Supreme Mess: Republican leaders are calling for an investigation into how Christine Blasey Ford’s confidentiality agreement with Sen. Diane Feinstein was breached and her accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh went public.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said Feinstein’s office will be investigated and so will the lawyers representing Ford for telling her that Senate Judiciary Committee staffers would not travel to California to interview her.

It’s now a routine among Republicans to investigate the investigators rather than get to the bottom of the original problem.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had a meltdown during last week’s hearing, said on ABC’s “This Week” that “We’re going to do a wholesale and full-scale investigation of what I think was a despicable process.”

“Who betrayed Dr. Ford’s trust, who in Feinstein’s office recommended Katz as a lawyer, why did Ms. Ford not know that the committee was willing to go to California,”Graham asked.

In the more important matter, the FBI has one week to investigate incidents that happened 36 years ago. A Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s told The NY Times he plans to tell the FBI that the nominee lied in front of the Senate about his drinking history. Chad Ludington said he frequently saw Judge Kavanaugh “staggering from alcohol consumption.”

Fired FBI Director James Comey writes in The NY Times that the one-week deadline is regrettable but the bureau is up to the job and knows how to ask questions. “FBI agents know time has very little to do with memory,” he says. “They know every married person remembers the weather on their wedding day, no matter how long ago. Significance drives memory. They also know that little lies point to bigger lies. They know that obvious lies by the nominee about the meaning of words in a yearbook are a flashing signal to dig deeper.”

In the midst of an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper defending Kavanaugh, presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway announced that”I’m a victim of sexual assault.” She didn’t get more specific, but has previously suggested that when she was younger some congressmen came on strong.

She said “We do treat people differently who are either the victims or the perpetrators of this based on their politics now, based on their gender. That is a huge mistake.”

Not sure what she means there.

The Big Gamble: One of the compelling reasons Republicans want Brett Kavanaugh seated quickly on the Supreme Court is a case coming up called Gamble v. US , which tests the constitutionality of being tried for the same crime in both state and federal court. You get where we’re going here?

What’s called the Dual Sovereignty exception to the Fifth Amendment’s double-jeopardy clause has stood for 150 years. The case to overturn it is the result of appeals by a man named Terance Gamble, who was convicted in both state and federal court in Alabama of being a felon in possession of a gun. The dual convictions resulted in more prison time.

The Dual Sovereignty rule has acted as a check on President Trump against firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller and shutting  down his investigation. Under current law, the states could just investigate and prosecute the same crimes Mueller is looking at and Trump couldn’t stop them. If Trump were  to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has convictions in two federal courts, Virginia and New York could go ahead and charge him again. Doing away with Dual Sovereignty would give Trump the power to shut down the whole thing with no consequences.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee who supports Kavanaugh, recently filed what’s called an “amicus” brief with the Court, arguing that Dual Sovereignty “impairs full realization of the Double Jeopardy Clause’s liberty protections.”

Equal Access: The Justice Department yesterday sued California to kill the state’s new law that protects equal access to the internet, so-called “net neutrality.”

The federal government ended net neutrality, basically allowing internet providers to accept payments to give companies favorable service. Amazon Prime, for instance, could buy faster delivery for video than Netflix.

In a statement explaining the lawsuit, Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions said,“States do not regulate interstate commerce — the federal government does. Once again the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.”

New Deal: Canada has agreed to sign on to a modified North American Free Trade Agreement that allows the US greater access to the Canadian dairy market and alleviates Canada’s concerns about automobile tariffs. President Trump had ripped up the original Clinton-era deal and negotiated a new agreement first with Mexico, threatening to leave out the Canadians.

The Obit Page: Another reason to sing the blues. Otis Rush, one of the greatest of the Chicago bluesmen, has died at age 84 of the effects of a stroke he suffered way back in 2003. Not as well known as BB King, Rush was an equal in his league along with Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam.

Rush helped define a distinct sound on the west side of Chicago. He had a method of putting his little finger under the low E so he could bend notes in ways few other blues men could do. Probably his biggest hit was “I Can’t Quit You, Baby,” written by his friend Willie Dixon.

“I can’t quit you baby
So I’m gonna put you down for a while
I said I can’t quit you baby
I guess I gotta put you down for a while”

True Bromance: President Trump said Saturday night at his rally in West Virginia that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had fallen in love. He told the crowd, “We went back and forth, then we fell in love. No, really! He wrote me beautiful letters. And they are great letters. We fell in love.”

Maybe they’ll spend the weekend in the Poconos.

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