Tuesday, September 1, 2026 Today, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 with John Roberts joining the liberals to allow Trump to continue construction on his illegal ballroom; the Pentagon has installed military influencers in civilian roles on Twitter; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned due to conflicts with Hegseth - leaving the Army with no Senate- confirmed leadership; Judge Talwani denies the government’s bid to stay her restraining order against the administration’s mail in voting rule; Freedom Gas stations sold $4M in stolen gasoline; European soccer seeks to subpoena Josh Kushner over his failed FIFA privatization scheme; prediction market startup Kalshi has banned George Santos for life and fined him $71K; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Today, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 with John Roberts joining the liberals to allow Trump to continue construction on his illegal ballroom; the Pentagon has installed military influencers in civilian roles on Twitter; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned due to conflicts with Hegseth - leaving the Army with no Senate- confirmed leadership; Judge Talwani denies the government’s bid to stay her restraining order against the administration’s mail in voting rule; Freedom Gas stations sold $4M in stolen gasoline; European soccer seeks to subpoena Josh Kushner over his failed FIFA privatization scheme; prediction market startup Kalshi has banned George Santos for life and fined him $71K; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Thank You, DailyLook
For 50% off your first order, head to DailyLook.com and use code DAILYBEANS.
Thank You, Laundry Sauce
Make laundry day the best day of the week! Get 20% off your entire order @LaundrySauce with code DAILYBEANS at https://laundrysauce.com/DAILYBEANS #laundrysaucepod #ad
The Trump Epstein Memorial Bookmobile
The Daily Beans is proud to partner with Miles Taylor and our friends at DEFIANCE.org For a limited time, members of the Daily Beans community can receive a FREE 3-month full membership to DEFIANCE.org and gain access to one of the fastest-growing pro-democracy movements in America. Join here: https://www.defiance.org/beans
Diamond Dames - Subscribe here: Diamond Dames - A Ted Lasso Podcast
Diamond Dames - YouTube playlist
Guest: Leah Litman - University of Michigan Law School
Lawless | Book by Leah Litman | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster
Strict Scrutiny Podcast | Crooked Media
@leahlitman.bsky.social on Bluesky
The Latest Breakdown→ The Breakdown | Trump DOJ Nears Contempt Over Epstein Cover-Up
Stories
Army Secretary Resigns After Months of Friction With Hegseth | WSJ
Supreme Court allows Trump to move forward with White House ballroom construction | NBC News
Pentagon secretly installs military influencers in civilian roles | The Washington Post
Prediction market startup Kalshi permanently bans ex-US lawmaker Santos from trading | Reuters
Good Trouble
High School Voter Registration - LWV
→Operation Take Up Space - Commondefense.us/otus
→Voter Registration Deadlines - Vote.org
Voter Registration Volunteer Opportunities · Mobilize
→Helpline Orientation- Spanish Speakers Needed! · VoteRiders
→Help save Texas from Ken Paxton!
→NO HATE in WA State
→Stand With Minnesota
→iceout.org
Good News
Adopt a Pet | Maricopa County, AZ
Oct 9 -Southwest Funny Fest:
Dana Goldberg's Southwest FunnyFest - City of Albuquerque -Email Dana@DanaGoldberg.com for sponsorship information
Tickets for Dana Goldberg: Outrageous - Sep 23 - Den Theater - Chicago
→Share your Good News & Good Trouble - The Daily Beans
→Beans Talk audio -beans-talk.simplecast.com
Subscribe to the MSW on YouTube - MSW Media - YouTube
Our Donation Links
The Trevor Project - trevorproject.org/beans
Blue Wave California - ActBlue.com/donate/msw-bwc
Donate to Public Citizen - https://citizen.org/beans/
Donate to It Gets Better / The Daily Beans Fundraiser
Pathways to Citizenship - boomerang - pathways
Dana and The Daily Beans support of Human Rights Campaign ONE CAUSE HRC
The Daily Beans supports It Gets Better
National Security Counselors - Donate, WhistleblowerAid.org/beans
Dr. Allison Gill - The Breakdown | Allison Gill, Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com - Bluesky, MSW & The Daily Beans Podcast @muellershewrote - Instagram, MSW Media - YouTube →Federal workers email AG - fedoath@pm.me
Dana Goldberg - Dana is on Patreon! At Dana’s Dugout, @dgcomedy - Bluesky, @dgcomedy - IG, Dana Goldberg - Facebook, DanaGoldberg.com
More from MSW Media - Shows, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | Allison Gill
msw media. Hello, and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Today, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 with John Roberts joining the liberal to allow Trump to continue construction on his illegal ballroom. The Pentagon has installed military influencers in civilian roles on Twitter. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has resigned due to conflicts with Hegseth, leaving the army with no Senate confirmed leadership. Judge Talwani denies the government's bid to stay her restraining order against the administration's mail in voting rule. Freedom gas stations sold $4 million in stolen gasoline. European soccer seeks to subpoena Josh Kushner over his failed FIFA privatization sch. And prediction market startup Kalshee has banned George Santos for life and fined him $71,000. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Hello, Dana. Happy Tuesday, my friend.
Happy Tuesday to you. How are you?
I'm doing all right, thank you very much.
Good.
And later in the show, I'm going to be doing better because we're going to get to talk to Leah Littman. She's a professor of law at University of Michigan Law School, co host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, and author of how the supreme on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories and Bad Vibes.
Sounds about right.
We're going to talk about. I wanted to bring an expert in to get an opinion on Jim Clyburn endorsing expansion of the Supreme Court.
All right, I'm looking forward to hearing that.
And it's so great. She's wearing a shirt. You can't see it because it's just audio, but she's wearing a shirt. It's got jaws, and it says, we're going to need a bigger court.
I love that.
Yeah, me too.
Oh, Alison, listen, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation. Yeah. To Trump, following months of tension between Kegseth over the direction of the service and the ouster of numerous senior army officers. So he's the guy that we reported on that clash with Hegseth over firing all of the minorities and the women, particularly black women, at the Pentagon. Oh, yeah, yeah. Remember, I think it was Berea told Driscoll he had to fire them because Trump wouldn't want to be seen standing next to black women. Fuck off. Now the army has no Senate confirmed leadership left. None of.
Oh, that's fantastic. Is there a war or something we should be worried about?
No.
What are you talking about? It's conflict.
Do you see that AI slop he posted of attacking Kharg Island?
Oh, God, no. I try miss as much of his stuff as possible, but some of it slips through my, algorithm.
Yeah, Lindsay was really about taking Carg island, but if you do that, you're gonna have to commit tens of thousands of troops in a ground war that's gonna last forever. And as you know, they're running out of money to pay people, and they don't have any bombs left.
So what?
WTF are they even doing? Y. What a mess. All right, everybody, we have a ton of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot, notes. All right, first up from NBC. The Supreme Court on Monday handed a win to President Trump by allowing him, on the merits, to move forward indefinitely with the construction of his new White House ballroom. The court divided five to four, not six to three. But it granted emergency requests that were filed by the Trump administration, blocking lower court rulings that would have put the above ground portion of the project on hold. This followed an interim decision along similar lines issued by Chief Justice John Roberts on August 21st. The legal challenge was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which argued that the President did not have unilateral authority to proceed with construction. Now, in the unsigned ruling, Dana, the court says that the trust likely does not have legal standing to bring the underlying lawsuit. The court did not reach any conclusion on whether Trump has authority to carry out construction without congressional approval. So they didn't go full on the merits. Quote, today we do not pass upon the legality of the government's East Wing project. We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the trust lacks standing to challenge the project in federal court. Now, Roberts ultimately joined the court's three liberal justices in dissent. Quote, construction of the ballroom has proceeded apace for the better part of a year. That construction is likely unlawful. that's what John Roberts wrote. Now, the trust's claim for standing hinges on a declaration made by a member of the trust named Alison Hoagland, a preservationist who lives in D.C. and serves on the organization's board of trustees. Now, Hoagland regularly walks by the White House, adding she would suffer both professional and personal injuries, including to my aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests, if a ballroom of the proposed form and scale were constructed. The Supreme Court majority concluded the court had never found legal standing in such a situation before saying to the contrary, we have repeatedly held that that m mere offense, disagreement or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury. That's what the court said. So when I said that they ruled on the merits earlier, I was incorrect. They only ruled on standing. Ah, saying that they don't even have standing to sue. And that's why now the construction can go forward. Now, Roberts said he would have found that Hoagland did have standing, noting that as an historic preservationist, she can be aesthetically injured in a concrete, particularized way by the transformation of an historic building that she frequently enjoys. So it was, you know, the super right wing arm of the Supreme Court that just decided that the people suing to stop the construction don't even have standing. So we don't have to decide whether it's illegal or whether Trump has to get permission from Congress. Now, who has standing? Who has standing if someone from the Historical Preservation Society doesn't?
I have no idea.
Right.
All right, this next story is from the Post. The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Keg says viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter and corroborating material. What could possibly, go wrong?
Oh, man. Taxpayer funded Twitter trolls.
Yep.
At least some of the influencers have been assigned to civilian roles that could lead to changes in policy. This is from people familiar with the matter. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive issue. Neither the Pentagon nor those involved have disclosed the government roles, despite the Trump administration's claims that they're running the most transparent Defense Department ever. Those invoked include Rob Manis, a retired Air Force colonel, and Kurt Schlichter, a retired army colonel. People familiar with the matter. This is what they're telling them. Pentagon records reviewed by the Washington Post show that both have active official government email addresses as of this past week, and they are assigned to the office of Anthony Tada. Tata?
No idea.
Tata. Let's go with Tata. And by the way, Anthony is the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. The email addresses include a civix, meaning they are labeled as civilian employees rather than as military personnel or contractors. Factors. I'm sure there's a reason for that. Both served for decades in uniform and since retiring, have turned from the military to conservative commentary. Manus has more than 135,000 followers on Twitter, while Schlichter has nearly 620,000. So they clearly have a reach. Another retired army colonel and influencer, Thomas Anderson, was listed in Pentagon records earlier this year. With a CIV email address and assigned to Tata's office. That's according to people familiar with the matter. By the way, these are records that were reviewed by the Post. So this isn't just second. I mean, it's a source. An attorney who writes online under the pen name Cynical Publius has. Oh my God, what is wrong with these people? Has more than 323,000 followers on Twitter. He is no longer listed, by the way, in Pentagon records. Late this past week, Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to comment to the Post about whether any of the three are drawing a taxpayer funded salary, what roles they have, or how long these jobs are expected to last. Tata did not respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon also brought on Jerry Dunleavy. He's a journalist with the conservative Just the News to assist hegsa's team with an ongoing review of the fall of Afghanistan. Okay. The Pentagon disclosed Dunleavy's involvement in May. Dunleavy previously worked as an investigator for the gop led House affairs, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, during an earlier investigation of the collapse in Kabul and quit in protest, saying that the committee had not gone far enough.
Yeah, yeah, when you have a Civ address, you're usually getting paid. Now I worked for the va. I had a regular VA address, but I also was embedded at the Department of Defense and they gave me a DOT Civ address.
But I was paid by the government to work at the Department of Veterans affairs. So I think these guys are working for free. I doubt it. Next up. Judge Indira Talwani has denied the government's bid to lift her block on Trump's USPS mail in voting plan. She wrote in a minute order Monday. She said on August 21, the United States Postal Service issued a final rule concerning mail in ballots with a publication date of August 26, 2026. Less than 70 days before the midterm election, plaintiffs promptly challenged the final rule. This court found that the standard for a temporary restraining order had been met and stayed for 14 days. The mandatory require requirements of the final rule as they apply to the midterm election. Defendants now seek to undo the 14 day stay, preserving the status quo in place prior to the federal agency's altering of requirements applicable to state and local election officials. Quote, on the threshold of the upcoming election, these motions are denied, she said. First, a, TRO is not appealable. Second, as to the merits, it is likely that the USPS lacked authority to issue the final rule and that the final rule is substantively unconstitutional and contrary to law. The defendant's claims that they are entitled to relief because appellate review of the temporary restraining order would come too late for the midterms misconstrues. The Supreme Court's August 24th order. The Supreme Court found that review of Trump's executive order was premature where challenges were filed before the USPS issued a final rule. A, final rule has now issued. And contrary to the defendant's cynical interpretation, the Supreme Court has not endorsed the view that any challenge to the final rule is now too late. Further, defendants branding the final rule as changes that are modest does not alter the actual requirements of the final rule, which condition all use of the postal service for election mail on the USPS sign off on ballot envelopes and return envelopes, which requires state and local election officials to first obtain that sign off and then upload and certify each voter's information through the USPS portal before being permitted to use federal mail. So what she's saying here is you can call that modest, but it's impossible still.
Like no matter how you characterize it, you're being stupid. Third, as to irreparable harm to the plaintiff states and the plaintiff organizations and their members, the court reiterates the conclusions laid out in the Aug. 27 memorandum and order. The plaintiff states election officials maintain that full compliance with the final rule is likely impossible and that the USPS's prohibition on mailing non compliant mail ballots will result in substantial disenfranchisement for the midterms. Fourth, it's a long minute order. It's a five minute order. Fourth, as to the defendant's claimed irreparable harm, the court has narrowly tailored the restraining order to allow the post office to establish the ballot mail portal and communicate with states about design standards, so long as states participation is not required. Okay, so you can still do this. You just can't make it mandatory.
Which is wild because obviously the red states are going to say we want to participate and then their voters are going to get disenfranchised.
It's funny that you say that because not all red states are doing fewer than half actually back this rule.
That's nice to hear because it's going to be zero blue states.
States. Right, exactly. It's zero blue states and only I
think unless there's any blue states that have Republican governors. Am I forgetting anything?
Well, blue Governor, we should say blue governors. Blue attorneys general.
Yeah. Okay, thank you.
because yeah, like New Hampshire.
Is a. A red and. But a blue state. But they Also are not participating in this. Like, there's several. We list them on tomorrow's episode of Clean up on aisle 45, actually, because I shocked to learn that fewer than half the Republican states, or Republican, attorneys general, I should say, are actually backing this rule.
Makes me happy.
finally, as to the public interest, the court underscores that the late timing of the changes to state election practices of federal agencies seek to impose by final rule. Those are contrary to the public's need for clear and settled rules of the road for November 3, now only two months away. So your public interest argument is also garbage. So she went off in this minute order. I'm surprised she didn't just write up a whole, like, actual order and put it on the docket. But she. I feel like I just, you know, that cat with the keyboard, slamming on the keyboard. M. Like, I just imagine her, like, pounding out this minute order. Like, you guys are so dumb.
All right, this next story is from Politico. This makes me happy. The brawl over a failed plan to partially privatize soccer's international governing body. That's FIFA. It spilled into U.S. courts Thursday. The European Court governing bodies launched a bid to subpoena the proposal's chief financial backer. You want to know who that is? Josh Kushner.
Oh, Josh, yeah.
Jeeransboro, the brother in law of President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. The union of the European Football Association, a soccer federation that runs the Champions League and has emerged as a prominent critic of FIFA leadership, asked a federal judge in Manhattan to approve subpoenas demanding testimony and records about the FIFA forward enterprise. That plan from Kushner and his venture capital firm called Thrive Financial. Lawyers for UEFA said Kushner's account and documentation about the deal that they're needed for the league to file a criminal case in Switzerland against the other Mastermind of the $20 billion partial privatization proposal. FIFA President Gianni Infantino. He's a corrupt motherfucker. Oh, yeah, UEFA. He's the guy that gave Trump that bullshit peace prize and then, flipped that red card. Whatever. UEFA plans to claim that Infantin, potentially the others, engaged in criminal mismanagement of FIFA arising out of the secretive structuring, valuation, financing, marketing of a transaction that inflicted direct and concrete injury on FIFA's reputation, governance, authority and commercial relationships, to the detriment of FIFA as well as its 211 members, including UEFA's 55 member associations. That's from attorney Andrew Lavender wrote in a 50 page court application. UEFA's lawyers contend that Kushner who earlier this month announced a deal to acquire the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team for 12.5 billion, had a unique role in developing the plan to tap private capital to expand the revenue streams for FIFA. The Zurich based athletic body is best known for staging the World cup, as I said. But it's also been plagued by a series of corruption scandals. Like I said over the years, and I quote, Thrive and Kushner are among the small number of counterparties in a position to know from the investor side when the transaction was discussed with whom, on what terms and what representations were made regarding FIFA's internal management approvals. That's from the lawyer. Right.
So Switzerland's like, we're not going to charge you with the crime, Kushner, but we need your stuff because we're trying to charge other people with crimes and you like to hang out with crimey people, so send it our way. That's right. All right, next up from the Guardian, the company that supplied fuel to the discount gas station praised by Donald Trump member Freedom Gas. Remember these guys?
They're being sued for stealing nearly $4 million worth of gas.
Unbelievable. But not, not really.
What did we say when we said, like, who's he stealing this from? Mansfield Oil Co. Of Gainesville sued KRSM and its president, Syed Cosmi, for allegedly picking up about 1.1 million gallons of fuel from 21 May to 7 July, worth more than $3.998 million and not paying for it. KRSM sold some of the fuel to stations that are part of the Freedom Fuel Network, according to the lawsuit. The dispute comes after the Trump administration promoted the Freedom Fuel Network, which offered gas for the low, low, low price of $3.47 a gallon in July when drivers were facing higher oil prices. It's at 408 right now, by the way, and I believe it was, ah, at 318 when Biden left office. And this, of course, is amid the war with Iran and the busy summer travel season that was also driving up demand. The lawsuit filed on 19 August says KRSM was able to sell such fuel for such low prices and garner such publicity because it never paid us for the gas.
So that's basically 100% profit. Allison.
Freedom Fuel Network is a private gas chain with 29 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A, ah, White House official said, quote, the administration has had zero contact or dealings with the defendant, KRSM Inc. Or Syed Cosmi. That's what the White House said. We Don't. They don't know anybody. It's like Papadopoulos is just a coffee boy now. A source familiar with Freedom Fuel said KRSM M Inc. And Siad Cosmi are not associated with Freedom Fuel in any way. You bought and then didn't pay for a bunch of k. As of August 17, Mansfield has not received any payment for the referenced 150 loads of fuel that KRSM M purchased from Mansfield at the Twin Oaks terminal. That's what the lawsuit says. Gas prices in August have continued to climb as peace talks between the US And Iran have stalled. That's a really, really, really nice way to. They stalled. They were never there. Quote, for the first time ever, the national average in August has been above $4 per gallon every day. That's the first time in history. That's what the AAA said Thursday. The national average for a gallon of gas stood at 408 on Sunday. Oh, look, I was right. Look at that. Freedom Fuel.
You like when you're right. I like when you're right. This last one's quickie. It's from Reuters Call. She permanently has banned former US Congressman George Santos from its platform. But not just banned him. Imposed a penalty of about $71,000, citing insider trading. Look at that. Look who did not learn their fucking lesson when they got pardoned.
He's gonna be like, can I pay that fine with my family's credit card? Seriously?
And my donors. Oh, no, not my donors. The company said into disciplinary action that its compliance department had found reasonable cause to believe the former lawmaker engaged in illicit training. No call. She I know had reported Santos to the U.S. department of Justice. Great. Nothing's gonna fucking get done. After detecting suspicious trading activity from his account on the platform, a source told Reuters at the time Santos was expelled from Congress over fraud and identity theft. President Trump commuted his over seven year prison sentence last year. And you know, I say the Department of Justice isn't going to do shit, but they might because they hate drag queens.
They did fine him. So there is that. Oh, thank you for that story. It's the feel good stories that really, it really is make a Tuesday special. All right, we're going to have Leah Littman after this to discuss Jim Clyburn's jaw dropping support of, expanding the Supreme Court. And then we'll have the good news after that. Stick around. We'll be right back.
M.
There is a very specific kind of frustration that comes with having a closet full of clothes and still feeling like you have absolutely nothing to wear. And that is where Daily look saves me me. I don't want to spend my free time wandering through stores hoping inspiration strikes. I would much rather have someone who understands my style curate pieces for me that I'll actually wear. So if getting dressed feels harder than it should, it's time for our sponsor, DailyLook, the number one highest rated premium personal styling service for women. For 50% off your first order, head to DailyLook.com and use code Daily Beans. Now, Daily look pairs you with a real dedicated personal stylist who chooses clothes around your body shape preferences and lifestyle. You keep the same stylist, so over time they actually get to know what you like to wear and what you'll be leaving hanging in the closet forever. My stylist at DailyLook recently sent me a pair of trousers that felt like someone had actually secretly taken my measurements while I was asleep. Everything they send fits so perfectly. The unboxing is amazing. The comfort and style is perfect. These slacks look great. They're very comfortable. I absolutely love them. And it all starts with a style quiz, including your price and lifestyle preferences. Then you can get up to 12 hand selected premium pieces delivered directly to your home. Try everything on there, keep your favorites and send back the rest. And Daily look covers shipping both ways. So it's time to get your own personal stylist with DailyLook. Head to DailyLook.com to take your style quiz and use code DailyBeans for 50% off your first order. Once again, that's DailyLook.com for 50% off. And make sure you use our promo code DailyBeans so they know we sent you one last time. DailyLook.com, promo code DailyBeans. Okay, I'm obsessed with good smells, and right now I'm obsessed with laundry sauce because clean clothes should smell better than bathroom cleansers. Their premium scented pods use fragrances created by top perfumers with scents like Australian sandalwood, Italian bergamot and limited edition Brazilian vanilla, which is so it's got so much depth, it's so good. And they actually work too. Their concentrated bioenzymes go after real summer messes like barbecue stains, dirt and iced coffee and sweat. So my clothes come out looking clean and smelling amazing. So check out our new sponsor, Laundry sauce. You get 20 off your order@laundry sauce.com with promo code dailybeans. It's like having a signature scent. The first thing I notice when I open the dryer is the smell, and that alone has made Laundry Sauce worth it for me. I take their dryer sheets and I keep them in my linen closet. Keeps everything smelling amazing. My clothes smell better than they used to. The scent sticks around long enough that I still catch it throughout the day, and it smells just as good every time. So there's something nice about getting dressed and immediately feeling a little more put together because your clothes smell genuinely amazing. It's a small thing, but I notice. And Laundry Sauce also has fabric conditioner, scent boosters, dryer sheets, everything you need. Fabric fresher spray. So all your laundry supplies can be just as delightful to use as their scented pods. They say 90% of customers now love laundry day because of laundry sauce, and I believe it. Laundry will never be my favorite chore, but Laundry Sauce has made it so that every time I open the dryer and smell everything, it makes me very happy. So for a limited time only, our listeners get 20% off your entire order when you use code Daily beans@laundry sauce.com, that's 20% off your order@laundry sauce.com with promo code dailybeans. After your purchase, they're going to ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. It's time to make laundry day the best day of the week. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. All right, so yesterday on the Beans Talk video podcast, Dana Goldberg and I talked briefly about what a big deal it is that Representative Jim Clyburn, SC is endorsing expansion of the Supreme Court. My jaw was on the floor. A lot of people's jaws were on the floor. And today I wanted to bring in an expert. She's a professor of law at University of Michigan Law School. She co hosts Strict Scrutiny, which is a podcast about the Supreme Court alongside Professor Melissa Murray. Kate Shaw. She also is the author of how the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes, which is just a great title. Please welcome my friend, Leah Littman. Hi, Leah.
How are you?
Pretty good, Honestly, A lot better after seeing that Clyburn interview.
Right.
It's a big deal and I kind of wanted to presented as such, and so I figured I'd bring you on to discuss why. I mean, there's a couple of times, like, he's the Overton window washer of my lifetime. I remember when Obama had come out for marriage equality, but only on a state by state basis. And that same week, Jim Clyburn said, no, no, no, that should be federally protected. He went on to pass that law. Get rid of doma, get rid of don't ask, don't tell moved the whole party to the left. Left. And then, of course, we saw him endorse President Joe Biden, then candidate Joe Biden in 2020, and get, him to promise to put a black woman on the Supreme Court first in history. And so he moves this party in a way that's pretty hard to explain. So I wanted you to talk a little bit about what your first thoughts were when you heard him say that this is the first time he's endorsed the idea of court expansion to add justices to the Supreme Court.
I mean, my first thought was, oh, my gosh, this is suddenly becoming a real possibility. Because as someone who has been encouraging various Supreme Court reforms, including Supreme Court expansion for a while, you know, that position has been something that some Democratic officials are willing to engage with, but by and large, not that many. So even Joe Biden, when he was running for president, basically said, okay, you people are talking about Supreme Court reform. All I'm going to do is promise to establish a commission. And then he made a commission on Supreme Court reform, but then didn't actually give the commission any power to even to make recommendations. And so the idea that there is now a party leader and an establishment Democrat who is openly endorsing Supreme Court expansion is huge. I mean, first, there just aren't a huge number of elected Democratic officials, at least on the federal level, who have come out in favor of expansion. Certainly you don't see other party leadership doing that, like Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jefferson. And then, as you were saying, Jim Clyburn is able to move the needle. He is a kingmaker in the Democratic Party, and he can really determine what the new kind of consensus position and established position for the Democratic Party is. I mean, imagine, for example, you are a Democratic candidate in the presidential primary, and, you know, Jim Clyburn basically decides who's going to get the nomination in the South Carolina Democratic primary. And, you know, he carries the possibility of delivering a huge number of votes. Now he's come out in favor of Supreme Court expansion. And I think that just hugely increases the odds that endorsing Supreme Court expansion is now effectively a required position in the Democratic primary.
Yeah. And remind everybody why South Carolina is such an important state now in the Democratic primary, whereas it used to not be as much. Right, yeah.
So a few different reasons. One is, you know, in the last presidential cycle, you know, South Carolina determined that Joe Biden was going to be, you know, the president, presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. That was when the Biden campaign, you know, really turned around and they were able to make the case that having won South Carolina, you know, including, you know, the significant share of black voters in the Democratic primary was an important reason why they should be the Democratic nominee. It's also early right in the presidential primary season. And so all of those reasons make the South Carolina primary pretty important, you know, if you're trying to be the Democratic nominee for president. Right.
And in fact, they just held another DNC meeting where they decided South Carolina is going to be one of the first states in the primary in 2028. So when you're trying to decide what the 2028 Democratic Party platform looks like, it goes directly through South Carolina, thereby going directly through Jim Clyburn. And I think this gives a, permission structure for other mainstream big name Democrats to come out and endorse this. I mean, I remember you brought up Joe Biden, who put together that commission. I know he, he kind of verbally supported perhaps term limits through maybe senior status, and then as did Kamala Harris. But now Harris is firmly on board with court expansion. And a couple of things about court expansion. First of all, there's 20 other things that have to go along with it. You can't just expand the court. You know, I've put out this sort of seven step program I've been talking about for a while now. And the first step is that we have to get the Senate back this November so that we can block any potential, you know, if Alito and Thomas decide to retire, we can block any potential nominees. But we also have to win the White House in 2028 because the idea is to have a Democratic president appoint these four. But what are some other considerations? Staggering every two years, for example, senior status, other things that have to go along with this in order order to make it work.
Yeah, so there are really kind of different ways you can potentially expand the court. One is the, you know, senior status or separate court model that some people have proposed where you would basically say, you know, all of the justices above a certain age, or maybe the justices already appointed. They would just hear cases in what's called the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction, cases that are filed at the Supreme Court from the outset. Those are usually cases between different states. They're not the mind run of cases that, you know, the Supreme Court is deciding today. So one possibility is you just kind of establish two different Supreme Courts and have the old Supreme Court hear original jurisdiction. Another possibility is you immediately add, you know, four justices to the Supreme Court and have whoever is the president nominate those justices and they will be confirmed by the Senate. You know, another possibility is this idea of staggered reforms where, sure, you expand the Supreme Court, but you say, you know, this president, you know, can appoint, you know, one justice a year. That basically means whether and who he's able to appoint or she is able to appoint will depend on what happens, you know, with control of the Senate in the midterm elections after 2028. So, you know, all of those are kind of different variables. And I think part of the reason why it mattered that Jim Clyburn just came out and said four seats, right, 13 total, is there's a real concern that if you stagger the Supreme Court appointments, you are basically cutting yourself off at the knee. In the following sense, part of the case for Supreme Court reform is the current Supreme Court and its right wing super majority will invalidate basically any important reforms that a Democratic Congress and Democratic President would make. And so if you only appoint one justice, you know, in 2020, and you only appoint one additional justice in 2030, well, what's going to happen with your really awesome federal law that bans partisan gerrymandering or bans dark money in politics, you know, in 2029, the court is going to strike it down because you haven't actually rebalanced the Supreme Court to allow, you know, a, court that would actually allow for us to have pro democracy reforms. And so I think part of what was encouraging, you know, in my mind in hearing Clyburn's statement, is it was just. No, four justices, 13 total. Right. Like none of this kind of, well, staggering term limits, regularizing appointments. No, I, I think honestly Jim Clyburn, together with many other Democrats, especially in the south, was probably radicalized by the Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana versus Calais, which really messed over democratic representation and multiracial democracy in the south because it cleared the way for Republican legislatures to erase race, black electoral and black political power, especially in the South. And so my guess is, you know, that decision and its aftermath may have pushed him over toward. No, this is something we need to do now because if we tried to fix that decision, if we tried to renew the Voting Rights act before this court has changed, they're not going to let us do that. Right?
Yeah. So if you're going to do the staggered every two years on 18 year retirement or senior status, then, and start that going forward and just put the four people in now as, I talked to Ellie Mistahl about that because a lot of people Are like, well, we'll just impeach them and remove them. And it's like, oh, no, no, no. It's way easier to add than take away.
Exactly. Right. Like, removing requires two thirds of the
Senate, because I don't think John Roberts is gonna throw hands.
Right, right, right.
Talk about the filibuster. a lot of people are concerned about they believe you have to completely blow up the filibuster, but can't you just carve it out or do some sort of a jurisdiction thing or, like, we'll talk about the filibuster because I think that's the number one worry. We maybe get a ton of Democrats who are for adding four seats to the Supreme Court as soon as we get the White house back in 2029. But do we have enough votes to get rid of the filibuster?
Yeah, absolutely. So you can get rid of the filibuster by a simple majority. I mean, right now, part of the reason why so much policy is done by budgeting is you can pass budget bills. Right. Without getting the filibuster. That isn't in the Constitution. Right.
That's why they try to shove everything into a budget reconciliation. Reconciliation package.
Right. That's just a rule that Congress made. And so Congress can make a different rule and say, well, in addition to budget reconciliation, another type of legislation that doesn't actually require a super majority of votes. And, you know, to get past this super majority filibuster is legislation that, you know, changes the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court or legislation that protects voting rights. So Congress can always, by a simple majority, change the rules about what legislation, you know, requires a filibuster or, you know, requires a super majority to get over a filibuster. Because that's just something Congress decides for itself based on its own internal rules. And Congress can change its internal rules as it likes.
Yeah. And you can write the rule to say whatever you want it to say. You don't have to blow up the entire filibuster. Just like we did when we changed the fact that you only need a simple majority to confirm a Supreme Court justice.
Exactly right.
So one last question for you, because there are a lot of objections to this idea, but I think there'll be farther and fewer between now that Jim Clyburn has come out for it. First of all, are you expecting more people now? Because he has. And second of all, what does it look like to add something like senior status? And can you tell us what circuit riding is?
Is.
Yeah. so my guess Is, Yes, I at least hope, that we will see additional Democrats come out in favor of Supreme Court expansion now that Jim Clyburn has and has kind of paved the way to do so. You know, as far as senior justices riding circuit, you know, there are different variations of Supreme Court reform. Justices right now choose when they retire and they become senior justices of the Supreme Court. When they do that, they don't. They don't actively sit to decide the cases that the court hears. Instead, they can do, or they can decide whether to sit as a court of appeals judge, you know, sit on the circuit. So Justice Souter, for example, you know, heard a bunch of cases on the U.S. court of Appeals for the First Circuit, you know, after he decided to retire from the U.S. supreme Court. You know, as far as riding circuit goes, you know, that was kind of a, ah, more well established practice, you know, back in the earlier days where, where you would have a justice and they would participate in proceedings on the court of Appeals for the Circuit that they were in charge of. it's way less common today. But Congress, if it wanted to, you know, could reimpose a requirement that justices occasionally ride circuit, you know, and engage with the court of appeals in that way if it wanted to.
Yeah. And I lied. One last question. One of the big things that I think Court reform should look at is the whole idea of strict scrutiny, the whole idea of, of Marbury v. Madison, the whole idea that the Supreme Court decided itself what kinds of cases it would take and how it would review them. Is that something that can be reformed or overturned if we add four justices or fixed in some way? Because I think that the Supreme Court, much like the executive branch, has given itself so much power. it's kind of untenable at this moment.
Yeah. So I am definitely one of the people that thinks Congress could, if it wanted to, change a lot about how the current Supreme Court works. Congress could, if it wants to, wanted to take back some power over what cases the court decides. The court has basically decided that it will determine all of the cases, you know, that it will hear, and it will even rewrite some of the questions in those cases.
Immunity comes to mind.
Right, Exactly. For the first hundred years of the Court, you know, they did not have discretion over which cases to hear. They heard the cases that Congress told them to hear, you know, when the parties elected to appeal to the Supreme Court. So Congress could, if it was wanted to, you know, decide. You have to hear these cases. And I also think Congress could decide. You can't hear this set of cases. Under the Constitution, you know, Congress has the authority to establish exceptions and regulations to the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction. and Congress has, you know, exercised that power in the past. But there are a bunch of different ways that Congress could weigh in to restructure how the current court works. It could codify some of the rules, you know, that govern the current court and say, yep, you actually do need four votes or maybe you need five votes to decide to hear a case. maybe you need six votes, you know, in order to dispose of a case without oral argument. So there are a bunch of cases or instances in which Congress could affect the way in which the Supreme Court works.
Awesome. Yeah, I think it would be extra fun to not just add four people, but do an 18 year, thing and then get rid of Robertson, Thomas, and Alito and put them in senior status and then you can appoint.
Yep.
A lot of people. All right, thank you so much for taking the time today. Can you remind everyone where they can find and follow you? Find your book, et cetera? Listen to your podcast. Yep.
I'm Leah Litman. I co host Strict Scrutiny, a podcast about the Supreme Court. Our episodes drop on Mondays, and my book, how the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes, is available anywhere you get your books, including bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores.
Yes, that's my favorite way. Bookshop.org, grab 10 copies, put them in your little free libraries, give them out at the holidays as gifts.
Send some to your local Democratic leader.
Yeah, please, 100%. I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. And, you know, we'll have you back on if we see a domino effect of this impacting the Democratic Party. I appreciate your time.
Let's do it.
Thanks, everybody. Everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
Everyone.
Then good news, everyone. Good news. Good news. And if you have any good news or good trouble suggestions or shout outs that you want to send, and your good news could be big or small. You could just come right in and say hello and, you know, tell us how awesome you are. Do a self shout out. That would be great. we love those shout. outs can be to your spouse or to a government program that's helped you or a loved one. And, all you got to do to get your stuff right on the air is attach a photo or two. I think we have room for two photos. and it can be a photo of anything, as a matter of fact. So you can send in anything and then you can attach a photo of anything, really, as long as it brings a smile to our face.
Those are the. That's the deal.
That's the deal. Send in your Good Trouble suggestions to all of it to. What is it? Dailybeanspod.com Click on Contact. All right, first up is your Good Trouble. Good Trouble today comes from Anonymous pronoun she and her hello you inspiring women. I'm so glad I discovered you a few months ago. Oh, welcome Anonymous. You add a smile to my morning news nightmare. And I love John Fugal Sang, whose wonderful book I read. Thanks to your recommendation, I have both Good Trouble and Good News to report. After attending a viewing of Good Trouble about John Lewis sponsored by the League of Women Voters, I discovered just where I can contribute. Having started my activism in the 60s, but kind of running out of steam as I approach 80. I've worked with children and youth all my life and now I can sink my teeth into something meaningful. In preparation for the November elections, League of Women Voters sponsors a youth voter movement in our area. LWV and activist youth go to various schools where they talk about the importance of voting and actually register kids who are eligible. Just my cup of tea and a note from the producer. The High School Voter Registration Project is a nationwide effort to encourage young people, especially young minorities, to register to vote. Leagues are working in key states to engage and empower young people to participate in our democracy. You can find your local league to get involved in youth engagement or other democracy related activities in your community. Sign the League of Women Voters and we will have information on high school voter registration with the League of Women Voters. we'll have a link to that in our show notes. So if you have some time and you feel like going around with the League of Women Voters to high schools and registering kids to vote, that will be eligible. That sounds like a really good time.
It sure does.
I love this and her good news. By the way, my good News is my 14 year old pooch Scooter, who has had quite a journey in his life. What?
Just pooch and Scoot? When you send my 14 little 14 pooch scooter.
Pooch scooter Scooter. When he was young, he was a therapy dog. We visited a homeless shelter where kids read to him and learned the proper way to approach a strange dog. Well, that's helpful. We also helped develop a social skills program for Kids with learning disabilities. I still chuckle at the kids attempt to build an obstacle course for Scoot. very elaborate and a great opportunity for the kids to learn about teamwork. The only problem was Scooter had no idea he was supposed to weave in and out, hop over a rope and walk along a balance beam. It was pretty hysterical. When we moved, we had to re home Scooter to a disabled one woman in an assisted living facility because he became vicious with our other dog, who was a therapy dog for my son. Fast forward eight years. I got a call from an animal shelter saying, we have Scooter. He was found in the street. He's in very bad shape and his chip has your phone number. Can you pick him up? I could not find the woman who had spoiled him with great love. So my son and I went to the shelter and brought him home. He has a huge tumor in his belly and walks with great effort, but he recognized us and he's now living with us in leisure for the rest of his life. What a story. I'm attaching two photos of him for pet tax. One when he was young and a therapy dog in the shelter, and the other recently when he was snuggling under the covers. His breed? Don't know, but my guess is blank. Thanks for all you do to keep us informed. With a needed twist of humor. Look at this little guy.
Oh, my gosh. Those. Those look like corgi feet. You know how they have their little ballerina feet? Is it like a terrier?
Corgi, Schnauzer, Terrier, Corgi.
I don't know. Let's see.
See what we got.
Scotty.
Corgi, Scotty.
There we go.
Oh, my God.
So cute. Scotty's and schnauzers. I mix those up a lot.
I Love it.
And Heinz 57.
Totally.
Thank you for that.
All right, next up from Anonymous. Pronouns she and her hi, A.G. and D.G. jean from Huntington. No more anonymous. Huntington, New York. I manage insurance associations for living. So I spend my days on, how costs get quietly passed along to people who never see the bill. Item. Wednesday, I met Governor Hochul at an industry event about her auto insurance reforms. Her whole pitch is making New York affordable, going after the costs that get buried and passed down. Two days later, you ran the Great Lakes episode and it clicked that nobody is doing that at a federal level for the renaming stunts. The Kennedy center is the clean example. Trump's name went up on the building in December. In May, a federal judge ruled it unlawful and ordered the signage, name down, the website fixed, the trademark applications withdrawn, signs up, signs down, DOJ lawyers, billing, the whole way. There is no one public dollar figure for any of it. Not one. It gets absorbed into the operating budget and nobody votes on it or ever sees it. So I wrote to my congressman, Tom Suozzi, and asked him to request a, GAO review, itemized fabrication, installation, removal, the digital rebrand and unbrand, the trademark filings, the DOJ hours, and for each one, whether appropriated money or private. God, this is brilliant. I'll let you know what happens, but I feel like we the people need to start asking literally for receipts. I attached a picture of Governor Hopeful and other of my gidget with her summer haircut. I'm sure you can tell what preach she is. I love the show. Keep up the awesome work. Thanks for the sanity. Oh, my God.
Is this a Chinese crusty?
I think I would be so mad at you if I saw a photo. Like, if I saw my reflection, I'd be like, what? What are we doing?
Aren't they already kind of bald? Or is this not a, Chinese crested and it's a Maltese that now looks like a Chinese crested.
Oh, my God. Could you imagine? Maybe they are bald. Maybe it's like a. The middle of them are like the naked cats. I don't know.
Oh, my goody snaky cats.
Oh, my God. He's cute, though. Look at those little dots.
Wow, Jean, what a great idea. Yeah, show us the receipts. Right. Remember how Republicans harped and harped on the fact that, Jack Smith's investigation cost $20 million? Yeah, 20 million.
It's like.
That's like J.D. vance couch cushion money. Like, come on. All right, next up, from Lara Pronoun. She and her. I'm sure you've heard. It was all over the news. But we raised $10 million for charities supporting women at the Daisy Chain Fields. And Melinda Gaetz matched it shout out to all the performers who played for free. And there were around 45,000 people who were there, all singing and shouting for change. Laura, this is amazing. Amazing. It proves how strong we are if we come together. Also, the next morning when we were gassing up the car on Irvine, we met a woman and her daughter who had locked keys and phones in their car.
Oh, gosh.
The mom saw my shirt from the festival and felt safe to ask for help. We then drove her to her apartment to get her spare key and then back to the station. I know it's just a small thing, but helping this stranger out made me feel so inspired. It's so important to support each other right now. My pod pet tariff is my sweet Amelia kitty who passed the rainbow bridge last December. December. Thanks for all that both of you do with supporting charities and this podcast which has been a lifeline during these dark times. Laura. $10 million.
Yeah. Huge success. Yeah. Melinda Gaetz and remind me.
I know you're talking about mackenzie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, just two people that are really doing good things with their money. They were married to billionaires and they're like, you know what? I got part of this. I'm gonna do good things with it. All right. This is from Beth pronoun she and her. To my dearest beans queens. I've started making pet beds for Maricopa county animal Shelter. Oh my God. I had saved all my ex husband's old jeans and put them to confuse. Here are a few. Here are a few photos from the shelter to share. This is so funny.
Oh my gosh, Beth.
This is really cool. That's awesome.
Miffy is adorable little 5 pound 4 year old dog. 5 pounds.
Tiny, tiny.
This little sweet baby. Love it. You wanna take the next one too? That was pretty short.
Sure. This is from Stefan and she and her. Hi Beans. I just wanted to share. The day after Dolly Parton passed, I was at the park with my chiss trucker.
Cheese.
Cheese with my cheese. Ah. Tucker and Max. Thank you very much.
Much.
Her death hit me hard like it did for a lot of people. As we walked, we just tuned out, listened to music. When I looked up and saw something hanging in the tree, it was a Ben's bell. This is a local charity in Tucson. Motto is be kind. If you find the bell, it's yours to keep. It is painted and put together by volunteers and they go out and they hang them around town. This was in honor of someone named Anna Cole. My face lit up with a huge smile and my heart swelled. It was perfect timing and not sure but I really think it was mom and dad. They both passed who helped me find it. Anywho, thanks for all you guys do. This is so cool that this organization does this. Okay.
It's called Ben's bell, everybody in Tucson. I love Tucson, by the way. Yeah, so we had Beth up in Maricopa county and then we got Steph down in Tucson.
Tucson.
Look at that. That's beautiful. Be kind. That's it. They paint them, hang them. Be kind. All right, next up from Karen. Pronouns, she and her. Howdy, Dana and Allison. I've been wanting to tell you about Democracy Out Loud and finally writing this as we are celebrating our 500th consecutive Tuesday on September 1st. We're an awesome group of people from mostly the Triangle region of North Carolina and also people joining from across the state. State we started as Tuesdays with Tillis, in January 2017 with rallies outside the Federal Courthouse in Raleigh where Senator Tillis has an office. Yes, we're glad he's on his way out of office. Since COVID we've continued to meet online with our virtual rallies and eventually had Ranked Choice vote to change our name to Democracy Out Loud a few years ago. I like the eased Ranked Choice voting. Yeah, sometimes we have guest speakers, but most of the time between songs we discuss what's going on at the North Carolina General Assembly M and in D.C. elections, Board of Elections, immigration and ICE detention data centers and AI pipelines and much more. It's a supportive group with a wide range of passion and skills and we end with a chant that we learned from the Moral Monday campaign that many of us were active in Forward together, Not one step back. Including a recent great article about Democracy Out Loud. Very cool. We're going to put a link to that in the show notes. Katie Karen and for pet taxes, since I'm a birder, a photo of a great blue heron I took near Shelly Lake. Also a photo of from paper hand puppet interventions 26th annual show the Wild Wisdom of the World performed at the Forest Theater in Chapel Hill on weekends through September 27th. If you want to go, we'll have paperhandpuppet.org a link in the show notes and she says, I highly recommend this to your listeners. Karen. Thank you so much. Look at these. Oh wow. Those costumes are beautiful. I remember these.
Yep.
And there's a pretty heron. Thank you very much.
Very cool. All right, this is from Boston, John. No pronouns given. Hey Ag and DG and all the beans crew that makes your podcast possible. I've got a self shout out for you. Despite all the fuckery my NIH grant got awarded yesterday. I work on a rare developmental disorder called CTNNB1 syndrome that's often misdiagnosed as Cerebral Palsy Palsy. This grant is crucial to keeping our lab going and validating the therapeutic approaches we are developing. Working towards a treatment for my pot pet tariff. I'm including a couple of photos of my sweet girl Maggie. No need to guess her breed. It's a layup. I lost her about four years ago at the ripe old age of 15. But she was so sweet, smart, athletic as well as being a Boston icon for her dock diving frisbee catching at the Esplanade on the Charles River. She even made it onto a crappy MTV reality show at a part of Boston area footage complete with a canned woof woof as ah she dove into the water to catch a frisbee. I miss her every day. Best to all the Illuminati and thank you AG&DG for all you do.
What was the crappy MTV reality show?
I know.
Now I want to know. Okay, here's a picture and she's got a sign. It says I ate a bowl of Halloween candy and pooped rapper conversation confetti. And there she is.
Dock diving wow in stunning picture. That's so cool.
Amazing. Thank you so much Boston John. And thank you so much to everybody for submitting your good news. Please send it all to us. I know there was something that you heard in the good news that made you think of a funny story.
That's when you sit down, type it up, send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact and attach a photo of an animal or a baby or whatever. Whatever. That's how you do it. Whatever.
We'll take it.
We'll seriously, it could be your favorite meme. Anything. Dailybeanspod.com Click on Contact. Any final thoughts, my friend?
no final thoughts for today.
All right, we'll see everybody tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag. I've been dg and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional resources and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.