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Alito jokes about Black kids in KKK outfits during Supreme Court argument 

Justice Samuel Alito made an apparent joke on Monday about “Black children in Ku Klux Klan outfits” during Supreme Court oral arguments on a case involving a Colorado web designer who did not want to provider her services for same-sex weddings on religious and free speech grounds.  

During the arguments, Alito sought to make a point about who could argue they should not have to provide a service under a Colorado anti-discrimination law by discussing a Black Santa Claus at a shopping mall.   

Alito, a conservative justice who authored the summer ruling overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, asked if that Santa would be required to take a picture with a child dressed up in a Ku Klux Klan outfit under the Colorado law in question. 

He did so after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised the question of whether it would be permissible for a Santa at a mall to refuse to take pictures with children who are not white.  

“So if there’s a Black Santa at the other end of the mall and he doesn’t want to have his picture taken with a child who’s dressed up in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, that Black Santa has to do that?” Alito asked Eric Olson, Colorado’s solicitor general, who was defending the state law at issue in the case. 

“No, because Ku Klux Klan outfits are not protected characteristics under public accommodation laws,” Olson responded. 

Justice Elena Kagan, one of the court’s liberals, then asked, “And, presumably, that would be the same Ku Klux Klan outfit regardless of whether the child was Black or white or any other characteristic?” 

Alito then cut in to say, “You do see a lot of Black children in Ku Klux Klan outfits, right? All the time. All the time.”  

In audio from C-SPAN, laughter can be heard before Kagan asks if she can proceed with her line of questioning.

Sherrilyn Ifill, former president and director council for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, tweeted Monday afternoon that the comments were “really upsetting.”

“The joke about Black kids in KuKluxKlan outfits? No Justice Alito, these ‘jokes’ are so inappropriate, no matter how many in the courtroom chuckle mindlessly,” Ifill said.

Earlier in the proceedings, Alito implied that Kagan was familiar with a dating website designed for people who wish to have affairs.  

Alito asked Olson if under the Colorado law, an unmarried Jewish person who wanted a Jewish photographer to take a photograph for the website Jdate would be required to do so.  

“Jdate … is a dating service, I gather, for Jewish people,” Alito said. 

Kagan, who is Jewish, jumped in to say, “It is.”  

Alito then responded, “Maybe Justice Kagan will also be familiar with the next website I’m going to mention. … Next, the Jewish person asks the Jewish photographer to take a photograph for his AshleyMadison.com dating profile.” 

Alito said he wasn’t suggesting Kagan knew the website.  

“I’m not suggesting — I mean, she knows a lot of things. I’m not suggesting — OK, does he have to do it?” 

After a slight pause, Olson said, “It depends.” 

“What Colorado looks to is what services the photographer makes available to the public, and if the photographer makes that service available to others, taking pictures for use on websites, then probably yes, but it depends,” said Olson. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Why Democrats are so optimistic about winning the Georgia Senate runoff

Democrats are feeling optimistic about winning Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Georgia between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker, a victory that would give the party a 51st seat.

There are a number of reasons for the high hopes.

The party thinks it has a top candidate in Warnock, a reverend who serves as senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the former pulpit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Warnock won a runoff in 2021, and he received more votes than Walker on Election Day. 

Walker, endorsed by former President Trump, has been battered by controversies throughout the campaign, and his links to Trump may be hurting him more than they are helping him in the contest. 

While Democrats expect the final tally will be close, many in and outside Georgia say the early voting numbers and momentum from November also are highly positive signs for Warnock and his party. 

“I am very bullish on Georgia. No BS,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “I know it’s close, but the early-voting turnout is very promising.”

Early voter turnout is key for Democrats because Republicans are expected to have an edge in Tuesday’s voting. 

A survey by Emerson College and The Hill late last week found Warnock with a 2-point lead. Among those surveyed who had already voted, Warnock had a 29-point advantage. 

“Looking at where most of the early-voting is happening … by my analysis and what I’ve read, looks really promising,” added Van Hollen, who chaired the Senate Democratic campaign arm during the 2018 midterms. 

Warnock won a victory in a Senate runoff election against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in January 2021, the same day Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) won his runoff. That gave Democrats the Senate majority in a 50-50 chamber by virtue of Vice President Harris’s tiebreaking vote. 

A victory this year would give Democrats more wiggle room.

Democrats note that in the 2021 runoffs, Ossoff and Warnock both had more time to campaign. 

“I don’t think he’s taken anything for granted,” one Democratic operative with ties to the state said of Warnock. “You have to operate always like you’re down. There’s no other posture to take.” 

In the four weeks since the midterm elections, Warnock’s campaign has fine-tuned its ground game, media and advertising apparatuses. A source close to the campaign says they have made contact with “millions” of additional voters through a door-to-door canvassing effort. 

They have also added hundreds of new staffers specifically for the Dec. 6 contest and have increased their youth turnout operation through visits to the University of Georgia, Emory University and other state and local institutions. 

Young voters proved to be a key part of Democrats’ success during the midterms after they overwhelmingly turned out to vote blue.

Warnock has barnstormed counties around Atlanta and worked to chip away at rural areas held by the GOP. He also stumped heavily during the fall holiday season, an investment that his campaign argues stands in contrast to Walker, who has been less visible on the trail in recent weeks. 

The Democratic strategist familiar with Georgia politics said Warnock’s success with the extra day of early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving brought more than 70,000 voters to the polls. 

“Georgia is a tough state for Democrats, but I feel good about the organizing work and the mobilizing we’ve done,” said Terrance Woodbury, an Atlanta-based political consultant and CEO of HIT Strategies. “I feel confident about tomorrow.”

Woodbury started conducting focus groups the week after the midterms to try to assess who might surge to the polls in a runoff. 

He found that while Warnock is popular among infrequent voters, Walker’s vulnerabilities are an even greater mobilizing force. “They’re voting just to stop him,” he said of some voters drawn to the polls in opposition to Walker and Trump.

There are a number of other reasons for the Democratic optimism. 

Walker was boosted in November by having Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on top of the ticket. 

Kemp cruised to a reelection victory, winning more than 203,000 more votes than Walker, who won’t have that kind of help driving voters to the polls on Tuesday. 

Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams, a progressive who may have driven some Republicans to the polls. Some Democrats privately now are expressing relief that Abrams is not on the ticket this time, speculating that she could have worked to boost turnout among conservatives. 

Walker’s warts as a candidate also have continued to emerge. Over the weekend, an ex-girlfriend went on the record to accuse him of abusive behavior during their relationship. There have been previous reports that Walker paid for an abortion in 2009 despite now being staunchly anti-abortion. 

“It’s not looking so hot for the home team,” said one GOP operative involved in Senate races. “The candidate’s put his foot in his mouth a handful of times and Democrats have unlimited resources. It just rained down on television every single day in the Atlanta media market. It just happens to be where Republicans struggle the most with moderate voters.”

Another problem for Republicans? The race won’t determine the majority in the Senate. That may keep some Republican voters at home. 

“There’s no doubt that if the majority was in question that there’d be even more energy in trying to mobilize people to get out to vote. There’s no doubt that would have added to the enthusiasm,” said Eric Tanenblatt, a Georgia-based GOP fundraiser who served as chief of staff for former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R). 

Some Republicans do think Democrats are celebrating too early. 

While Warnock has a sizable fundraising total and top surrogates including former President Obama, who recently campaigned on his behalf, one notable GOP senator believes Walker could prevail as voters learn more about his opponent. 

“We’re continuing to define Warnock,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 

“He’s got big rallies, so I think that’s why he’s going to win,” Scott said of Walker. “There’s a lot of energy.”

Source: TEST FEED1

NH senators skipping White House event over Biden-backed primary plan

New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D) and Maggie Hassan (D) will skip the White House congressional ball Monday amid anger in their home state over President Biden backing a plan to shake up the Democratic primary calendar.

A Democratic National Committee panel voted Friday to make South Carolina the first state to cast ballots, replacing Iowa as the first caucus state, and to put New Hampshire and Nevada on the schedule three days later. 

The move, which Biden argues would advance diversity in the system, ends New Hampshire’s centurylong run as the home of the first-in-the-nation primary. 

“As Senator Shaheen has said, the President’s proposal unnecessarily makes Democrats in New Hampshire, from the top to the bottom of the ticket, vulnerable in 2024,” said the senator’s spokesperson, Sarah Weinstein, in a statement to The Hill. 

“This did not have to be a mutually exclusive decision – he could have advanced a more diverse state to an earlier date, while maintaining New Hampshire as the first primary election. Instead, New Hampshire Republicans were gifted the political fodder they’ve been waiting for to target Democrats and dissuade Independents from backing Democrats in pivotal local, state and federal elections,” Weinstein said.

Shaheen’s office confirmed the senator won’t be attending Monday night’s congressional ball at the White House due to frustration with Biden over the primary change. 

“Tonight, Senator Shaheen is focused on helping to make New Hampshire’s case heard,” the Shaheen spokesperson said.

The changes, which are set to be in effect come the 2024 presidential election, are a response to long-standing calls to increase diversity in the party’s presidential nomination process.

“Too often over the past fifty years, candidates have dropped out or had their candidacies marginalized by the press and pundits because of poor performances in small states early in the process before voters of color could cast a vote,” Biden said in a letter sent to the DNC last week.

Asked about Shaheen skipping Monday’s event, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was honoring his commitment to diversity with his support for the primary shake-up.

New Hampshire and Iowa are both arguing that their state laws require them to stay in the early spots.

Hassan’s office also said the senator will not attend Monday night’s ball over the Biden-backed plan, which she called “deeply misguided.”

“Because of our state’s small size, candidates from all walks of life — not just the ones with the largest war chests — are able to compete and engage in the unique retail politics that are a hallmark of our state. This ensures that candidates are battle-tested and ready to compete for our nation’s highest office,” Hassan previously wrote.

“We will always hold the First in the Nation Primary, and this status is independent of the President’s proposal or any political organization,” she added.

Source: TEST FEED1

Thune: Trump call to terminate Constitution a ‘golden opportunity’ for 2024 rivals

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday that he “couldn’t disagree more” with former President Trump’s call to terminate parts of the Constitution in order to be reinstated president and said such comments present “a golden opportunity” for Trump’s rivals in 2024.

Thune, who was just reelected to a fourth Senate term, noted that federal officeholders take an oath to uphold the Constitution and added that he takes his seriously.  

“Of course I disagree with that. I swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, and it is a bedrock principle — it is the principle, the bedrock of our country. So I couldn’t disagree more,” Thune said.  

He predicted that “it will be the grist of the campaign” for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. 

“If you’re one of these other people who’s interested [in] running this year, this is certainly an opportunity to create some contrast,” said Thune, noting that Trump is the only declared Republican candidate for president at this point in the election cycle.  

Thune said he was mystified why Trump would make such an outlandish statement in response to a report about Twitter employees’ discussions about how to handle media coverage of emails recovered from Hunter Biden’s stolen laptop.  

“I don’t understand what the theory might [be] behind this particular campaign strategy, but he’s going to say what he’s going to say. I don’t think anybody’s going to control that, but I do think if you’re one of the other candidates, this is a golden opportunity,” he said.  

Thune is the No. 2 member of Senate Republican leadership.  

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is eyeing his own bid for the White House in 2024, pushed back against Trump’s comments Monday.  

“I must tell you that I think that everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again, should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence told a radio station in South Carolina ahead of his scheduled visit to the state.  

Other Republicans weighing presidential campaigns include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas).  

Trump’s statement also drew criticism from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who called it “an affront to our Republic.”  

“Suggesting the termination of our Constitution is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic,” she wrote on Twitter.  

Trump tried to walk back his comments in two posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, claiming the media has distorted what he wrote.  

“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.  

Trump asserted that he was calling for the 2020 presidential election to be “redone” or for him to be declared the “rightful winner.”  

He argued in a separate post that “if an election is irrefutably fraudulent, it should go to the rightful winner or, at a minimum, be redone. Where open and blatant fraud is involved, there should be no time limit for change!” 

Brett Samuels and Zach Schonfeld contributed.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Georgia runoff underscores GOP struggles with Black voters

The Georgia Senate runoff election between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and GOP hopeful Herschel Walker is laying bare the challenges Republicans continue to face in courting Black voters. 

Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) felt a candidate like Walker would inspire more Black Americans to vote Republican. Former President Trump called the former football star “a fabulous human being who loves our country.”

But in a recent CNN poll, 96 percent of Black voters said they would cast their ballot for Warnock. Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of Black PAC, which is dedicated to mobilizing Black voters, said many see Walker as a bad attempt by the Republican Party to cater to the community’s needs.

“[Black voters] are offended that the Republican Party is attempting to impose their version of what a Black leader should be on the Black community,” Shropshire told The Hill.

“It insults the intelligence of Black people when you think that you can just throw any old person up and that Black people will just vote for them because they’re Black.”

Shropshire said many voters feel the Republican support of Walker is “performative.”

“When you think about the sort of multiple stereotypes that Herschel Walker represents, that tells you a lot about who Republicans think Black people are and what they think that they will accept in terms of political leadership,” she said. 

The Republican National Committee’s arm dedicated to Black media affairs did not respond to requests for comment.

Shropshire, who has been canvassing around Georgia, including in key areas of Atlanta, Columbus and Savannah, said Black voters are even more motivated to vote in Tuesday’s runoff then they were in November’s general election.

Voter turnout in Georgia’s midterms this year could end up breaking records. More than 1.86 million ballots have already been cast ahead of Tuesday’s election, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Black voters make up almost 32 percent of that turnout. 

Warnock’s 2021 runoff victory over then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) was in part due to an outpouring of support from Black voters. Nodding to this fact, Trump pushed for Walker as the GOP nominee this year despite criticism from fellow Republicans, who pointed to Walker’s struggles with mental health, among other issues.

Still, the GOP — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — eventually jumped on the Walker bandwagon in the hopes of defeating Warnock, who was widely seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading into Nov. 8.

But Walker hit repeated hurdles on the campaign trail, including gaffes that went viral and mounting allegations that he paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion despite having come out in opposition to the practice.

Meanwhile, he has denied racism is an issue, pushed anti-abortion ideologies and embraced Trump, who remains unpopular with many Black voters. 

According to Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, Walker has become entrenched in a party that is seen as increasingly more right-wing and extremist. 

“Not only is he associating with [extremists], but he’s campaigning with them and has yet to deny them or some of the things they stand for,” Seawright said. He pointed to Walker’s silence on Trump’s recent dinner with an avowed white supremacist and antisemite as an example.

But Seawright also said that Walker’s challenges are more fundamental.

“I think it’s very hard for Herschel Walker to have credibility on issues that are top-of-mind for Black folks in Georgia because I think we all can make an argument that he has no direct relationship with the state of Georgia apart from playing football,” he said. “But also he has no track record even fighting for issues or saying what he’s going to do for our community.”

Adding to his challenges is the fact that his opponent has considerable clout among Democrats, especially after helping them flip the Senate last year. Over the last four weeks, Senate Majority PAC’s (SMP) affiliated group Georgia Honor has invested more than $5 million in advertising for Warnock. Former President Barack Obama spent Thursday in Georgia campaigning for Warnock. And in a new phone campaign, former first lady Michelle Obama urged voters to join her in supporting Warnock.

Republicans, on the other hand, don’t have any comparable figures who could for Walker. Trump, who is expected to hold a virtual rally for the candidate on Monday night, has not held any in-person rallies in the state since Nov. 8.

“We have seen it in knocking on doors, but also in our polling that younger Black voters — and particularly younger Black men — are offended by Herschel Walker,” Shropshire said. “They do not believe that he should be representing them as a Black male role model and their responses in focus groups and in our polling is rejection and repudiation of him.”

Black PAC spent the months leading up to the midterms talking with voters, and many identified the economy and jobs, access to and expansion of health care, and gun violence as top issues. The recent attacks on voting rights and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade were also motivating. 

“If Republicans actually cared about winning the Black vote, they would actually work on issues that Black voters care about,” Shropshire said. “They would not dictate what those issues are, they would simply listen and move policy and move legislation that addresses issues like gun violence, like voting rights.”

Though a record number of Black candidates ran for office on GOP platforms in this year’s midterms, the Republican Party remains predominantly white and male. Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) is the only sitting Black Republican senator. 

But Seawright argued it’s not something innate Scott possesses that makes him a better candidate than other Black GOP hopefuls. Instead, Seawright said, Scott simply has a strong support base in South Carolina. This means Scott and the party don’t need to focus so much on their messaging — which he argues consistently turns Black voters away.

“Black voters in Georgia are simply casting a survival vote in this election the same they did in the midterm election,” Seawright said. “They understand that … this Senate race will have a large say in whether communities that look like theirs live or die.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump insists he doesn't want to 'terminate' Constitution

Former President Trump on Monday insisted he does not want to “terminate” the Constitution, responding to broad backlash after he said over the weekend its rules and laws should be disregarded so he can return to the White House.

Trump, in a pair of posts on Truth Social, responded to the fallout from his comments on Saturday that the 2020 election should be redone or he should be put back in office. The former president weighed in after internal Twitter communications showed company officials deciding to limit the spread of posts about allegations against Hunter Biden, President’s Biden’s son, in the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign.

“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS,” Trump wrote Monday afternoon, saying he meant that “steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG.”

In a separate, all-capitalized post, Trump wrote that “if an election is irrefutably fraudulent, it should go to the rightful winner or, at a minimum, be redone. Where open and blatant fraud is involved, there should be no time limit for change!”

Trump two days earlier had posted about the Twitter controversy, saying, “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

The comments drew pushback — including from key GOP figures such as former Vice President Mike Pence — though many Republicans have stayed silent following the remarks.

“I must tell you that I think that everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again, should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said on a South Carolina radio show on Monday morning.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who defeated a Trump-backed challenger in November, said suggesting the termination of the Constitution “is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic.”

Trump has for years claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him and that Hunter Biden colluded with his father over his business dealings, though there is no proof of either. But his calls for the Constitution to be ignored so he could be returned to power marked a new level of incendiary rhetoric.

The White House condemned Trump’s comments in a statement of its own.

“The Constitution brings the American people together – regardless of party – and elected leaders swear to uphold it,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Conservative justices signal support for web designer opposed to same-sex marriage

Conservative members of the Supreme Court on Monday signaled support for a Colorado web designer who claims the First Amendment shields her from having to provide services for same-sex weddings in violation of her conscience.

For more than two hours of argument, the court explored whether Colorado’s anti-discrimination law would violate the free speech rights of Christian web designer Lorie Smith by requiring that she create sites for both for opposite-sex unions and gay weddings despite her religious objection to same-sex marriage.

Lawyers defending Colorado’s civil rights law faced difficult questions from the court’s conservatives, with several inquiries focused on how a win for Colorado could burden free expression, either by forcing particular speech or chilling it.

“Let’s just say that [The New York Times] for Gay Pride Month decides that it’s going to run — to promote and recognize same sex marriage — only same sex marriage announcements, turns away heterosexual announcements, not because it disparages or disagrees with opposite sex unions, but because it’s trying to promote something else,” said conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“Can it do that?” Barrett asked Colorado’s solicitor general Eric Olson. “That’s a protected characteristic under the law.”

Olson, who said the question posed an unusual case, replied, “I think the answer is no.”

Smith, the web designer, filed a preemptive lawsuit in 2016 to block Colorado’s civil rights law from being enforced against her. The state’s statute, known as a public-accommodation law, makes it illegal for businesses that serve the general public to discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics like sexual orientation, with fines of up to $500 for each violation.

Smith argued Colorado’s law infringes on First Amendment free-speech protections by compelling businesspeople like her to engage in speech that violates their beliefs. She lost two rounds in the lower courts, prompting her appeal to the Supreme Court.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the court’s conservatives, suggested that a win for Colorado could lead to a scenario where a speechwriter-for-hire might be compelled to write a speech with a message that violates her “most deeply held convictions.”

In response, deputy solicitor general Brian Fletcher, who argued for the U.S. government in defense of Colorado’s law, said “speechwriters aren’t likely to be public accommodations.”

Kavanaugh interjected: “Until they are after this case, if you prevail. I mean, that’s what states could do.”

A decision in the case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, is expected by this summer.

Updated: 2:10 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Arizona certifies 2022 election results amid threat of more GOP challenges

Arizona officials certified the state’s vote canvass on Monday, officially declaring winners in the high-profile gubernatorial and Senate races, among other contests, as GOP figures vow to fight the election results in court.

The once low-profile certification process turned into a fierce battle between election officials, Republican candidates and some county boards as the GOP seized on printer malfunctions in the state’s most populous county, in part leading Arizona to become an epicenter for voter disenfranchisement allegations.

Election officials have acknowledged mishaps but insist no voter was disenfranchised. Some GOP figures and their supporters claimed officials were lying, unsuccessfully calling on county boards to not certify their canvasses in recent days before turning their ire to Monday’s state-level certification.

But Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who is now governor-elect, Gov. Doug Ducey (R), state Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) and Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel still met to canvass last month’s election on Monday, a timeline mandated by state law.

“Arizona had a successful election,” Hobbs said. “But too often throughout the process, powerful voices proliferated misinformation that threatened to disenfranchise voters. Democracy prevailed, but it’s not out of the woods. 2024 will bring a host of challenges from the election denial community that we must prepare for.”

The certification paves the way for automatic recounts to begin in three close races — attorney general, state superintendent and a state House seat near Phoenix — and officials signed certificates of election for the other contests.

Hobbs’s team will now go before a state judge, who is poised to officially order the three recounts.

But Monday’s meeting is also likely to spark multiple GOP-led lawsuits, as gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R), who lost to Hobbs, and attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh (R), who trails his Democratic rival by the slimmest of margins ahead of the automatic recount, promise to take legal action.

Under state law, they have five days to formally contest the results in court.

Lake and Hamadeh’s campaigns, as well as other Republicans, criticized Hobbs’s role in signing the certification paperwork on Monday, arguing she had a conflict of interest because she was a candidate in the gubernatorial race.

Hobbs’s office pushed back by arguing the meeting was merely a ministerial act — counties handle and tabulate ballots themselves — and noting that Ducey and Brnovich, both Republicans, attended the meeting.

Monday’s certification came after all of Arizona’s 15 counties certified their vote canvasses. Republicans took aim at Hobbs’s office for promising to prosecute county officials who did not abide by last week’s statutory deadline for counties to certify.

GOP board members in two ruby-red counties — Mohave and Cochise — sought to delay certifying their vote canvasses.

Mohave County supervisors ultimately did so hours before a statutory deadline last week, and Republicans have seized on Board Chair Ron Gould’s (R) comment that he was told he would be arrested if he did not abide by the state law, saying he was only voting to certify “under duress.”

In Cochise County, the GOP-controlled board defied the statutory deadline based on an unfounded conspiracy over vote machine certification, leading to lawsuits from Hobbs’s office and an outside group.

A state judge ruled the supervisors’ decision unlawful and ordered them to certify the results last Thursday.

The next day, Hobbs’s office asked Brnovich, Arizona’s attorney general, and Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre to “investigate and take appropriate enforcement action” against the two GOP supervisors who declined to comply with the deadline.

McIntyre had declined to represent the supervisors in court, telling them their refusal to not certify was unlawful.

Source: TEST FEED1

Pence pushes back on Trump's call to terminate the Constitution

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday pushed back on former President Trump’s assertion that the Constitution should be disregarded to allow for him to return to the White House in the wake of new revelations about Twitter’s handling of a controversial story about Hunter Biden.

“I must tell you that I think that everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said on WVOC radio in Columbia, S.C., ahead of a visit to the state on Tuesday.

The former vice president, who has said he is contemplating a 2024 presidential bid, noted that every federal official takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Pence added that he believes he upheld his oath to defend the Constitution throughout his four years as Trump’s vice president, particularly in the final weeks of his term as Trump pressured him to reject the 2020 election results.

Trump on Saturday reacted to the release of internal Twitter communications that showed company officials deciding to limit the spread of posts about the contents of a laptop belonging to President Biden’s son in the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign.

“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump posted on Truth Social, suggesting there should either be a new election or that he should be declared the winner retroactively.

Trump has for years claimed the 2020 election was stolen and fraudulent and that Hunter Biden colluded with his father over his business dealings, though there is no proof of either. But his calls for the Constitution to be ignored marked a new level of incendiary rhetoric.

While Pence on Monday said that the handling of the Hunter Biden story was a “disgrace,” he joined a small list of Republicans to criticize Trump over his calls to disregard the Constitution entirely so he could return to power.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who defeated a Trump-backed challenger in November, said suggesting the termination of the Constitution “is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic.”

“Well, obviously I don’t support that,” Rep.-elect Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Many Republican leaders have yet to weigh in, and some, such as Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), shrugged it off.

“He says a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen,” Joyce said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Source: TEST FEED1