This week is an odd combination of winding down and gearing up. Some things, like the Supreme Court season, officially wrapped, while other things, like the aftermath the court created, are only beginning.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a subpoena!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
We’ve hit a pause point on January 6 proceedings and the Election Rejection front. Here’s what I have for you:
- Insurrection Update: Odds and Ends. The biggest Jan 6 update by far happened last Tuesday, and I’ve already reported on it. The major stories from here are all about testimony itself; Ginny Thomas’s lawyer says she can’t be bothered to testify, but likely panel ally and former Trump attorney Pat Cipollone has been subpoenaed. Meanwhile, outlets gave attention to Trump’s witness bribing attempts, and House panel leader Liz Cheney opined that Trump could face multiple criminal referrals from the panel. We’ll see what next week brings.
Honestly, there hasn’t been much Biden news in any direction since Tuesday, but nonetheless here we are in the Biden Rebuilding section. Here’s what little has happened:
- Filibuster Framework (Finally). The biggest piece of Biden news is that he said he would support an ‘exception’ to filibuster rules to pass legislative action on the right to reproductive services and voting rights. This wasn’t paired with any particular concrete action, mind you, but it nonetheless represents a small step forward.
Your New Normal:
- Contagion Corner. The big news on this front isn’t really news, because we already knew that the current dominant omicron substrains sucks monkeypox. But nonetheless, FDA officials recommended omicron-specific boosters for the fall, though we likely won’t see them before October or so. Meanwhile, since monkeypox remains a thing in the U.S., we’re expanding vaccine campaigns on that too.
- SCOTUS Misery Season Finale. The current SCOTUS season wound down on Thursday, with a few parting shots and a retirement on its way to summer recess. We finally got a holding on West Virginia v EPA, and many people more expert than I have already written about the impact it will have on our climate change efforts (hint: not a good one). That said, though the decision was wildly ill-advised given the critical timing of climate change response, the holding itself was narrower than expected and stopped short of blowing up all administrative law norms, at least for now. There were also a handful of other noteworthy cases: 1) OK v. Castro-Huerta, which limited the scope of a landmark 2020 tribal rights case to say that Oklahoma can still prosecute non-native people who commit crimes on tribal land–a scary decision when the state also just lined up 25 executions; 2) Biden v. Texas, a 5-4 decision that somehow beyond all odds granted Biden the right to end the practice of expelling asylum seekers to Mexico while they awaiting case decisions; and 3) Ardoin v Robinson, a decision that permits Louisiana to use its heavily gerrymandered GOP map for districting–and leaves many advocates extremely worried about the broader redistricting and election law case that SCOTUS plans to hear in the fall. Justice Jackson, who was sworn in on Thursday as the nation’s first Black female SCOTUS justice, has inherited quite a mess from her successor.
The Bad:
- Black Lives Still Matter. Though there’s not much ongoing coverage as I type this, unrest remains high in Akron after local police released bodycam footage on Sunday regarding a shooting from earlier in the week. The footage confirms that their department shot Jayland Walker over 60 times, despite his lack of a weapon, as he fled a traffic stop on foot. The mayor declared a city-wide curfew yesterday, and it’s looking like this might turn into another ongoing battle for basic police accountability.
- Fourth of July Mass Shootings. A lot of media attention has understandably been given to a mass shooting at a parade in Highland Park yesterday, which killed seven people and injured dozens. That said, that event was apparently the largest of several different shooting incidents on Independence Day, which happened all across the country and resulted in at least twenty fatalities. Frankly, I don’t think I could come up with a more apt metaphor for this terrifying moment in American history if I were trying.
The Good:
- Recent Reproductive Resilience. As the fight for reproductive justice continues, we’ve seen progress in several unlikely places. Texas, Florida, and Kentucky all managed to block implementation of new restrictions for several days this week, though the states’ supreme courts have overturned lower court injunctions at the time that I type this. Meanwhile, New York began the process of putting a right to reproductive health in its constitution, though it was the first of many necessary steps. These state battles are likely to be ongoing for a long time as we figure out the best ways to codify new systems and create new protections.
So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this cane carino and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!
National News Roundup 