What We’re Following
Post–Op-Ed Procedures: The anonymous senior official who outlined concerns about President Trump’s fitness to serve in a New York Times op-ed should come forward publicly with those worries, Bradley P. Moss argues. Officials might also follow the precedent set by aides of Ronald Reagan, who wrote an internal memo on the president’s health problems in 1986. Instead, the op-ed claims they’re quietly disobeying—and while some commentators have described this as a coup, Adam Serwer argues that it’s more like public relations.
Kavanaugh’s Hearings: Responding to a confirmation process that’s been heavily criticized for lack of transparency, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee released a set of “confidential” documents from the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush administration. Kavanaugh’s stance on abortion rights has become a key issue in the hearings, as Democrats try to mobilize voters around protecting the precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Moms’ Mental Health: Though it’s relatively common for new moms to experience postpartum depression, many women find that the condition doesn’t go away as their kids get older. A very small percentage of women experience episodes of postpartum psychosis—symptoms such as paranoid thoughts and auditory hallucinations that can sometimes lead them to hurt or kill their children, and that the law doesn’t know how to handle.