Thursday, September 4, 2025
Good morning, and welcome to RedState's "Morning Minute" — a brief glimpse at which stories are trending at the moment and a look ahead at what the day may bring. Consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.
TOP O' THE MORNIN'
Red-Hot at RedState
Ben Shapiro's Wild CNN Appearance Exposes the Psychosis of the Left
They don't actually disagree with half of what Trump is doing. In some cases, he's actually doing what they've supported in the past. They simply can't move past their hatred for the guy.
Amy Coney Barrett Fires Shot Across the Bow at Activist Judges: ‘Not Kings’
"On the bench, we must suppress our individual beliefs in deference to those that have prevailed in the enacted law," she added. "Our job is to protect the choices that citizens have made, even when we disagree with them…"
The people in this video are the next generation of American leaders. If that doesn't scare you, what will?
Trending Across Townhall Media
US Virgin Islands Apparently Thinks Second Amendment Doesn't Apply There
They can try to pass this measure if they so desire. They're going to face fiercer resistance than they might like to believe, and then even more of it should it pass.
The Venona Cables Proved American Elites Spied for the Communists. Liberals Are Still in Denial.
Alger Hiss was guilty, and the “Hollywood Ten” who got blacklisted in the 1950s were all members of the Communist Party and out to destroy the United States. They were no different from the Russigate and pro-crime socialists out to ruin us today.
Black Comedian Paints Himself White, Goes to NASCAR, Doesn't Find What He Expects
He is apparently trying hard to show NASCAR fans, Southern white Americans, and patriots in general as a bunch of racists, but he can’t find anyone to flesh out the stereotype, so he has to do it himself.
Pray for our country even if that makes Gavin Newsom’s teen social media gurus sad.
President Donald Trump rose from the ashes of his fake media-created demise to give MAGA a meme marathon like it hasn’t seen in ages.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
Only six meetings/hearings on tap for the critters on Thursday. (We wouldn't want them to overexert themselves the first week back!)
- Senate Energy and Natural Resources — Hearings to examine the nominations of Laura Swett, of Virginia, and David LaCerte, of Louisiana, both to be a Member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Senate Finance — Business meeting to consider the nominations of Bryan Switzer, of Virginia, to be a Deputy United States Trade Representative (Asia, Textiles, Investment, Services, and Intellectual Property), with the rank of Ambassador, and Gustav Chiarello III, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary, and Michael Stuart, of West Virginia, to be General Counsel, both of the Department of Health and Human Services
- Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — Hearings to examine the nominations of Benjamin Hobbs, of Ohio, and Ronald Kurtz, of Georgia, both to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Chris Pilkerton, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary for Investment Security, and Jonathan Burke, of Georgia, to be Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, both of the Department of the Treasury, and Stephen Miran, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Senate Finance — Hearings to examine the President's 2026 health care agenda [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to testify]
- Joint Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) — To receive a briefing on the impact on Central Asia of Russia's war on Ukraine, focusing on opportunities for United States engagement
- Senate Intelligence (Select) — To receive a closed briefing on certain intelligence matters
White House What's Up
On Thursday, President Donald Trump is set to host a dinner in the Rose Garden in the evening. Earlier on Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump will host a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education.
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha visited Minneapolis and met with the parents of last Wednesday's shooting victims.
READ MORE: JD Vance Shares Heartbreaking Plea From All the Parents of the Minneapolis School Shooting Victims
Full Court Press...
Wednesday was a little quieter court-wise, but there was the decision from Massachusetts District Judge Allison Burroughs on the Harvard funding cases. As noted in the below article, she actually granted the administration's motion for summary judgment on a couple of the count, but the key ruling ran in favor of Harvard and the related organizations who sued the administration.
READ MORE: Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Harvard...and the Trump Admin on Funding Case
And, as expected, the administration has appealed Judge Charles Breyer's ruling in the National Guard deployment case to the 9th Circuit.
And...as anticipated on the USAID funding cases, following remand from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Ali has now allowed the plaintiffs to thread the needle on the APA claims. I'll have an upcoming article in which I eat some crow on that one.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
President Trump will travel to the U.K. in two weeks.
There's talk of a Putin-Zelensky meeting, but whether that will materialize remains unclear.
MORNING MUSING
I've seen two comments from judges in the past couple of days that really stuck with me. The first was from 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Andrew Oldham in his 130-page dissent on the Alien Enemies Act/Tren de Aragua removal case. In the introductory language to his dissent, Oldham observed (of the majority's holding):
That contravenes over 200 years of legal precedent. And it transmogrifies the least-dangerous branch into robed crusaders who get to playact as multitudinous Commanders in Chief.
On Wednesday, The Free Press published an article from Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in which she contends that judges "are referees, not kings, because they decide whether people have played by the rules rather than what the rules should be."
Both are right in noting that the role of the judge is to interpret the law, not to make it. But, just like referees in sporting events, they sometimes get the call wrong. The flip side of that is that they sometimes get it right, whether we like the outcome or not.
One thing the past eight months have really highlighted is the tension between the judiciary and the executive and a tendency by many in the former branch to act as though their traditional role has expanded simply because they don't care for the current occupant of the latter. I have a sneaking suspicion that in this coming Supreme Court term, Coney Barrett's timely reminder of the proper role of the judge is going to echo throughout the court's jurisprudence. As well it should.
LIGHTER FARE
Everyone has their own way of showing love...
— out of context dogs (@contextdogs) September 4, 2025
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