Federal and state Jan. 6 investigations pick up steam

+ ripple effects of politicized National Defense Authorization Act US Edition - Today's top story: What is a target letter? 3 things to know about how the Justice Department notifies suspects, like Donald Trump, ahead of possible charges [View in browser]( US Edition | 20 July 2023 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Tuesday, we learned from former President Donald Trump himself – on social media, where else? – that he received a target letter from the Justice Department for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. And within hours, there was news Michigan’s attorney general had leveled state felony charges against 16 people for their alleged participation in a fake electors plot designed to interfere with the Electoral College and overturn their state’s presidential election results. So what does it all mean? A lot. University of California, Davis, criminal law scholar Gabriel J. Chin explained several key points about target letters. To me, the most striking was about [the attempted fairness behind them](. “The Department of Justice’s general practice is to warn people being investigated for complex crimes that they are about to be charged with crimes. This is done through … a target letter,” Chin wrote. Would the Justice Department’s special counsel Jack Smith and his team of lawyers and investigators have gotten to this point without the House Jan. 6 committee? I don’t know. But as democracy editor Naomi Schalit wrote, we may find hints about a possible prosecution of Trump in the committee’s work and findings. Schalit pulled together archival stories, including one from legal scholar Margaret Russell, who wrote about [the magnitude of the charges the committee recommended](, saying “the insurrection one … is unprecedented.” Russell wrote the committee’s recommendation had “very strong teeth in the sense of urging the Department of Justice to make sure that there is accountability.” Meanwhile, I pulled together [previous stories from The Conversation about the Electoral College]( to provide context for the criminal charges Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed against people who allegedly tried to subvert the Electoral College. As University of Iowa election law scholar Derek Muller noted, the Electoral Count Reform Act, which was passed in 2022, clarifies some of the ambiguity in the Constitution that would allow rogue electors to place a state’s Electoral College votes in a way that don’t align with the voters’ choice for president. Lorna Grisby Senior Politics & Society Editor Former President Donald Trump appears in July 2023 at a re-election campaign event in Florida. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images [What is a target letter? 3 things to know about how the Justice Department notifies suspects, like Donald Trump, ahead of possible charges]( Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis The Justice Department issues target letters to people who are about to be charged with crimes, giving them a warning and a chance to get legal counsel. Members of the House Freedom Caucus speak to reporters on July 14, 2023, hours before the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images News/Getty Images [This year’s debate over defense spending threatens to disrupt a tradition of bipartisan consensus-building over funding the military]( Gibbs Knotts, College of Charleston; Christopher A. Cooper, Western Carolina University The National Defense Authorization Act has long had bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. But that died in the House this year. ‘The Unmasking of Batgirl,’ story from Detective Comics, April 1972. DC Universe Infinite [Holy voter suppression, Batgirl! What comics reveal about gender and democracy]( Karrin Vasby Anderson, Colorado State University Comic book depictions of superheroines as politicians illustrate how sexism weakens democracy and why comics history is relevant to contemporary politics. [Targeting Trump for prosecution - 4 essential reads on how the Jan. 6 investigation laid the groundwork for the special counsel]( Naomi Schalit, The Conversation Before there was Jack Smith, there was the House January 6 committee. Its work and findings may provide a hint about what new charges Smith might lodge against former President Donald Trump. [Democrats revive the Equal Rights Amendment from a long legal limbo – facing an unlikely uphill battle to get it enshrined into law]( Deana Rohlinger, Florida State University Women’s rights groups and politicians have pushed, ultimately unsuccessfully, for the Equal Rights Amendment to become part of the Constitution for the past several decades. [Michigan AG charges 16 people in fake electors scheme: 4 essential reads on how the Electoral College works]( Lorna Grisby, The Conversation Michigan’s attorney general has charged 16 people in a fake electors plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Here’s how the Electoral College works. [International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., pays new respect to the enslaved Africans who landed on its docks]( Bernard Powers, College of Charleston The new museum opened at a time when the teaching of Black history is under attack by conservative politicians. - [How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – they now need to learn how to plan for safety and legally protect themselves]( Nicole A. Cooke, University of South Carolina Librarians are defending the rights of readers and writers in the battle raging across the US over censorship, book challenges and book bans. That conflict has even changed how librarians are trained. - [Registering refugees using personal information has become the norm – but cybersecurity breaches pose risks to people giving sensitive biometric data]( Joseph K. Nwankpa, Miami University Capturing biometric data helps UN agencies and other groups avoid the risk of fraud and increase efficiency. But the practice is complicated and has created security risks for vulnerable groups. - [Impunity over Wagner mutiny signals further degradation of rule of law in Russia]( Maxim Krupskiy, Tufts University Russian authorities have given no legitimate justification for dropping criminal cases against rebel troops – undermining both President Vladimir Putin and the legal system. Like this newsletter? You might be interested in our other weekly emails: [Science Editors' Picks]( • [This Week in Religion]( • [Weekly Highlights]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](