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☆ Supreme Court rejects challenge to tax on foreign investments — but avoids wealth tax debate
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

An exterior view of the Supreme Court on June 20, 2024 in Washington, DC. In a closely watched case, the Supreme Court on Thursday denied a challenge to a federal tax on certain foreign investments — but left questions about whether a wealth tax is constitutional. The provision was enacted via the Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul to help pay for the legislation's other tax breaks. While the Supreme Court upheld the tax on the Moores, the justices steered clear of the broader debate on whether a wealth tax is constitutional. He emphasized the limited scope of the opinion and how it only addressed the "precise and narrow question" of the Moore's case.

Persons: Moore, Moores, Xers, haven't, Brett Kavanaugh Organizations: Republicans, Finance, Trump, Moores Locations: Washington , DC, United States, Washington, India

That sent lower courts scurrying into historical analyses to figure out if modern gun laws had some connection to the 18th Century. Roberts’ opinion said that lower courts were misunderstanding what the majority had said in that ruling. But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a member of the court’s liberal wing, suggested it was the high court’s fault for not providing clarity for lower courts to follow. One deals with a Pennsylvania man’s challenge to a federal law prohibiting felons, including those who are non-violent, from possessing firearms. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar presented that argument with an eye toward several other challenges pending to similar federal gun prohibitions that involve non-violent criminal activity.

Persons: John Roberts, Zackey Rahimi, ” Roberts, Donald Trump, Roberts, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, ” Barrett, ” Thomas ’, Bruen, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Elie Honig, SCOTUS, Rahimi, ” Thomas, Hunter Biden, Hunter, Biden, Daniels, Steve Vladeck, ”, Elizabeth Prelogar Organizations: CNN, Supreme Court, New York, Trump, US, Appeals, Supreme, Circuit, University of Texas School of Law Locations: Texas, New, Bruen, Mississippi, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Illinois

☆ Killer of 2 Women in National Park in 1996 Has Been Identified, F.B.I. Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Orlando Mayorquín | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It took the authorities one week to find the bodies of Julianne Williams and Laura Winans near their campsite at a national park in Virginia in 1996 after their family reported them missing. But it would take nearly three decades for the authorities to identify the person they believe killed them. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace.”An F.B.I. It re-examined previous leads and interviews and evidence recovered from the site of the killings. Investigators submitted some of the evidence for DNA testing and found a match to Mr. Jackson’s DNA, the agency said.

Persons: Julianne Williams, Laura Winans, Walter Leo Jackson Sr, “, Lollie Winans, Julie Williams, ” Christopher R, Kavanaugh, Winans, Williams, Jackson’s Locations: Virginia, Richmond, Ohio, Shenandoah, U.S

☆ Justices uphold Trump tax on overseas investments in win for Biden
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( John Fritze | Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Trump-era tax on overseas investments, rejecting an argument from a Washington state couple in a case that could have jeopardized existing tax provisions and torpedoed Democratic talk of a wealth tax. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion and Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent. In reading his opinion from the bench, Kavanaugh repeatedly stressed that the opinion was “narrow” and did not implicate the raging debate over a wealth tax. “Those are potential issues for another day, and we do not address or resolve any of those issues here,” Kavanaugh wrote in Thursday’s opinion. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have also unveiled tax proposals that would hit the wealthiest Americans.

Persons: Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Kavanaugh, Charles, Kathleen Moore, Moores, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, ” Kavanaugh, “, ” Biden, Biden, Democratic Sens, Elizabeth Warren of, Ron Wyden, Independent Sen, Bernie Sanders, Paul Ryan, Moore, Samuel Alito, Alito, Charles Moore Organizations: CNN, Trump, Democratic, Government, Oregon, Independent, Capitol, Moores Locations: Washington, India, trillions, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Vermont

☆ Supreme Court Upholds Trump-Era Tax Provision
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a tax on foreign income that helped finance the tax cuts President Donald J. Trump imposed in 2017 in a case that many experts had cautioned could undercut the nation’s tax system. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh writing the majority opinion. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. The question before the justices appeared narrow at first glance: Is the tax in question allowed under the Constitution, which gives Congress limited powers of taxation? In the majority opinion, Justice Kavanaugh wrote that the tax fell within the authority of Congress under the Constitution.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Brett M, Kavanaugh, John G, Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Samuel A, Alito Jr, Clarence Thomas, Neil M Organizations: Chief

☆ The Supreme Court’s approach on ‘history and tradition’ is irking Amy Coney Barrett
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Devan Cole | John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Though Justice Clarence Thomas’ decision in a major trademark case last week was unanimous, it prompted a sharp debate led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett over the use of history to decide the case. “There definitely is the potential formation here of an alternative or several alternative approaches to history that ultimately draw a majority,” Wolf said. “What we could be seeing is a more nuanced approach to using that history,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center. But in a striking concurrence that captured support from both liberal and conservative justices, Justice Elena Kagan asserted that the court’s historic analysis need not end with the late-18th century. Barrett’s concurrence said the dispute could have been dealt with based on the court’s past precedent with trademark law and stressed that just leaning on the nation’s trademark history wasn’t good enough.

Persons: Clarence Thomas ’, Amy Coney Barrett, Barrett, Thomas, “, ”, Tom Wolf, Brennan, ” Wolf, Trump, Thomas ’, Antonin Scalia, Elizabeth Wydra, ” Wydra, Ilya Somin, there’s, Bruen, Sonia Sotomayor, … Bruen, –, Elena Kagan, Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Sotomayor –, Wolf, Roe, Wade, Vidal, . Elster, Sotomayor, ” Thomas, Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Barrett’s Organizations: Washington CNN, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, Trump, George Mason University, “, Inc, CNN, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Locations: New, Bruen, United States

☆ How the Supreme Court could decide Trump’s blockbuster fight for immunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Trump’s out of luck: No immunityThe simplest outcome would be for the Supreme Court to rule that former presidents are not entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution. Nixon and the ‘outer perimeter’ of powerBut the justices could reach more broadly by granting some degree of immunity for “official” actions. That official-versus-private debate emerged as a key component of Trump’s immunity battle and will be closely scrutinized once the opinion lands. In terms of timing, a lot would depend on the direction the Supreme Court gives Chutkan in its opinion. It could also raise the possibility of further pre-trial legal wrangling, unless the Supreme Court explicitly ruled out appeals of those decisions.

Persons: Donald Trump, –, Jack Smith’s, Trump, “ Trump, ”, Jonathan Entin, Trump’s, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh –, he’s, ” Roberts, ” It’s, Neil Gorsuch, ” Kavanaugh, Nixon, Fitzgerald, Ernest Fitzgerald, Richard Nixon, Rudy Giuliani, Matthew Seligman, Alison LaCroix, ‘, Tanya Chutkan, “, ” Entin, Smith, LaCroix, we’ll, ’ ” Organizations: CNN, Trump, Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, Appeals, DC Circuit, Supreme, Nixon, Air Force, Constitutional, Center, Stanford Law School, Security, University of Chicago Law School, US

☆ Supreme Court’s abortion pill ruling puts new focus on conservative Trump judge in Texas
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-15 | by ( John Fritze | Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In the mifepristone case, Kacsmaryk’s initial ruling was notable not just for its sweeping nature but in how he embraced the anti-abortion movement’s sensational rhetoric about the procedure. The groups fighting mifepristone argue that the Supreme Court’s decision shouldn’t affect the states’ ability to sue. Both the FDA and several medical groups, including the American Medical Association, told the Supreme Court that mifepristone is safe. But the Supreme Court knocked that argument aside, noting that federal law already allows doctors to avoid performing procedures that violate their conscience. Adam Unikowsky, a veteran Supreme Court litigator who has closely followed the mifepristone case, predicted it will be hard for the states to get the issue back before the Supreme Court.

Persons: Matthew Kacsmaryk, Donald Trump, ”, Carrie Flaxman, Brett Kavanaugh, mifepristone, ” Kavanaugh, Roe, Wade, Kansas –, Andrew Bailey, Kacsmaryk, Joe Biden’s, Biden, it’s, ” Julia Kaye, Erin Hawley, “, –, Adam Unikowsky, litigator, Unikowsky, They’re, ” Jaime Santos, Goodwin, “ that’s, Kavanaugh, isn’t Organizations: CNN, Trump, mifepristone, Supreme, Food, Democracy Forward, and Drug Administration, Republican, Alliance for Hippocratic, Biden, ACLU, Defending, FDA, American Medical Association Locations: Texas, Amarillo, – Missouri, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Texas ’, Mexico, Missouri , Idaho

☆ Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( John Fritze | Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Bump stocks allow a shooter to convert a semi-automatic rifle into a weapon that can fire at a rate of hundreds of rounds a minute. The federal rule made possession of a bump stock a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Both the Trump and Biden administrations, as well as gun control groups, said the way bump stocks work mean they qualify as machine guns. Trump described bump stocks at the time as converting “legal weapons into illegal machines.”ATF estimated that as many as 520,000 bump stocks were sold between 2010 and 2018. “Without this ongoing manual input, a semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock will not fire multiple shots.

Persons: Donald Trump, Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, Trump, ” Thomas, Michael Cargill, Sotomayor, “, ” Sotomayor, Sandy Hook, Capone, Al Capone, John Dillinger, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, ensnare, you’re, ” Kavanaugh, Biden, “ That’s, Thomas Organizations: CNN, Supreme, Trump, Biden, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, ATF, Democratic, Republican, Court, US, Justice Department, Cargill, National Rifle Association Locations: Las Vegas, Texas, New York

The Supreme Court justices suggested that abortion opponents had other ways to seek stricter rules for abortion drugs in the court’s unanimous ruling that rejected a group of anti-abortion organizations and doctors challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s current regulations for a widely used pill. Much of Kavanaugh’s opinion covered the various legal thresholds a plaintiff must reach to make it appropriate for courts to intervene in a dispute. He noted that federal law already protects individual health care providers who have objections to performing abortions for moral reasons. “In short, given the broad and comprehensive conscience protections guaranteed by federal law, the plaintiffs have not shown—and cannot show—that FDA’s actions will cause them to suffer any conscience injury,” Kavanaugh wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurrence to bring up other issues he had with the anti-abortion groups’ standing claims.

Persons: Brett Kavanaugh, ”, Kavanaugh, ” Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas Organizations: Food, Legislative

☆ Live Updates: Supreme Court Upholds Broad Access to Abortion Pill
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

ETThe Supreme Court on Thursday upheld access to a widely available abortion pill, rejecting a bid from a group of anti-abortion organizations and doctors to unravel the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill. In a unanimous decision, written by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the F.D.A.’s actions. The case involved easier access: The challenge before the court centered on changes the F.D.A. The safety of the pill: The groups — citing five studies, including two that were later retracted — questioned the safety of mifepristone, which was approved by the F.D.A. Their claim contradicted a large scientific record on the safety of mifepristone and another abortion medication, misoprostol.

Persons: Brett M, Kavanaugh, ”, Roe, Wade, ’, Matthew J, Kacsmaryk, —, Adam Liptak Locations: Texas, Amarillo , Texas, Panhandle

☆ Supreme Court rejects challenge to abortion pill mifepristone
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( John Fritze | Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

As those bans helped propel the demand for medication abortion, mifepristone became a logical target for the anti-abortion movement. None of those lower court rulings went into effect because the Supreme Court intervened last year and ordered that the status quo around mifepristone remain in place until the justices reviewed the case. The Supreme Court heard arguments in March. Both the FDA and several medical groups, including the American Medical Association, told the Supreme Court that mifepristone is safe. The mifepristone appeal was one of two abortion cases the high court was considering this month.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Brett Kavanaugh, “, ” Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh, ”, Clarence Thomas, mifepristone, Donald Trump, Matthew Kacsmaryk, —, –, Kacsmaryk, Biden, Steve Vladeck, Joe Biden Organizations: CNN, Food, Legislative, Trump, FDA, US, American Medical Association, Alliance for Hippocratic, University of Texas School of Law, Jackson, Health Organization, Biden Locations: Texas, mifepristone, Amarillo , Texas, Dobbs v, Idaho

☆ The Supreme Court Upheld Broad Abortion Pill Access
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a unanimous decision today, the Supreme Court rejected an effort to sharply curtail access to mifepristone, a medication used in a majority of abortions in the U.S. The decision was a victory for supporters of abortion access: The pill will remain widely available, for now. Kavanaugh did not, however, rule out the possibility that states could pursue other challenges to curtail access to the drug. Anti-abortion activists said after the ruling that they would keep trying to unravel the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pill. Their argument that the drug is harmful has been dismissed by mainstream scientists.

Persons: Brett Kavanaugh, —, Kavanaugh Organizations: U.S

☆ Abortion Ruling Has Nothing to Do With the Pills’ Safety or Morality
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision ensuring access to an abortion pill took no position on its safety or morality. Instead, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the court, focused entirely on standing. That is the legal doctrine that requires plaintiffs to show that they have suffered direct and concrete injuries in order to sue. Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, once succinctly summarized the standing doctrine, saying it requires plaintiffs to answer this question: “What’s it to you?”The plaintiffs in the case, doctors and medical associations who oppose abortion, had no good answer to that question, Justice Kavanaugh wrote. Their main theory was that there was a statistical possibility that some doctors may at some point work in an emergency room and have to treat patients suffering from complications after taking the pill, subjecting the doctors to “enormous stress and pressure” and putting making them choose between their consciences and their professional obligations.

Persons: Brett M, Kavanaugh, Antonin Scalia

The average daily illegal crossings have for years surpassed that threshold, peaking at over 8,000 in December, according to Department of Homeland Security data analyzed by CNN. Under a pandemic-era restriction, which was lifted last year, federal authorities swiftly expelled hundreds of thousands of migrants encountered at the US southern border. A CNN analysis found the last time average daily encounters between migrants and US Border Patrol at the southwestern land border were less than 2,500 was in January 2021. To lift the new policy, the daily average needs to drop even lower — to less than 1,500 average daily encounters for seven consecutive days between ports of entry. The last time illegal crossings at the southwestern land border were that low was in July 2020, the records show.

Persons: Colleen Putzel, Kavanaugh, —, ” Kavanaugh, Putzel, It’s, “ It’s, CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez Organizations: CNN, Biden, of Homeland Security, Migration Policy, US Border Patrol, Border Patrol Locations: Covid

☆ How the Supreme Court Case on Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family Could Change Bankruptcy Law - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-04 | by ( Melissa B. Jacoby | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Update: On Thursday the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the federal bankruptcy code does not shield members of the Sackler family from liability for civil claims stemming from the opioid crisis. The United States Supreme Court is now considering whether the bankruptcy system should have given this wealthy family a permanent shield against civil liability. But there is a bigger question at stake, too: Why is a company with no lenders turning to the federal bankruptcy system in response to accusations of harm and misconduct? The maker of OxyContin is one in a long line of companies that have turned Chapter 11 into a legal Swiss Army knife, tackling problems that are a mismatch for its rules. But Chapter 11 was designed around the goal of helping financially distressed businesses restructure loans and other contract obligations.

Persons: Sackler, Brett Kavanaugh Organizations: Purdue Pharma, United States, Swiss Army Locations: Swiss

☆ Opinion | Can the Supreme Court’s Liberals Reclaim Judicial Restraint?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Linda Greenhouse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court’s recent rescue of an important federal agency from the hands of a hostile lower court was an exercise in the evolving definition of originalism. A mechanism that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit deemed unconstitutional was clearly known to and accepted by the Constitution’s framers, Justice Thomas concluded. Justice Elena Kagan wrote a concurring opinion to say that while the old history was enlightening and adequate to support the agency’s constitutionality, modern practice supported it as well. “All the flexibility and diversity evident in the founding period,” she wrote, has “continued unabated” when it comes to financing government operations. Notably, two of the court’s conservatives, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, in addition to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined Justice Kagan’s endorsement of the significance of later, even contemporary, practice when interpreting the Constitution.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Elena Kagan, ”, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan’s, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch Organizations: Consumer Financial, United States, Appeals, Fifth Circuit

☆ Opinion | Ted Cruz Has Some Strong Opinions About College Sports
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Jane Coaston | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

College sports bring in billions of dollars in revenue every year, but until very recently virtually none of it went to athletes. v. Alston that student athletes should be able to profit from their names, images or likenesses, known as NIL. That settlement, which is not yet finalized, will likely change college sports, but many questions about the details of that future remain unclear. Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, has been trying to help create a solution for college sports. I spoke with him about why he believes preserving competitiveness in college sports is a job for the federal government.

Persons: Alston, Brett Kavanaugh, Ted Cruz, ” Organizations: Texas Republican Locations: N.C.A.A, America

☆ Supreme Court declines to decide whether 12-person juries should be required for state felony cases
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear a number of cases questioning whether state court juries must have a dozen members when they are weighing serious criminal charges. A series of appeals challenging Florida’s use of six-member juries has been pending at the Supreme Court for months. Six states — Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts and Utah — allow six- or eight-member juries to decide felony cases. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissent from the decision to deny the cases. The Supreme Court declined a similar appeal in 2022 from Arizona.

Persons: Neil Gorsuch, ” Gorsuch, “, ”, Ramos, Jim Crow, — Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh —, Gorsuch Organizations: CNN, Supreme, Court Locations: Arizona , Connecticut, Florida , Indiana , Massachusetts, Utah, Florida, ” Florida, . Louisiana, Louisiana, Oregon, Arizona

☆ Michael Avenatti: Supreme Court turns away appeal of disgraced attorney’s extortion conviction
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined an appeal from disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti, who argued that his extortion conviction was based on a vague anti-corruption law that shouldn’t apply to lawyers making settlement demands. On his broad point, at least, Avenatti’s argument has picked up some support from members of the Supreme Court’s conservative wing. Avenatti cited the Gorsuch opinion in his appeal and argued that the Supreme Court should invalidate the law. The Biden administration countered that Avenatti’s conduct was well within the plain meaning of the prohibition – in other words, not a fringe case – and that his appeal was foreclosed by earlier Supreme Court precedent. The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn Avenatti’s conviction last year.

Persons: Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels, Avenatti, it’s, Neil Gorsuch, ” Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Biden, shouldn’t, Avenatti’s, Brett Kavanaugh Organizations: CNN, Nike, Conservative Locations: New York

☆ Tired, testy and fractured: The Supreme Court prepares for more drama
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Joan Biskupic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

CNN —As Supreme Court justices try to resolve more than a dozen major cases over the next month, including whether Donald Trump must stand trial for election subversion, they appear mired in antagonism and distrust. Conservatives, who indeed hold the upper hand on the 6-3 court, nonetheless spike their writing and remarks with derision for the left. When the court majority allowed Louisiana state officials to use a map with a second majority-Black congressional district (over the protest of a GOP-backed group of White voters), the three liberals dissented. (A lower US court had referred to it as the “bleaching of African American voters” from the district.) Dissenting liberals emphasized that the decision reversing the lower court undercut a 2017 Supreme Court ruling, Cooper v. Harris, issued before the far-right majority took hold.

Persons: Donald Trump, Samuel Alito, Alito, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, Ketanji Brown Jackson, John Roberts, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, Blacks, Purcell, ’, Amy Coney Barrett, “, ” Barrett, Roberts, ” They, Bush, Feedback Kavanaugh, Gore, Cooper, Harris, ” Kagan, ” Alito, Joe Biden’s, Biden, Martha, Ann, ”, Alito tersely, Kagan’s, Edwin Kneedler, ” Roberts, Kneedler, Joshua Turner, Sotomayor, ” Sotomayor, Turner, interjected Organizations: CNN, Trump, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Liberal, GOP, White voters, Congress, Gore, South, American, Capitol, New York Times, US Justice Department Locations: America, Colorado, South Carolina, Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey, American, Alito’s, Jersey, Grants Pass , Oregon, Idaho, The Idaho

☆ New York Times: Another controversial flag spotted outside an Alito property
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( John Fritze | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Citing photographs and interviews with neighbors, the Times reports that the “Appeal to Heaven” flag was seen on display at his property last summer. It’s the second revelation in as many weeks about a controversial display outside Alito’s property. Like the inverted US flag, the Appeal to Heaven flag – also known as the Pine Tree flag – was seen during the attack on the Capitol. House Speaker Mike Johnson faced blowback for displaying the same flag outside his office last year before assuming the leadership post. An "Appeal to Heaven" flag is seen outside Speaker Mike Johnson's personal office in the Cannon House Office Buiding on Wednesday, May 22.

Persons: Samuel Alito’s, Donald Trump, ”, Alito, Shay Horse, –, Mike Johnson, Johnson, “, George Washington’s, I’ve, ” Johnson, Mike, Trump, Texas Sen, Ted Cruz, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Jim Jordan, Judge Thomas –, Judge Kavanaugh, ” Jordan, CNN’s Manu Raju, CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju Organizations: CNN, Capitol, New York Times, Times, Trump, Capitol ., Cannon, Texas, ” Locations: New Jersey, Virginia, Washington , DC

☆ Biden’s EPA is trying to take a huge bite out of the climate crisis. But can it survive Trump’s Supreme Court?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And environmental attorneys are intrigued by Barrett, who has had some tough questions for EPA’s challengers during recent Supreme Court arguments. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA can use its authority to regulate greenhouse gases. That gives the agency the recent Congressional direction the Supreme Court has said it so badly needs, some experts said.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, Richard Lazarus, “, Michael Regan, ” “, ” Regan, Regan’s, ” Lazarus, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Gorsuch, Alito, ” David Doniger, “ Alito –, ”, Reagan, Anne Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson, J, Scott Applewhite, Amy Coney Barrett –, Roberts, Barrett, Kavanaugh, Sackett, “ He’s, he’s, doesn’t, Ann Carlson, ” Carlson, ” Doniger Organizations: CNN, Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency, Harvard Law, EPA, Republican, Natural Resources Defense Council, Chevron, DC, Appeals, DC Circuit, University of California, Biden, Congress Locations: China, United, Virginia, University of California Los Angeles, West Virginia, Congress

☆ How Trump’s first term may have laid the groundwork to make his radical immigration agenda a reality
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Phil Mattingly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Trump’s advisers don’t see their agenda as aspirational political messaging. “Think about the first term, but on steroids,” a former senior Trump administration official who is working outside the campaign to draft immigration policy options for a second term. In closed-door fundraisers, Biden has also called attention to the radical nature of Trump’s immigration proposals – something his 2020 campaign used to its advantage. It shouldn’t.”The dramatic scale of Trump’s immigration agenda would have a sweeping effect across the US, Schulte said – one that shouldn’t get lost in debates over his rhetoric. Once viewed as radical and relegated to the fringes of the GOP, Trump’s immigration agenda is now an animating force for most, if not all, Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, don’t, ”, “, Todd Schulte, Joe Biden, Stephen Miller, ” Miller, Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s, Miller, ” Trump, Eisenhower, Clinton, Karoline Leavitt, Leavitt, Biden Biden, Biden, Biden’s, would’ve, ” There’s, SSRS, ” Biden, that’s, ” Schulte, Schulte, –, shouldn’t, “ He’s, Steve Vladeck, “ That’s, Neil Gorsuch, – Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett –, Vladeck Organizations: CNN, Republican, Supreme, National Guard, Trump, Democratic, Trump White House, Refugee, US Navy, Pentagon, White, Border Patrol, Department, Office, Senate Democratic, Democrats, Gallup, Biden, ” Trump, GOP, Republicans, Capitol, CNN Supreme, University of Texas Locations: United States, Panama, Mexico, torpedoing, California, America, Michigan, Ohio

☆ The US did a complete 180 on same-sex marriage
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The vast majority of Americans opposed same-sex marriage on May 17, 2004, when the first same-sex couples took their vows after a court decision in Massachusetts. Barack Obama notably opposed same-sex marriage when he ran for president as a Democrat in the 2008 election and, as public opinion was rapidly shifting, changed his tune in 2012 to support same-sex unions. Warnings were unfoundedThere is also evidence that warnings about same-sex marriage somehow endangering “traditional marriage” simply never materialized. A new study by researchers for the RAND Corporation to assess two decades of same-sex marriage in the US argues marriage rates actually increased among opposite-sex couples as same-sex couples were granted the ability to marry in certain states. A key difference between support for same-sex marriage and support for abortion rights, according to Lundry, is that support for abortion rights has remained positive for decades, in contrast to same-sex marriage, which saw a complete turnaround.

Persons: CNN —, Mitt Romney, George W, Bush, Hillary, Julie Goodridge, Charles Krupa, Sen, John Kerry, Hodges, Barack Obama, Obama, Romney, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, weren’t, ” Romney, Obergefell, —, PRRI, Alex Lundry, Republican pollster, “, ” Lundry, Gen, Dick Cheney, Joe Biden Organizations: CNN, Republican, House, Boston City Hall, Massachusetts Democrat, Democrat, Supreme, Gallup, RAND Corporation Locations: Massachusetts, Utah, Oregon, Ohio, Without Ohio, America

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