| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
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A growing number of critics on the left say that President Biden, who remains opposed to adding seats to the Supreme Court, is failing to meet the moment and respond with the urgency it demands. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | JUST POSTED — After a few tumultuous days within his own cabinet, British Prime Minister BORIS JOHNSON is expected to resign, Matt Honeycombe-Foster and Emilio Casalicchio report. "The move follows days of high drama in Westminster, which began with the resignation of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid and was followed by a spate of exits that rippled through the government ranks." RELATED READ — From last night: "Who are the contenders to lead the Conservative Party if Johnson resigns?" by NYT's Megan Specia MORNING TALKER — New column from John F. Harris: "LIZ CHENEY Wins the GOP's Manhood Contest" CAN BIDEN MEET THE MOMENT: SCOTUS EDITION — Last year, the White House convened a bipartisan commission of legal experts and academics to study the Supreme Court and make recommendations on whether (and how) to reform it. The resulting recommendations were fairly moderate in scope, focusing on matters of transparency and ethics. And in the eyes of some progressives agitating for major changes to the judiciary, one big recommendation was noticeably absent: court packing. On the panel, there were essentially three schools of thought on that proposal: (1) those who said it was the most effective way to repair the judiciary, (2) those who opposed it, believing it would damage the judiciary's legitimacy irrevocably, and (3) those who thought that whatever its merits, the political realities made it a conversation not really worth having. Now, a growing number of critics on the left say that President JOE BIDEN, who remains opposed to adding seats to the court, is — sound familiar? — failing to meet the moment and respond with the urgency it demands. (Just published: Eugene's new story on this topic) One of those voices is NANCY GERTNER. She's a former federal judge who joined the commission last year thinking that modest structural reforms, like term limits for judges, would be useful. Her work on the panel ultimately turned her into a supporter of adding new seats to the Supreme Court — a position she believes was vindicated by the high court's recent rulings overturning Roe v. Wade, blocking a New York law restricting the open carry of guns and eliminating the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions. "This is absurd. Of course there's something we should do," she tells POLITICO. It's yet another tension for a White House that has faced a barrage of friendly fire in recent days as Democrats get increasingly vocal about their flagging confidence in the administration's efficacy on any number of issues.
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | What Biden's friendly critics want him to do: 1. Hit the court — not just its decisions — consistently. "His admiration for the court as an institution has been overtaken by reality," says Harvard Law professor LAURENCE TRIBE, a member of the commission and someone who has advised Biden on legal matters for decades. "I think it's time to wake up." Doing so, the thinking goes, underscores the need to reform the court itself, rather than simply disagreeing with its decisions. 2. Don't take court expansion off the table. Instead, they say, the president should let advocates campaign to grow support for the proposal. "Why does Joe Biden consider it his job to keep the public having confidence in a court that is completely working to thwart his agenda?" asks BRIAN FALLON, the executive director of court reform group Demand Justice. "He's not ready to endorse it. [But] why demotivate his people that are passionate and upset at that moment? Why not leave a little fear in the minds of the Republican justices on the court about what he might support once he gets into office? Why not put a little fear into MITCH MCCONNELL about what he might be for?"
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Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse. | | | What White House aides point out: 1. Biden has expressed alarm about the court. "The president has blasted the court's decision in Dobbs attacking Americans' most personal rights as 'extremist,' 'outrageous,' and 'awful' and taken swift action while warning against the national abortion ban congressional Republicans are seeking," says White House deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES. "He's being straight with the American people, giving voice to their biggest concerns, and leading the way on protecting their rights and middle class families' finances." 2. There's not enough public support for the proposal. And lacking it, the idea is just political "fan fiction" disconnected from reality. "[A]dding justices — which even the strongest advocates … can't ballpark the support level of in Congress — would distract from the only path that is essential to restoring Roe , which is congressional action once we have enough votes," says one Biden ally. "He's focused on delivering results in real life — not the Twitterverse." (One Biden campaign alum was much more dismissive, emailing in: "You mean the same sTrAtEgIsTs who embraced 'defunding the police' and helped make Democrats' congressional majorities so narrow? Got it.") 3. Focus on what Democrats could actually do to protect a litany of Democratic priorities from the court. "If you put all the rhetorical and political pressure behind something that you know is not going to pass this Congress, such as court expansion, then you've passed on the opportunity to do all of the things that that can and must be done now," says BEN LABOLT, a longtime Democratic strategist who the White House brought in to help shepherd the Supreme Court nomination of KETANJI BROWN JACKSON. Worth noting: Americans themselves remain divided on the idea of expanding the court. In a recent POLITICO/Morning Consult poll taken after Roe was overturned, 45% of voters were in favor of increasing the number of justices, including 64% of Democrats. But operatives working on the issue argue that there would be more momentum — at least on the left — if Biden didn't put a damper on the idea. Related 'Can Biden meet the moment?' reads:
- TOP-ED: "Give Biden a break," by WaPo's Dana Milbank: "There's just one problem with the too-cool-Joe complaints: Biden has been saying — heatedly and repeatedly — exactly that which he is accused of avoiding."
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | Good Thursday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza. QUOTE OF THE DAY — At Wednesday night's debate of Michigan GOP gubernatorial hopefuls, candidate RYAN KELLEY — who was arrested last month on charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol — was asked about the events of that day. Kelley's response, per the Detroit News' Craig Mauger: "Jan. 6, 2021, back when gas was under $2 a gallon. Those were good times." 18 MONTHS AFTER JAN. 6 — Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein are up this morning with a look at where things stand in prosecuting the mob that attacked the Capitol in the 18 months since Jan. 6, 2021:
- "According to the latest Justice Department figures, more than 855 members of that crowd are facing charges that range from trespassing on restricted grounds to seditious conspiracy."
- "So far, 325 defendants have pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from the breach of the Capitol, the vast majority to misdemeanor crimes."
- "Eight Jan. 6 defendants have faced jurors on felony charges stemming from their involvement in the attack on the Capitol, choosing that rather than taking plea deals offered by the Justice Department. All of them have been convicted on every charge to date."
- "About 200 defendants have seen their cases all the way through from arrest to sentencing, with the vast majority pleading guilty to misdemeanor crimes. As a result, sentences have skewed toward probation and home confinement, rather than significant terms of incarceration."
COMMS SHOP SHAKEUP — KATE BEDINGFIELD, the White House comms director, is preparing to step down from post in the coming weeks and has already begun informing colleagues of her departure, Alex Thompson reports. — The story behind the story, via West Wing Playbook: "Alex got wind of Bedingfield's departure early and called the White House at 2:53 p.m. to ask for comment about it. A White House spokesperson said they'd check and asked for time to talk to some of the people involved. We agreed. Big mistake. At 3:11 p.m., The Wall Street Journal published a story including a prepared statement from Chief RON KLAIN ." FOR YOUR 2024 RNC PLANNING — Is it safe to book your tickets to Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention? Not quite yet, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Bill Glauber writes , but it's looking ever more likely after a Nashville bill "on a framework agreement to stage the convention was pulled at the last minute. Backers of a Nashville convention obviously didn't have the votes to move forward so, they punted. But it's possible that they'll resubmit legislation in a few days." BIDEN'S THURSDAY: — 10:15 a.m.: The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 2 p.m.: Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 recipients with Harris and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF also in attendance. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will brief at 3:10 p.m. THE HOUSE and THE SENATE are out.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
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Yesenia Hernandez, granddaughter to Nicolas Toledo, who was killed during Monday's Highland Park., Ill., Fourth of July parade, writes on a memorial for Toledo on Wednesday, July 6. | Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | ALL POLITICS FETTERMAN NEARS RETURN TO CAMPAIGN — Our Holly Otterbein writes in: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee JOHN FETTERMAN has been off the trail for weeks recovering from a stroke. Though the campaign hasn't announced details about his return, it has begun scheduling events behind the scenes: A tipster shared an invite to a fundraiser in northeastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 14, and the Philly Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari flagged another big-money event later this month. Meanwhile, Fetterman's campaign told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Wednesday that the candidate will be "on the campaign trail soon." "He is about 90% back to full strength and getting better," said spox JOE CALVELLO. KNOWING BLAKE MASTERS — NYT's Jonathan Weisman is up with a look at BLAKE MASTERS' Arizona Senate campaign, which he writes has "been dogged by a trail of youthful writings," detailing new examples that were provided to the Times by "opponents" of Masters, in which "he took to the chat room of CrossFit, his workout of choice, as a Stanford undergraduate in 2007 to espouse views that might not sit well with the Republican electorate of 2022." "As he had in other forums, Mr. Masters wrote on the CrossFit chat room that he opposed American involvement in both world wars — although World War II, he conceded, 'is harder to argue because of the hot button issue of the Holocaust (nevermind that our friend [JOSEPH] STALIN murdered over twice as many as [ADOLF] HITLER … why do we gloss over that in schools?).' … Also on the CrossFit chat room, Mr. Masters, then 20, argued that Iraq and Al Qaeda did not 'constitute substantial threats to Americans.'" DEMOCRACY WATCH — RICK HASEN, a law professor at UCLA and one of the nation's preeminent experts on election law, is launching a new project to "promote democratic norms and 'free and fair' elections in the U.S.," Zach Montellaro scoops. Among those on the advisory board: former federal Judge J. MICHAEL LUTTIG; JANAI S. NELSON, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and ALEX STAMOS, the former chief security officer at Facebook who is now the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory. AMERICA AND THE WORLD GRINER CALL PROMPTS APPLAUSE, FRUSTRATION — On Wednesday, Biden said he was sending a letter to BRITTNEY GRINER, who is imprisoned in Russia, and made a call to Griner's wife, CHERELLE , to speak about the efforts to free the WNBA star. But her release is not expected soon, U.S. officials said. Our colleagues on National Security Daily and West Wing Playbook have the details: "As much as the Biden administration wants to bring her home , Brittney Griner will likely remain in a Russian prison for at least a few more months. That fear, which multiple U.S. officials and people familiar with Griner's situation expressed to NatSec Daily and West Wing Playbook, stems from two main issues that combine to delay her safe return. The first is that the Kremlin seeks to leverage her celebrity for its gain. 'The Russians are making maximalist demands in exchange for Griner,' a U.S. official told us, refusing to elaborate. … The other problem is the protracted nature of Russia's invasion of Ukraine." — Meanwhile, the public nature of Griner's case is irking some families of other Americans who are imprisoned abroad. "The family of Michigan's PAUL WHELAN was 'astonished,'" when they learned of that Biden called Griner's wife "but did not also call the Whelans," The Detroit News' Melissa Nann Burke reports. Whelan has been held in Russia for more than three years and "his family has sought a meeting with Biden for months and months, with his sister, ELIZABETH WHELAN, putting in four requests that have not been granted, she said." — And it's not just Russia: "Americans whose relatives are detained in Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on President Biden to help secure their freedom as he prepares to meet the leaders of the two Middle Eastern countries during a trip to the region next week," WSJ's Stephen Kalin reports.
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Biden speaks at Max S. Hayes Hight School in Cleveland, on Wednesday, July 6. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | BIDEN IN THE BUCKEYE STATE — Biden used a trip to Cleveland on Wednesday to trumpet "provisions to the American Rescue Plan to keep at-risk pensions solvent through at least 2051 while also using the official White House visit to knock GOP lawmakers for refusing to support the legislation," Cleveland.com's Seth Richardson reports . (Meanwhile, WaPo's Matt Viser and Joanna Connors described the trip as a "more partisan, campaign-style event that provided a preview for how Biden will cast the upcoming election.") TRUMP CARDS WHAT ARE THE ODDS? — NYT's Michael Schmidt writes about the curious tale of JAMES COMEY, ANDREW MCCABE and the most intense and rare audit that the IRS offers. How rare is it? "The odds of being selected for that audit in any given year are tiny — out of nearly 153 million individual returns filed for 2017, for example, the I.R.S. targeted about 5,000, or roughly one out of 30,600." And yet: Comey was selected for the audit in 2017 and McCabe was selected for it in 2019. Both men detailed the audits to the NYT, but neither knew about the other's until informed by the Times. "Was it sheer coincidence that two close associates would randomly come under the scrutiny of the same audit program within two years of each other? Did something in their returns increase the chances of their being selected? Could the audits have been connected to criminal investigations pursued by the Trump Justice Department against both men, neither of whom was ever charged? Or did someone in the federal government or at the I.R.S. — an agency that at times, like under the Nixon administration, was used for political purposes but says it has imposed a range of internal controls intended to thwart anyone from improperly using its powers — corrupt the process?" ABORTION FALLOUT IN THE STATES — "Colorado will not cooperate with other states' abortion investigations after Polis issues executive order," by The Colorado Sun's Sandra Fish — "Louisiana Supreme Court refuses to lift order not to enforce the state's ban on abortions," The Advocate's Mark Ballard — "Scramble as last Mississippi abortion clinic shuts its doors," by AP's Emily Wagster Pettus
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Gavin Newsom revealed that he took a recent family vacation to Montana — "one of 22 states where California prohibits state-funded travel," note Lara Korte and Jeremy White. U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man with two Molotov cocktails on Wednesday afternoon. After hundreds of votes over the last two weeks, the White House Correspondents Association board election is now over with three new members joining: CNN's Kaitlan Collins was elected to an at-large seat and the 2024-2025 presidency, CBS' Sara Cook will hold the "TV" seat and our very own Eugene is joining the board in the "New Media" seat. SPOTTED — At a lunch hosted by White House Historical Association President Stewart McLaurin for Tony award-winning director of "To Kill a Mockingbird" Bartlett Sher and his producer Cambra Overend at Decatur House yesterday: Chief of Protocol Rufus Gifford, Denyce Graves, Robert Costa, Abby Phillip, Elisabeth Bumiller, Sheila Burke, Patricia Harrison, Colleen Shogan, Anita McBride, Karen Knutson, Senay Bulbul, Peggy Grande, Royce Dickerson and Tammy Haddad. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Playbook's very own Eli Okun and Garrett Ross have been promoted to Playbook reporter and Playbook digital editor, respectively. — Matt McKenna has joined strategic comms and issues management firm The Levinson Group as senior adviser. He most recently was CEO of Greenbrier and is a Bill Clinton and Jon Tester alum. — Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow's campaign is adding veteran Democratic operative Lis Smith as media consultant and Anthony Mercurio, who was finance director for Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, to lead fundraising efforts. NEW NOMINEES — The White House announced Biden will nominate Phil Washington as head of the FAA and Henry Jardine as ambassador to Mauritius and the Seychelles. TRANSITIONS — Rob Morgan is now CEO of the USDF Consortium of banks. He previously was SVP of innovation and strategy at the American Bankers Association. … Anand Raghuraman is now director of global public policy at Mastercard. He previously was a VP at the Asia Group. … Stacey Daniels is now comms director for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). She most recently was comms director and senior adviser for Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). … … Mark Chenoweth has been appointed president of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, where he currently is executive director and general counsel. … Sean Cairncross is now a senior visiting fellow for the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. He previously was CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. … Evan Berryhill is now a VP at Firehouse Strategies. He previously was deputy director of comms for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' campaign and is a GOPAC and David McKinley alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — John Bisognano, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and affiliates, and Heather Reid , a Democratic digital consultant and DNC and Hillary for America alum, welcomed Jack Bisognano on Thursday. Pics BIRTHWEEK (was Wednesday): Garrett Puckett of Rep. Lisa McClain's (R-Mich.) office HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) … White House's Matt Hill … Treasury's Marti Adams Baker … CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson … Eleanor Clift … Patrick Dillon … Rachel Rosen of Democratic Majority for Israel … Rachael Leman of Leman Kennedy … Amanda Maddox … Terry Camp … Ed Kaleta of 3M … Matt Gobush of ExxonMobil … Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network … Luther Lowe of Yelp … Truman Reed of Nick Begich's Alaska congressional campaign … Michael Stevens of the Capitol Riverfront District … Mike Rigas … Andy Manatos … Ana Kasparian … former House Majority Leader Dick Armey … ABC's Sophie Tatum … Lx Fangonilo of Deep Root Analytics … Patricia Bryan … Miranda Dabney … Geoff Garin … Neil Newhouse … Robin Doody Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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