Skip to main content
Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — January 3, 2024

By January 3, 2024No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Poll reveals increasing Republican sympathy for Capitol rioters and declining belief in Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack

  • Washington Post: Republican loyalty to Trump, rioters climbs in 3 years after Jan. 6 attack: “Three years after the Jan. 6 attack, Republicans are more sympathetic to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol and more likely to absolve Donald Trump of responsibility for the attack than they were in 2021, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Republicans’ increasing loyalty to the former president comes as he simultaneously campaigns for reelection and fights criminal charges over his attempt to stay in power after losing in 2020. Republicans are now less likely to believe Jan. 6 participants were ‘mostly violent,’ less likely to believe Trump bears responsibility for the attack, and are slightly less likely to view Joe Biden’s election as legitimate than they were in a December 2021 Post-UMD survey.”
  • The Hill: Fewer Republicans say Trump bears responsibility for Jan. 6: Poll: “The Washington Post/University of Maryland (WaPo-UMD) poll, published Tuesday, follows up on a similar poll conducted two years prior, in December 2021. When asked about various aspects of the riots, Americans are less inclined to blame Trump for the attack — a change that appears to be driven mostly by Republicans but extends across party lines. Just over 50 percent of U.S. adults overall said the former president bears either ‘a great deal’ or ‘a good amount’ of responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack, according to the survey. In December 2021, 60 percent said the same. Among Republicans, 14 percent now say Trump bears responsibility, down from 27 percent in 2021, according to the WaPo-UMD survey. Among Democrats, 86 percent said the same, down from 92 percent in 2021. Independents, however, remain largely unchanged. Around 56 percent of respondents blamed the former president ‘a great deal’ or ‘a good amount’ for the insurrection, down only one point from 57 percent in December 2021.”

Federal ruling upholds GOP’s redrawn Georgia districts amid voting rights debate

  • WABE: Judge upholds Georgia’s newly-revised political maps: “A federal judge has approved Georgia’s newly-revised political maps for Congress and the state legislature, a win for Republicans who sought to preserve their partisan advantage while adding new majority-Black districts required by the court. ‘The Court finds that the General Assembly fully complied with this Court’s order,’ U.S. District Judge Steve Jones wrote in a Thursday ruling. The court’s decision to approve the new Republican-drawn maps comes over the objections of the civil rights and religious groups who first sued over Georgia’s maps. They argued that the revised district lines continue to illegally dilute the power of Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.”
  • New York Times: Federal Judge Approves Georgia’s New Voting Maps: “A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Georgia legislature had complied with orders to draw voting maps that allowed Black voters an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice, signing off on new districts created earlier this month. The Republican-led legislature had drawn new state and congressional maps during a December special session after a federal judge in Atlanta said the original districts created after the 2020 census violated the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.”
  • Washington Post: Federal judge approves Georgia’s Republican-drawn congressional districts: “A federal judge in Georgia signed off Thursday on congressional districts redrawn this month by the state’s Republican-led legislature, ruling that the new map did not continue to illegally dilute the power of Black voters as Democrats and civil rights groups have argued. ‘The Court finds that the General Assembly fully complied with this Court’s order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts in the regions of the State where vote dilution was found,’ wrote U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones of the Northern District of Georgia. The ruling by Jones, an appointee of President Barack Obama, is likely to maintain the 9-5 majority that Republicans hold in Georgia’s delegation to the U.S. House. Georgia is among several states where challenges to congressional maps could affect the makeup of the U.S. House next year.”

Trump’s immunity battle: Appeals Court weighs protection claims amid election interference allegations

  • Washington Post: As Supreme Court elects to wait, Trump takes immunity claim to D.C. Circuit: “With the U.S. Supreme Court declining to intervene early, Donald Trump is now pressing in federal appeals court his claim that sweeping presidential powers protect him from facing prosecution for his efforts to undo the 2020 election results. In a filing late Saturday night, lawyers for the former president said such immunity is necessary for ‘bold, fearless Executive leadership” and warned that if Trump is taken to trial it will launch ‘cycles of recrimination. … that will plague our Nation for many decades to come.’ The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to fast-track consideration of the immunity question, which is crucial to determining whether Trump can be tried for his attempt to block Joe Biden’s victory. That means the standard appeals process will play out, with the U.S. Court of Appeals getting first say on whether former presidents have any protection from criminal prosecution and if so, how much.”
  • NBC: Special counsel urges appeals court to reject Trump immunity defense: “Special counsel Jack Smith urged an appeals court on Saturday to reject former President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case on presidential immunity grounds. In a more than 80-page filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Smith argued against Trump’s insistence that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution on federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election. ‘Separation-of-powers principles, constitutional text, history, and precedent all make clear that a former President may be prosecuted for criminal acts he committed while in office — including, most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election,’ prosecutors wrote.”
  • New York Times: Prosecutors Ask Appeals Court to Reject Trump’s Immunity Claims in Election Case: “Federal prosecutors asked an appeals court on Saturday to reject former President Donald J. Trump’s claims that he is immune from criminal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election and said the indictment should remain in place even though it arose from actions he took while in the White House. The government’s filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was part of an ongoing struggle between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, over whether former presidents can be criminally liable for things they did in office. The fight over immunity is arguably the most important aspect of the election interference case, involving both new questions of law and consequential issues of timing. The case is set to go to trial in Federal District Court in Washington in early March but has been put on hold until Mr. Trump’s attempts to dismiss the charges on grounds of immunity are resolved.”

In the States 

WISCONSIN: Wisconsin Supreme Court orders new legislative maps in redistricting case, Republican lawmakers ask the court to reconsider

  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican lawmakers ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider gerrymandering case: “Attorneys for Republican lawmakers are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reconsider its 4-3 decision that found the state’s current legislative maps unconstitutional and ordered them to draw new ones, arguing their timeline to do so is rushed. The court ordered parties on Dec. 22 to submit map proposals by Jan. 12, and consultants are set to review them by Feb. 1. The Wisconsin Elections Commission has said maps must be in place by March 15 for the fall legislative races. Candidates must circulate nomination papers for an Aug. 13 partisan primary ahead of the Nov. 5 general election. But Republicans argue instituting new maps as the 2024 elections draw closer would ‘needlessly disrupt the electoral process.’ They are asking those deadlines to be reconsidered and for the court to halt all proceedings in the meantime.”
  • New York Times: Justices in Wisconsin Order New Legislative Maps: “The Wisconsin Supreme Court said on Friday that the state’s heavily gerrymandered legislative maps that favor Republicans were unconstitutional and ordered new maps before the 2024 election. The ruling has the potential to produce a seismic political shift in a crucial presidential swing state. Justice Jill J. Karofsky, writing for the majority, said that Wisconsin’s current maps violate a requirement in the State Constitution ‘that Wisconsin’s state legislative districts must be composed of physically adjoining territory.’ ‘Given the language in the Constitution, the question before us is straightforward,’ she wrote. “When legislative districts are composed of separate, detached parts, do they consist of ‘contiguous territory’? We conclude that they do not.”

NORTH CAROLINA: New laws affect absentee ballots and election security ahead of primary

  • WCNC: NC sees major changes for voters: “The new year means new laws are in effect here in North Carolina. With the state’s primary election just over two months away, voters will need to familiarize themselves with some election law changes. Most of the changes voters will see in this upcoming election will be due to Senate Bill 747. One major change is that anyone with access to ballots or records who shares how someone votes could be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor. Also, according to the bill, anyone who impersonates a judge of an election, or another precinct, could be charged with a misdemeanor. Another big change will revolve around absentee ballots. ‘If you vote absentee, you must have that in my office by 7:30 on election night,’ Michael Dickerson, the Mecklenburg County elections director, said. ‘It has to be either received through the mail or brought in the office. After that, I won’t be able to take it.’”

LOUISIANA: Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice outlines opposition to the court’s redistricting proposal in a letter to the incoming governor, attorney general, and legislative leaders

  • Louisiana Illuminator: Chief justice reveals rifts in Louisiana Supreme Court over redistricting: “The leader of the Louisiana Supreme Court strongly opposes a proposal from five of his colleagues to redraw the justices’ seven election districts. He says they created a new map without any public input, and he implies state lawmakers might have already agreed to approve it. Chief Justice John Weimer made his comments in a letter sent late Friday to the incoming governor, attorney general, and legislative leaders. Gov.-elect Jeff Landry is expected to call the legislature into special session Jan. 15-23 to update Louisiana’s congressional districts. A federal court has set an end-of-January deadline for lawmakers to add a second majority-Black district to the state’s six U.S. House seats. Weimer’s missive is the third Louisiana Supreme Court justices have sent to incoming state leaders this week.”

What Experts Are Saying

Adam Liptak, on the amicus brief filed regarding Trump’s presidential immunity case, for the New York Times: “A friend-of-the-court brief from former government officials said Mr. Trump’s position had ‘sweeping and absurd consequences,’ noting that a great many officials are subject to impeachment. ‘Under the defendant’s interpretation,’ the brief said, ‘the executive would lack the power to prosecute all current and former civil officers for acts taken in office unless Congress first impeached and convicted them. That would permit countless officials to evade criminal liability.’ Mr. Trump also made a slightly narrower but still audacious argument: ‘A president who is acquitted by the Senate cannot be prosecuted for the acquitted conduct.’”

Joyce Vance, on Trump’s presidential immunity case, for X (Twitter): “The Special Counsel asks the court of appeals to unambiguously reject the argument that Trump is entitled to immunity for crimes against the country because he committed them while president. It is an argument ultimately aimed at SCOTUS.”

Areeba Shah, on DOJ Special Counsel urging a judge to bar Trump from launching political attacks in federal filings, for Salon: “The special counsel’s team also requested that the ex-president be barred from using ‘terminology such as the ‘Injustice Department,’ ‘Biden Indictment’ or similar phrases’ in front of the jury as it could taint their verdict. ‘Given Trump’s outlandish and inflammatory rhetoric in denigrating the trial and defaming the prosecution, Smith wants to bar Trump and his lawyers and his witnesses from making these kinds of outrageous remarks during the trial,’ Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon.”

Barb McQuade, on an amicus brief filed regarding Trump’s presidential immunity case, for X (Twitter): “Interesting argument in a new amicus brief by conservative lawyers that Trump’s immunity appeal is subject to final judgment rule and must wait until after trial. Brief uses a textual reading of the Constitution to argue that stay should be lifted immediately.”

Jennifer Rubin, on Trump’s presidential immunity case, for Washington Post: “After Chutkan meticulously addressed and rejected Trump’s immunity claim, special counsel Jack Smith sought an expedited review by the Supreme Court. The high court declined to weigh in before the D.C. Circuit rendered its decision. That is the proceeding in which the conservatives submitted a succinct takedown of Trump’s arguments.”

Headlines

Extremism

The Guardian: ‘Stakes are really high’: misinformation researcher changes tack for 2024 US election

USA Today: Identifying Jan. 6 suspects, military failures and harassment campaigns: Extremism in 2023

Trump investigations and cases

Rolling Stone: Inside the Trump Plot to Turn His Jan. 6 Trial Into a ‘MAGA Freak Show’

Washington Post: The Trump Trials: The resolution will not be televised

Forbes: Court Rules ‘Presidential Immunity’ Doesn’t Get Trump Out Of Jan. 6 Allegations—Again

ABC: Trump should be barred from blaming others for Jan. 6 riot at trial: Special counsel

The Hill: Appeals court denies case delay over Trump immunity claim in E. Jean Carroll suit

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

NBC King 5: 18th person from Washington arrested in connection to Jan. 6 Capitol attack

The Hill: Graham backtracks on earlier Jan. 6 criticism of Trump: ‘It depends on what the conduct is’

Opinion

New York Times: Katherine Miller: Trump Cacophony Hits Differently This Time

The Hill: Chris Truax: Betting the odds on Trump’s Supreme Court case

USA Today: Ken Block: Trump paid me to find voter fraud. Then he lied after I found 2020 election wasn’t stolen

New York Times: Debbie Dingell: How to Stand Up to Trump

In the States

The Guardian: Voting Rights Act faces new wave of dire threats in 2024

Dallas Morning News: Texas Heads Into 2024 With No Voter Crosscheck System. 

The News-Press: Florida seeks to end court fight over DeSantis congressional redistricting plan

Stateline: Restoring voting rights after a felony is rare in Tennessee. The process has gotten harder.