Today in Politics: Hillary Clinton Says Citizens United Would Guide Supreme Court Picks
Good Tuesday morning from Washington, where the congressional debate over National Security Agency surveillance has highlighted a Republican divide, and where Twitter gained a new user with an exclusive handle. And, in Iowa, Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a rare metric for a presidential candidate amid increased scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation.
Most presidential candidates go out of their way to avoid appearances of having a litmus test for Supreme Court appointees. So it was unusual when Mrs. Clinton on Monday said publicly that she did have such a metric: overturning the Citizens United decision of 2010.
“I will do everything I can to appoint Supreme Court justices who protect the right to vote and do not protect the right of billionaires to buy elections,” Mrs. Clinton said while on Day 1 of a two-day swing through Iowa.
The remark was praised by liberals and denounced by conservatives, who said it was at odds with the “super PAC” supporting her, made possible by the Citizens United decision.
Either way, it was a clear message from Mrs. Clinton, who so far, has laid out campaign planks but no overarching message.
But she is still steering clear of reporters’ questions, even from local journalists in the early states, whom most candidates engage while campaigning.
So reports like the one in The New York Times this week — about memos sent to her while she was secretary of state by her longtime friend and adviser, Sidney Blumenthal, who was being paid by the Clinton Foundation — are given plenty of air to breathe.
The article unnerved some former Obama administration officials and some former Clinton allies, as it hit many Republican criticisms of Mrs. Clinton — her handling of Libya, her use of a private email server while secretary of state, her family’s foundation and the advisers she keeps.
The Clinton Foundation has been treated like an adjunct of the campaign as questions continue to swirl. Polls have suggested voters are not paying attention to stories about the foundation, but whether that holds is an open question.
— Maggie Haberman
Stay tuned throughout the day: Follow us on Twitter @NYTpolitics and on Facebook for First Draft updates.
What We’re Watching Today
Mrs. Clinton will talk to small-business owners and employees in Cedar Falls, Iowa, part of her second swing through the state. She will also visit a bike shop to talk to caucusgoers about her plan for supporting entrepreneurs and spurring small-business growth.
President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will meet with Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter.
And the House will take up the highway bill, and it is expected this week to vote on an extension to the existing funding.
Paul and Christie Stake Opposite Ends of an N.S.A. Divide
With an end-of-month deadline to renew the Patriot Act drawing near, the debate over national security and civil liberties moved on Monday from Capitol Hill to the nascent Republican presidential primary.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, eyeing an opportunity to inject new energy into his campaign, rallied supporters at a symbol of American freedom, Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
“Our Founding Fathers would be appalled to know that we are writing one single warrant and collecting everyone’s phone records all the time,” Mr. Paul said, vowing to fight the effort to extend the law.
Mr. Paul has allies in the House, where a piece of legislation that would end the N.S.A.’s bulk data collection passed overwhelmingly.
But on the campaign trail, Mr. Paul is outnumbered by hawkish Republicans – a sign of what the party’s presidential candidates believe is the safest approach.
As Mr. Paul was speaking in Philadelphia, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was in New Hampshire delivering a speech that took implied but unmistakable aim at Mr. Paul.
“The Founders made sure that the first obligation of the American government was to protect the lives of the American people, and we can do this in a way that’s smart and cost-effective and protects civil liberties,” Mr. Christie said at a town-hall-style meeting. “But you know, you can’t enjoy your civil liberties if you’re in a coffin.”
In a speech earlier in the day, Mr. Christie mocked civil libertarians who “want you to think that there’s a government spook listening in every time you pick up the phone or Skype with your grandkids.”
Mr. Christie said such fears were “ridiculous” and called for an extension of the Patriot Act.
— Jonathan Martin
Former Senator Unveils Bipartisan Measure of Congress
Former Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana was known as a centrist Republican on Capitol Hill, and it probably cost him in 2012 when he was knocked out of a primary by a Tea Party challenger who ultimately lost the general election.
Now the Lugar Center he leads has teamed up with the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University to develop a Bipartisan Index to measure members of Congress. The new ranking, being released for the first time on Tuesday, rates lawmakers by how their legislation does in attracting co-sponsors from the other party as well as how often they sponsor legislation proposed by members across the aisle.
No real surprise at the top of the Senate list: Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, both of whom are known for working with the other party. In the House, the two top scorers were Representative Chris Gibson and Representative Peter T. King, both Republicans of New York.
Research conducted in compiling the index also found that the 112th and 113th Congresses were the most partisan ever — another result that won’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention the previous four years.
— Carl Hulse
Our Favorites From Today’s Times
The story of Mr. Blumenthal‘s emails to Mrs. Clinton while she was secretary of state involves at least 25 memos about Libya.
Mr. Obama was in Camden, N.J., on Monday to speak to community leaders and law enforcement officials. He praised the Police Department, while also confronting problems that have helped define his own complicated relationship with the police.
Also on Monday, Mr. Obama joined Twitter after years of complaining of being trapped in a Washington bubble.
Mrs. Clinton has a problem some Republican candidates wish they had: Everybody knows her. The challenge is figuring out how to reintroduce her to voters and court those sitting on the fence
What We’re Reading Elsewhere
Florida may have a later primary next year, but Politico reports that state Republican leaders quietly made it a winner-take-all contest for its 99 delegates to make the contest more important.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has been the national face of opposition to Mr. Obama‘s trade agenda, released a report on her Senate website “highlighting more than two decades of failed enforcement by the United States of labor and environmental standards included in past free-trade agreements.”
Mr. Paul on Monday, when asked in Philadelphia if anti-abortion policies would be a crucial part of his platform, said that while he would be more focused on economic issues, the states were better equipped to address abortion matters and that the American people “just have to figure when we agree life begins.”
Mrs. Clinton has collected more than $3 million giving speeches to the technology industry since early 2014, earning money from a source she hopes to tap for her presidential run, The Washington Post reports
The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is selling a “Bernie Bear” in honor of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is running for president as a Democrat. The bespectacled bear with wispy white hair goes for $80, the Boston Globe reports.
Emanuel Is Inaugurated With a Clinton Aside
Rahm Emanuel was sworn in for a second term as mayor of Chicago on Monday with former President Bill Clinton sitting beside him for the ceremony in the majestic Chicago Theater on State Street.
Mr. Clinton, described by Mr. Emanuel as a mentor, didn’t speak publicly — a fact that must have been difficult for him given the warm greeting he received from the hundreds present. But he did whisper a few asides to Mr. Emanuel, including one about a particularly excited member of the audience.
The man, a labor activist, would deliver a loud and enthusiastic “Nice!” after virtually every musical number, prayer and speech, drawing a laugh each time. He was a regular presence on the mayoral campaign trail and was known to Mr. Emanuel, who singled him out as he began his own speech.
“President Clinton said you have a limited vocabulary, but a lot of energy,” said Mr. Emanuel, who then became emotional thanking his family before calling on the city and its citizens to do more to increase opportunities for young black men in neighborhoods plagued by crime, poverty and violence.
— Carl Hulse
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