Much like last cycle, this news cycle is marked by a great number of significant court cases. Thankfully, fewer of them involve day-glo despots this time – but there’s still a lot to know.
Standard standing reminders still apply: we may be into my eighth year of journalism, 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 SCOTUS case!–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:
After a brief moment of schadenfreude, we’re back to your regularly-scheduled horrorshow in the Election Et Cetera section. Here’s what has happened since last time:
- Using His Johnson. Unsurprisingly, given the past cycle’s conviction, Trump was in the news this cycle for telling Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to fix his conviction. In apparent deference to the demand, Johnson announced “a three-prong approach” to tanking the justice system. As a first step, the House held Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt by a narrow vote because he refused to turn over tapes of Biden’s special counsel interview. (For those of you playing the home game, I’ll remind you that Trump currently has a live SCOTUS case where he’s arguing that he has full immunity from criminal prosecution because he’s a former President, despite pressuring Merrick to ignore his literal job requirement to respect Presidential privilege once it’s invoked by the current President.) And in the return summer hit nobody one asked for, Trump once again signaled that he plans to jail political opponents upon return to the White House.
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Dales stories were more international. Here’s what I have for you:
- The Rest of the Capitol News. Probably the biggest federal news this week is that the U.N Security Council passed a U.S.-drafted ceasefire resolution, which the U.S. says Israel authorizes. The news comes as Netanyahu’s cabinet member and political rival Benny Ganz resigns from both the cabinet and his coalition in protest of how Netanyahu is handling the war efforts. In more domestic news, Hunter Biden was also found guilty of gun-related federal charges this cycle, and the ACLU is suing the Biden administration over its new (and probably illegal) asylum restrictions.
Your New Normal:
- Health News Mini-Roundup. This cycle was a bit of a mixed bag for health news. The Southern Baptist convention announced this cycle that they want us all to be pro-life, but not like that, as they formally opposed in-vitro fertilization. In said announcement, they recommended that infertile people in their church should adopt frozen embryos instead of using it. (Folks, I seriously cannot make this stuff up.) The Senate GOP apparently agreed, as they tanked a bill protecting IVF, and the House similarly tanked a federal bill that would protect access to contraceptives. Meanwhile, the FDA reversed its 2022 ban on Juul products, which it wasn’t enforcing anyway. And health advisories are being issued in many places as most of the U.S. fields a dangerous heat wave this week and next.
The Bad:
- SCOTUS Scandals. Since we’re experiencing the fresh hell that is the end of this this Supreme Court session, I have some updates for you on that front. The mifepristone case went surprisingly well, so it will be covered below – but the bump stock gun law case decision came out on Friday, and it went as poorly as expected. (Since this case was one of the cases undercutting administrative agencies, it’s not a great sign for what’s to come.) And just like last cycle, we have even more scandals from the justices writing these opinions. This time, it was Thomas having more of his nazi buddy boat trips, some of which were as recent as 2021. Meanwhile, Alito unknowingly recorded hot takes on returning America to “godliness” and bashed ProPublica for writing more about Thomas’s special bond with Harlan Crow.
The Good:
- Recent Court Resilience. We had two positive health cases come out this cycle. In Florida, a federal judge struck down DeSantis’s ban on gender affirming care, and similarly tossed a provision that required adults to be treated by a physician. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court unanimously tossed out a case that challenged the FDA’s rules on medication abortion, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case in the first place. Because this was a procedural decision, the court didn’t actually touch the substantive issue of the case, and we could see a reprise of this type of lawsuit next term. But the majority opinion also included some encouraging dicta – particularly Kavanaugh’s comment that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.” For now, we’ll take it.
So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this successful doggo rehab and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time 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 a better heat tolerance!
National News Roundup 