OUR PICKS: DEMOCRACY WATCHTrump Has Broken the Justice Department | Trump Administration Pushes the Hatch Act to Its Limits | Influencers Help Trump Take Over Cities, and more

Comey Wins Early Discovery Fight as Judge Finds Trump DOJ Stance Would Cause Needless Delay (Jordan Rubin, MSNBC)
Accepting Lindsey Halligan’s proposal, the judge wrote, “would unnecessarily hinder and delay Defendant’s ability to adequately prepare for trial.”

What’s Really at Stake in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case?  (Mike Fox, CATO)
From pretrial detention to the threat of foreign rendition, the Abrego Garcia case shows how political prosecutions and coercive plea deals have eroded the promise of a fair trial.

Trump Has Broken the Justice Department  (Julian E. Zelizer, Foreign Policy)
The indictment of New York attorney general Letitia James shows how far the president is willing to go.

Trump Wants to Take Over Cities. Influencers Are Giving Him the Fuel to Do It  (Makena Kelly, Wired)
The Trump administration has built its own content mill to justify its law-and-order immigration agenda.

For Trump, Media Manipulation Is His Show of Force (Sarah Ellison, Washington Post)
The president has long attacked the media as “fake news,” but the White House has created a new crop of journalists to advance its policy priorities.

The Trump Administration Pushes the Hatch Act to Its Limits  (Molly Roberts, Lawfare)
But whether those boundaries have been breached may not matter in the end.

U.S. Attorney Was Forced Out After Clashes Over How to Handle Russia Inquiry  (Devlin Barrett and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times)
The departures of Todd Gilbert and his deputy in the Western District of Virginia show the pressure being brought on prosecutors to pursue the president’s perceived foes.