Georgia judge declines to disqualify prosecutor; Schumer urges Israel elections

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Nathan Wade resigned as the special prosecutor in Donald Trump’s racketeering case in Georgia. A judge earlier ruled that Fani Willis, the district attorney, could continue to lead the effort as long as Mr Wade—whom she hired and was romantically involved with—stepped aside. The judge found that the relationship produced an “appearance of impropriety” but no “actual conflict”. Ms Willis’ case, which accuses Mr Trump and 18 others of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, would have faced extensive delays had she been forced off it.

A judge in New York agreed to delay Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly falsifying documents to cover up a sex scandal. It was scheduled for March 25th, but on Thursday prosecutors signalled they were open to pushing it back by 30 days to review newly received evidence. It was the only one of Mr Trump’s four criminal trials with a confirmed start date; all now face delays.

Chuck Schumer became the most senior elected official to urge Israel to vote in new leadership. The Democratic Senate majority leader—America’s highest-ranking Jewish politician—said that Binyamin Netanyahu’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel”. Dissent is growing among Democrats over the war. Republican senators, meanwhile, invited Mr Netanyahu to speak at the party’s retreat yesterday; he was apparently unable to attend.

The White House’s counsel sent Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, a letter demanding an end to his party’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, calling it a “charade”. The year-old probe has produced no evidence that the president did wrong, and last month the source of an explosive bribery allegation against Mr Biden was charged with lying to the FBI.

New York City and the Legal Aid Society, a charity, announced a settlement granting the city more flexibility under the “Right to Shelter” law, which guarantees those who are homeless a bed. Some 120,000 people, 65,000 of whom are migrants, are sleeping in the city’s shelter system. The temporary terms—which include capping migrants’ stays in shelters at 30 days—will apply only to single adults.

The Supreme Court ruled that public officials can block citizens on social media under specific circumstances. Weighing two cases, the justices decided that free-speech protections would prevent officials from banishing users from their social-media pages only if their posts were “attributable to the State”. Only some posts, by some government employees, would count as “official” as opposed to “personal” speech.

Figure of the day

70%, the number of annual overdose deaths that fentanyl is responsible for in America. These six charts show why the country is in the most lethal phase yet of an opioid epidemic that stretches back to the late 1990s.

Today’s polls

For all the political action of the past weeks, including Mr Biden’s vigorous state-of-the-union speech last Thursday, the race remains stubbornly stable. Judging from our poll tracker, which is updated daily and shows an average of the latest polls, the race between Mr Biden and Mr Trump is shaping up to be a dead heat.

🌏 A view from elsewhere

In Die Welt, a German newspaper that leans conservative, Jörg Wimalasena assesses why Donald Trump attracts so many non-white voters. In his view, Democrats failed to meaningfully improve the lives of black people after the 2020 election “except to celebrate even the smallest diversity appointments”, such as that of “the incompetent Vice President Kamala Harris”. Instead of these “woke identity politics”, he argues that Democrats should “pursue class politics for all voters”.

Daily quiz

From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on American politics. The weekly winner, chosen at random, will be announced here on Fridays. This week’s winner is Neil Rodgers from Beaconsfield, United Kingdom. The answers were:

Monday: The ten least populous states make up less than 3% of the population: Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Rhode Island, Montana, Maine and New Hampshire have only 9m residents between them.
Tuesday: Hawaii gets the most rainfall, with 63.7 inches a year.
Wednesday: Nevada gets the least, with 9.5 inches a year.
Thursday: The 27th amendment passed in 1992. It concerned congressional pay.

If you enjoyed this week’s quiz, play Dateline, The Economist’s new history game.

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election. Confused about a term? Check out our A-Z of American politics.

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