Jan.18

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

And in Other News...

In addition to the Ohio U.S. Senate seat and the TikTok decision, there was a fair bit of other important news on Friday; we thought we'd better do a quick rundown:

• Indoor Inaugural: A couple of weeks ago, the medium-term forecast was that Washington was going to be seasonably chilly (40 degrees) on Inauguration Day. Now, thanks to a cold snap, it's clear that it will be unseasonably chilly (20 degrees). Readers may feel free to insert their own jokes here about hell freezing over. In view of the potentially dangerous sub-freezing temperatures, Donald Trump's inauguration has been moved indoors, to the Capitol Rotunda. The last time that was necessary was the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan.
  
  
• All the Way with the ERA: As he prepares to exit, stage right, Joe Biden is keeping busy. He may not have the time, or the interest, needed to implement a TikTok ban (see above), but he did declare yesterday that "the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution."
  
  That is not the end of the matter. Far from it, in fact. The fellows who wrote the Constitution did not fully spell out the amendment process, leaving at least three relevant-to-the-ERA questions unanswered: (1) Is there, or can there be, a time limit for approval of an amendment?; (2) Can states, once they have ratified, change their minds and de-ratify?; and (3) Who has the authority to declare an amendment a done deal?
  
  Why are those questions relevant? Well, (1) According to the legislation that created the ERA, the window for ratification was 7 years, and so expired in 1979, although it's not clear if such a deadline is legal; (2) Six states, all of them very red, ratified and then rescinded; and (3) It is generally understood that formal acceptance of a new amendment is the province of the national archivist, and not the president.
  
  So, the ERA certainly did not become the law of the land, just because Biden said so. However, his declaration probably does create enough of a foothold that someone with standing can sue, and try to get resolution of these various questions.
  
  
• Pardon Me, Again: As part of his last-weekend flurry, Biden also pardoned another 2,500 non-violent drug offenders. He now holds the record for most individual pardons issued by a president. He has hinted that more pardons are coming on Monday; that list may well include preemptive pardons for some members of his administration.
  
  
• CNN Gets Popped: Yesterday, we noted that a suit against CNN, wherein they were accused of defaming a former member of the Navy who was in the business of extracting refugees from foreign nations, had gone to jury. After 8 hours of deliberations, the jury found for the plaintiff, Zachary Young. He was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and, before the jury could make a decision on punitive damages, the two sides reached a settlement. The total figure is not publicly known, but it's safe to say that Young can now retire, if that is what he wishes to do.

See, we told you there was a lot of news yesterday. (Z)