■ Law professor Joyce Vance calls it “a bold and logical move, the best path forward” …
■ … but, The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes warns, “If the court … rules in Trump’s favor … we’ll have surely entered a new era of presidential power.”
■ The court’s agreed to fast-track the question.
■ CNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic: No matter what, justices face a fresh round of political misery.
■ Charlie Pierce at Esquire: “Smith is going for it all. After all, the moon is there to shoot for.”
■ Read Smith’s full brief here.
■ Popular Information counts off 10 alarming things Trump’s threatened for a second term.
■ Trump’s niece Mary L. Trump: “Donors just learned Donald is wasting MILLIONS of their dollars to pay witnesses to praise him.”
‘A rare victory for anti-abortion groups in a deep blue state.’ That’s how the Tribune characterizes a proposed agreement under which Illinois would drop enforcement of a law to fine clinics found to be “dissuading ‘pregnant persons from considering abortion care through deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading information and practices.’”
■ A Texas woman who lost her bid for court permission to get an abortion has reportedly left the state for the procedure.
■ Your Local Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina—who describes herself as “a mom who carried three pregnancies in Texas, one of whom had irreversible severe genetic abnormalities”—says, “Women are fighting for their lives in the U.S.”
Crimo, solo. Highland Park massacre suspect Robert Crimo III says he’ll represent himself on charges of killing seven people and wounding dozens of others on July 4, 2022.
■ He asked—and was granted—scheduling of his trial for this February, instead of February 2025 as his original defense team had been discussing.
‘Rogue buses.’ Chicago’s going to court with at least 55 lawsuits against operators delivering migrants to the city at unauthorized times and places.
■ Block Club Chicago: A closed CVS store in Little Village will become a shelter for 230 migrants.
■ A Trib editorial dumps on Mayor Johnson: “He looks politically weak, simply because of the ineptitude.”
‘Why university presidents find it hard to punish advocating genocide.’ The Conversation explores an issue tying campuses in knots.
■ Harvard’s board is sticking by its president after her widely criticized appearance before Congress on the subject last week.
■ The (conservative, Fox-sibling) New York Post calls Saturday Night Live’s sketch on the controversy “the cringe felt around the world.”
‘The year Twitter died.’ The Verge is out today with a passel of articles about the platform’s decay.
■ Reliable Sources: “Elon Musk seems hellbent on transforming what was once Twitter into a far-right fever swamp.”
A gift that won’t cost you a cent. Know people who don’t know about Chicago Public Square? Let ’em know they can subscribe to this service free. Then sit back and let their gratitude wash over you.
‘Nothing more than four drive-thru lanes and a box building with a front window that offers a glimpse into a kitchen that could be from a nostalgic past or a bright future.’ The Trib’s food critic, Louisa Kung Liu Chu, visits McDonald’s spinoff concept, CosMc’s.
■ A Sun-Times editorial demands Congress lower credit card swipe fees, which it says raise costs for businesses and consumers.
‘Artificial intelligence is, for the time being, so ignorant.’ Columnist Eric Zorn is surprised to learn that ChatGPT thinks he’s married to someone else.
■ A federal jury’s concluded that barriers to Google’s Android app store violate antitrust law.
■ Apple’s updated operating systems for its computers, phones and other devices with a number of new features …
■ … but, as so often is the case, Apple journal TidBITS recommends “waiting a week to ensure they don’t introduce unexpected problems.”
■ E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is history.
Colbert’s back—no appendix. His audience chanted his wife’s name as he recounted her role in his treatment.
■ See his story here.
Read this if All I Want for Christmas is You is all you want for Christmas. The AP explores the song’s history—and the disputes over its creation.
■ A personal confession from 2012: “Before the whispers crescendo into a deafening roar, before someone else sullies my reputation, before the inevitable blackmail attempt surfaces, I want to come out publicly and say that I’ve come over the last few years to realize that ... I need only one Christmas song.”
■ And then others offered their “one song” choices.
■ A 2015 podcast: What makes the song so ... irresistible?
■ Thanks. Lisa Siemer made this edition better.