Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 23

Supreme Court sounds skeptical of late-arriving ballots, a Trump target

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ‘s conservative majority on Monday sounded skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a persistent target of President Donald Trump.

A ruling, likely to come by late June, that bars counting ballots arriving after Election Day would send officials scrambling in 14 states and the District of Columbia, just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections to change their ballot rules.

An additional 15 states that have more forgiving deadlines for ballots from military and overseas voters also could be affected.

The legal challenge is part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 resulted from fraud even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.

Here is the key argument that tells you that the conservative justices are trying to find a fake reason to justify this:

While there was no explicit reference to the 2020 election, several conservative justices gave voice to some of Trump’s complaints. Justice Samuel Alito wondered about the appearance of fraud in situations where “a big stash of ballots” that arrive late “radically flipped” an election.

This is not a basketball game and nobody is actually ahead at any moment. There is no "flipping" of an election. All the votes are to be counted, and the order they are counted does not have any weight on the validity of a vote. This is such transparent and dangerous nonsense that is just spouted by people like Trump who are actually interfering with elections.

From NBC News: Jack Smith memo includes 'damning evidence' about Trump's handling of classified documents, top Democrat says

Here is the source from the house website:
Damning New Documents Obtained By Judiciary Democrats Reveal Trump Stole Classified Documents to Advance His Business Interests

“These new disclosures suggest that Donald Trump stole documents so sensitive that only six people in the entire U.S. government had access to them, that the documents President Trump stole pertained to his business interests, and that Susie Wiles, then the CEO of Donald Trump’s super PAC, witnessed President Trump showing off a classified map to passengers on his private plane. This glimpse into the trove of evidence behind the coverup reveals a President of the United States who may have sold out our national security to enrich himself,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

...

DOJ’s hypocrisy in gagging Jack Smith is underscored by this latest disclosure. Special Counsel Smith remains barred from sharing information with Congress under a sweeping gag order imposed by Justice Cannon, at the request of Donald Trump, and enforced by DOJ. At the same time, DOJ has produced cherry-picked documents to aid Chairman Jordan’s vindictive campaign against Special Counsel Smith and his team, including some documents that appear to violate Judge Cannon’s order. DOJ appears to view the judicial order as rules for thee—Jack Smith—but not for me. However, it appears that the evidence against Donald Trump collected by Jack Smith and memorialized in his records is so damning, that even DOJ’s carefully curated production cannot fully excise findings that the President sold out national security to advance his own business interests.

Ranking Member Raskin is seeking information on who accessed the materials, what they contained, and whether any foreign actors were able to access or exploit the information. He also called for the release of all remaining investigative files, including the full, unredacted Special Counsel report.

Democrat flips seat in special election for Florida district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort

This is a big deal - as the article notes, the district around Mar-a-Lago was Trump +11 in the 2024 election. I can only hope that Trump burns down the good will of his electorate before he burns down everything else, and that we get to have unobstructed elections this year.

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move - Daily Beast

I'm sure the crippling of various agencies, including the SEC, by DOGE was completely unrelated to this kind of thing.

The World's Dumbest Tariff Has Been Revealed
Interesting article on how stupid the Tariffs are.

Kind of an interesting follow up to this article from Jan 2025...

The Dumbest Trade War in History

Trump signature to appear on US currency, ending 165-year tradition (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. paper currency will bear ‌President Donald Trump's signature starting this summer, the first time a sitting president has signed American money, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

The redesigned notes, planned to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, will also for the first time in 165 years drop the signature of the ​U.S. treasurer, who reports to the Treasury Secretary and oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the U.S. ​Mint and other Treasury functions.