-2024-election/
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊