April 30, 2026 - Supreme Court Alters Race in Redistricting

Tuesday night — the same day former FBI Director James Comey was indicted for allegedly threatening President Trump — I took my wife to dinner.

I ordered a cheeseburger. She ordered chicken paillard and asked whether the restaurant had clam chowder. The waitress said yes. A nearby busboy quietly corrected her. Without missing a beat, the waitress turned and announced: "86 on the chowder."

Comey should pray she's on his jury.

That phrase — "86" — is the crux of everything in his case. And it's standard restaurant shorthand for we're out of it, used countless times in restaurants all across America. My waitress didn't mean anyone harm. She meant the chowder was gone. And that's precisely the problem the prosecution faces.

Federal criminal threats require proof of intent. Courts have consistently held that what matters is what the defendant meant, not what an overzealous reader inferred. Comey posted a photograph of seashells containing the number 86 alongside the number 47 — which the government interpreted as a call to eliminate the 47th President. He took it down the same day, said he understood the imagery differently, and apologized. That's a defendant who, at minimum, raises serious reasonable doubt — and reasonable doubt is all a jury needs.

Getting twelve people to agree, unanimously, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a photograph was a genuine threat to the President of the United States? From a man who deleted it within hours and said he meant nothing by it?

I seriously doubt this case ever reaches a jury. But if it does, Acting AG Todd Blanche should know what's coming: No soup for you.

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