Thursday hyperlinks: Super Tuesday fallout, the SOTU, and more
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Some readers asked for something table of contents-like, so here are a few highlights amidst the density:
Bright Shiny Objects
- A hard-core originalist looks at Anderson
- Super Tuesday wrap-up from Sabato's Crystal Ball
- Much well-meant advice for Biden
- A fine rant on "our democracy" considered institutionally
- LSD gets "breakthrough status" at FDA
The Constitutional Order (Insurrection) "The Originalist Disaster in Trump v. Anderson" [The Originalism Blog]. "The Supreme Court opinion says that nothing in the Constitution delegates to the states the power to disqualify federal candidates. But this is obviously mistaken under the original meaning. The Constitution says that 'each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.' This provision allocates to the states the power how to run their presidential elections. State legislatures could decide not to hold elections at all but could assign their electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing. States have broad authority to structure their presidential elections. While this authority might be subject to other constitutional limitations, the Court does not point to any such limitation here…. It is true that presidential elections have come to be viewed as national elections. This view has led many people to view the electoral college as inconsistent with such national elections and to argue for a national popular vote method instead. But that is not the system that the Constitution establishes. Instead, the Constitution grants significant authority to states over presidential elections. That is the original meaning.”
2024 Less than a year to go!
Super Tuesday: "What Stood Out from Super Tuesday" [Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball]. "If Trump's weaker areas were bluer, higher-education bastions, indicating his ongoing problems within his own party with more moderate white collar voters, Biden's weaker places were a mix of different kinds of places. While Biden won 85% in Texas, for instance, his shares were much weaker in South Texas, a traditionally Democratic area that swung hard to Trump in 2020. In North Carolina, 'no preference' got 37%, its highest county-level share, in Robeson County, an Obama-to-Trump area that we have previously profiled in the Crystal Ball. These are places where the national Democratic brand has weakened among more conservative Democratic voters, some of whom (like in North Carolina, a party registration state) are registered Democrats who vote Republican in general elections (Biden still got 87% statewide). Biden also saw some protest votes presumably on his left, like in Minnesota, where Biden only got about 70% statewide, and 'uncommitted' got about a quarter of the vote in Ramsey and Hennepin, the core, dark blue Twin Cities counties."
Trump (R): "Trump calls for debate with Biden" [Anadolu Agency]. "Former US President Donald Trump challenged President Joe Biden to a debate, saying Wednesday that he is ready to face off against him 'anytime.' And better: “Trump said he would be doing a live, 'Play by Play, of Crooked Joe Biden's State of the Union.'" ”That's original!"
Trump (R): "Trump is rolling. But here are the 4 potholes still ahead" [Politico]. "Here are four major landmines that await him.. [(1)] Trump's conglomerate of political groups collectively spent more than they raised in 2023, blowing through tens of millions of dollars on legal bills rather than accumulating cash in an off year. The former president still had $30 million in his campaign account as of Jan.