The Conservative Who Wants to Bring Down the Supreme Court

Plus: what lies do to a life; how Benedict XVI changed the Catholic Church; and video games lost in translation. View in browser | Update your preferences Thursday, January 5, 2023 In today’s newsletter, taking on the high court, and then: • What lies do to a life • How Benedict XVI changed the Catholic Church • Why video games get lost in translation The Conservative Who Wants to Bring Down the Supreme Court The lawyer who wrote Texas’s abortion ban has a bigger project—disempowering the judiciary—that may appeal to liberals, too. Illustration by Angelica Alzona Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the lawyer Jonathan Mitchell had crafted a way for the states of Texas and Oklahoma to effectively end abortion access, overriding the federal judiciary and nullifying a constitutional right. His project, however, was not limited to abortion. As Jeannie Suk Gersen explains in a fascinating new story, Mitchell is on a controversial mission “to undermine the Court itself as the final authority on the meaning of the Constitution.” In a rare interview, Mitchell defends his seemingly “heretical” and “lawless” ideas, and explains the ways in which conservatives and liberals alike should go about challenging the Court’s supremacy on issues ranging from guns to campaign finance. “You don’t have to be a chump, you know,” he says. “You don’t have to think your only option is to ask the Supreme Court to overrule precedent.” —Ian Crouch, newsletter editor Read the story Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » From the News Desk Daily Comment Benedict XVI’s Most Powerful Influence on the Catholic Church Came Before He Was Pope For more than two decades, as a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger repeatedly refused to let Catholics question Church doctrine. By Paul Elie Q. & A. What Israel’s New Far-Right Government Means for Palestinians Critics fear that Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line coalition will damage the country’s democracy and inflame tensions in the West Bank and Gaza. By Isaac Chotiner Editor’s Pick Illustration by Barry Blitt Jonathan Blitzer’s recent Profile of Kevin McCarthy is essential reading to understand the Republican Party’s struggle to elect a Speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi thinks so, too! Tune in: On The Political Scene podcast, Luke Mogelson provides a rare glimpse of the front lines in Ukraine’s war with Russia. Culture Dept. Page-Turner What Lies Do to a Life In “A History of Lying,” the novelist Juan Jacinto Muñoz-Rengel argues that lies are inescapable. But being in the periphery of a real man who couldn’t stop lying casts light on the ways that’s not quite true. By Lucie Elven The Art World The Swiss Painter Whose Muse Was His Nightmare A new exhibit of the work of Henry Fuseli suggests the unsettling grip that his wife, Sophia, held on his artistic imagination. By Rebecca Mead Onward and Upward with the Arts Can “The Last of Us” Break the Curse of Bad Video-Game Adaptations? For decades, games’ stories have been lost in translation. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin are charting a different path. By Alex Barasch In the News The staff writer Parul Sehgal has been selected as the winner of the 2023 Silvers Prize for Literary Criticism, an award named after Robert Silvers, the founding editor of The New York Review of Books. Read Sehgal’s latest piece, marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of Indian Partition, and her essay about the rise of the trauma plot in literature. Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Will Nediger Daily Shouts A Week of Realistic Meal Prep Monday: A salad so limp that it can barely bring itself to stay on the fork for the duration of the journey from lunchbox to mouth. By Ruby Elliot Crossword A Beginner-Friendly Puzzle Brother of the chipmunks Simon and Theodore: five letters. By Robyn Weintraub Daily Cartoon Thursday, January 5th By Adam Douglas Thompson P.S. The coastal Massachusetts town of Nahant has requested federal assistance in culling its local coyote population, after residents have expressed fear for pets and small children, the Times reports. In 2016, the writer Ottessa Moshfegh wrote in praise of the coyotes of Los Angeles: “They are indelible players in the theatre of the city, and frequent sightings remind us that this land itself is still a volatile and largely untamable frontier.” Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.