Trump, Grassley Publicly Speculate About Alito Replacements

“I hope he doesn’t retire…but if he does…”

As the end of the Supreme Court’s term draws nearer, Republican pressure on Justice Samuel Alito to exit has become more public.

President Trump first addressed the topic Wednesday on Fox News.

“In theory it’s two – just read the statistics – it could be two, it could be three, it could be one,” he told host Maria Bartiromo. “I don’t know. I’m willing to do it. But when you talk about Alito, he’s a great judge.”

“Justice Alito is an incredible judge and a brilliant judge, and he’s winning the country,” he added. “He does what’s good for the country. It’s the law, and he respects it as much as anyone, but he gets to the point. It’s good for our country. So… in a way you would have to say, ‘Oh, I’m glad,’ but he’s so good.”

Republicans increasingly want Alito, 76, to retire at the end of his term before the midterm elections threaten their Senate majority. Alito’s impending publication of a legacy-shaping book— So Ordered: An Originalist’s Original View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country – is seen as another indication that he might consider leaving. The book will be published on October 6, at the same time as the first hearing of the new legislature.

Justice Clarence Thomas, 77, has speculated less, perhaps because it will take him about two years to become the longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history.

Public pressure on both has been surprisingly muted so far, given the prominence of judicial actuarial mathematics since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during Trump’s first term. But Trump’s remarks come alongside other indications that the calls will grow louder as the midterm elections approach.

Fox News reported earlier this month that Alito was treated for dehydration at a hospital in March after attending a Federalist Society event. The timing of this previously undisclosed event becoming public is remarkable.

And another prominent Republican, former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), addressed the topic this week.

“I hope he doesn’t retire,” he told Alito reporters. “But if he retires, I’m going to suggest that Lee or Cruz be appointed to the Supreme Court.”

-Kate Riga

Vought doesn’t even have a rough estimate of how much the Trump administration has spent on the Iran war so far

The cost of the ongoing war with Iran, into which President Trump has drawn the United States, was one of the most popular questions at today’s Senate Budget Committee hearing, at which Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought testified.

Vought was initially asked by Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) for a ballpark figure on how much money has been spent on the war so far.

“I wouldn’t want to describe that at this point,” Vought said, declining even to provide a ballpark figure.

He was later pressed by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, on the same issue.

“You have no idea – none – how much money has been spent on the war so far? Murray asked Vought.

“We don’t have those numbers right now. I think partly because they fluctuate from day to day,” Vought responded.

“You can’t even give us a fork? Murray insisted.

“No, I’m not going to give you a range because I don’t want to be inaccurate,” Vought said.

“You’re just not going to tell us because you don’t want us to know how much is being spent…I just find it outrageous that as a director you don’t want to tell us what those costs are. It’s your job to know,” Murray said.

Vought also confirmed that the White House was working on a supplemental request, but said the Trump administration had not yet made a decision on how much funding it would ask Congress to approve for the Iran war.

He said they “wanted to continue to evaluate” the ongoing war, including “the duration of operations,” before sending a request.

The president’s budget request already included a call for a $1.5 trillion budget for the Department of Defense — formally requesting that $350 billion be approved through the party-line reconciliation process — for the upcoming fiscal year.

If this request is approved, it would be the largest military budget increase in modern history, not counting the times the United States has been involved in a war where it had troops on the ground.

-Emine Yucel

Franklin Graham defends Trump

The son of one of the most prominent Christian evangelists in history is going out of his way to defend President Trump after the evangelical community began turning against him — lightly — for posting a photo of himself depicted as Jesus Christ. The Rev. Franklin Graham posted to Twitter Thursday, telling his supporters that we should all take Trump at his word when he said he thought the image actually showed him as a doctor.

“When I looked at the illustration, I didn’t come to the same conclusion as some. There was no spiritual reference – no halo, there was no cross, no angels. It was a flag, soldiers, a nurse, fighter jets, eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and I think that’s a lot of ado about nothing,” Graham said, calling the reaction “ill-intentioned speculation.”

This is a completely hypocritical thing to say, especially coming from such a prominent evangelical figure who has likely been around common Christian illustrations and depictions of Christ since his birth.

But Franklin Graham is no Billy, as my father (a Nazarene preacher) says, and has served as a sort of pirate conduit into the evangelical community for Trump since he was first elected in 2016. A sample of my old headlines for TPM, for some context:

2018: Billy Graham’s son defends Trump against affair allegations: he has ‘changed’

2019: Franklin Graham hits Buttigieg for being gay: “It’s not something to flaunt”

2019: Pastor apologizes to worshipers ‘hurt’ by decision to pray over Trump on stage

2019: Franklin Graham calls for “special day of prayer” to protect Trump from “enemies”

—Nicole LaFond

In case you missed it

Read more about Vought’s hearing before the Senate Budget Committee today, from Emine: ‘He just lied to America’: Russ Vought denies violating impoundment laws, prompting strong response

New edition of The Franchise by Khaya Himmelman released today: Mike Lindell won’t let contempt of court conviction get him down

Josh Kovensky posted more reporting from Texas today: Inside Texas Republicans’ Midterm Efforts on Islamophobia

Morning memo: Hegseth to journalists: whose side are you on?

Yesterday’s most read story

A historically bad day for the rule of law in America

What we read

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Maine set to become first state to ban data centers

House effort to end Trump’s war on Iran falls short by one vote