The Amendment Went Down With Republican HelpFour Republicans voted with Democrats against an amendment that would have put President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender military service into federal law. The order bars transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, and the amendment was designed to make that policy harder for a future president to undo with the stroke of a pen. Instead, the measure was defeated, which means the policy remains tied to executive action rather than statute. In Washington terms, that is the difference between a locked door and a sticky note that says, “Please do not change this.”Why Codifying the Order MatteredExecutive orders can move fast, which is why presidents love them and lobbyists learn to live with them. But they are also easy to reverse. A later administration can wipe out a prior order without needing Congress to do much of anything, which is often Congress’s preferred level of exertion. Supporters of the amendment wanted Congress to take a clear position and make the policy part of law. That would have shifted the matter from presidential policy to legislative command. The failed vote keeps the issue in the familiar swamp of temporary rules, future lawsuits,…

Ellison’s Rally Line Draws Attention Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke Monday at a Minneapolis rally for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running for U.S. Senate, and one line from his remarks quickly caught fire online. Ellison told the crowd there were “a whole lot of people” who were 18 in the last election, “a whole lot of people who were not naturalized citizens in the last election,” and many others who sat out. Then he added, “We gonna get ’em all this election.” In normal campaign-speak, that could mean registering new voters, reaching young voters, and turning out people who became citizens since the last race. In political reality, where every vague phrase now gets inspected like a suitcase at customs, conservatives heard something much different. Why the Phrase Hit a Nerve The concern is simple: noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections, and Americans have heard years of polished lectures that election worries are all fantasy, tin foil, and too much cable news. So when a state attorney general mentions people who “were not naturalized citizens” and says Democrats will “get ’em all,” critics are not likely to respond with warm trust and a muffin basket. The clip…