As part of an effort to deliver content and keep my writing wits sharp, I’m going to post a daily series of Quick Takes. Some may carry more weight and be more serious than others. Let’s take a look at some stories that may have flown under your radar this week that may not have been in the Signal chat you were inadvertently added to.
NORRA & the Restraining Judicial Insurrectionists Act
The Babylon Bee goes hard in the paint.
No district court judge should be able to issue nationwide injunctions and parties shouldn’t be able to jurisdiction shop until they get a judge favorable to their cause. Some of this happened during the Obama and Biden administrations, and that was just as inappropriate for a district judge to rule ideologically for “my side” instead of against “my side”. This is wrong and these nationwide injunctions go far beyond the scope of a single US District Judge and have been used to an excessive degree during President Trump’s terms.
It’s time for that to end and Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah have both introduced bills in the House with the No Rogue Rulings act or NORRA and Senate with the Restraining Judicial Insurrectionists Act to limit the jurisdiction of district courts. Lee’s bill goes further by randomizing the selection process of a three judge panel to rocket docket review cases where parties are in two different states. Both bills limit the jurisdiction of district court judges to rule beyond the parties in their districts. I expect the bills to be combined and to pass to end this highly anti-democratic practice. They should be included in the reconciliation bill so they aren’t subject to the filibuster in the Senate, but there are other ways to get the bill to the floor with a simple majority required for passage.
Congress has the ultimate check of any branch on another in Article III. All courts inferior to the Supreme Court are created, funded, and can be defunded and eliminated by Congress. Article III, Section 1 states clearly that judicial power is vested on one Supreme Court, not the entire judiciary, which Congress creates. Congress also may also limit their jurisdiction under Article III, Section 2 makes it explicitely clear that the courts are subject to “such Regulations as the Congress shall make.” Both the Issa and Lee bills do exactly that.
Katherine Maher: Fog Weaver
Step into the mist, become like shadows, has been NPR CEO’s standard practice throughout her career. Rep. Brandon Gill was having none of it this week during a hearing of the DOGE subcommittee where NPR and PBS were asked to come in and justify their existence. One of the best uses a Congressman can make with their time in questioning a witness in committee is to bring more clarity to an issue than there was before. Maher was caught off guard because she was expecting to successfully counter performative grandstanding with her superior TED Talk pseudo intellectual manner of speaking. Gill simply read her tweets back to her and this was the result.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher was completely caught off guard today after Rep. Brandon Gill started reading her past tweets to her one by one.
Absolutely brutal.
Gill: Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy?
Maher: I believe that I tweeted that. I believe much… pic.twitter.com/TfBt0h1qDF
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 26, 2025
Maher is a collectivist witch. During her tenure as head of Wikimedia, Wikipedia labeled conservative and libertarian sites as “unreliable” or “deprecated” and banished their use as sources. The effect was that only legacy media and the Left had a voice in sourcing Wikipedia articles. Here are some key quotes from her 2022 TED Talk (emphasis mine):
That perhaps for our most tricky disagreements, seeking the truth and seeking to convince others of the truth might not be the right place to start. In fact, our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done.. . . .I’m certain that the truth exists for you and probably for the person sitting next to you. But this may not be the same truth. This is because the truth of the matter is very often, for many people, what happens when we merge facts about the world with our beliefs about the world. So we all have different truths.. . . .But if we’re using our personal truths to do this, we end up having conversations about our values and our identity. Because remember, our truths come from where we come from. And then we’re focusing on what divides us instead of what we can agree upon. And that allows us to start having conversations about the truth in a way that focuses on what we believe rather than what can be known. And that is a definition that is deeply divisive and harmful.
Quid est veritas? Indeed.
Who let the DOGE out?
Fox News’ Bret Baier did one of the best interviews ever on Special Report with his interview of the members of DOGE and Elon Musk one on one this week. One of the most powerful arguments Elon made is that Congress doesn’t appropriate money for waste fraud & abuse. The Constitution requires that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” which is what the purpose of DOGE is.
𝘉𝘙𝘌𝘛 𝘉𝘈𝘐𝘌𝘙: 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘈𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭?
𝘌𝘓𝘖𝘕 𝘔𝘜𝘚𝘒: 𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥.𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘋𝘖𝘎𝘌, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘴. 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.
𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘖𝘎𝘌.𝘨𝘰𝘷 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘖𝘎𝘌 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘟. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.
BRET BAIER: You know, a lot is coming your way. But sometimes you say stuff or post stuff that gets attention. You give it out, in other words. Democratic Arizona Senator Mark Kelly posted on X about his trip to Ukraine to push for continuing to send U.S. weapons and support there. And you posted that he was a traitor. Why do that?
ELON MUSK: Well, I think somebody should care about the interests of the United States above the interests of another country. And if they don’t, they’re a traitor.
BRET BAIER: But he’s a decorated veteran, a former astronaut, a sitting U.S. senator.
ELON MUSK: That doesn’t mean it’s okay for him to put the interests of another country above America.
BRET BAIER: Obviously, there are some Republicans who think supporting Ukraine is the right thing still. But there is a battle back and forth about how do you think it comes to an end?
ELON MUSK: Well, I think there will be a negotiated peace. And the thing that we should be concerned about is we should have empathy for the thousands of people that are dying every day in trenches for no movement in the lines. So the borders remain the same for the past two years. Thousands of people have died every week for nothing. For what?
And I take great offense at those who put the appearance of goodness over the reality of it. Those who virtue signal and say, oh, we can’t give in to Russia but have no solution to stopping thousands of kids dying every day.
They just want that to continue forever. Have contempt for such people. I want to make that clear. Because they’re virtue signaling and their lack of a solution means that kids don’t have a father. It means that parents lost a son. For what? Nothing.
BRET BAIER: So you’re optimistic that the president’s plan might work?
ELON MUSK: The president’s plan is the only thing that will work.
Will Cain’s masterful cross examination of Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO)
One Signal final thought
The really dumb thing about this whole thing with Democrats accusing SecDef Hegseth (say it ten times fast because you’ll be saying it for the duration of the term) of being drunk and releasing “war plans” is that Hegseth did not share classified or any other information; the detestable yet reliable liar Jeffrey Goldberg editor in chief of The Atlantic did, though. I have my doubts that he was on the chat himself. Hegseth shared his rough timeline on a secure messaging application used by the previous administration because it is recommended for use by the CIA and is approved by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for classified communications. Hegseth didn’t say it publicly or release it publicly. Learn to think critically and ask questions.
President Trump eliminating collective bargaining
The Union Way of Life is sacred.
Public servants deserve the support and protection a union provides—and I’ll never support or understand why anybody would want to destroy them.
See yinz in court. pic.twitter.com/q4PW6I17gX
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 28, 2025
Yes, see you in court. You will lose. Public employee unions collectively bargain WITH the government against the taxpayer and therefore should not exist. FDR was right about that one. I’m not necessarily a pro labor guy by default, but let’s remember why Cesar Chavez was so vehemently opposed to illegal aliens, because they undercut union jobs and suppress wages. Now imagine what government collective bargaining with itself does to the economy and the private sector.
Industry unions know they cannot press management beyond what the market will bear and that if a larded up collective bargaining agreement causes financial strain on the company it means the elimination of union jobs. Government unions have no such problem because they just hit up the taxpayer for more and more. Enough. Many of these public employee collective bargaining agreements have just been expurgated.
Baseball is back!
The most important news of the week, however, is the return of baseball. ⚾
Let’s Go Rangers!
