🇺🇸 Back to The Bench

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Good morning, and happy Tuesday! We apologize as some technical difficulties delayed yesterday’s newsletter. Hopefully, this is hitting your inbox at the normal time.

Meanwhile, this seven-year-old really wanted a Corvette or electric scooter but decided Hurricane Ian’s victims needed his piggy bank savings more…

Plus, when it comes to fashion choices, sporting a mullet has consequences – just not usually like this…

Also, this Flag Find isn’t a s’more, but it inspires similar warm and toasty feelings…

FLAG POLLS

📉 Biden Job Approval: Approve 38, Disapprove 55 (Monmouth)

🐘 Generic Congress Vote: Republicans 47, Democrats 45 (Monmouth)

📉 Congress Job Approval: Approve 23, Disapprove 67 (Monmouth)

📉 Direction of Country: Right Track 22, Wrong Track 74 (Monmouth)

TRENDING

Left: Trump attacks Mitch McConnell on Truth Social with racist nickname for his wife (Salon)

Left: The states where the midterms will directly decide the future of abortion access (Vox)

Left: Why you can’t just ignore Donald Trump’s latest threat (CNN)

Right: Battle for the House: These deep blue seats could flip red in November's midterm elections (Fox News)

Right: Biden DOJ goes to bat for Trump against disgraced ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok (Washington Examiner)

Right: So Much For CNN Moving Away From Its Hardcore Liberal Bent (The Daily Wire)

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QUICK CLICKS

Storm Bounce-Back, Russia's Slipping and Smuggling, Fed Chair in Focus

US: Photos show massive recovery days after Hurricane Ian hit Florida, Carolinas (CNBC)

World: Russia no longer has full control of any of four ‘annexed’ Ukrainian provinces (The Guardian) + Russia smuggling Ukrainian grain to help pay for Putin's war (AP)

US: Fed's Powell ignores politics — and may pay a heavy price (POLITICO)

US: Elon Musk Slammed For Russia-Friendly Proposal To End War In Ukraine (Forbes)

US: Elizabeth Warren slams GOP efforts to block student-loan forgiveness (Insider)

Tech: New iPhone feature alerts Nebraska police to 'worst crash' in recent memory (Fox Business)

World: Iran's Khamenei backs police over Mahsa Amini protests, may signal tougher crackdown (Reuters)

US: Planned Parenthood launches its 1st mobile abortion clinic (NPR)

US: Jackson is active questioner as she hears first argument as Supreme Court justice (The Hill)

Sports: Scoop: Trump lawyer Eric Herschmann to represent Brett Favre (Axios)

US: Kim Kardashian’s lawyer aspirations could be jeopardy in light of SEC ‘pump and dump’ scandal (NY Post)

SCOTUS

Back to The Bench

The US Supreme Court began a new term yesterday, marking the first session since the one that saw the nation’s highest court overturn Roe v. Wade. The most recently completed term included several controversial opinions, something observers expect to continue in the weeks ahead.

Reporting from the Left: The Supreme Court will begin a new term with more contentious cases on its docket (NPR)

Reporting from the Right: Nine key cases Supreme Court will hear in 2022-23 session (Washington Examiner)

From The Flag: The Supreme Court has officially been seated for this new session. Kicking things off, the court agreed to hear a challenge to tech platforms' liability protections, left a ban on bump stocks in place, and it allowed a defamation lawsuit against My Pillow founder Mike Lindell to proceed. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The Left Cries “It’s No Fair” As Court Continues Its Push to the Right

• The left and its allies in the media now say the court is illegitimate because they don’t like its decisions – meanwhile a landmark case looms concerning what the EPA can declare as “wetlands”.

• Numerous media outlets are reporting the Supreme Court’s “legitimacy” is now in question, while ignoring their role in that narrative-driven loss of confidence.

• This sessions’ calendar contains fewer cases involving so-called “culture war” issues, but conservatives can retain some optimism.

“A Supreme Court Watershed” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “The Supreme Court kicks off its new term on Monday, and the welcome back isn’t universal. ‘Supreme Court term begins amid questions about its legitimacy,’ says a headline over a news story in the Washington Post. We could cite a dozen similar takes. These articles offer no explanation for this pique other than that the authors and the people they quote don’t like the opinions the Court issued last term. We know how they feel. For decades we disagreed with Court rulings when progressives held sway, but we never called the Court illegitimate. But now that the left has lost the Court as a backup legislature for its policy goals, the institution is supposedly broken. Tell us again who is the threat to democratic institutions? Meanwhile, back at the Court, this promises to be another notable term. … (including) a potential landmark administrative law case challenging a giant regulatory land grab (Sackett v. EPA).”

“SCOTUS approval drops to a new low” Jazz Shaw, Hot Air: “The analysts reporting on this news are looking to blame the shift almost entirely on the court’s decision to return abortion laws to the prerogative of the states… The greatest drop in approval of SCOTUS was seen among Democrats and liberals, of course. … One survey after another has shown that significant majorities in America favor abortion being legal in at least some circumstances, particularly in the first trimester or in cases involving rape, incest, or legitimate medical threats to the life of the mother. (Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to say ‘pregnancy-capable person in question.’) … But the public’s attitude toward the court isn’t just springing up organically. … the vast majority of our cable news outlets and larger, liberal newspapers… have been demonizing the conservative justices on the Supreme Court for quite a while now and the volume of that demonization ramped up considerably after the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Will the Conservative Momentum at the Supreme Court Continue This Term? Josh Hammer, Newsweek Opinion

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

These Bullies in Black Robes Prepare To Crush Democracy

• The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is described as “heedless” due to its disregard for democracy and its subjugated citizenry.

• Because voting rights cases are on the docket this session democracy itself is at risk – making this term potentially even more impactful than the last one.

• The Supreme Court is in a problematic place because it essentially draws its authority from trust and the confidence of the American people, but that’s eroding.

“You thought the Supreme Court’s last term was bad? Brace yourself.” Ruth Marcus, Washington Post Opinion: “Nothing in the behavior of the court’s emboldened majority suggests any inclination to pull back on the throttle. … Last term, in addition to overruling Roe v. Wade, the conservative majority expanded gun rights, imposed severe new constraints on the power of regulatory agencies and further dismantled the wall of separation between church and state. … now, the court is marching on toward fresh territory, taking on race, gay rights and the fundamental structures of democracy — this even as the shock waves of the abortion ruling reverberate through our politics and lower courts grapple with a transformed legal regime. And there’s every indication that the court intends to adopt changes nearly as substantial — and as long sought by conservatives — as those of last term. … Heedless of the real-world consequences of its actions — on women, on minorities, on public safety and, most worrisome, on democracy itself.”

“The Supreme Court’s new term could be even more consequential than its last one” Ian Millhiser, Vox: “The headline of this piece is likely to turn a few heads. The Supreme Court’s last term, after all… culminated in the demise of Roe v. Wade… But this term, a potentially even more consequential issue than the right to an abortion is on the Court’s docket: democracy itself. A single case, Moore v. Harper, threatens to fundamentally rewrite the rules governing federal elections, potentially giving state legislatures (some of which are highly gerrymandered themselves) nearly limitless power to skew those elections. A second case in the Court’s new term… Merrill v. Milligan, could usher in a new era of racial gerrymandering where states have more freedom to undercut Black and brown political power than they’ve had since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965… If both these cases go badly… the power to decide how elections are conducted… could rest with increasingly partisan officials, including the justices themselves.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: The Supreme Court’s legitimacy is in danger Fareed Zakaria, CNN Opinion

FLAG THIS

Over Three Decades of Decline: The Court Falls Out of Favor

Tracking polling results over the past 35 years, Americans are becoming increasingly more likely to say they have an “unfavorable” opinion of the Supreme Court.

In 1987, more than three in every four respondents said they had a favorable opinion of the nation’s highest court, compared to just 17% who felt the opposite.

Early last month the same poll’s results showed that gap had narrowed entirely, with 49% holding a favorable opinion, and 48% who described their opinion as unfavorable.

The same poll shows the partisan divide has widened considerably over the same time period. Thirty-five years ago 80% of Republicans approved of the Supreme Court, as did 75% of Democrats. Now, while 73% of Republicans hold a favorable opinion, just 28% of Democrats feel the same way (Pew Research).

A separate survey that’s been asking Americans their opinion on the subject since 1972 now shows trust in the Supreme Court is at an all-time low. In a 20% drop from this time in 2020, 47% of respondents say they have a “a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government (Gallup).

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Mr. Rushmore, Dryer Maintenance, The British Empire

On October 4, 1927, sculpting began on the face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota. It would take another 12 years for the granite images of four of America’s most revered presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt—to be completed.

Life Hacker: The Dryer Maintenance Tasks You Should Do Every Month

The Guardian: Why You Keep Waking up at 3 a.m.

Buzzfeed: Go-To Answers To Tricky Interview Questions

Today I Learned the height of the British empire was only 100 years ago. In 1922, British rule covered around a quarter of all land on Earth and ruled 458,000,000 people, at the time around a quarter of Earth's population.