Supreme Court to hear arguments over meaning of ‘Election Day’

WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Monday over what the phrase “Election Day” means and whether states can accept ballots in federal elections that arrive after that date.

Republicans challenged a Mississippi state law, passed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, that allows officials to count ballots that arrive up to five days after the federal Election Day if they are postmarked by Election Day.

The state has asked the justices to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruling that invalidated the state law, deciding it conflicts with a federal law that sets Election Day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have similar laws, and a ruling against Mississippi could send those states scrambling to change rules and communicate to voters to get their ballots in earlier.

Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, said a ruling that wipes out Mississippi’s law could “cause a lot of confusion in those states about voting by mail and voting absentee immediately upon the decision coming down,” Noti said.

Noti said states are currently preparing for the midterm elections, and a ruling changing election laws now would upset those efforts.

“It is not good to change the rules around elections or voting while elections are happening. That should be done in between elections,” Noti said.

The justices are expected to issue a decision by the end of their term in June, which could avoid nasty post-election fights this year and in 2028.

—Los Angeles Times

In rare move, ICE drags criminal defendant out of a federal courtroom

LOS ANGELES — As part of an ICE operation, plainclothes agents on Thursday pulled an accused MS-13 shot-caller out of a downtown federal courtroom, catching attorneys and the judge off guard, and casting uncertainty over the fate of his pending criminal trial.

Mark Sedlander, a defense attorney, said the agents, and at least one deputy U.S. marshal, surrounded and detained his client, Orlando Olivar, shortly after U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. left the bench following a pretrial status conference.

Sedlander said the agents backed Olivar up against the wood railing that separates the public area from where the parties sit. The agents did not identify themselves and did not display or mention a warrant, he said. He asked them to wait for the judge to return, but said they immediately whisked his client from the courtroom through the holding-cell door.

Sedlander said the prosecutor told him they had no control over ICE. Olivar is now listed in an ICE inmate locator as being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.

Prosecutors have accused Olivar of being a shot-caller of an MS-13 clique, which Sedlander said his client denies. Olivar is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.

Olivar, who has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent, is set to go to trial on May 19. He had been out on bond.

“First and foremost, I’m concerned about my client, period, and second about people’s willingness to participate in our judicial system, whether it’s criminal or civil, when they know that unlike in years past, the courthouse is not a safe space,” Sedlander told the Los Angeles Times. “This is going to chill people from participating in the system.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. declined to comment.

—Los Angeles Times

NASA’s new astronaut class gets a name

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA’s newest class of astronaut candidates just found out what people will call them.

The tradition of the previous astronaut class — the Flies — bestowing the name the following class has continued, according to a press release from NASA.

The 10 candidates of NASA’s 24th astronaut class, chosen in 2025 and not expected to graduate until 2027, are now know as the Platypi.

The platypus, native to Australia, is unique in that it is a mammal that lays eggs and has a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and the body of an otter.

“For NASA’s newest astronaut candidates, the name reflects a similar idea: a team with a wide range of strengths working together toward a common goal,” according to a NASA press release.

In a way, the name is a bit of marital name-calling, as one member of the Flies — Anil Menon, chosen as an astronaut candidate himself in 2021 and having graduated in 2024 — is married to Platypus Anna Menon.

Anil, though, said the name shows respect for the skill set being shown so far by the new class.

“They’re like the Swiss Army knife of candidates,” he said. “They can use just about any tool to solve any problem or challenge they face. They’re unassuming and incredibly kind, but extremely capable.”

—Orlando Sentinel

Maduro asks federal judge to toss case, claiming US sanctions deny fair trial

Lawyers for former Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are asking a U.S. federal court to dismiss the criminal case against them, arguing that Washington has violated their constitutional rights by blocking access to funds needed to mount their defense.

In a filing submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, defense attorneys contend that sanctions enforced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control are preventing the couple from using Venezuelan government funds to pay for their legal representation.

The restrictions, they argue, effectively deny Maduro and Flores their Sixth Amendment right to counsel of their choice and their Fifth Amendment right to due process, as neither has the personal resources to finance their defense.

“The only remedy is dismissal,” their attorneys wrote, arguing that forcing the defendants to rely on court-appointed counsel cannot cure what they describe as a constitutional violation.

The filing marks a pivotal moment in a case that U.S. prosecutors have framed as one of the most far-reaching efforts ever to hold a former head of state accountable for alleged involvement in global drug trafficking.

—Miami Herald