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The big question today at the Supreme Court was how Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS and Justices AMY CONEY BARRETT and BRETT KAVANAUGH would sound in oral arguments for Moore v. Harper. The case puts the “independent state legislature” theory to the test, with potentially monumental ramifications for elections and voting, and these three were viewed as the likeliest swing votes on the court.

The answer: skeptical. 

Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh, along with the three liberal justices, sounded unlikely to go for a broad ruling that would shift power over redistricting and other voting matters from state courts to state legislatures exclusively, AP’s Mark Sherman recaps.

Of the conservatives, Roberts seemed the most dubious, though Kavanaugh also “seemingly suggested that the version of the independent state legislature theory advanced by the North Carolina lawmakers was going too far,” Zach Montellaro notes. Yet their positions weren’t entirely clear, and they also seemed open to some form of ruling in favor of the North Carolina Republicans.

Justices to Roberts’ left and right were inclined to more sweeping statements.

Justice ELENA KAGAN warned that the “independent state legislatures” theory would get “rid of the normal checks and balances on the way big governmental decisions are made in this country.”

But the formerly fringe theory found some purchase with the court’s most conservative justices — SAMUEL ALITO, NEIL GORSUCH and CLARENCE THOMAS. Alito indicated that talk of state legislatures’ unchecked power was overblown. “Under any circumstances, no matter what we say the ‘Elections Clause’ means, Congress can always come in and establish the manner of conducting congressional elections,” he said.

DEMOCRACY DIGEST — Rep. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) today endorsed DONALD TRUMP’s call to terminate the Constitution and reinstall him in the White House. “I support and agree with the former President,” Gosar tweeted, referring to baseless claims of election fraud. “Unprecedented fraud requires unprecedented cure.”

ZELDIN OUT — Rep. LEE ZELDIN (R-N.Y.) announced, grudgingly, that he wouldn’t run for RNC chair, as incumbent RONNA McDANIEL seems to have sewn up more than enough votes to hold her position. “I won’t be running for RNC Chair at this time with McDaniel’s reelection pre-baked by design, but that doesn’t mean she should even be running again,” he tweeted. “It’s time the GOP elects new leadership! It’s time for fresh blood!” More from Fox News

Good Wednesday afternoon. With Zeldin gone, how many votes can HARMEET DHILLON and MIKE LINDELL siphon from McDaniel? Drop me a line with your predictions at [email protected].

TRUMP CARDS

DOCUMENT DIVING — Under directions to aver that Trump has turned over all classified materials, the former president’s legal team searched through his Bedminster, N.J., golf club and Trump Tower in recent weeks, WaPo’s Jackie Alemany, Josh Dawsey, Spencer Hsu and Devlin Barrett scooped. “Trump’s lawyers have told the Justice Department that the outside team did not turn up any new classified information during their search … and have said they utilized a firm that had expertise in searching for documents.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins added that the searches included two other Trump properties as well.

Then WaPo’s Alemany, Dawsey, Hsu, Barrett and Rosalind Helderman scooped that the search did turn up at least two materials with classified markings. The items, found at a West Palm Beach, Fla., storage unit, have been given to the FBI.

ALL POLITICS

ABOUT LAST NIGHT — Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK’s (D-Ga.) runoff win puts an exclamation mark on the new battleground landscape, in which Florida and Ohio are purple no more and the path to presidential victory instead tracks through six states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, NYT’s Lisa Lerer writes. “The Marietta moms are in charge now.”

How it happened: “Inside the Republican’s campaign, aides lurched from crisis to crisis so often it felt like a ‘death march,’” one HERSCHEL WALKER staffer tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein in his instant post-mortem of how Warnock won. “Warnock, meanwhile, held dozens of events to mobilize voters when they most needed the push.”

Warnock’s future: “He has the ability to do both the poetry and the prose of politics in a way that I think is rare,” Sen. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) says of Warnock, NYT’s Katie Glueck reports in a look at the pastor/politician’s rising-star status.

On the hill: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER took a victory lap, holding up five fingers on one hand and one on the other. Some Republicans engaged in recriminations and blamed their candidate quality this year, but others stayed defiant: NRSC Chair RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) told CNN’s Manu Raju that his candidates were “good, quality,” and that “we’ve got to rely on the voters in the states … I trust the voters.” (Of course, on Tuesday the voters chose Warnock.)

CONGRESS

SPEAKER FOR YOURSELF — Rep. MATT ROSENDALE (R-Mont.) doubled down today on his opposition to House GOP Leader KEVIN McCARTHY’s speakership bid, using even stronger language than he has before in a Billings Gazette op-ed. “If Kevin McCarthy couldn’t lead in the minority, he doesn’t have the ability to serve as speaker of the House,” Rosendale writes. “We need a speaker who is strong enough to get things done with a Democrat-controlled White House and can unite the Republican party. You didn’t elect me to be a rubber stamp.”

— There’s some daylight between McCarthy and House GOP Whip STEVE SCALISE (R-La.): Scalise tells Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman that reinstating the “motion to vacate” — which McCarthy opposes and his critics support — is “part of the conversation.” “So yes, Scalise says he’s for McCarthy,” Jake writes. “But Scalise declined to say whether he supports him on the motion to vacate — one of the critical decisions facing McCarthy — and whether the California Republican is ‘inevitable’ as speaker.”

THE OUTGOING DCCC CHAIR — Rep. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-N.Y.), who lost his reelection bid, was heard talking about the possibility of joining the Biden administration at the congressional ball Monday, per our Huddle colleagues.

THE INCOMING DCCC CHAIR — Nobody but Reps. AMI BERA (D-Calif.) and TONY CÁRDENAS (D-Calif.) has thrown their hat in the ring yet. But the decision to choose the chair is up to House Democratic Leader-elect HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.), and plenty of Dems are talking about alternatives. Punchbowl’s Max Cohen and Heather Caygle report that the names being mentioned include Reps. DON BEYER (D-Va.), SUZAN DelBENE (D-Wash.), DEREK KILMER (D-Wash.), MARK POCAN (D-Wis.) and TERRI SEWELL (D-Ala.). But Pocan says he doesn’t want it, and Beyer sounds deferential to Bera and Cárdenas unless Jeffries wants to go a different route.

INTERACTION OF THE DAY — As Schumer was speaking to reporters this morning, someone’s phone GPS suddenly said, “Turn left.” “Turn left, Republicans!” Schumer responded. “Or at least don’t turn hard right.” Watch

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

PERSON OF THE YEAR — In the end, who else could really have been Time’s Person of the Year but Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY? The magazine made the announcement this morning, along with a profile from Simon Shuster in Kyiv. He won the honor jointly with “the Spirit of Ukraine,” which gets its own write-up. Zelenskyy has heard the WINSTON CHURCHILL comparisons, but he says he prefers CHARLIE CHAPLIN or GEORGE ORWELL as analogues. “There wasn’t much in Zelensky’s biography to predict his willingness to stand and fight,” Shuster writes. “Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious.”

GROWING DIVIDE — As Israel’s incoming government looks set to lurch to the far right, its ties with mostly liberal American Jews could fray further, leading to “a ripple effect in Washington” and an even greater “partisan divide over support for Israel,” AP’s Josef Federman reports from Jerusalem. The inclusion of extreme, hard-line lawmakers in the government could push Americans further away. “I’m very afraid,” says J Street President JEREMY BEN-AMI.

THE NEW AMERICANS — 1,023,200 immigrants became naturalized U.S. citizens in the last fiscal year, the third-highest total on record after 1996 and 2008, CBS’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports. Most became citizens at naturalization ceremonies, while others got citizenship through their parents or other avenues. The most common countries of origin: Mexico, India, the Philippines, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

COMMITTEE LATEST — House Jan. 6 committee member ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) told NPR’s Steve Inskeep this morning that he thinks Trump committed a prosecutable crime. “The facts support a potential charge against the former president,” like criminal conspiracy, Schiff said.

THE WHITE HOUSE

IT’S OFFICIAL — President JOE BIDEN will speak at the 10th annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church tonight at 7:15 p.m., as Myah Ward first reported he would.

THE THREE AMIGOS — Biden will meet with Mexican President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR on Jan. 9 and hold a trilateral meeting with AMLO and Canadian PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU in Mexico the next day, Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove, Eric Martin and Jennifer Jacobs report.

POLICY CORNER

ANTITRUST THE PROCESS — In court Thursday, the FTC will launch its first big challenge under Chair LINA KHAN to a Big Tech behemoth when it tries to block Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality startup Within, NYT’s David McCabe previews. It’s one of a barrage of risky, difficult antitrust cases the Biden administration has brought — and regulators know they’ll lose some of the battles. But they see advancing novel, aggressive legal arguments in court as a win in and of itself: It could help push Congress to update antitrust laws.

WAR IN UKRAINE

WINTER IS COMING — “Donors race to get generators, other aid to hard-hit Ukraine,” by AP’s Jamey Keaten in Kyiv: “The government in Kyiv and the Western countries that have backed it with billions in military aid now are scrambling along with the United Nations and aid groups to get blankets, insulation, generators, medical supplies, cash and more essentials into the invaded country as winter looms. … Despite a swift response and a high commitment from donors to a U.N. aid appeal, the needs are changing fast — and swelling.”

PLAYBOOKERS

OUT AND ABOUT — Sandy Hook Promise hosted a benefit on Tuesday at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York to honor the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. Barack Obama and Matthew McConaughey gave remarks, Ron Conway presented the “Promise Champion” award to Bob Iger, and Robin Roberts served as emcee. SPOTTED: NYC Mayor Eric Adams, New York AG Tish James, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Anthony Scaramucci.

— SPOTTED at the retirement party for Earle Jones of Comcast federal affairs Tuesday night: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Reps. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) and Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Mitch Rose, Michael Powell, Jennifer Stewart, Saul Hernandez, Yebbie Watkins, Kyle Parker, Lyndon Boozer and James Assey.

— American Affairs, Employ America and the Federation of American Scientists hosted the Investing in a Stronger America conference Tuesday night, examining how private capital can be used to support strategic sectors and supply chains. Speakers included Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Heather Boushey, David McCormick, Susan Helper and Pete Stavros. SPOTTED: Stephen Newton, Ashley Williams, Sam Mulopulos, Mike Needham, Caleb Seibert, James Hitchcock, Adam Chan, Ishan Sharma, Julius Krein, Arnab Datta, Skanda Amarnath, Dan Correa, Ryan Buscaglia, Caleb Watney, Dimple Gosai and Jordan Blashek.

TRANSITIONS — Megan Harrington is now deputy director of government affairs at Kroger. She previously was senior policy adviser for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). … Anna Buhlinger is now a federal affairs director at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. She previously was federal government affairs director at the American Land Title Association. …

… Pita Juarez is now VP of comms at LGBTQ Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Institute. She most recently was national comms and creative strategies director at League of Conservation Voters. … Susan Lagana has joined the strategic comms and public affairs team at Invariant. She previously was a partner at Brunswick Group and is a DOT alum.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Dale Bishop, chief of staff to the CEO of The Block and a POLITICO alum, and Mike Stockert, director for analytics and innovation at 2U and also a POLITICO alum, welcomed Hadley Bishop Stockert on Nov. 19. Pic