In recent months, affiliates of the South Dakota Canvassing group filed suit in two counties over petitions demanding County Commissions mandate that they approve petitions for hand-counting after these petitions were rejected by the respective county commissions.
The first was slam-dunked in Lawrence County. This is the second of those decisions, issued this morning in Charles Mix County, also delivering a defeat to the hand-counting zealots on the basis of violating state or federal law.
Senator Mike Rounds’ WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: January 6-20, 2025
Welcome to the first Weekly Round[s] Up of 2025! We’ve had a busy first couple weeks of the 119th Congress out here in DC. Preparation for President Trump’s second term is in full swing. While I started meeting with his nominees in December, we began hearing from those nominees in public hearings. Hosting these hearings early tees up the nomination so that we are ready to vote and get them in place now that President Trump is in office. In my committees, we’ve already voted to approve Pete Hegseth and John Ratcliffe, and they’ll now head to the full Senate. We’re hitting the ground running and ready for a busy few months as we work day in and day out to get President Trump’s chosen team confirmed, as well as accomplishing some of his major policy priorities early in his term. Here’s my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota meetings: I met with the South Dakota Wheat Growers Association; and Cammy Lantis and Leah Rinard with Lantis Enterprises. We also had many South Dakotans visiting Washington for the inauguration. I enjoyed getting to visit with them and welcome them to town at events hosted by my office over the weekend.
Met with South Dakotans from: Aberdeen, Box Elder, Brandon, Brookings, Chamberlain, Deadwood, Dimock, Estelline, Forbes Township, Midland, Milbank, New Underwood, Piedmont, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, St. Lawrence, Tea, Vermillion, Wagner, Whitewood and Winner.
Cabinet nominee meetings:
John Phelan, nominee to be Secretary of the Navy. His nomination will come before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), which I serve on.
Dan Driscoll, nominee to be Secretary of the Army. He will also go through SASC.
Stephen Feinberg, nominee for Deputy Secretary of Defense who will come through SASC.
Todd Blanche, nominee for Deputy Attorney General.
Other meetings: Brendan Carr, Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s Ambassador to the United States; JohnKetchum, CEO of NextEra Energy; Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer’s Worldwide; and Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital.
I hosted a gathering with Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) honoring our seatmates, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who are now in leadership positions within our conference. I also attended Senate Bible Study, hosted by Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Senate Prayer Breakfast, where we heard from Senate Chaplain Barry Black.
Inauguration Ceremonies: I stayed in Washington this past weekend attending the Inauguration of President Trump. This included breakfast with President Trump on Sunday morning and the Inauguration ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday. It was a great weekend celebrating our 47th (and 45th) President, and we’re ready for all the good things to come!
Hearings: We kicked off our nomination hearings with Pete Hegseth, nominee for Secretary of Defense, in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Mr. Hegseth did well in responding to questions from the committee members on his vision for the Department of Defense, including a focus on lethality. You can watch the clip of my questions here.
We also had the nomination hearing for John Ratcliffe, nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, which you can watch a clip of here. In the Banking committee, we heard from Scott Turner, nominee to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. You can watch the Banking clip here.
Votes taken: 5 – all of these votes were to move the Laken Riley Act forward. I voted yes on this legislation, which I was an original cosponsor of in both this Congress and the last Congress. This bill will require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and detain immigrants who have committed certain crimes until they are deported.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Brookings, Pierre, Sioux Falls, Volin, Wall, White River and Yankton.
Steps taken: Week 1: 55,645 steps or 27.7 miles
Week 2: 49,483 steps or 25.09 miles
Video of the week: I joined Newsmax following President Trump’s swearing in to discuss the ceremony as well as his executive orders:
Johnson Re-Introduces Bill Locking in Supreme Court Justices at Nine
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) re-introduced his Keep the Nine constitutional amendment to limit the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court to nine.
“Calls from the left to ‘pack the court’ are radical attempts to gain a political advantage,” said Johnson. “The Supreme Court is an essential part of protecting our republic and keeping our government free and fair. I introduce this amendment each Congress to protect the integrity of the Court.”
“Court packing will only create a politicized judiciary with judges chosen solely to accomplish specific political results. AFP is proud to support the House resolution to Keep the Nine because we must take proactive steps to protect the Court’s important role of serving as a critical check on the political branches. We applaud Representative Dusty Johnson and House Republicans for advancing this proposal that ensures our Constitution protects this vital institution,” said Casey Mattox, Senior Advisor to Americans for Prosperity.
“The Keep Nine Amendment is critical to the preservation of an independent Supreme Court that protects the rule of law and every one of our Constitutional rights,” said Paul Summers, Chair of The Keep Nine Coalition, former Attorney General of Tennessee.
“The National Federation of Republican Women strongly endorses the Keep Nine Amendment to safeguard our Supreme Court. Our nation has operated with nine justices for 150 years, ensuring judicial independence and protecting constitutional rights. By codifying this number in our Constitution, we prevent any political manipulation of the Court’s size,” said Julie Harris, President of National Federation of Republican Women.
Johnson’s House Joint Resolution has 72 cosponsors.
Listening to testimony against House Bill HB 1009, and Large Schools Lobbyist Diana Miller cited the State Constitution today. A passage I was not familiar with, but very current as it relates to a number of issues before the body.
§ 16. Public support of sectarian instruction prohibited. No appropriation of lands, money or other property or credits to aid any sectarian school shall ever be made by the state, or any county or municipality within the state, nor shall the state or any county or municipality within the state accept any grant, conveyance, gift or bequest of lands, money or other property to be used for sectarian purposes, and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in any school or institution aided or supported by the state.
Interesting that these measures might flagrantly violate the South Dakota State Constitution. And 136 years after it was written, our state’s constitutional framers deserve a shout out for being not just timely, but timeless.
I had received one, and had people sending them to me left and right. Young Americans for Liberty lobbyist and goofball Anthony Miryzants was back at it again yesterday afternoon using text blasts to try to get people to contact their legislators to support his versions of school vouchers, HB1009. Except, it wasn’t a very friendly persuasion. Because they’re all badly written, and use photos as they would use in a hit piece:
First off, it pushes a message where they couldn’t even bother to remember to put the legislators name in all of the spots for their template:
The House Education Committee meets first thing this AM to vote on HB 1009, and your State Representative NAME is a key member of the committee. It actually says NAME in all of the texts I was forwarded. And as one correspondent noted to me “I give it an F. Also — if they used a picture that bad of me….they’d never have my support.”
And this was not the exception, but the rule. Here’s one that came across to Brookings Residents:
Using a dark, blurry hit piece photo and telling me “Your State Representative NAME is a key member of the committee.” In addition to misspelling her name. (2 L’s).
As yet another legislator who had the “State Representative NAME” hit piece text message go across their district quipped “I guess they don’t teach attention to detail at freedom caucus school.” No. They missed that subject, as well as a number of other ones.
Guessing Anthony is going to mark this one down in the loss column. If not today, I doubt it makes it out of the House.
The website “The Hill” has a long article today on how Congressman Dusty Johnson and the Main Street Caucus are quietly getting things done in Congress, while other groups like the Freedom Caucus are focused on headlines and roadblocks:
The House GOP’s Main Street Caucus has turned into a critical behind-the-scenes force for striking deals in the fractious, slim majority — and is set to grow even more important as its leaders prioritize being in President Trump’s orbit as Republicans plot an ambitious legislative agenda.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) is in his second term as the group’s chair, and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) is the group’s new vice chair, replacing Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), who remains deeply involved in the group’s leadership decisions.
and..
“I just think our secret sauce is we don’t view politics as a zero-sum game. We’re not against anybody. We’re just pro-getting our work done,” Johnson said. “And we’re not interested in a lot of headlines or doing a lot of media. We just we want to work with 220 Republicans to deliver on the agenda.”
and..
That approach stands in contrast to the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus, that, while secretive in some ways, is known for its public, aggressive stances and for leveraging procedural tactics in an attempt to pressure GOP leadership or Democrats to succumb to more conservative policies.
Good to hear that there are some adults left in the room who want to have a record of accomplishment, as opposed to bringing things to a screeching halt.
Enjoyed my time at the South Dakota Delegation Inauguration Reception. It was great to spend time with South Dakotans who traveled to Washington, D.C., but were unable to attend the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/He4J7v9YGw
I had pictures sent to me with former State Senator Erin Tobin, Representative Taylor Rehfeldt, Senator Casey Crabtree, and a number of others who were in attendance for the inaugural activities. I was offered an invite and thought about going, but that thing about not abandoning kids at home came to mind. My youngest is not 18 quite yet, and his car is on the fritz in the middle of winter, so, I thought I’d be boring and live vicariously through others.
Interesting news item that just popped up. South Dakota home-grown success story Daktronics is making the business decision that Delaware has a more business friendly legal framework that South Dakota, so they are changing their state of domicile out there:
“Delaware is the legal domicile for most large, publicly traded companies, and its corporate law is well understood, clear and predictable and provides strong shareholder rights and protections,” Reece Kurtenbach, Daktronics’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said in a news release.
According to Harvard Business Services Inc. “One of the main reasons why companies incorporate in Delaware is the legal and liability protection of established corporate laws. Delaware’s well-established and business-friendly legal framework is designed to provide a clear and flexible environment for businesses to operate.”
The House GOP’s Main Street Caucus has turned into a critical behind-the-scenes force for striking deals in the fractious, slim majority — and is set to grow even more important as its leaders prioritize being in President Trump’s orbit as Republicans plot an ambitious legislative agenda.