Philip Hackney

#TaxProf, fmr DC IRS chief counsel atty, fmr BakerBotts atty; #nonprofits, IRS, public policy, #darkmoney, Art Law; #LawProf @Pittlaw @Pitttaxreview he/him

[. @GregTSargent]

This is simply bonkers. The White House is in active discussions with DOJ about settling Trump's lawsuit against the IRS in his favor, *precisely because* a judge might soon throw it out. WH apparently wants DOJ to agree to "settle" the lawsuit *before* that happens. Insanity.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

HOLY CRAP: Never seen anything like this: "DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case. It has misrepresented and withheld information to both this court [and Judge O'Connor in Texas... Its representatives have, under oath, misrepresented salient facts."

[Emoluments Clause @Emolclause]

#BREAKING: MY Nicolle: “I’ve not heard you this angry in a long time.”

Marc Elias: “…have we learned nothing?…has the broader legal community not leaned anything?…have people not learned that when you do this to Black voters it turns out bad for democracy for everybody? So yeah, I’m angry. I’m angry because of the appalling SILENCE that is going on right now around this case and the aftermath.”😳

[Jamesetta Williams 💕 @jamesetta_w]

What Clyburn is saying here is actually very important. The court found a way to rule that a 75% white district (higher than SC’s total non Hispanic white pop.) is legal if you call it a political gerrymander, but a 40 or 45% Black district is an illegal racial gerrymander.

[Steve Vladeck @steve_vladeck]

The redistricting chaos we’re seeing in AL, FL, LA, TN, and VA is something #SCOTUS knowingly enabled, and it belies both the putative purpose of the “Purcell principle” and the Court’s repeated insistence that it’s staying out of the political process:

https://t.co/1t66xX7t5F

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🇺🇸BREAKING: Someone placed a $920 million crude oil short at 3:40 AM.

70 minutes later Axios reported the US and Iran were close to a deal.

Oil dropped 12%.

The trade made $125 million in profit.

Minutes after that Iran launched the “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” and oil surged 8%.

$760 million placed before Trump’s last announcement.

$920 million placed before this one.

Every major announcement in this war has been front-run by someone who knew it was coming.

What kind of war is this?

This is more like a trading desk with an army.

Never stop connecting the dots.

[Jonathan Reiner @JReinerMD]

Last year half of CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program staff were fired. This is the group responsible for investigating cruise ship outbreaks. The cuts were made despite the fact that US taxpayers don’t pay for this team. The cruise ship industry does.

[Norman Ornstein @NormOrnstein]

The same justice as who said no, we can’t change what was then an unconstitutional district in Alabama that favored white voters because it was too close to the election. The Purcell principle applied when it worked for their side. But not this time. Partisan hacks.

[Marc E. Elias @marceelias]

Having used the shadow docket to halt maps favorable to minority voters because elections were approaching, it would be indefensible for the Court to refuse to apply the same standard now—when voting has begun in Louisiana and is days away in Alabama. https://t.co/ohZDvkMseA

[Tim Miller @Timodc]

Drawing a map that gives New Orleans no representation via executive order. A disgraceful assault on democracy and hard earned civil rights in the south:.

[Rᴏʙᴇʀᴛ L. Tsᴀɪ @robertltsai]

No better time for the people to restrain both the supermajority and minority wing of our superlegislature

[Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance]

1/2 Louisiana just interrupted an election where early voting had started. In Alabama, we were saddled with an unconstitutional map for an extra two years after a 2/22 ruling by SCOTUS deemed it too close to the election to do anything about it. Purcell is in the eye of the beholder, not much of a principle.

[Steve Vladeck @steve_vladeck]

Two different technical, procedural moves from #SCOTUS yesterday have one thing in common: The Court is behaving differently in otherwise similar cases based upon the ideological/partisan valence of the dispute.

Results aside, that's not a healthy trend:

https://t.co/yc3Fu8oxws

[Anthony Michael Kreis, FRHistS @AnthonyMKreis]

The Court slow walked taking it up. Slow walked deciding it. Avoided giving express direction to the lower courts. And created an entire series of atextual loopholes through which a president could abuse their power with impunity.

There’s something amiss with this “analysis.”

[Nicholas Stephanopoulos @ProfNickStephan]

This is incorrect. SCOTUS held that Section 5 of the VRA applies to redistricting back in 1969.

It's true that *Section 2* claims against district maps didn't start until the 1980s -- after Congress amended the provision in 1982 (an amendment now undone by Callais).

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Justice Kagan:

"I dissent. The Voting Rights Act is—or, now more accurately, was—'one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation's history.' It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality. And it has been repeatedly, and overwhelmingly, reauthorized by the people's representatives in Congress. Only they have the right to say it is no longer needed—not the Members of this Court. I dissent, then, from this latest chapter in the majority's now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act."

[Philip Hackney @EOTaxProf]

@chrisbriem So however the family held the post-gazette, the new charitable corp is somehow acquiring the assets from that entity rather than taking on the actual legal status of that entity. Workforce in place could be an asset but I don't know how that translates.

[Andrew Fleischman @ASFleischman]

Roy Moore "dated" 14-year-old girls as a 30 something lawyer and was kicked out of a mall for being creepy. (Trump still endorsed him).

An ad ran on those facts, he sued, and an Alabama jury awarded him an 8 million dollar verdict.

Today, the 11th Circuit vacated it. /1

[Philip Hackney @EOTaxProf]

@chrisbriem And having grown up in Louisiana, plenty of writing on the Klan and its deep violent impact in the South. I remember too seeing them on the streets of Pascagoula back in like 1976 raising money on a street corner in their hoods as we drove to the beach in Florida.