“The story for now is that a good judge has kept the courtroom open, and when she got pushback about the name of the third client, she allowed a representative of the press—me—to be heard. What I find heartening is that our institutions are functioning. The procedure Monday went as it should have under First Amendment jurisprudence.”

— Robert Balin, a media attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine, who argued yesterday why the name of a “third client” of Michael Cohen's should be included in the public record. He prevailed, Sean Hannity's name was spoken, and there was an audible gasp in the courtroom. It was a Perry Mason moment. Balin was in court representing the interests of several news organizations, including The New York Times, AP and CNN.

We have a low bar for success in the Trump era (“our institutions are functioning”) but at least we passed it yesterday. As for the future? As Balin says, “The story for now...”