Samuel Alito says leaked abortion draft made conservative justices ‘targets of assassination’ – as it happened | US politics

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North Carolina’s supreme court handed down a ruling that paves the way for partisan gerrymandering in the state, which its GOP-controlled legislature is expected to use to oust four Democratic House lawmakers. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump continues, with former vice-president Mike Pence appearing before his grand jury yesterday.

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Here’s what else happened today:

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• Samuel Alito, author of the supreme court opinion overturning Roe v Wade, said a leak of the decision’s draft put conservative justices in danger.

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• Ron DeSantis is facing a reckoning over his actions while deployed at the Guantánamo prison camp, but does not like being asked about it.

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• An investigation into allegations of misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh prior to his supreme court confirmation contained omissions, a Guardian investigation has found.

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• Republican lawmakers nationwide are accusing their opponents of inciting “insurrections”, even when their actions don’t fit the definition of the word.

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• The White House was not pleased with Axios, after a report from the outlet detailing concerns about Biden’s age.

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Samuel Alito, the author of last year’s supreme court decision overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to ban abortion, said the leak of a draft ruling put conservative justices in peril.

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“Those of us who were thought to be in the majority, thought to have approved my draft opinion, were really targets of assassination,” Alito said in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal. “It was rational for people to believe that they might be able to stop the decision in Dobbs by killing one of us.”

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The leak of the court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization marked a rare moment in which the public learned of the court’s decision before its official announcement. Supreme court chief justice John Roberts ordered an investigation into the leak, and this past January, the court’s marshal said she couldn’t say who was the culprit.

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“I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody,” Alito said. “It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft . . . from becoming the decision of the court. And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”

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Supreme court justices rarely grant interviews, but Alito, who was appointed by Republican George W Bush, spoke to an an editor on the Journal’s editorial board, which is reliably conservative. The other interviewer was David B Rivkin Jr, a former attorney in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.

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The White House has responded to claims made by the political website Axios that White House staffers face challenges with Joe Biden because of his age.

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In an article published Friday, Axios said voters were concerned about Biden’s age amid recent announcements that he plans to run for a second term.

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The article also White House officials were “amazed at Biden’s stamina – often adding the caveat ‘for his age’” and had difficulty scheduling meetings with Biden outside of 10am to 4pm on weekdays.

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In response to the article, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates criticized the outlet on Twitter, writing that Axios previously claimed White House advisers as sources on a story claiming Biden would not announce a reelection campaign. He posted:

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Funnily, half our on record response was omitted. For transparency: “Are these the same ‘advisers and close allies’ who you wrote on April 3 ‘don't expect him to announce a run for re-election any time soon?’"

Age well, kids: "Biden holds back '24 launch" https://t.co/PuGtQKzfk1 https://t.co/yfBCDTSp9M

— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) April 28, 2023

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North Carolina’s supreme court has handed down a ruling that paves the way for partisan gerrymandering in the state, which its GOP-controlled legislature is expected to use to oust four Democratic House lawmakers. Meanwhile, special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump continues, with former vice-president Mike Pence appearing before his grand jury yesterday.

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Here’s what else has happened today so far:

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• Ron DeSantis is facing a reckoning over his actions while deployed at the Guantánamo prison camp, but does not like being asked about it.

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• An investigation into allegations of misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh prior to his supreme court confirmation contained omissions, a Guardian investigation has found.

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• Republican lawmakers nationwide are accusing their opponents of inciting “insurrections”, even when their actions don’t fit the definition of the word.

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The newly Republican-dominated North Carolina supreme court has handed down a decision that reverses a previous ruling declaring partisan gerrymandering illegal, setting the stage for the GOP to redraw the state’s congressional map to their favor, Politico reports.

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The decision was not unexpected, and sets the stage for Democrats to lose House seats representing the states. Here’s coverage of the case from the Guardian’s Sam Levine last month, after oral arguments:

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The North Carolina supreme court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a major gerrymandering case that could have significant implications for US voting rights.

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In a highly unusual move, the North Carolina court appears poised to overrule itself and get rid of congressional and state legislative districts it approved last year. The GOP-drawn map that was struck down could have produced a 11-3 advantage for Republicans in the congressional delegation. The one that replaced it was far less advantageous to the GOP and wound up producing a 7-7 split in the 2022 midterm elections. The court’s decision would probably allow Republicans to get a more advantageous map back in place.

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Here’s more from the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell about Mike Pence’s interview with federal investigators, and why his testimony may be so important to any case against Donald Trump:

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Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.

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The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain.

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His appearance is a moment of constitutional consequence and potential legal peril for the former president. Pence is considered a major witness in the criminal investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith, since Trump pressured him to unlawfully reject electoral college votes for Joe Biden at the joint session of Congress, and was at the White House meeting with Republican lawmakers who discussed objections to Biden’s win.

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Good morning, US politics blog readers. On Thursday, former vice-president Mike Pence appeared before the grand jury empaneled by special counsel Jack Smith to consider charges against Donald Trump over the January 6 insurrection. The possibility that Trump could face a federal indictment over the attack, as well as his involvement in plots to stop Joe Biden from taking office and the classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago, is a major unknown in the presidential race, particularly since polls show Trump as the most popular Republican candidate. There’s no saying when Smith could make his charging recommendation, but Pence’s testimony is a reminder that the investigation remains a real threat to the former president.

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Here’s what’s going on today:

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• House Democratic leadership will hold their weekly press conference at 10.30am eastern time. Expect plenty of railing against the debt limit proposal Republicans passed earlier this week.

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• Joe Biden is keeping it low key, presenting the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy to the Air Force Falcons, champions of last year’s Armed Forces Bowl, at 2.30pm, then heading to a Democratic fundraiser in the evening.

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• Joe Manchin, the conservative Democrat representing deep-red West Virginia, yesterday afternoon again called on Biden to negotiate with Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy on an agreement to raise the debt limit. The president has thus far refused to do so.

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Key events

Roe v Wade was overturned after Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices to the supreme court, which he was able to do because Republicans controlled the Senate. And Republicans gained control of the Senate by spending the 2010s ousting Democrats from their seats, as states once friendly to the party turned against them.

One of the last Democratic senators hanging on in a red state is West Virgnia’s Joe Manchin. He is up for re-election next year in a contest that could decide Senate control, and while he hasn’t said if he will seek a third full term, he gained a new challenger this week.

The Republican governor Jim Justice announced his candidacy alongside his pet, Babydog. The English Bulldog was right next to him in a public event to kick off his campaign, and in a Fox News interview:

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Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV), with Babydog seated next to him, reacts to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) saying “I will win any race I enter” after Justice announced a run for his seat:

“I welcome Joe Manchin to come into the race … But, at the end of the day, I think we’ll be OK.” pic.twitter.com/00htCIAp0h

— The Recount (@therecount) April 28, 2023

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Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV), with Babydog seated next to him, reacts to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) saying “I will win any race I enter” after Justice announced a run for his seat:

“I welcome Joe Manchin to come into the race … But, at the end of the day, I think we’ll be OK.” pic.twitter.com/00htCIAp0h

— The Recount (@therecount) April 28, 2023

Martin Pengelly

Our columnist Moira Donegan considers the current impasse between the Democratic-controlled Senate judiciary committee and the conservative US supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, over ethics rules and the justices, in light of reporting about Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch…

It was a short letter. John Roberts, chief justice of the US supreme court, was brief in his missive to Democratic senator Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate judiciary committee.

Citing “separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence”, Roberts declined to appear before the committee to discuss disturbing recent revelations of ethics violations at the court.

Congress is meant to exert checks on judicial power – to investigate or even impeach judges who abuse their office or interpret the law in ways that violate its spirit, and to affirm that the elected branches will hold more sway over policy than the appointed one. But the chief justice’s show of indifference to congressional oversight authority reflects a new reality: that there are now effectively no checks on the power of the court – at least none that Democrats have the political will to use – and that the justices can be assured that they will face no repercussions even if they act in flagrant violation of ethical standards. It seems that they intend to.

Read on…

Martin Pengelly

Here’s some lunchtime reading from Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University, and the author of How Fascism Works…

Fox News has finally broken ties with its most popular star, Tucker Carlson. His ousting has been bemoaned by some commentators, who have taken Carlson to be a rebellious anti-war populist, evading easy political characterization. But is it really so complicated to classify Carlson’s political ideology?

In late February 2022, Carlson, in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, began a pro-Russia monologue urging his audience to ask themselves the question: “Why do I hate Putin so much?”

The gist of Carlson’s comments about Russia’s leader is that Putin should not be regarded as an enemy. Instead, the real enemies of America are those who call white Americans racist, those who teach so-called critical race theory in schools, business elites who ship jobs abroad, and those who imposed Covid lockdowns on the United States.

Read on…

Martin Pengelly

More shots have been fired in the brewing Republican brouhaha over Ron DeSantis’s fight with Disney, if from an unexpected artillery piece: that fielded by Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the US House.

“I’d give him the same advice I gave President Biden,” McCarthy told CNBC, while basking in having managed to pass a budget proposal amid a standoff with the White House over the increasingly pressing need to raise the debt ceiling.

“Why wouldn’t you sit down and negotiate and talk? If there’s differences, you can always find ways that you can solve this problem.”

DeSantis and Disney are at odds over the Florida governor’s so-called “don’t say gay” law about teaching gender and LGBTQ+ issues in schools, and DeSantis’s power grab at self-governing powers long enjoyed by the entertainment giant around its Disney World theme park near Orlando.

This week, Disney sued the governor and the governor, while on an international tour, snapped back.

McCarthy said: “This is a big employer inside Florida. I think the governor should sit down with them. I don’t think the idea of building a prison next to a place that you bring your family” – a threat made by DeSantis, possibly in jest – “is the best idea. I think it’d be much better if you sat down and solved the problems.”

DeSantis’s standing in the Republican presidential primary has slipped, as concerns about issues including his attempt to bend Disney to his will are expressed within the party.

McCarthy added: “If you’re going to be a large employer inside this state, you should also abide by the rules and run your business and don’t think you should get into politics. You can take whatever position you want, but remember, if you’re elected to run a business, that’s what your shareholders want you to do.”

Here, as previously trailed today, is some further reading about DeSantis’s military service: