BREAKING: Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring from the Supreme Court. The vacancy created by the liberal judge gives Biden the first high court pick of his presidency. https://t.co/E5V51FxU9n
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 26, 2022
Justice Breyer is retiring from the Supreme Court. We need a strong, pro-democracy pick to protect and expand voting rights and free and fair elections.
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 26, 2022
Dems start off with good chance of getting Breyer's replacement confirmed. Since GOP changed filibuster rules on SCOTUS nominees in 2017, a simple majority is all that's needed.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 26, 2022
Manchin has long deferred to presidents' nominees; Sinema tends to vote for Biden nominees
Multiple sources tell me Justice Breyer was not planning to announce his retirement today. They describe him as "upset" with how this has played out. We still await any official notice from his office and/or the #SCOTUS public information office.
— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) January 26, 2022
The two leading candidates to replace Breyer, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and CA SC Justice Leondra Kruger, both have a platinum-plated resume every bit as prestigious and rarefied as those of the last several appointees. Including the most prestigious clerkships in the country.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) January 26, 2022
Meanwhile…
.@joycewhitevance: If evidence from this draft executive order confirms a conspiracy, it merits prosecution. https://t.co/lXB7icYQ3m
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 26, 2022
New: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco tells CNN that federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications sent to the National Archives that declared Trump the winner of states he lost.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) January 25, 2022
A group of lawyers is working to disqualify Madison Cawthorn from the ballot unless he can prove he's not an "insurrectionist," which would disqualify him from holding office.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 26, 2022
The case could have implications for other officeholders — and Trump. https://t.co/vqyuSiduBu
Here's an unsettling thought:
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 26, 2022
If we don't revise the ECA, successfully overturning the 2024 election might only require a single corrupt GOP governor and a GOP-controlled House.
An important new paper spells out this nightmare scenario.
Details here:https://t.co/EhSRaBwtYQ
I wrote about the worst possible scenario in “Wait, what” in @TheAtlantic https://t.co/3BwVcgBnAo
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 26, 2022
"Ron DeSantis playing by Donald Trump’s rules is a much scarier 2024 scenario than 'orange man back'." – @MollyJongFast https://t.co/OJar1s7NII
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 26, 2022
Trump would have let Putin piss on him but go on, lady. https://t.co/Ohh1PtxjiC
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) January 26, 2022
***
Johnson poised to survive Partygate, at least for now…
Opinion: What is going on, unseen, means Boris Johnson is in a position at least as weak as any prime minister in modern history. And yet, because of his political talent and opportunism, he may still survive. These are indeed strange constitutional times https://t.co/ySBN1cCNJH
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) January 26, 2022
.@Jacob_Rees_Mogg says he doesn't know when Sue Gray's report will be published because she is independent, but he tells @AnushkaAsthana that @BorisJohnson will survive.
— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) January 26, 2022
Sue Gray is a civil servant who ultimately answers to the Prime Minister https://t.co/JOTLG6BKK2 pic.twitter.com/hvJXSns2Pq
Boris Johnson said (in December 2021) that it was “complete nonsense” he had personally authorised the Nowzad charity to evacuate animals from Aghanistan at a time when thousands of people were clamouring to get out. https://t.co/Hj2fGUWvHB
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) January 26, 2022
I stopped watching when they introduced a character called Lulu Lytle in that absurd decorating scandal subplot.
— idejeht (@andrew33r) January 26, 2022
To be fair it's working with the pandemic, the govt have declared it's over so the public & media are lapping that up, the attention span of a lot of the public has been proven to be short lived and that's what they'll count on yet again.
— TP 💙 (@TPworldtraveler) January 26, 2022
the parties on the night before Prince Philip’s funeral were exposed by the Conservative-supporting, Johnson-backing Daily Telegraph which until recently employed Johnson https://t.co/dJJNvc9VK7
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) January 26, 2022
I can think of hardly anything more shameful than Johnson and Rees-Mogg using the situation in Ukraine as a defensive shield against their own domestic inadequacy.
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) January 26, 2022
'Ladies and gentlemen, your Prime Minister.'
— LBC (@LBC) January 26, 2022
James O'Brien's shocking and painstaking round-up of listeners' suggestions for the worst thing Boris Johnson has ever done.
@mrjamesob pic.twitter.com/lTFI7lFLL2
— NORBET (@NORBET) January 26, 2022
The only roasting of Liz Truss’s bull**** defence of Boris Johnson you need to watch
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) January 26, 2022
This is another graphic illustration of why the whole rotten lot need to go pic.twitter.com/LFDPjIhhih
I wonder whether we'll ever get a better explanation of how Boris Johnson became & remains Prime Minister than the fact that, at the precise moment his position is the most threatened & vulnerable it has ever been & may ever be, #StarmerOut is 'Trending in Politics'.
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) January 26, 2022
This is the same Northern Irish Protocol which Johnson:
— davidallengreen (@davidallengreen) January 26, 2022
– proposed (reversing May’s policy)
– negotiated
– signed
– said was ‘oven ready’
– for which he got a general election mandate, and
– bounced into legislation without parliamentary scrutiny
The very same https://t.co/k0mo3kRPfS
Is anyone else sick to death of these toxic threats to bring down the Assembly? Please for the love of God stop these distraction tactics and deal with the endless list of real issues we are facing 🙏 https://t.co/GzjkJxrqo3
— Déirdre Vaughan (@deirdre_vaughan) January 26, 2022
Oh, and…
he’s never watched his Newsnight interview has he https://t.co/KHw910Fl9p
— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) January 26, 2022
Prince Andrew says he wants “a trial by his peers.” Can you imagine the jury selection? The Duke of Narnia, the Marquis of Makebelieve…. Legal court reality about to meet royal court indulgence.
— JOHN NICOLSON M.P. (@MrJohnNicolson) January 26, 2022
BREAKING: In response to Prince Andrew requesting trial by jury, Virginia Giuffre has requested the heating be turned up really high x
— Laura Kuenssberg Translator (@BBCLauraKT) January 26, 2022
Breaking:
— BG (@wappingraces) January 23, 2022
Prince Andrew scandal taking its toll on Princess Anne.
Friends say they’re worried. pic.twitter.com/Vqps4fCCAj
***
Ukraine back-and-forth continues with uncertain path forward
.@brhodes on Russian President Putin as tensions escalate: 'He does not want Ukraine to be a democracy' https://t.co/cB30LN1Fx2
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 26, 2022
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. delivered written replies to sweeping Russian security demands, a key step in a fragile diplomatic process as Russia staged new military drills on land and sea near Ukraine https://t.co/pPwsljcKLO pic.twitter.com/i83gQft5TS
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2022
Russia-Ukraine-France-Germany talks resume today. NATO countries continue to offer Russia honorable diplomatic exits from the crisis Russia has created. https://t.co/ClUCTdRWhh
— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 26, 2022
A Western intelligence official says Russia has brought in many of the enablers it was lacking, including medical and logistics, to carry out a potential military operation against Ukraine.
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) January 26, 2022
This is true, but we have to acknowledge that Ukraine is almost certainly never getting Crimea back.
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) January 26, 2022
In fact, public acknowledgement of Crimea belonging to Russia is one of the goals of Putin’s latest gambit. 1/3 https://t.co/Hms1lacZ0Z
We can get billions of dollars in weapons and military aid to Ukraine in two days, but we can’t get ballots in every mailbox.
— Travis Akers (@travisakers) January 26, 2022
Turkey's Erdogan says Russia would be unwise to invade Ukraine https://t.co/Drdd9S7U5h pic.twitter.com/T1kUO80DgP
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2022
Russia warned that imposing sanctions on President Vladimir Putin personally would not hurt him but would be 'politically destructive,' after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would consider such a move if Russia invaded Ukraine https://t.co/FM9FNEnBDh pic.twitter.com/T2eXcOAz7L
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2022
'I guarantee you, Putin will stop in his tracks and he will not invade.'
— LBC (@LBC) January 26, 2022
Head of Global Magnitsky Justice campaign Bill Browder explains the 'easy way out' of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.@mrjamesob | @Billbrowder pic.twitter.com/PMJaiTeb1y
Thursday's FT: “ECB warns Europe’s banks over risks in Russia-Ukraine sanctions” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/7FuHsAa3Vz pic.twitter.com/JRl72lycA9
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) January 26, 2022
The Overnight Note 