Cross-Examination

• The Democrats’ sleazy SCOTUS subpoena game: If you can’t beat ‘em, haul 'em into court. That’s clearly the plan of the Democrat Party, which simply can’t abide by the Supreme Court’s 5-3-1 conservative majority and its check on Big Government progressivism. Indeed, the Court is all that’s stood between the Democrats and their extraconstitutional agenda, and it must therefore be delegitimized. Despite Republicans’ best efforts, the latest example of this came yesterday from Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, when he issued subpoenas for Harlan Crow, an old friend of Justice Clarence Thomas, and Leonard Leo, the former Federalist Society vice president and the architect of former President Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees. As the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page puts it: “In a rush of rule-breaking at the end of a meeting, Mr. Durbin moved to bluster through subpoenas for two friends of Supreme Court Justices on a partisan vote. This is part of a Democratic political campaign to portray the High Court as a trinket bought by billionaires. There’s no evidence, of course, that any of the conservative justices are on the take, but that’s not the point of this shameful and unprecedented harassment. As the Journal’s editors conclude, "The point isn’t to accomplish anything. It’s to blow smoke to harm the Supreme Court.”

• Sandra Day O'Connor dies at 93: An American original and a judicial trailblazer, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor passed away this morning in Phoenix, Arizona, at age 93. The cause, according to the Supreme Court’s Office of Public Information, was “complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness.” Those of a certain age will remember O'Connor’s appointment by Ronald Reagan in 1981, when she became the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court. As Reagan said upon his nomination of her, “She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity, and devotion to the public good which have characterized the 101 brethren who have preceded her.” She served until 2006 and was, along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, a consistent swing vote in many of the court’s 5-4 decisions. As Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement: “A daughter of the American Southwest, Sandra Day O'Connor blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female justice. She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor. We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education. And we celebrate her enduring legacy as a true public servant and patriot.” Rest in peace, Madame Justice.

• Adios, George Santos: New York Republican George Santos has been ousted from the House of Representatives, which just held an expulsion vote on the Long Island congressman. The final vote was 311 to 114. It’s the ninth expulsion vote in House history and the six successful one. A two-thirds majority was needed — around 290 votes — and Santos’s colleagues made that number with room to spare. As the New York Post reports: “Santos, 35, had been mired in controversy since his 2022 election. He has admitted fabricating much of his biography, and federal prosecutors accuse him of laundering campaign funds and defrauding donors. Santos has pleaded not guilty to those charges.” The Post adds, “A bipartisan congressional investigation last month found that he charged almost $4,000 for spa treatments, including Botox, to his congressional campaign account.” GOP members from swing districts wanted desperately to defenestrate Santos, as they rightly saw him as an embarrassment and a threat to their reelection. Now they’ve gotten their wish. And the Republicans’ ultra-slim majority just got even slimmer.

• Texas loses fence fight: On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses lifted a block raised by Texas against federal immigration authorities from removing razor wire placed on private land along the border with Mexico. Texas had placed the wire with landowners’ permission in an effort to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the state. Moses noted the “utter failure” of the Biden administration to prevent illegal entry in the U.S., but she reasoned that Texas’s motion to block the feds from removing the razor wire on the claim that doing so was illegal would not prevail in court. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton voiced his “disappointment that the federal government’s blatant and disturbing efforts to subvert law and order at our State’s border with Mexico will be allowed to continue,” but he also promised to appeal the ruling.

• Pfizer sued over misleading vax claims: Speaking of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton was busy on Thursday, as he also announced a lawsuit the Lone Star State filed against the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. According to Paxton, Pfizer is guilty of violating the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by engaging in “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims” regarding its COVID vaccine. The Texas AG charged that Pfizer made “highly misleading” statements by claiming that its vaccine was 95% effective against COVID. The AG’s office said, “Pfizer created the false impression that its vaccine provided a substantially greater amount of protection against COVID-19 infection than what it afforded in reality,” and the company pursued a “continuous and widespread campaign” to uphold this false perception with the public. Furthermore, this “deceptive conduct was reinforced and extended by Pfizer’s efforts to censor persons who sought to disseminate truthful information that would undermine its ongoing deception.” To be clear, Paxton is charging Pfizer with over-selling the efficacy of its vaccine; he is not claiming that the vaccine is dangerous.

• More companies dump college degree requirement: A college degree just ain’t what it used to be. That appears to be the conclusion that nearly half of American companies have come to. Walmart, IBM, Bank of America, and Google recently announced that they were dropping their Bachelor’s degree requirement for many of their job positions. They’re not alone. According to a survey from intelligent.com, companies are increasingly dropping their Bachelor’s requirement for jobs, with 55% of the 800 U.S. companies surveyed noting that they have already eliminated college degree requirements. What companies have begun doing instead is developing their own apprenticeship programs, as Accenture first did back in 2016, through which it has hired 1,200 of its employees, 80% of whom did not have a Bachelor’s degree. As Accenture North America CEO Jimmy Etheredge explained, “A person’s educational credentials are not the only indicators of success, so we advanced our approach to hiring to focus on skills, experiences and potential.” Indeed, gaining real-world work experience and developing skills are as important if not more so for companies looking to hire competent employees, especially when they anticipate further developing their particular skills via apprenticeship training.

• Did Biden boot “Bidenomics”? Anybody else notice that neither Joe Biden nor his surrogates have used the term “Bidenomics” lately? Heck, it seems like only yesterday when he was, ahem, barnstorming the country and crowing about what a swell economy we have and blustering about how, like Barack Obama did with “ObamaCare,” he was going to lean into this pejorative and wield it weapon-like against his critics. A funny thing happened on the way to this rehabilitation, though: The people refused to buy it. Having used the word “Bidenomics” more than 100 times to promote the splendidness of the American economy in recent months, NBC News reports that Scranton Joe hasn’t uttered the word once in all his public remarks since November 1, when, in a speech in Minnesota, he likened Bidenomics to — get this — “the American Dream.” As for who had the deciding vote in whether to jettison the term from Biden’s Big Book of Branding, we might look no further than South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, who was instrumental in getting Biden elected in the first place. “I don’t like it, either,” said Clyburn. In any case, it’s still the economy, stupid, so Team Biden’s focus group is no doubt already brainstorming a suitable replacement word.

• Judge blocks TikTok ban: Montana’s ban on TikTok was slated to go into effect a month from today. However, because the ban ostensibly “infringes on the constitutional rights of users,” according to U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, the January 1 implementation of it won’t be happening. Amazingly, “TikTok lawyers say national security concerns raised by the state are not backed by solid evidence, a point that the judge appeared to agree with in his 48-page ruling,” the Washington Examiner reports, adding: “The legality of the law will be considered further at a bench trial that has not yet been scheduled, but for now, TikTok will remain available in the state.” Montana attorney general spokeswoman Austin Knudsen noted, “The judge indicated several times that the analysis could change as the case proceeds and the state has the opportunity to present a full factual record.” That full factual record is twofold: First, the Communist Chinese-owned social media company harvests Americans’ data, which absolutely is a national security concern. Second, a TikTok ban doesn’t violate the First Amendment.

• Carjacking the FBI: In an incident that pointedly demonstrates just how bad crime has gotten in America’s largest cities, an FBI employee was the latest victim of a carjacking in downtown Washington, DC. The incident occurred in the middle of the afternoon just a couple blocks away from Lincoln Park where dozens of children were playing. DC has recorded over 900 carjackings this year alone. The problem is that while the rates for these and other violent crimes have been spiking, the criminal conviction rates have dropped. Furthermore, in the case of DC carjackings, the majority of these crimes are being committed by juveniles, setting themselves up for a life of crime at earlier and earlier ages. This is part of the negative social ramifications of the breakdown of the nuclear family, and more specifically the dearth of fathers in the home. This is not just a crime problem; it’s a culture problem.

Headlines

• Top 5 moments from the DeSantis-Newsom slugfest (Fox News) | DeSantis mocks Newsom over his father-in-law leaving California for Florida (New York Post)

• Israel, terror groups renew combat in Gaza: “Hamas violated the ceasefire” (Times of Israel) | Antony Blinken warns Israel: Don’t restart war without “civilian protection plan” (New York Post) | Mastermind behind 10/7 Hamas terror attack: That “was just a rehearsal” (Daily Wire)

• Karine Jean-Pierre storms out of White House press briefing when pressed by African reporter (Fox News)

• Illegal immigrant charged after allegedly shooting two sisters in the head in their Texas home (Daily Wire)

• Rand Paul performs Heimlich maneuver on choking Joni Ernst (Fox News)

• U.S. reveals date of first moon return in 51 years — with one key difference (Washington Examiner)

• Policy: Cosmopolitan‘s unintentional, unironic reminder that abortion is Satanic (Daily Signal)

• Humor: Newsom-DeSantis debate sponsored by U-Haul (Babylon Bee)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.