Trump Watch

Pardons 

I wrote a substack about Trump pardons. I often post forms of such extended remarks in both places. It helps since the blog serves as a sort of first draft. 

Native Americans 

I wrote about the book The Indian Card. The author discusses how she is a member of the Lumbee Nation, which is not a federally recognized tribe (it is recognized as being Native American). In one of Trump's not offensive executive orders, he instructed various things to be done to address that. 

Supreme Court 

There was some reporting of a cowrie necklace that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wore to the inauguration. The necklace has various possible meanings, including as a talisman of protection. Some suppose it was some sort of symbol of dissent. 

The justices allowed the enforcement of a corporate transparency law to go forward without addressing former Solicitor General Prelogar's request to address universal national injunctions. 

Jackson dissented, arguing it wasn't necessary. Gorsuch, selectively (often let anti-Biden ones go), said he would address that matter when suitable. 

Since providing executive discretion has a somewhat different connotation under Trump, this expected result might have more extensive implications. Maybe not in this case though. 

[Btw, for completeness, Sotomayor also dropped an administrative stay in another case.]

Racial Equality 

Trump overturned a series of executive orders going back the the Johnson Administration supposedly in a campaign against DEI, which is a bugaboo on the right. It will have much wider implications for the fight against racial discrimination. 

[Make that FDR. I have seen some reasonable sorts question some applications of DEI, but overall, to me, it seems like unhinged hysteria with racist connotations. See also, critical race theory.]

Nicely timed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday! This all is part of a bunch of administrative moves that are a mixture of revenge and power-hungry:

The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles placed on paid leave by Wednesday evening, according to a new memo from the Office of Personnel Management.

The breadth is only touched upon here. The whole thing is just part of an executive order firehose as was warned beforehand. We knew who he was. 

ETA: Still more -- foreign policy stuff.