Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor thrashed her colleagues on Tuesday for refusing to hear a death penalty case despite "extraordinary misconduct" from a juror, according to a new report.
Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent on Tuesday after the court refused to rehear the death sentence case against Stacey Humphreys, a man from Georgia who alleged that the actions of a biased jury member led to his conviction, according to a report from Newsweek. The Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari to Humphreys, which Sotomayor found unacceptable.
Liberal-leaning justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Sotomayor's dissent.
“Tragically, the Court denies review instead, allowing a death sentence tainted by a single juror’s extraordinary misconduct to stand,” Sotomayor wrote.
Humphreys was accused of murdering two women inside a new home in Georgia after forcing them to undress and robbing them, according to the report. One of the jurors was a victim of attempted rape and robbery. The report says that the juror allegedly misled other jurors to think Humphreys would be eligible for parole if they did not convict him unanimously.
The juror also said they would “stay here till forever if it takes it for him to get death," according to the report.
Sotomayor described the juror's behavior in her dissent as bullying.
The Department of State has revoked at least six visas from people who made negative comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination in September, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that foreign nationals from Argentina, South Africa, and Mexico had their visas revoked. An Argentine national allegedly said Kirk spread "racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric." A post from a German national shared with the outlet read in part, “When fascists die, democrats don’t complain.”
The State Department said in a statement to the Journal that the U.S. "has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans."
State Department officials began collecting information about people who spoke negatively about Kirk after his assassination, according to the report. For instance, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau directed officials to “undertake appropriate action” for social media posts that "glorified violence," the report states.
"If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported," Rubio said. "You are not welcome in this country."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) compared President Donald Trump's governing style to a notorious Nazi jurist during an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett on Tuesday.
Khanna joined Burnett on her show, "OutFront," to discuss Trump's decision to bailout Argentina with a $20 billion currency swap with the country's central bank and the impact of the government shutdown on American households. Khanna said Trump has presented a "clear view" of governance, one that seems closely aligned with Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt.
"He helps his friends, and hepunishes his enemies," Khanna said of Trump's governing style. "It's sortof the Carl Schmitt philosophyof politics, and there's nothingmore to it."
Schmitt was a renowned political theorist who is most known for his critiques of liberalism and democracy. Schmitt once argued that "deceptive" democratic procedures should be replaced by a "charismatic leader" who works on behalf of a "homogeneous" people and nation, according to an analysis of Schmitt's works in the political journal, American Affairs.
Khanna suggested that Trump has deceived his voters during his second term since he has yet to fulfill a key campaign promise.
"He sold theAmerican people on loweringprices on day one," Khanna said. "He sold theAmerican people that he's abusiness guy, that he's going toget the economy moving, andhe's done nothing forAmerica's farmers. Groceryprices are up.
"You know what Iwould do with that $20 billion?I would give that money to theAmerican people who have had a 26%increase in coffee tariffs andcoffee prices because of theirrational tariffs on coffee," he continued. "He'smade food prices go up. He'shurting America's farmers, andthen he's giving the money awayto Argentina. We're addinginsult to injury by then takingthe business away from Americanfarmers and selling it to China."
A military veteran who was recently arrested by President Donald Trump's immigration agents trashed the administration on Tuesday during an interview on CNN.
George Retes, a 25-year-old military veteran, was arrested by immigration officials in July during a raid on a marijuana farm where Retes worked as a contract security guard. He was detained for three days, where he was reportedly placed on suicide watch.
The Department of Homeland Security has previously pushed back on Retes' claims. In October, DHS claimed that Retes "became violent" with immigration officers, thereby warranting his arrest.
DHS officials have said attorneys in the Department of Justice are reviewing his case to determine if federal charges are warranted. Retes discussed his case and Trump's immigration actions on "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
"I'm not blind to see what's happening out there in the world," Retes said. "I'm not stuck in a bubble. It happens. I mean, it happened to me. It is happening to other people. And so it could really happen to anyone."
Retes also said that he is "not concerned" about his upcoming federal case.
"I'm not concerned in the slightest," Retes said. "I'm just ready to start this whole process and get over this six-month waiting period. I have these claims and am ready to get justice and find out the truth, and get the truth for everyone, honestly."
The Trump Administration is giving Argentina, whose currency, the peso argentino, has suffered major problems in recent years, a $20 million bailout.
The Associated Press (AP) reported, "Experts say Milei comes to the White House with two clear objectives. One is to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products. The other is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to prop up Argentina's peso and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves ahead of crucial midterm elections later this month."
Here are five of the wildest moments from Trump's Tuesday afternoon at the White House.
When an ABC News reporter tried to ask Trump a question, he angrily responded, "After what you did with (George) Stephanopoulos to the vice president of the United States, I don't take questions from ABC Fake News."
Trump was referring to Stephanopoulos' interview with Vice President JD Vance, which went downhill fast when Vance refused to directly answer a question about border Czar Tom Homan.
2. Trump chastised 'nasty' Stephanopoulos for Vance interview.
Trump went into detail about Stephanopoulos' interview with Vance, telling reporters, "JD had a very nasty person interviewing him, and we can't let that happen. It's just inappropriate to cut off a highly respected vice president of the United States, mid-sentence. I guess it's one way to win an argument."
3. Trump joked about visiting the beach in South America.
When a reporter asked Trump if he wanted to visit Argentina, he joked about his weight and responded, "My body is a little bit larger than [former President Joe Biden’s]. I'm not sure it would be appreciated on the beach."
4. Trump vowed to keep supporting Argentina.
When a reporter asked Trump for his message to Argentina, he responded, "We love them. We will be there for them."
5. Trump praised Argentina's president as a 'very great leader.'
Trump has had volatile relations with some of the United States' allies, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (who he berated during one White House meeting but was much friendlier to during a subsequent one). Trump, however, didn't hesitate to praise Milei on October 14. When a reporter asked for his views on the right-wing Argentine president, he praised him as a "very great leader."
“After what you did with [George] Stephanopoulos to the vice president of the United States, I don’t take questions from ABC ‘Fake News.’”
Ex-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued a stark warning about democracy in his memoir that was released on Tuesday, but the warning fell on deaf ears for two Democratic analysts.
David Sirota and Veronica Riccobene of The Lever pushed back against Kennedy's warnings in a new article on Tuesday, arguing that Kennedy's warning that democracy is not guaranteed to survive seemed to artfully forget his role in creating the crisis. Sirota and Riccobene cited the Citizens United decision, which stated that PAC donations "including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption."
"Democracy presumes an open, rational, thoughtful, decent discussion where you respect the dignity of the person with whom you disagree," Kennedy said in a recent interview with CBS News about his memoir. "And if it doesn’t have that, then democracy as we know it is in danger."
Sirota and Riccobene appeared to be skeptical of Kennedy's claims.
"In other words, he’s continuing to amplify the legal fiction — found nowhere in the Constitution — that corporations are entitled to the same free speech rights as human beings," Sirota and Riccobene wrote.
"Kennedy continues to assert that denying corporations the same speech rights as human beings would be a form of unacceptable persecution," they added.
"Kennedy’s admonition is his own version of the hot-dog guy meme — lamenting the democracy crisis while refusing to acknowledge his role in creating it," they continued.
Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke at the University College London as part of a discussion with former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann.
While Smith walked through his time at the International Criminal Court, the second half of the discussion dealt specifically with his time working on the prosecution of then-former President Donald Trump.
Weissmann specifically asked about the classified documents case and why he brought the case to Florida. He recalled the critics who were second-guessing that decision.
"So, two things here. One is kind of the — I just wanted to address the note you said about, you know, some people criticize things," Smith began. "The idea of people criticizing things, particularly in the media, if you are a good prosecutor, that is noise and you need to tune it out."
"In terms of the actual case, it was very important to me that we do all our work by the book. And that means the same way you do it in a DOJ case if it wasn't a case of this much public interest. And under that way of thinking, the place to do this was in Florida," Smith said.
"There were arguments you could venue parts of it other places certainly, but and there are times that the DOJ venue has pieces of cases in different places," he noted.
Smith said the documents were located in Florida, and the two major acts of obstruction of justice charges also happened in the state. It also would have further enforced the idea that these crimes were not "official acts" because they took place not in Washington, but in Florida.
Weissmann compared the Trump case to the documents former Vice President Mike Pence had and President Joe Biden had from his time also as vice president. He asked to compare the two when he charged Trump, but former special counsel Robert Hur did not.
"The difference are the facts," Smith said.
"One of the major differences between the two cases is the obstructive conduct in the case that I investigated," he said of Trump. "One reason is to prove illegal possession of classified documents, you need to show that you possess the documents, or the defendant possessed the documents, willfully. And that means he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he knew he was possessing the documents. In my particular case, we had tons of evidence of willfulness," said Smith.
Trump's refusal to give the documents back, efforts to hide the documents and publicly saying that they were "his" documents were all a part of that evidence, Smith said. That didn't exist in the Pence and Biden cases.
"I want to make sure I get this pretty close to right, but almost four times as many documents in the person I was investigating compared to the other case," said Smith of Trump. He also said the sensitivity was different. Biden's were over 15 years old, while Trump's were still active and classified.
He went on to say that the charges that they brought in both cases, "We had core charges that we did bring that we thought were very supported in law, very factually supported. The statutes that we did charge had a long history of use in the United States. They've been interpreted by the Supreme Court. And we felt we had a strong case and that those charges that we brought would allow us to present all the relevant evidence to a jury, that we would be able to present everything that mattered to a jury."
One reason he didn't charge Trump with incitement or an insurrection is that there is "very little case law interpreting" those charges.
"Certainly not to this extent that the other statutes that we brought. Incitement understands the reaction, and I could see where people could find this to be incitement. But at the same time, as you know, that's a very high standard under the First Amendment. ... Frankly, I did not think that those were fights that we needed to take on given the charges that we were able to otherwise bring."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Tuesday that one of President Donald Trump's closest henchmen appears to be "manipulating him" as he seeks more power over domestic issues.
Pritzker joined The Bulwark's Tim Miller on a new episode of "The Bulwark Podcast" to discuss the Trump administration's deportation efforts, which White House senior aide Stephen Miller is reportedly leading. Pritzker said Miller appears to be using his proximity to the president to manipulate him because of the president's "diminished capacity."
"I do think he needs help, and I don't think anybody around him on a day-to-day basis wants to get him any help because they have more power based upon his diminished capacity," Pritzker said. "Think about Stephen Miller. I mean, Stephen Miller clearly is the one pushing the tactics at DHS, at CBP, at ICE."
"He's clearly the person who is aiming to have Donald Trump become an authoritarian leader, and I wish that people could at least recognize that Stephen Miller is bad for the country, and he is abusing the fact that Donald Trump has diminished capacity. He's manipulating him."
Questions about Trump's mental fitness and physical health have swirled since he took office in January. Experts have noted that bruising on the president's hands and his swollen ankles appear to be signs of chronic venous insufficiency, which causes poor blood flow.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) received significant pushback on Tuesday to his letter calling on former special counsel Jack Smith to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in his letter that Smith's team conducted a "partisan and politically motivated" investigation of Trump's mishandling of classified information after he left office in 2020. Jordan added that Smith "undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system."
Political observers and analysts flamed Jordan's statements on social media.
"Jim Jordan continues his retaliatory political witch hunt against former Special Counsel Jack Smith, claiming members of his team have intentionally evaded Judiciary Committee questions by asserting grand jury secrecy protections," lawyer Amee Vanderpool posted on Bluesky. "You know, like Trump does."
"An extraordinary years-long MAGA cover-up has deprived the American public of the opportunity to read this special counsel report that the taxpayers paid for. But Chairman Jordan, in demanding ‘all documents you sent...during your service as Special Counsel relating to your work, your investigation, your charging decisions...’ has finally taken a comprehensive stand for complete transparency and accountability," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. "Congratulations."
"Reminder that @FBIDirectorKash testified under oath that his OWN grand jury transcript had been released," journalist Marcy Wheeler posted on X. "Perhaps @Jim_Jordan should prioritize that apparent lie to SJC, the same crime Jim Comey is charged with?"
"Jim Jordan wants to question Jack Smith about his search of Mar-a-Lago, but Merrick Garland executed that search months before Jack Smith was even appointed," podcaster Allison Gil, host of "Mueller, She Wrote," posted on Bluesky. One of several lies in this letter demanding Jack Smith's testimony.
President Donald Trump threatened to close "Democrat programs" by Friday if the government shutdown continues, and he said it's unlikely that the closed program will return, according to a new report.
Politico reported on Tuesday that Trump plans to announce which programs he is cutting by Friday, but has thus far declined to elaborate on his plan. The threat comes at a time when Republicans and Democrats appear to be far apart on striking a deal to end the government shutdown.
“We’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to,” Trump told the outlet. “And they’re never going to come back in many cases.”
Trump added that "Republican programs" would be spared.
“We’re not closing up Republican programs because we think they work,” he said. “We’re closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with. And they’re never going to open again.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to ax government programs and terminate federal employees that he believes are aligned with Democrats.
In September, the Office of Management and Budget, which is run by Trump ally Russel Vought, said it was preparing to lay off thousands of Democratic federal workers.
Trump has also claimed that federal workers aligned with Democrats "don't deserve" to receive back pay once the government reopens.
President Donald Trump and his subordinates have done everything in their power to slam the brakes on renewable energy development — but despite it all, the industry is booming, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Trump has long been known to have a personal hatred for renewables, allegedly ever since a wind farm in Scotland altered the view from one of his golf properties — and he frequently rants against the industry, often making wildly exaggerated claims about its storage limitations or the threat it poses to wildlife.
The president signed a massive, controversial tax cut megabill earlier this year that, among other things, phases out most tax credits for renewable energy installation at the federal level. However, reported Rebecca Elliott, this may not start affecting the growth of the industry for years, "because companies are racing to install solar panels, wind turbines and batteries the size of shipping containers before federal tax credits expire or become harder to claim."
In fact, the rush to take advantage of the tax credits as they sunset is so tremendous "that analysts widely expect the United States to add record — or near-record — amounts of renewable energy and batteries through 2027" — with the research firm BloombergNEF revising up their forecast for new wind, solar, and battery installations in 2026 by 10 percent.
"Wind and solar projects must be under construction by July to be eligible for federal tax credits that Congress voted this summer to eliminate, years earlier than previously required," the report continued. "To hit that deadline, many developers have ordered custom power transformers — devices used to increase or decrease voltage — solar panels and other equipment much sooner than they normally would have. Placing such orders is one way to demonstrate to the Internal Revenue Service that a project is underway."
CleanCapital director Thomas Byrne told The Times, “There’s this huge hurry-up that is taking place.”
However, ending tax credits is not the only way the Trump administration has sought to scale back wind and solar projects; the administration. His agencies are also ordering burdensome regulatory reviews of utility-scale projects on public and even private land. The administration has moved to axe a solar megaproject in Nevada, as well as an offshore wind project in New England that is 80 percent complete — although a Republican-appointed federal judge recently blocked the latter order, allowing that project to continue.
President Donald Trump threatened to cut off the cooking oil trade with China as "retribution" for a boycott on U.S. soybeans.
"I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act," the U.S. president announced in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. "We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution."
Trump insisted that the U.S. could "easily" produce its own cooking oil, but it was unclear how quickly manufacturers could replace Chinese-based products.
China had not purchased any U.S. soybeans in 2025 after buying around $12 billion annually in previous years. The trade war began after Trump imposed import taxes on Chinese goods.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that a bailout could be coming for struggling U.S. soybean farmers.
President Donald Trump shared an AI-made video that used an image of Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought dressed as the Grim Reaper. It prompted a confused MSNBC host to question why Trump would use such an allegation that wasn't a positive thing.
Speaking to Brendan Buck, a former strategist who worked under two House speakers, Paul Ryan (R-WI) and John Boehner (R-OH), Katy Tur read off the latest round of federal staffing cuts, which have been ongoing since Trump entered office.
"The president has depicted Russ Vought, his OMB director, as the Grim Reaper. It's confusing, and I had to double-check this just to make sure, because you would think that depicting one of your officials as the Grim Reaper, in normal times, wouldn't that be a bad thing?" Tur asked.
"In normal times, yes," Buck said, chuckling.
"But I think that what that clearly tells you is that they're using the threat or the follow-through of some of these RIFs, or layoffs, as a threat to Democrats. And I think Democrats are largely calling their bluff on it a bit," Buck said. "Now, for all 4,000 of those people and their families that's a crisis. And that's a personal crisis for them, but it is still just a fraction of the amount of layoffs that we were hearing about, rumored about, that Russ Vought was going to take."
He recalled people throwing around numbers, such as 100,000 people being cut from the government.
"And it took a really long time for them to get to this point. And I think what happened here was they kept threatening to do this, and didn't do it, and eventually they had to do something or else it was going to be very clear that this was just an empty threat," Buck said.
Tur returned to the phrasing of the reaper, asking as a communications expert, how it was helping to characterize Vought as the Grim Reaper or having Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) saying Vought has been dreaming about firing people "since puberty."
"They're putting a positive message, or they're making it sound like they really enjoy laying people off. Is that a good communications strategy?" Tur asked.
Buck agreed it wasn't a good strategy and noted that Republicans seem to be failing in the messaging battle on the shutdown.
"I just wonder how people take it, Brendan, I mean, if you are trying to message that this is not your fault, that the government shutdown is the Democrats' fault, that's the messaging that I'm confused by," Tur confessed.
