Welcome to POLITICO’s 2021 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.
When President-elect JOE BIDEN first floated the idea of creating a bipartisan commission to advise on how to reform the Supreme Court, progressives knocked it as yet another panel that would stymie actual change.
Now, progressive activists are pushing the president-elect to get moving on it as they seek to put the issue of court reform back on the agenda following Democrats’ Senate victories in Georgia.
In a letter to Biden’s transition team obtained exclusively by Holly, Demand Justice, Indivisible, Demos, Take Back the Court and other groups called on such a commission to start work immediately because “the threat is urgent” and “there is no time to waste.”
The organizations also urged Biden to only appoint people to the commission who back serious change to the Supreme Court. During the campaign, Biden said that the commission would include Democrats and Republicans. Progressives fear that would give an opening to the GOP to pressure Biden to include supporters of the status quo.
“Just as a climate change commission would never include a climate denier or a criminal justice reform commission would never include a skeptic of systemic racism, the prerequisite for each commissioner here must be the recognition that our Supreme Court needs to be reformed,” the organizations wrote.
Biden proposed forming a commission in the final weeks of the presidential campaign in October, after President DONALD TRUMP nominated AMY CONEY BARRETT to fill the late RUTH BADER GINSBURG’s Supreme Court seat. But he ducked calls by many liberals to endorse an expansion of the court.
At the time, Demand Justice said the commission “runs the risk of stalling momentum for serious reform.” Democracy for America, another liberal group, said, "We don’t need to be promised a nice report about reform delivered to the White House, we need Vice President Biden to assure Americans that he will take bold action to ensure our courts don’t remain dominated by a right-wing fringe."
What changed? Take Back the Court director AARON BELKIN explained the shift this way: “Biden effectively has no time on the clock to restore democracy.”
But their evolution also reflects a shifting political reality: In October, progressives thought Democrats would capture additional seats and have a more robust Senate majority. But after a disappointing showing on election day, Senate Democrats have now eked out a narrow majority only through two runoff victories in Georgia and Vice President-elect KAMALA HARRIS’ tie-breaking vote.
In their letter, left-wing groups also said that the commission should include movement activists who have fought for overhauling the Supreme Court as well as advocates for people harmed by its decisions, and they called for the commission to be diverse.
Biden said in October that the commission would provide recommendations to him within 180 days. A transition official said that he is still committed to putting together the panel within that time frame, and additional details will be released in the coming weeks.
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Met with advisers, according to the transition.
Same as Biden.
With the Center for Presidential Transition
Which outgoing president — DWIGHT EISENHOWER, RONALD REAGAN, GEORGE H.W. BUSH or GEORGE W. BUSH — left a note for his successor on kid-friendly stationery, urging, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down”?
*Names in this letter are redacted so as not to give away the answer
(Read to the end for the answer)
CHAO AND BUTTIGIEG SPOKE OVER THE WEEKEND — Former Transportation Secretary ELAINE CHAO spoke to Biden’s pick to fill her role in his administration, PETE BUTTIGIEG, over the weekend, our SAM MINTZ reports. The two “exchanged well wishes and did not speak much about policy,” a source said.
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BIDEN EYES GENSLER FOR SEC: Biden is likely to pick GARY GENSLER to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, four people familiar with the matter told ZACHARY WARMBRODT and TYLER PAGER, in a move that would energize progressives clamoring for nominees willing to challenge big business.
While Gensler spent his early career rising to the rank of partner at Goldman Sachs, he became best known for imposing sweeping rules on banks as the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the 2008 financial crisis. Gensler, who’s now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led the Biden transition's review of financial regulatory agencies, including the SEC and the Federal Reserve.
CONFIRMATION BLITZ — Biden’s transition is making a push to swiftly confirm his national security picks so they’re in place when he takes office next week, NATASHA KORECKI reports. In the wake of last week’s siege on the Capitol, the Biden team’s top priority is confirming his pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS.
Biden officials are also expected to advocate for quick confirmation of Defense Secretary-designate LLOYD AUSTIN, Secretary of State-designate ANTONY BLINKEN and AVRIL HAINES, Biden’s choice for director of national intelligence. Austin must also get House approval for a waiver to the law barring recently retired military officers from serving as Defense secretary.
Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER echoed those priorities in a letter to his caucus today, writing that the “violent insurrection” at the Capitol last week “showed us we need qualified Senate-confirmed people (not in an acting capacity) in key national security positions on Day One, including Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and others.”
And Rep. ADAM SMITH (D-Wash.), the House Armed Services Committee’s chairman, and other House Democrats are working to fast-track the waiver for Austin to become Defense secretary.
Some lawmakers are pushing to bypass a hearing and committee votes, LARA SELIGMAN and CONOR O’BRIEN report.
MORE BLINKEN CLIENTS: Blinken disclosed 16 clients — including Boeing, Facebook, AT&T and Uber — through WestExec Advisors, the consulting firm he co-founded with other Obama administration alumni, on a recent financial disclosure. But there are two more Blinken clients he didn’t disclose, because they paid the firm less than $5,000, the threshold at which clients must be included on the form, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Those clients: United Airlines and Bond, a personal security app.
Both companies confirmed they’d worked with Blinken. “WestExec advises Bond on matters of strategy,” the company said in a statement. “We have had limited direct engagement with Mr. Blinken.” United declined to provide any details about Blinken’s work.
We aren’t the only ones curious about Blinken’s WestExec work. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is seeking more information from the Biden transition about what Blinken did for his clients, including the names of WestExec clients he didn’t represent directly and the countries on which WestExec advised them.
“The committee needs clear visibility on any potential conflicts of interest to ensure the committee can fulfill its oversight responsibilities of the State Department and how U.S. foreign policy decisions may be made,” a Republican Senate aide said in a statement.
A Biden transition official said the transition is “working with both parties on the committee in good faith."
IMPEACHMENT WATCH — TOM DONOHUE, the longtime chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, excoriated Trump this afternoon for undermining democracy and suggested the Chamber wouldn’t oppose removing him from office.
“It is for the vice president, the Cabinet, and Congress to decide whether or not to invoke the 25th Amendment or pursue impeachment or other measures — and we trust them to use those tools judiciously, if needed, to ensure our nation’s well-being and security,” Donohue said in a statement.
MORE LAST-MINUTE RULES: In a surprise move, the Environmental Protection Agency will unveil a climate rule today that will effectively prohibit the future regulation of greenhouse gases from any stationary industry other than power plants, ALEX GUILLÉN reports.
The new regulation could hamstring much of Biden’s climate agenda by prohibiting his EPA, for instance, from setting carbon limits on oil and gas wells or refineries.
WHO’S IN CHARGE: The Food and Drug Administration cycled through three different top lawyers on Monday, a personnel shake-up driven by ongoing clashes between the agency and the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees it, DAN DIAMOND reports.
The unusual sequence began with Trump appointee STACY CLINE AMIN abruptly stepping down as chief counsel and the FDA announcing that career civil servant MARK RAZA would be her acting replacement.
Then, HHS on Monday night announced that Trump political appointee JAMES LAWRENCE would instead serve as chief counsel — a move that unnerved health officials as the Trump administration heads into its final week. Two officials said MARK MEADOWS, the White House chief of staff, backed Lawrence as FDA's top lawyer.
Biden inaugural committee will refund a contribution from former Sen. Barbara Boxer after she registered as a foreign agent (Axios)
Bernie Sanders has been talking to Biden about a “big” stimulus bill (The New York Times)
There’s a nagging question about MERRICK GARLAND that’s never been answered: Did he once cut off another boy in a summer camp relay race? That’s what FRED EISENHAMMER, a freelance sports writer, claimed in an op-ed in The Chicago Tribune, showing astonishing recall of the details of a race he and Garland ran decades earlier.
“When I started running, I began to chase Merrick down, narrowing the lead to about five yards with about 70 yards to go,” Eisenhammer wrote in 2016. “Then an unusual thing happened. Merrick cut to the left in front of me before veering back on course. I staggered to avoid crashing into him but righted myself and kept running. I lost a few yards in the confrontation and then, with pumped-up adrenaline, set sail again to overtake him. I never did.”
Eisenhammer subsequently told The New York Times that his old junior-high school friends had rebuked him after the op-ed was published, insisting that “Merrick was the best.”
In 1989, Reagan left this note for his successor, GEORGE H.W. BUSH. Every president since has continued this tradition, leaving a handwritten letter in the Oval Office on Inauguration Day for the next president to read.
January 13, 2021 at 05:50AM
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/transition-playbook/2021/01/12/progressives-to-biden-dont-forget-supreme-court-reform-792734
Progressives to Biden: Don't forget Supreme Court reform - Politico
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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