Wednesday Morning Minute

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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’

Ted Cruz Leaves Colin Allred’s Campaign in Shambles With Masterful Debate Performance

Allred didn’t go to Washington and buck his party to help solve the border crisis. Instead, all he mustered was a vote for a meaningless resolution.

SURPRISE: The FBI Just Stealth-Edited Its Violent Crime Rate, Blows Up Democrat and Press Narrative

The idea that violent crime is “down” has been a mainstay of Democratic Party politics for the last several years. Will the press report on these changes that flip the narrative?

Fake ‘Neo-Nazi MAGA Supporters’ Try to Crash Trump Boat Parade, Taste Epic Humiliation

I hope that seawater tasted good.

WHAT’S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill…

As the critters gear up for Election Day, several of them are participating in debates. Tuesday night, it was Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) turn as he squared off against Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX).

And although Congress may not be in session, House Judiciary Committee investigators were busy Tuesday, questioning former Fulton County Special Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Wade in a closed-door deposition, seeking information regarding Wade’s relationship with District Attorney Fani Willis and whether federal tax dollars helped bankroll it.

White House What’s Up

President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy for Ethel Kennedy at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday afternoon. Later, he and First Lady Jill Biden will deliver remarks at an Italian American Heritage Month reception.

The Homestretch

Vice President Kamala Harris heads from Detroit, Michigan, to a campaign event in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday afternoon, then heads to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But first! she’ll be sitting for a brief interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. Second (not a) Gentleman Doug Emhoff will deliver remarks at a campaign event in Lambertville, New Jersey, Wednesday evening. Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz will be campaigning in Cobb County, Georgia, as well.

Former President Donald Trump’s women-only town hall with Harris Faulkner airs Wednesday morning on Fox News at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Our own Jennifer Oliver O’Connell was in attendance! Trump running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), will be headlining campaign events in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

Full Court Press…

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two more cases today:

1. Bufkin v. McDonough —

Joshua Bufkin and Norman Thornton, two veterans who lost in the lower courts, urged the justices to take up their cases, calling the “benefit of the doubt” rule one of “the oldest and most fundamental building blocks of the veterans’ claims system. If left to stand,” they contended, the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit “will severely narrow the Veterans Court’s review, resulting in many veterans being denied benefits which they have earned through their service and to which they are entitled by law.”

Issue:

Must the Veterans Court ensure that the benefit-of-the-doubt rule was properly applied during the claims process in order to satisfy 38 U.S.C. § 7261(b)(1), which directs the Veterans Court to “take due account” of VA’s application of that rule?

2. City of San Francisco v. EPA —

The Clean Water Act of 1972 regulates the discharge of pollutants into regulated waters. The city and county of San Francisco received a permit from the EPA under the law’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System that allowed San Francisco to discharge from its wastewater treatment facility into the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco challenged the terms of its permit, arguing that the permit contained terms so vague that it failed to tell the city how much it needed to limit or treat its discharges to comply with the act, while simultaneously exposing it to liability for violating the permit provisions. After exhausting administrative remedies, San Francisco petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for review.

A divided panel of the 9th Circuit denied San Francisco’s petition, concluding that the provisions are not unduly vague and are “consistent with the CWA and its implementing regulations.” In dissent, Judge Daniel Collins concluded that those provisions were “inconsistent with the text of the CWA.” He argued that the permit violated the CWA by making the permittee responsible for maintaining water quality standards without specifying what limitations on discharges would satisfy its responsibility.

Issue:

Whether the Clean Water Act allows EPA (or an authorized state) to impose generic prohibitions in NPDES permits that subject permitholders to enforcement for exceedances of water quality standards without identifying specific limits to which their discharges must conform.

No ruling from the New York appellate court yet on Trump’s appeal of the civil fraud verdict against him — but it looks like they’ll be handing down more decisions on Thursday. Stay tuned!

Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez, found guilty of killing their parents in 1989, will hold a rally and press conference Wednesday afternoon outside a Los Angeles, California, courthouse as District Attorney George Gascón considers possible resentencing in the case.

Nebraska’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that people with felony convictions can vote in the upcoming election. (Ironic that it’s thought this ruling might tip the balance of the election in Harris’ favor, no?)

MORNING MUSING

This is not a complaint — simply an observation: These “Morning Minutes” are getting a bit more challenging to put together quickly. There’s so much information to highlight on any given day, and much of it isn’t available until the morning, so I can pre-write a bit at night — but only a bit. So, if you’ve noticed these landing a bit later than normal, I can only plead my own inability to multi-task faster. My thanks to those of you who check in each day!