Conservative Blogger
Friday, July 3, 2026
Supreme Court's Barrett Fuels Conservative Wins While Sometimes Splitting With Trump
Justice Amy Coney Barrett further solidified herself during the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term as one of the few members of its 6-3 conservative majority willing to occasionally cross ideological lines and join with its liberal justices to buck the president who appointed her to the bench, Donald Trump.
Barrett's appointment to a lifetime post on the top U.S. judicial body in 2020 during his first term gave it its current conservative supermajority.
Barrett has played an instrumental role as the conservative justices have steered American law dramatically rightward this decade.
She has joined rulings that have rolled back abortion rights and affirmative action policies, expanded gun and religious rights, and backed Republican-led congressional redistricting efforts.
But Barrett, 54, became a target of criticism by Trump and some figures on the American right this year after siding against some of the Republican president's biggest priorities.
These included a decision she authored on Monday sustaining the ability of states to count late-arriving mailed-in ballots and rulings she joined that rejected his sweeping global tariffs and his executive order curtailing birthright citizenship.
"Do I think she made a mistake in the ruling? I do," Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday in response to questions about Barrett's vote in Tuesday's birthright citizenship ruling.
"Amy Coney Barrett is a turncoat," conservative commentator Megyn Kelly said on her SiriusXM show following the mail-in ballot ruling. "She's constantly siding with the left."
Another commentator on the right, Matt Walsh, derided her as a "terrible pick" and a "DEI hire" — referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies loathed by conservatives.
"I think it was the biggest mistake imaginable supporting Amy Coney Barrett," Mike Davis, a Trump ally who heads the conservative Article III Project, said on a right-wing political commentator's show on Tuesday. "She is a disaster for the Supreme Court."
"She should resign. She is not up to the job," Davis said.
Legal experts dispute the idea that Barrett is not a solidly conservative jurist.
They instead said her votes reflect the reality that Trump cannot always win every case and cannot depend on his appointees to back his every move during a second term in office in which he has continued to test the limits of presidential power and has reshaped the U.S. government.
"To expect any justice to always vote the way that we wish things were, it's just complete fantasy, and it misunderstands the entire enterprise," said Brian Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who clerked for the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The court wrapped up its latest nine-month term with three rulings on Tuesday.
In 13 major rulings in cases involving Trump and Republican and conservative interests argued during the term, Barrett voted in support 10 times and against three times.
She backed Trump's bids to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter.
She also supported Republicans including Vance who challenged campaign finance restrictions, favored the gutting of a key Voting Rights Act provision and backed Trump on rescinding protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants and allowing a hardline approach to asylum seekers.
In addition, Barrett voted to uphold West Virginia and Idaho state laws banning transgender student athletes from female teams at public schools including universities, and to strike down a Colorado law that banned psychotherapists from using "conversion" talk therapy intended to change an LGBT minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Barrett also was in the majority in two cases widening the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment gun rights, striking down a Hawaii law restricting the carrying of handguns on private property open to the public, like most businesses, without the owner's permission, and limiting the application of a U.S. law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users.
The three cases among those 13 in which she deviated from positions aligned with Trump and Republicans were tariffs, birthright citizenship, and mail-in ballots.
The ballots ruling authored by Barrett was 5-4, joined by fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Barrett wrote that federal law requires only that voters cast their ballot by Election Day.
"The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose," Barrett wrote.
The ruling meant Mississippi can continue to permit mail-in ballots to be counted if they were postmarked on or before Election Day but received up to five business days after a federal election.
Restricting mail-in ballots would stand to benefit Republicans. Democrat voters traditionally have been more likely to use mail-in ballots than Republican voters.
Trump made three appointments to the Supreme Court during his first term in office — Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and Barrett two years later.
Trump previously had named Barrett to a federal appellate court, and she also spent time as a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
Trump picked Barrett, calling her "one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds," to succeed Ruth Bader Ginsburg after the liberal justice died, and she was confirmed by a Republican-led Senate, with Democrats unified in their opposition.
During an evening White House ceremony after her confirmation, Barrett made remarks staking out her independence.
"The oath that I have solemnly taken tonight means at its core I will do the job without fear or favor and do it independently of the political branches and of my own preferences," Barrett said, with Trump standing behind her.
Barrett and Gorsuch joined with Roberts and the liberal justices in February to strike down Trump's tariffs — a signature Trump policy that he pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies. Afterward, Trump lashed out at Barrett and Gorsuch, saying their decision to rule against one of his signature policies was an "embarrassment to their families."
On Monday, Trump lamented the "tremendous loss" that the Supreme Court dealt him in the mail-in ballots case that Barrett wrote.
Trump's birthright citizenship directive aimed to deny U.S. citizenship to U.S.-born babies of certain immigrants.
Barrett and the three liberals joined a ruling authored by Roberts that concluded that Trump's executive order violated a clause in the Constitution's 14th Amendment that confers citizenship to those born in the U.S. who are "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
"Let's just call it like it is: Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett decided to cave to the radical left," top White House aide Stephen Miller said during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday.
Barrett and Roberts were part of the 6-3 conservative majority in the Slaughter case that delivered Trump one of his biggest victories this year. The court expanded presidential powers over the U.S. government and overturned a 1935 precedent that had restricted Trump's ability to remove officials at independent regulatory agencies at will.
In the Cook case, Barrett dissented from the decision authored by Roberts to treat the U.S. central bank differently from other federal agencies. Barrett wrote that the Roberts ruling on Cook was in "serious tension" with the court's decision on Slaughter.
"I have been banging the drum, and I will continue: Do not put your hope in Justice Barrett," University of Oklahoma law professor Michael Smith said, referring to American liberals. "She is very much on board with the program of the conservative justices. There is very little reason to hold out hope that she will make much of a difference for liberal goals."
Buckle Up: A Key Figure in the Swalwell Revelations Sets Her Sights on Graham Platner
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We reported earlier on how the hotly contested Senate race between Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her Democrat opponent, Bernie Sanders-backed Graham Platner, had tightened up significantly in recent weeks, with fresh polling numbers out on Thursday showing Collins taking a three-point lead over Platner for the first time. Another poll released this week, which had Platner up by two, also contained some big warning signs for his campaign, indicating his extensive baggage is starting to catch up with him to the point that it has cost him support - even among voters who say Democrats winning back the Senate is a top priority. "A majority of surveyed voters said his string of controversies has either called into question their support for him or made them disavow him entirely," The Politico noted. "And Collins is winning 10 percent of voters who would prefer Democrats take control of the Senate." READ MORE: New Poll in Maine Senate Race Shows Big Warning Signs for Graham Platner And as Platner continues to try to weather the storms brought about in part by revelations about the Nazi tattoo, the sexting scandal, and the domestic abuse allegations from a former girlfriend, we're learning that a woman who was a key figure in getting the word out about the sexual harassment/assault allegations against Eric Swalwell - which led to his resignation from Congress - now has her sights on Platner:
The NBC News story is behind a paywall, but EditorialBoard.com writer Magdi Jacobs shared the highlights of it on X: Rumors swirled that the New York Times story quoting his ex-girlfriends was not more extensive and didn't include allegations that were rumored to be more disturbing because Platner's legal team had gotten to them in the 24-hour period the paper gave them to respond before the story went live. It's unclear as to when or even if these allegations will see the light of day. But if they do, expect them to hit sometime after July 14th, which is the last day Platner has to drop out and for Maine Democrats to be able to legally replace him with another nominee. |
Whoa: A Sacramento Insider Wore a Wire in Dana Williamson/Gavin Newsom Probe
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Back in November 2025, when we learned that California Gov. Gavin Newsom's former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, had been indicted on dozens of felony corruption charges, one thing that stood out to me was that one woman at the center of the scheme "to divert approximately $225,000 in funds" from then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra's dormant campaign account wasn't charged with a crime. Named as co-conspirator 2 in the indictment, Alexis Podesta had taken over Williamson's book of business, including the Becerra account, when Williamson went to work for Newsom. Now we know the possible reason why: according to Williamson's attorney, MacGregor Scott, Podesta was wearing a wire as far back as June, 2024. Scott said, "Alexis wore a wire, and Dana did not." That would also explain why there was a detailed transcript of a June 2024 conversation between Podesta and Williamson related to a lawsuit the state brought against Williamson's former client, Activision. Williamson is charged with making false statements to investigators based on that conversation, in which she fed Podesta information about the state's moves. She also orchestrated a settlement and had the state's Chief Counsel fired after counsel objected to the governor's interference. Williamson then denied to federal investigators that she ever shared that type of information with people outside the administration. Podesta, who previously worked for Dianne Feinstein and held senior positions in former Gov. Jerry Brown's administration was appointed to the State Compensation Insurance Fund board by Newsom in 2020, which pays $61,000/year. She also previously worked for Disney and PG&E. At the time of Williamson's arrest, numerous Sacramento lobbyists and even officeholders received letters from the FBI letting them know that some of their communications might have been intercepted as part of the probe. “Some of the communications intercepted during the course of the investigation were from a phone number believed to be associated with you," the letter stated, continuing, “This letter does not necessarily mean you were the target of the investigation or that any criminal action will be taken against you. Rather, the purpose of the letter is to notify you that some of your communications may have been intercepted during the course of the investigation.” Some of those who received the letters hadn't spoken to Williamson or Podesta, including Republican Asm. Josh Hoover, who told the California Post:
If that's the case, they're going to be busy for a very, very long time. And it won't be a relaxing Independence Day weekend for most in Sacramento, to put it mildly. |
New York Medicaid Fraud Unit Loses Federal Funding After Years of Dismal Enforcement
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The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) has formally denied the recertification of the New York State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) and suspended its federal funding effective July 1, 2026. According to HHS-OIG’s findings, New York’s MFCU—despite receiving roughly $60 million in federal funding each year and employing more than 270 staff—has repeatedly produced the lowest levels of criminal Medicaid fraud enforcement among large states. In fiscal years 2023 and 2025, the Unit secured only eight to nine criminal indictments annually, while other states of similar size produced results numbering in the hundreds. Over that same period, the Unit obtained just four convictions involving patient abuse or neglect, despite receiving more than 2,000 such referrals each year. HHS-OIG also identified long-standing issues that contributed to these outcomes, including slow case progression, a significant backlog in investigations, and systemic referral and tracking deficiencies under New York Attorney General Letitia James. In response to these persistent gaps, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, along with its partners in the Northern District of New York Healthcare Fraud Task Force, has continued to expand its federal enforcement efforts involving Medicaid fraud, patient abuse, and related offenses to protect program integrity and ensure accountability. “Attorney General James’ apparent inability to explain the New York MFCU’s indefensible criminal enforcement performance is not a political distraction as she puts it,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III. “Instead, based on its own reported statistics, the New York MFCU—despite having a staff of 272 employees and a $60 million budget—has failed to address public benefits crime in any meaningful way. According to the data the unit is required to report to the HHS‑OIG for annual recertification, the New York MFCU averaged only nine criminal indictments per year from 2021 to 2025. Yet between 2016 and 2018—just prior to Ms. James taking office—the unit averaged more than 100 indictments per year.” Sarcone continued, “Public benefits fraud and Medicaid fraud did not abruptly stop in 2019. Instead, under the failed leadership of AG James, criminal Medicaid fraud in New York State has been ignored. Highlighting civil recovery data—figures that may or may not combine New York’s results with those of other states to create an impression of financial success—only serves to gloss over and obscure the unit’s dramatic failure to enforce criminal law. Rather than spending resources ‘assessing legal options,’ the New York MFCU would better fulfill its mandate by focusing on investigating and prosecuting crime, as it is both required and funded to do.” |
More Antifa Terrorists Were Just Sentenced in Texas
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A little over a week ago, several Antifa terrorists were sentenced to a collective 450 years in prison. One of them, the convicted ringleader of the 2025 ambush of an ICE detention facility that saw a law enforcement officer get shot, received a century behind bars. The shortest sentence was 30 years. Antifa and their Leftist allies in the Democratic Party were not happy about these sentences. They really believed they were above the law, and are threatening the federal judges who put their comrades behind bars. More Antifa terrorists were sentenced today. Andy Ngo, the independent journalist who's reported on Antifa for years, says there was crying in the courtroom and that one Antifa convict attempted suicide before sentencing.
Ngo reports that the seven Antifa terrorists received sentences ranging from 22 months to 50 years. Ines Soto, who did not accept a plea agreement, was sentenced to 50 years. The other six defendants did accept plea deals. Their sentences are:
Another defendant, Susan Kent, had her sentencing rescheduled to next week. Ngo reported that defendant Rebecca Morgan tried to harm or kill herself prior to sentencing, but no additional records were available. Of the 16 defendants, at least a quarter identify as trans, but they are all being housed in a facility matching their biological sex. |
DHS's Office of Inspector Gen. Report: U.S. Secret Service had 2-minute warning of gunman on roof before Trump was shot
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A scathing federal intelligence report released by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General has exposed even more catastrophic communication failures within the U.S. Secret Service.
According to the report, the agency had definitive knowledge of an unknown man perched on a nearby roof at least two minutes before would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on President Donald Trump during the July 13, 2024, rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The findings further document a “cascading and wide-ranging” breakdown in security protocol, confirming that despite urgent, real-time alerts from local law enforcement and panicked rally-goers, the information “failed to reach the innermost security ring” protecting the now-president on stage.
At the time, Trump was still the Republican presidential nominee.
Additionally, according to the newly declassified investigative timeline, local counter-snipers and tactical units had flagged Crooks as highly suspicious nearly 90 minutes before the shooting, even photographing him with a rangefinder. However, the crisis escalated to a critical moment exactly two minutes prior to the first shots being fired, when multiple local law enforcement transmissions confirmed that the suspect had successfully scaled the roof of the AGR International complex with a gun.
Since the Secret Service failed to establish a unified, joint communications command center with state and local police, these critical radio transmissions were entirely missed by federal agents, the report goes on. Instead of receiving more than 100 urgent local radio updates detailing the direct threat, the Secret Service command post received only a handful of fragmented phone calls and text messages — delaying life-saving intelligence.
The federal report details how this total breakdown in command structure prevented federal snipers and Trump’s immediate protective detail from enacting emergency evacuation procedures before Crooks began his assault.
While local officers desperately attempted to confront the gunman — including one Butler police officer who was forced to drop from the roof’s edge after Crooks turned his rifle on him — Trump continued his address to the crowd completely unaware of the active threat.
Seconds later, Crooks fired eight rounds from his AR-15-style rifle, miraculously just grazing Trump’s ear.
However, the gunfire fatally struck rally attendee Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief who died shielding his family, while also critically wounding two others before a Secret Service counter-sniper neutralized the gunman. The two other attendees who were critically wounded in the attack were David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
The two men underwent emergency surgeries at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh following the attack and survived.
Despite definitive findings, left-leaning political corners of the internet erupted with unsubstantiated conspiracy theories in the weeks following the attack, with some viral posts falsely claiming the assassination attempt was staged while labeling the victims as “crisis actors.” The Comperatore family has publicly condemned the online rumors, stating that the online falsehoods have deeply compounded their grief.
Meanwhile, congressional investigators and independent watchdogs have labeled the event entirely preventable, pointing out that the Secret Service had previously identified the AGR rooftop as a high-risk line-of-sight vulnerability but chose to leave it unmonitored and unsecured.
The revelation that federal leadership possessed a multi-minute window where the threat transitioned from a “suspicious person” to an active gunman on a roof has intensified demands for systemic reform within the agency. Lawmakers from the House task force investigating the assassination attempt state that these findings solidify a pattern of systemic negligence.
Lara Trump: Youth Surge Pushed Socialists in New York
Lara Trump showed up on The Alex Marlow Show this week with a blunt message: Republicans can and must press their advantage after the shock waves from New York’s recent races. Her line was simple — “fight against the socialists” — and she pointed to a surge of very young voters as the spark that lit those Democratic‑socialist wins. Breitbart ran the clip as an exclusive, and the reaction from GOP strategists should be loud and fast.
Lara Trump’s warning and the New York wake‑up call
Lara Trump, the daughter‑in‑law of President Donald Trump and a familiar face in conservative circles, didn’t mince words. On the Alex Marlow show she said the primary voters who turned out “were under 25 years old” and blamed socialist momentum for the upset wins in New York. Whether you like her tone or not, the data back part of her point: research groups and exit‑polls showed unusually high youth turnout in the contests that pushed democratic‑socialist candidates up the ticket, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rise is the most visible result of that surge.
Why the youth vote matters — and why it can be reached
Young voters leaned hard for progressive candidates, and that was decisive in tight local races. But here’s the conservative reality nobody on the left wants to admit: young voters are persuadable and turnout is fickle. The GOP has spent years building turnout programs for low‑propensity voters. Those same playbooks can be used to bring different young voters into the fold — with better messaging, stronger ground games, and clear contrasts on safety, schools, and economic opportunity.
GOP opportunity or wishful thinking?
Trump’s call to “fight” is not just about rhetoric. Republican organizers already see this as a pragmatic opening, not a fantasy. National and state GOP groups are planning expanded GOTV and door‑to‑door efforts to translate discontent with city policies into votes. If conservatives want real gains, they need to swap condescension for outreach, leverage local issues where socialists overreach, and hold the line on commonsense alternatives that matter to working families — and yes, to many young people.
What comes next
The New York results were a wake‑up call, not a coronation for socialism. Lara Trump’s blunt take will rile media critics, but it should also sharpen Republican focus. Turnout programs, better youth messaging, and relentless attention to local issues can turn this moment into a durable advantage. The GOP’s choice is simple: keep griping or get organized. If conservatives act, the next wave might be the one that washes the socialists back out to sea — or at least makes them explain why their ideas hurt the cities they claim to love.
Poland Sets the Standard: Secure Borders Yield Real Results
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Dominik Tarczyński’s blunt exhortation to “be like Poland” should be a
wake-up call to every Western politician pretending borders are
optional. The outspoken member of the European Parliament has spent
years insisting that nations must choose sovereignty over chaos, and his
message — that uncontrolled migration must be met with clear,
uncompromising defenses — reflects a practical patriotism many elites
refuse to embrace. Poland didn’t just shout slogans; it built a defense. The country has moved decisively to harden its eastern flank with the so-called Eastern Shield program and a modernized metal barrier, investing in terrain obstacles, cameras, and rapid-response systems so that words translate into deterrence rather than empty virtue signaling. The results speak for themselves: sustained investment in frontier security and tougher enforcement have driven down the flow of illegal crossing attempts that once swamped border towns, evidence that firm policy backed by resources works while open-door posturing invites disorder. European border-agency trends and Polish government figures show notable reductions in attempted breaches after these measures were implemented, proving deterrence beats hand-wringing every time. Conservative readers should be alarmed that much of the EU establishment and progressive media still scold countries that choose to defend their citizens instead of importing problems. Tarczyński’s “zero tolerance” framing is not cruelty; it is clarity — a necessary insistence that laws have meaning and that governments exist first to protect their people. Here at home, the lesson is plain: elected officials who value political correctness over public safety are failing their voters. If American leaders had the backbone Poland has shown — secure fences, swift enforcement, and consequences for those who exploit our systems — we would not be stuck arguing about slogans while hardworking communities pay the price. Poland’s example is not a parochial boast but a blueprint: secure the border, prioritize citizens, and stop pretending immigration is harmless when enforcement is absent. Patriots who love liberty and the rule of law should demand the same straightforward, effective policies from Washington that Poland has had the courage to implement. |
Thursday, July 2, 2026
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