Texas Progressives talk lawsuits on Ill Eagles, more

As promised, Biden's DOJ is suing Strangeabbott over Senate Bill 4 empowering Texas law enforcement to make arrests for "illegal entry." I think it's likely it will lose again, given the Arizona case in 2012, where five of eight justices struck down in entirety everything but "show me your papers," and Alito concurred on the direct parallel to Texas: striking down the Arizona state crime of illegal entry. Kennedy is gone (as is Scalia and Ginsburg) but that still leaves five for the key issue if Alito doesn't change and we know that Kagan won't recuse. The three newbies of Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett are at issue, especially if Alito does flop.

Related? New York City is suing not Abbott, but the bus companies that send Ill Eagles there. It's the first suit of its type. Since it's against the bus companies, not Tex-ass, I think it would he hard to get it kicked to federal court. If nothing else, I suspect that at a minimum, while the suit plays out, these companies will want an ironclad hold harmless from Strangeabbott before transporting any more people to New York.

SCOTUS will hear, from Idaho, the case on the federal emergency medicine law being used to try to protect emergency abortion. Kuff calls the simple act, via Talking Points Memo's header, as "ominous." Rather, on it's own, it's the normal action of a Supreme Court when two circuit courts give totally differing rulings on a major issue. Now, on the big picture, I think it's ominous because Team Biden has been trying to get the law to do what it wasn't designed to do and I expect they'll lose.

 Law Dork and Steve Vladeck go deep on the Fifth Circuit's EMTALA decision. 

The Dallas Observer reminds is that there remain challenges to Texas' draconian anti-abortion law.

Here's some potential fallout from federal COVID money for schools ending this fall.

SocraticGadfly said RIP to Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Contra Alexandra Samuels, 52 degrees is BELOW normal for most of Texas outside the Panhandle in early January. Note that where I live, where the almanac on Weather Underground says the average is above 52, has actually had that many days above 52 in the last 10 days. (By next Monday, we're supposed to have sub-20s low with snow.) If Samuels had wanted to talk about something relevant to climate change this time of year and over the recent past, she would have discussed polar vortexes.

Off the Kuff analyzed the runoffs for Mayor and Controller in Houston.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said that Houston Mayor John Whitmire has no plan to protect Houstonians from the extremism of the Texas far right. 

The Eyewall explains what a polar vortex is.  

Bishop C. Andrew Doyle pens an open letter to the NY Times about its use of "taco sauce" in a crossword puzzle.  

Jeff Balke makes nine transportation-related resolutions for Houston for 2024.