The Supremes

SCOTUS comes up big on a couple.

Washington (CNN) -  The Supreme Court on Monday said a person can be charged and tried in state and federal court for the same conduct without running afoul to the double jeopardy clause of the US Constitution because state and federal governments are separate sovereigns.

The case has implications for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is facing charges in New York State that are similar to the federal charges for which he has been tried.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

This should be good news, but it's worrying because it pressures 45* to amp up his theme of calling for vigilante-style violence to keep him from having to leave office.

WaPo, Robert Barnes

June 17 at 10:50 AM

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the challenge to a lower court’s findings that some of Virginia’s legislative districts were racially gerrymandered, saying that House Republicans did not have legal standing to challenge the decision.

The decision could give an advantage to the state’s Democrats. All 140 seats in the legislature are on the ballot this fall, and the GOP holds two-seat majorities in both the House (51 to 49) and the Senate (21 to 19).

Democrats have been hoping that a wave of success in recent Virginia elections will propel them to control of the legislature for the first time since 1995.

The party that controls the General Assembly in 2021 will oversee the next statewide re­districting effort, following next year’s census — potentially cementing an advantage in future elections.

Oddly, Gorsuch and Thomas sided with Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan on this one.