HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We're thankful -- as always -- to be your morning and afternoon read. Stay safe, and enjoy your day. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP will hold a 3 p.m. video teleconference with members of the military. VP MIKE PENCE has nothing on his public schedule. President-elect JOE BIDEN and VP-elect KAMALA HARRIS have nothing on their schedules. BIG SHIFT ON THE COURT … BARRETT LEAVES HER MARK -- "Major shift at Supreme Court on Covid-19 orders," by Josh Gerstein: "The Supreme Court signaled a major shift in its approach to coronavirus-related restrictions late Wednesday, voting 5-4 to bar New York state from reimposing limits on religious gatherings. "The emergency rulings, issued just before midnight, were the first significant indication of a rightward shift in the court since President Donald Trump's newest appointee — Justice Amy Coney Barrett — last month filled the seat occupied by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September. "In May and July, the Supreme Court narrowly rejected challenges to virus-related restrictions on churches in California and Nevada, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court's Democratic appointees to stress that state and local governments required flexibility to deal with a dangerous and evolving pandemic. "But support on the high court for those rulings shrank with Ginsburg's death. Wednesday night's orders granting emergency relief to Roman Catholic churches and to Jewish congregations in New York demonstrated, as many suspected, that Barrett would side with the court's most conservative justices in insisting on greater accommodation for religion even as the pandemic is again surging. BUZZ: Could JEFF ZIENTS be in the mix for OMB director, and SHOLANDA YOUNG as his deputy, and eventual successor? YOUNG, of course, would be the natural at this -- she is the staff director of House Appropriations. When we floated her name a few weeks ago, we got countless emails from Hill Republicans and Democrats singing her praises as an honest broker who is adept at cutting deals. ZIENTS has twice been acting OMB director, and was the deputy director, as well. But YOUNG would be a favorite of the people in the budget and appropriations trenches, and Hill appropriators. And there's a lot of upside there for BIDEN. DEM DRAMA … -- CLYBURN FLEXES HIS MUSCLE … NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN on the Cabinet: "A Fight Over Agriculture Secretary Could Decide the Direction of Hunger Policy": "An unlikely fight is breaking out over President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s choice for agriculture secretary, pitting a powerful Black lawmaker who wants to refocus the Agriculture Department on hunger against traditionalists who believe the department should be a voice for rural America. "Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking Black member of Congress and perhaps Mr. Biden's most important supporter in the Democratic primary, is making an all-out case for Representative Marcia L. Fudge of Ohio, an African-American Democrat from Ohio. "Mr. Clyburn, whose endorsement of Mr. Biden before the South Carolina primary helped turn the tide for the former vice president's nomination, has spoken to him on the phone about Ms. Fudge as recently as this week. The lawmaker has also lobbied for her with two of the president-elect's closest advisers and discussed the matter with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "'I feel very strongly,' Mr. Clyburn said in an interview on Wednesday about Ms. Fudge, who leads the nutrition and oversight subcommittee on the House Agriculture Committee. 'It's time for Democrats to treat the Department of Agriculture as the kind of department it purports to be,' he added, noting that much of the budget 'deals with consumer issues and nutrition and things that affect people's day-to-day lives.' "But there are complications. Two of Mr. Biden's farm-state allies are also being discussed for the job: Heidi Heitkamp, a former senator from North Dakota, and Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who served as agriculture secretary for President Barack Obama." HOW DOES BIDEN say no to CLYBURN here when he's making such a public and loud push? -- WAPO'S ANNIE LINSKEY and SEAN SULLIVAN, with a Wilmington dateline: "Biden tries to spread calm, as some Democrats worry about his willingness to fight": "[Tony Blinken's nomination], along with several other Cabinet picks rolled out this week, underscore Biden's intention to govern as a conciliator and not a partisan warrior, some on the left worry that his early moves signal weakness even before he steps into the Oval Office. They say Biden, 78, naively believes the Senate still functions as it did during his 36 years there, with potential for compromise and conciliation. "'To meet Republicans where they are is to meet them in Fantasyland,"' said Rebecca Katz, who worked as a top aide to Nevada Democrat Harry M. Reid when he served as Senate majority leader. 'We don't have any time to spare. Sometimes you've got to fight. We can't fold before we've had one fight.' "On Capitol Hill, other Democrats are sounding similar warnings. 'There is still plenty of room for bipartisanship, but real bipartisanship, from a position of strength, not begging Republicans to confer bipartisanship upon us if we do things their way,' said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who is worried that Biden's outreach to the GOP is being met with resistance." -- CNN'S ALEX ROGERS and MANU RAJU: "Democratic fight emerges ahead of appointment to fill Kamala Harris' Senate seat": "Prominent African Americans officials would like California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pick Reps. Karen Bass or Barbara Lee to replace Harris, the only Black woman serving in the Senate. But many Latinos, who comprise a plurality of Californians, want Newsom to choose the first Latino or Latina senator in the state's history, such as California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia or state Attorney General Xavier Becerra." BREAKING OVERNIGHT … NYT'S JULIAN BARNES, ERIC SCHMITT and ADAM GOLDMAN: "C.I.A. Officer Is Killed in Somalia": "A veteran C.I.A. officer was killed in combat in Somalia in recent days, according to current and former U.S. officials, a death that is likely to reignite debate over American counterterrorism operations in Africa. The officer was a member of the C.I.A.'s paramilitary division, the Special Activities Center, and a former member of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6. "The identity of the officer remained classified, and the circumstances of the killing were ambiguous. It was unclear whether the officer was killed in a counterterrorism raid or was the victim of an enemy attack, former American officials said. The C.I.A. declined to comment." THE FLYNN PARDON -- KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN: "Trump pardons former national security adviser Flynn": "Outgoing President Donald Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday for lying to FBI agents investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. "'It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,' the president tweeted. 'Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!' "Trump's move is an extraordinary intervention on behalf of an ally who pleaded guilty in 2017 and has spent the last two years fighting to overturn his original plea. It was not immediately clear whether Trump's pardon also included Flynn's failure to register as an agent of Turkey in 2016, a crime to which he admitted as part of his plea agreement." -- WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD: "President Trump's decision Wednesday to pardon former national security adviser Michael Flynn is an overdue act of justice that ends four years of political harassment, unjustified prosecution and judicial abuse. If it sounds like we feel strongly about this one, you're right." WHO IS NEXT? -- NYT'S KEN VOGEL and ERIC LIPTON: "Among the others looking for pardons are two former Trump campaign advisers, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, who like Mr. Flynn were convicted in cases stemming from the special counsel's Russia investigation. "But lawyers and others who have been in touch with the White House say they anticipate that Mr. Trump will use his authority in cases that extend beyond those involving the special counsel's inquiry and the lengthy cast of aides and associates who have gotten in legal trouble since he first ran for the presidency. … "Several groups that have pushed for a criminal justice overhaul are working with an ad hoc White House team under the direction of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's son-in-law and adviser, with a goal of announcing as many as hundreds of commutations for offenders now in jail for crimes ranging from nonviolent drug convictions to mail fraud and money laundering." NYT | 
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