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Year 9, Weeks 8-9 (March 9-22)

March 25, 2025April 29, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I won’t lie, I was tempted to just use last cycle’s intro again this time–but if I said “This news cycle, ho boy” every time it was true, I would never write a new intro ever again. Suffice to say, this cycle is not better than the last.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth 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 Tesla salesperson!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law 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!

Spills in Aisle 47:

I continue to struggle with how to even divide things up into buckets, because it all feels like one fetid mass of Authoritarian Actions. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket (Again, Still). This past cycle was somehow even worse than the previous one for dismantling necessary agencies. Though a judge has ruled that DOGE has to stop dismantling USAID, international health work is still paused at best and programs like PEPFAR remain completely nonfunctional. DOGE is now tinkering with the Social Security Administration, and is requiring all recipients to show up to agency offices for services instead of just calling in. (I once spent six straight hours waiting with a client to be seen at an SSA office, and can personally confirm that they are a tenth circle of hell.) That said, DOGE was blocked by a court from slurping up the agency’s tasty, tasty data–which made the acting SSA head promptly throw a temper tantrum and threatened to shut down the agency. In related civil servant news, recent court filings suggest that about 25,000 federal probationary workers who were previously fired have been rehired due to court orders, including many workers at the FDA and NIH–but upon rehiring, these workers were promptly put on administrative leave. Researchers and news outlets alike are also reporting that hundreds of research grants relating to LGBTQI+ health are being terminated by the administration, compounded by chaos at NIH in general. Termination letters frequently insulted the grantees while they were at it, stating that grant awards “do not . . . benefit the American people” or are “unscientific.” At the end of last week, Trump also released an executive order to illegally dismantle the Department of Education (which is extra confusing because the agency is simultaneously haranguing a bunch of colleges for being too inclusive). Similarly, news is trickling in that the administration is considering eliminating or significantly curtailing the HIV Division of the CDC, which will result in massive staff and service losses. AIDS United is coordinating action for public citizens to respond.
News Outlet, Who Dis? From the department of “I cannot believe I am not making this up,” the Trump administration was in the news today because an editor of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, says he was texted their war plans by mistake. Unsurprisingly, said editor made a lot of information public (though thankfully he stopped short of anything truly sensitive). In a characteristic response, the current administration simultaneously confirmed the story and claimed Goldberg was a dirty liar–I guess they should have coordinated their responses on Signal. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton, of But Her Emails Fame, retweeted the story with a justifiable “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Since this administration doesn’t (yet) work in a vacuum, no matter how much they clearly want to, there are some Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget Blues Finale. Over the last cycle, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will fund the government for another six months, largely due to Schumer’s willingness to play ball with an unrepentant GOP. The continuing resolution does keep the lights on, but it also creates massive opportunities for the administration to cut fundamental services. The cooperation has Democrats in both the progressive wing and the centrist wing rightfully pissed at the Senate minority leader, and the party’s favorability with its base has dropped to a record new low.

The Latest Spring Fashy:

Inhumane Immigration Actions. By now, I hope it wasn’t in doubt for anybody that this administration considers immigrants Target No. 1, but the last few weeks certainly dispelled any lingering question. We increasingly saw stories in the news about ordinary and lawfully-present people being detained and/or removed, such as several different college students, a kidney transplant surgeon, an electrical engineer, a graphic artist, and even the ambassador of South Africa (though in that last case, he was told he had to leave rather than detained). While some of the college students organized or participated in protests on campuses (which, I should note, is not supposed to be illegal), some of those detained simply said things on social media or were just trying to reenter the country. These details are important, because they serve to contextualize the 137 Venezuelan people that the administration deported to an El Salvadoran prison without any due process, despite a court order to return and justified using an 18th century wartime law (when we’re not at war with Venezuela). The administration is still refusing to cooperate with the court order or discovery as I type this, and has already signaled that they won’t meet a court deadline that was set for tomorrow because, to roughly translate the brief I’ve linked, Trump can do whatever the hell he wants and the courts aren’t his real law dad.
You’re Not My Real Law Dad. Though I’ve touched on several of the recent injunctions in other stories, I think it’s important to address the end of the last story directly–we’ve had a massive amount of back-and-forth between Trump and the courts in the last few weeks. (If you are justifiably having difficulty keeping track of all the 100+ lawsuits that have been filed, by the way, I recommend Just Security’s litigation tracker.) The administration does seem to accept or at least begrudgingly partially comply with some court orders, but stories of ignoring or attempting to circumvent orders are becoming distressingly common–we particularly see the administration do this with immigration lawsuits and health-related lawsuits, especially if they involve trans healthcare. And in some instances where the administration doesn’t like the ruling, such as the case described above, Trump has started calling for judges to be impeached. Roberts ended up issuing a statement this week telling Trump to knock it off, but since he doesn’t really get to decide when officials are impeached, we probably haven’t heard the end of this.

Silver Linings:

Recent Economic Resilience. Given everything above, I will say I personally find it edifying to report that Tesla’s sales have tanked in the past few weeks, with many people boycotting and protests in 28 states (and some folks going so far as to vandalize Tesla vehicles). Trump was reduced to showcasing cars on the White House front lawn, sitting inside one and saying he plans to buy it. This is, of course, incredibly corrupt and probably a violation of ethics rules. But also, it technically makes Trump a used car salesman, a fact that I all think we should all be repeating as often as possible.

So that’s what I have for you, and it was definitely more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this happy little dog and a less corrupt government. I’ll be back next time with more 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 coffee because we’re running out!

Year 9, Weeks 5-7 (February 16–March 8)

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This news cycle, ho boy. Every advocate I know, including me, needs to nap for about a week–and we haven’t even hit 60 days yet. I’ve done my best to pare down the last few weeks into a manageable amount of material, but the news is still a drink from a filthy firehose. I guess this is our new normal, but this normal is defective; I wish we could all send it back for a refund.

Standard and new reminders apply: we may be starting my ninth 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 government agency!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. We’re still playing around with formatting and frequency as I navigate two healing ribs and all of the everything. And, of course, for the law 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!

Spills in Aisle 47:

It still isn’t fully clear how all the different heads of this hydra are working together, though they all seem dedicated to blowing things up as much as possible. That said, after seven weeks, some trends are starting to emerge. DOGE gets to be the HR financiers from hell, while 47 and the MAGA crew do all the things that make the rest of the world hate us. Vance does… insulting Republicans, I guess? Meanwhile, anything that sounds both competent and evil probably came from Vought and the Project 2025 team. With all of that in mind, we’re just going to summarize the whole gestapo gestalt as Authoritarian Actions for now. Here are the main lowlights from the last few weeks to know:

To Hell in a ‘Waste’ Basket. DOGE has continued to force its way into accessing several sensitive governmental systems over the past few weeks, such as the federal child support database and IRS taxpayer databases. It has also continued to cut a swath through a bajillion government programs, using claims of ‘fraud’ and ‘waste’ to fire thousands of necessary personnel–then, in several cases, being forced to rehire them. All told, the department has fired something like 62,000 workers, including 6,000 IRS jobs in the middle of tax season. They’re still planning many more cuts, and also harassing the workers who are still there by demanding weekly emails that justify their work. Half of the time, these hatchet jobs aren’t even saving money, which is the supposed point of all of this, and it’s contributing to a messed-up business sector–but more about that below.
From the Department of Health and Human Sacrifices. There has also been a slew of bad health news, particularly since RFK Jr took over DHHS. The administration initially planned to shut down a free COVID test program, and it also canceled an annual flu advisory meeting used to select the flu strain in the annual flu shot. We also had our first measles death in ten years, in part because the administration isn’t handling the crisis in Texas appropriately. Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health is not properly processing its research grant applications, which may have very long-lasting implications on health research, and a lot of existing grant funding is still being cut despite a court order to resume payments. The administration is similarly cutting funding to a lot of higher ed institutions that do health research, among other things, which is already resulting in smaller research programs and hiring freezes. And all of this is, of course, on top of firing a bunch of health agency staff (some of whom had to be rehired). Just today, we also learned that SCOTUS will hear a conversion therapy ban case this season, which in the current atmosphere is frankly terrifying.

Since this administration doesn’t (yet) work in a vacuum, no matter how much they clearly want to, there are some Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Budget Blues. Congress has been negotiating to keep the lights on again, since the current federal funding will run out on March 14, and it’s looking likely that they’ll pass a continuing resolution that will fund day-to-day spending until September. They’re also beginning votes on reconciliation for long-term budgeting, with pretty scary results. (We don’t have all the bill language yet, but it’s pretty much not possible to make the types of budget cuts they are signaling without dramatically cutting Medicaid, and it wouldn’t be great for DC either).
SCOTUS-POTUS. Even without the conversion therapy cert that was granted earlier today, SCOTUS has had a busy few weeks. They did ultimately issue an opinion saying that Trump has to follow court orders when they are issued–and I still can’t believe that sentence is actual news–but the court waited until the order in question was moot to say so. They also issued an opinion basically saying that the Clean Water Act really doesn’t require clean water, actually (although Comey Barrett did side with the liberals and dissent on that one). So, you know, great few weeks for the highest court in the land.

The Latest Fashy:

Ukraine Drain.* One foreign affairs trend we’ve been seeing a lot is fascist expansionism, and it has been a truly wild few weeks to track our relations with Ukraine. I think it’s fair to say the Trump administration has antagonized President Zelenskyy all over the place, from demanding U.S. mineral rights on Ukrainian soil to withholding funding to questioning Zelenskyy’s dress code and blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion. Pretty much the only good thing I can say about the situation is that this spurred Europe to support Ukraine more, because our country clearly isn’t going to.
Tariff A New One.* Trump has also been busy getting into tariff standoffs with our neighboring countries and China over the past few weeks, more-or-less acknowledging that this may cause a recession but not caring because, I don’t know, reasons. Unsurprisingly, this has Wall Street freaking out, with many stocks dropping especially over the last few days. He also established a ‘strategic Bitcoin reserve’ this week that will be overseen by a Crypto and AI Czar, and how is this real life.

Silver Linings:

Recent Legal Resilience. We have at least had several different court case wins this cycle, with a lot of courts ordering the Trump administration to do or stop doing various things. A suit was also brought on Friday to reverse the firing of government workers, and I really want to see where that one goes. Meanwhile, Dems in the Senate managed to kill a federal trans sports ban bill. It’s particularly encouraging to see Democrats successfully mobilize on something, given how the last few weeks have gone.

So that’s what I have for you, and it was definitely more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this curious kitten and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more 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!

Year 9, Rest of Month 1 (January 27-February 15)

February 18, 2025February 18, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Hello, and welcome to my latest NNR/health compromise! Many folks reading this likely already know that I slipped on some black ice and broke two ribs earlier this week (and yes, it’s about as fun as it sounds). But way, way too much is going on for me to do nothing. Thus I present: The Year 9, Month 1 lightning round!

There are a lot of developing stories to keep track of right now, and many of them have common themes. We’re going to spend a few minutes on each story I’m tracking–mostly involving health, civil rights, and dismantling of government–so that it’s easier to see the overall picture. It’s an experiment, so please let me know if it’s useful!

Tracking Threads:

DOGEshift. Over the past few weeks, Elon Musk and his juvenile cronies have been sticking their noses into many, many spaces where their noses do not legally belong and spreading germs all over the government. At first, there were a lot of stories about them seizing assets from and/or access to financial and HR systems within our government–which then led to offering staff buy-outs and straight-up firing thousands of people across numerous agencies. Of note, they’ve basically shut down the CFPB, a semi-independent consumer finance bureau which would be in charge of monitoring all of this. They have also cut massive swaths out of the functionality of many necessary federal agencies, such as billions in NIH research funding, countless Department of Education contracts, and basically all of USAID. (They’re similarly expected to turn their eyes to the IRS in the coming week). By now, Musk is now being pretty upfront about wanting to “delete” whole agencies, and an EO issued this past week instructs all agencies to let Musk gut them–among other things, it requires each agency to “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.” Many of the targeted cuts personally benefit Musk in one way or another, and the administration has also fired top officials in several different government watchdog groups. Needless to say, none of this is legal at all, but this administration appears to ignore temporary restraining orders with some frequency, and not all judges are ruling on the side of law, so it’s unclear how effective legal challenges will be.
From the Department of Destroying Health. In addition to all of the Week 1 health garbage (which included funding freezes, communication freezes, the dismantling of foreign aid, and the scrubbing of federal data), Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services this past Thursday. Trump celebrated by issuing another batshit health EO which instructs a taskforce to “look into” the validity of children taking psych meds such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and stimulants. (I will share for free that this one really gets under my skin.) This EO joins an earlier EO that banned adolescent access to gender-affirming care (which is already paused by judicial order) as well as Musk’s actions to fire thousands at NIH and CDC.
Illegal International/Imprisonment Changes. In the immigration/criminal space, the administration has started moving immigration detainees to Guantanamo Bay and threatened to start holding U.S. prisoners in El Salvador. Conversely, several DOJ staff have resigned this week because they were told to drop corruption charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams due to, I dunno, vibes. (This comes on the tail end of firing a bunch of federal prosecutors because they worked on the January 6 case.) In other international news, Trump said he would “end” the war in Ukraine by negotiating with Putin, which apparently involved demanding half of Ukraine’s mineral rights. He also imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and additional tariffs on China. Finally, the administration is now using their renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as a litmus test for reporters, and is barring the Associated Press from White House access due to their refusal to use the made-up name.

So that’s the lightning news, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this science ferret and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time, hopefully with the full 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 speedy recovery time!

Year 9, Week 1 (January 21-26)

January 28, 2025January 28, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I’ve heard a lot of people describe the past week as an intentional shock doctrine campaign, and frankly, that’s a good framing for what just happened. We had such a barrage of the everything that I want to give people some grounding and context–while I definitely won’t be able to put out the NNR weekly, we’re doing back-to-back summaries for Week 1. Frankly, this week needs it.

Standard standing reminders still apply: we may be starting my ninth 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 federal employee!–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!

Spills in Aisle 47:

Things are chaotic and scary enough that for the foreseeable future, we’re going to give Presidential Project 2025 actions their own section. Expect this category to cover everything implementing Project 2025 from executive orders to memoranda to, y’know, general cheeto overflow.

From the Department of Destroying Health. Boy howdy, was this week a weird time to work in national healthcare. The administration ordered a communication freeze, which is just a fancy way of saying “you’re not allowed to talk to anybody about anything,” for the Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health through February 1. At NIH, reports began trickling in that this included NIH study sessions, which is how the NIH reviews grant applications, as well as advisory committees. People and outlets also described NIH conferences that ended mid-conference and restrictions on travel and hiring. Guidance was eventually issued that said that clinical trials could continue but the NIH still wasn’t allowed to talk about them, and people remained confused about their funding. Meanwhile, the CDC can’t issue health alerts, which is not great when we currently have an outbreak of bird flu in several states (side note–apparently it is killing bald eagles, which feels like quite an apt metaphor at the moment). The CDC was also directed today to stop working with the World Health Organization immediately, which precludes a controlled withdrawal and likely isn’t legal. The FDA has scrubbed lots of clinical data that relates to diversity in clinical trials as well, though we’ll talk more about that below. Trump rounded out the week by threatening to pull FEMA funding as a first step for destroying the agency, and he did indeed order on Friday that FEMA be “assessed”. Looking ahead, RFK’s hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and now is a great time to call your Senator to demand they quash his HHS nomination.
Immigration Roundups. A huge amount has happened on the immigration front, which isn’t surprising when it was such a flagship issue for 47 but is still plenty disturbing. Trump did indeed issue an executive order that illegally revoked birthright citizenship, which he then argued in court applied to Indigenous peoples–and reports began trickling in of Navajo Nation citizens being detained by ICE. In apparent response on Tuesday, Bishop Mariann Budde gave an inaugural service sermon to Trump urging him not to be horrible to immigrants, which naturally was so offensive that Trump questioned her credentials and demanded an apology. This served to set something of a tone for the rest of the week, as for an encore he canceled entrance for thousands of approved refugees–which, for those of you playing the home game, definitionally involves people who are legally entering the United States due to credible risk of torture or death if they stay where they are. This was followed by revoking the Sensitive Location doctrine, which is a rule from 2011 stating that ICE can’t invade churches and schools, and this is already leading to massive raids. And just today he instated abhorrent quotas requiring ICE to arrest a thousand immigrants per day–a massive increase, as ICE detained 11,000 people total last year. When combined with a recent law by Congress that permits deportation due to arrest for crimes like minor theft, the capacity for abuse is massive. Now is a great time to donate to immigration advocacy groups, print red cards for community use, and share Know Your Rights documents generally.
License to Discriminate. By far, the executive documents I have spent the most quality time with this week are the orders, as foretold by prophecy, which suppress all federal DEI efforts and revoke recognition of transgender people existing. The anti-trans order features a lot of bizarro junk science and a reference to fetal personhood, but nonetheless has very real implications for trans and gender diverse people living in the United States. It’s particularly dangerous for incarcerated trans people, but people are also already reporting their passport applications getting pulled if they requested an X marker or a gender marker change. Meanwhile, all DEI-related staff are being fired by January 31, equity-related data is getting scrubbed, and federal employees are being told to rat out their coworkers if they suspect them of engaging in DEI activities, lest employees face “adverse consequences” for failing to snitch. He also revoked sixty-year-old protections that prohibited discrimination in federal contracts, extending these rules to the private sector and higher education. Both of these orders, incidentally, are part of the Project 2025 agenda–so that’s fun. On a related note, the Justice Department has frozen civil rights work, which likely indicates less, shall we say, robust enforcement under the new regime. Now’s a great time to support trans resource groups.

The Latest Fashy:

Orange is the New Bleak. We also saw a bunch of stuff this week that is violent or advancing fascism but not, like, in a Project 2025 kind of way. I’m sure most folks have heard by now that Trump has pardoned all of the January 6 insurrectionists, some of whom were frankly very scary people. What’s less well-known is that he’s also now investigating the Jan 6 prosecutors–a move that’s particularly concerning when he also fired fifteen independent inspectors general in the middle of the night this week. It also comes at the same time that he is ending telework for federal employees, removing employee protections from firing, installing loyalty measures, and just generally made career federal employees’ lives miserable. We’ll want to keep an eye on all of these things, though I don’t have any immediate suggestions for action on them.

Silver Linings:

Recent Judicial Resilience. At least we’re already starting to see inroads through litigation – in one of the many lawsuits brought on the subject, a federal judge has already blocked the birthright citizenship order. (Said judge called it ‘blatantly unconstitutional,‘ which is absolutely correct, but it’s nice to see a Reagan-appointed judge willing to say it.) And just today, a group of Quakers brought a lawsuit challenging the removal of the sensitive locations doctrine. Hopefully an injunction will be granted in that case, as well. And finally, a trans woman in federal prison is suing the administration over the blatantly dangerous provisions of the anti-trans executive order. Newsweek, of all places, has a good summary of all the litigation popping up against Trump this week, and it’s worth taking a look.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds.
For making it through, you deserve these beach buddies and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more 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!

Year 9, Week 0 (January 20)

January 21, 2025January 28, 2025 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Hello again, folks–and welcome back to Some Sort of Version of the NNR. I won’t claim I’m back to full health, but we’re beginning another era of dark ages and I believe it’s very important for folks to stay informed. We have more of a pause point on Day 1 than I expected, but there is still a fair amount to go over, so we’re back today as (somewhat) planned, Expect the formatting and frequency to shift around a bit as I find a new rhythm that works while I’m healing, but rest assured, I’m here.

Standard standing reminders still apply: we may be starting my ninth 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 Nazi sympathizer!–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!

Spills in Aisle 47:

We’ve been prepping for Day 1 for some time, at least at my office, so it seems particularly important to report on what Day 1 (and immediate subsequent days) have and will bring.

Immediate Damage Report. The incoming administration has flagged that they were introducing as many as 200 executive orders on Day 1, though only a few had been signed as I started typing this on Monday evening–as a spectator sport in front of an arena full of people, which is definitely cool and normal. I think we can all agree we definitely needed Cool Ranch Mussolini’s first and clearly highest-priority executive order, which was mandating that flags have to fly at full-staff for the rest of today. But as the evening went on, he also:
- Officially repealed about 78 Biden EOs on a broad host of topics;
- Revoked migrants’ ability to schedule appointments for access at the border;
- Issued pardons for people convicted of January 6 insurrection;
- Removed us from the Paris Agreement;
- Paused the shut-down of TikTok;
- Removed us from the World Health Organization;
- Reinstated at-will firing of career civil servants; and
- Paved the way for tariffs further down the pike.
Policy Speedbumps Ahead. Though only a dozen or so were signed in front of a live studio audience, I do think we can expect a flurry of other actions in the next few days–I had to rewrite the paragraph above several times, as new EOs kept coming out every time I thought I was done. (On a related note, some of the things I’m about to type may already be EOs by the time you read this. Sorry about that–at some point the NNR did have to go out the door.) Other nice things slated to get the Trump Treatment: 1) Immigration, as the administration claims they will end birthright citizenship (spoiler: no they probably won’t); 2) Anti-discrimination measures, as he has claimed he will suppress all federal DEI efforts and revoke recognition of transgender people existing (which has its own host of disturbing health implications); and 3) Clean energy, as he plans to declare an energy emergency in order to facilitate drilling in Alaska. I expect we’ll get a lot more news on this as the week goes on, and I’ll try to circle back with an update and next steps sometime soon.

The Latest Fashy:

Elon Musk had his activist bird moment at today’s inauguration when he repeatedly made a gesture that mainstream news outlets are carefully not calling a Nazi salute, even though it was definitely, unquestionably a Nazi salute. It’s honestly not that shocking that Musk did this on several different levels, how people respond is definitely more noteworthy. It’s particularly worth watching news outlets, given how much the Cheeto tried to suppress free speech during his first Presidency.

Silver Linings:

Stirrings of Lawsuits. The new administration may not have hit the ground running, but its opposition certainly did. Three different groups are already suing the Department of Government Efficiency for being, y’know, extra-governmental. It will be interesting to see what happens with this, and frankly it’s a decent test balloon since it doesn’t have anyone’s personal liberty or safety riding on it.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this signing Corgi and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more 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 suggestions for the new format!

Year 8, Weeks 29-31 (August 4-24)

August 27, 2024 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Folks, thank you for your patience while I juggle being lifed in the face – we’re going with a sort of roundup lite this week, because I don’t want to delay indefinitely but nor am I up to full speed. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about the abbreviated stories in this roundup! It’s my hope that I’ll be able to keep more balls in the air moving forward by the next cycle; in the meantime, the news sure does just keep going.

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 convention!–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:

By far, the biggest news stories this cycle are in the Election Et Cetera section. Here are the main highlights (and lowlights) to know:

Election O-Rama. The Democratic National Convention was held last week, and featured a broad array of speakers and shakers – in addition to the actual candidates and many currently-serving officials, everyone from the Obamas to Lil Jon got a turn at the podium. The convention seemed to energize Harris’s base, and Harris did share some campaign priorities, though we didn’t learn as much about planned policy as I might have hoped. In the convention aftermath, there are some rumblings that Trump may be pulling out of the scheduled September 10 debate – apparently because Harris doesn’t want the muted mikes that were used in the first debate back in June. And speaking of Trump and pulling out (ew), Robert F. Kennedy finally pulled out of the election and endorsed Trump in exchange for a likely cabinet position. (Apparently Kennedy approached the Harris camp first, but they didn’t want anything to do with him.) Trump’s campaign also sprung a leak, though no outlets published any of its contents.

Meanwhile, we did have a few Capitol Hill Dales stories too. Here’s what I have for you:

Capitol Potpourri. Though most eyes are on elections, we did have a few other stories from Capitol Hill. The House report on Biden’s impeachment was released this cycle, and features about as much specific content as you might expect. Meanwhile, special counsel on the Trump classified document case has appealed the case’s dismissal with the 11th Circuit.

Your Regularly-Scheduled “Normal”:

Contagion Corner. As you may already be aware, we are currently experiencing another COVID spike–apparently, the largest summer surge we’ve seen yet, though it still isn’t as bad as a winter wave. Against this backdrop, the FDA has approved new vaccines targeting the latest variants, which will be made available in the very near future. If you haven’t had COVID in the last few months, now is a great time to get a booster!

The Bad:

FTC Enjoined from Noncompete Ban. The Federal Trade Commission decision that banned noncompete clauses was enjoined by a federal judge in Texas this cycle. The rule was scheduled to go into effect next month, and it is likely that the FTC will appeal the decision.

The Good:

Recent Health Resilience. A new form of cervical cancer screening was announced this cycle, and it’s supposed to be less painful than the traditional PAP smear. I don’t believe the tests are available just yet, but it’s good news on the horizon for people who have a cervix!

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are still no news refunds.
For making it through, you deserve this grooving owl and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with more 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 fewer life items in my face!

Year 8, Weeks 25-26 (July 7-20)

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Rumors of a return to the traditional NNR format this month were apparently greatly exaggerated, because everything stayed way too off-the-wall to summarize normally. This has been a fast-paced and impressively rough news cycle for national news, but I’m feeling a bit more centered and a bit less dire as I type this. How is everyone else doing?

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 an electoral candidate!–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 continued to have a wild ride in the Election Et Cetera section this cycle for both electoral camps. Here’s what has happened since last time:

Attempted Assassination and the Real Nasty Convention. It’s hard to believe this was the same cycle, so you would be forgiven for thinking this was old news – but as I’m sure most folks already know, a shooter opened fire at Donald Trump at a political rally in Butler, PA last Saturday. The shooter was killed on the scene. While 45 sustained a minor ear injury but was otherwise unharmed, one bystander was fatally shot while protecting others and two more were seriously injured. For much of the past week, we’ve had more questions than answers about exactly how and why this happened – particularly as the shooter was a registered Republican and his rooftop was a known security risk. But whatever the motives, it’s clear that it turbo-boosted Trump’s campaign, as he didn’t hesitate to play the martyr before adoring fans at the Republican National Convention later that week. (Fun fact: His 90-minute acceptance speech beats his own previous records as the longest in history.) While he was there, he also picked Ohio nightmare J. D. Vance as his running mate–presumably because he is young, rich, and controllable. All told, the RNC was probably riding pretty high as the convention concluded on Saturday. It’s truly so tragic that they got to scramble with the rest of us a day later.

Done Biden His Time. You may remember that last cycle, House Democrats increasingly began calling for Biden to step aside almost immediately – a call that grew more and more as the weeks went on. As if to punctuate this point, Biden then got COVID at the top of this news cycle, forcing him to stop campaign travel while Trump rode the martyr wave to his RNC nomination. Despite all of this, it really felt like Biden would never actually conclude his campaign – he had been refusing loudly and often for weeks at that point. So I think it’s fair to say that most of us were pretty stunned when Biden announced that he was ending his Presidential campaign yesterday afternoon. At that point, it looked like a deeply fractured Democratic party was going to have a free-for-all for the next month – outlets were speculating wildly about who might speed run in the ensuing void. But somehow, miraculously, that didn’t happen – and didn’t happen so thoroughly, in fact, that one wonders if all of this had been pre-planned. Biden was quick to endorse Vice President Harris on the heels of his announcement, and in the past twenty-four hours or so, nearly the entire Democratic party has followed suit. At the time that I type this, every single other viable candidate–as well as more than enough electoral delegates–have already rallied behind her, and Uncle Dem has raised an incredible $81M with her overnight. While technically anything could happen, it’s pretty clear that Harris is inheriting Biden’s whole electoral apparatus ahead of the virtual roll call that will likely be her next step for nomination.

Your Regularly-Scheduled “Normal”:

Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How Was The News? We did have other things happen over the past two weeks, though much of the news has been obviated by Biden’s surprise news yesterday. There were some rumblings in the House about impeachment of Justices Thomas and Alito, which also led to some stories about Biden considering SCOTUS reform. As if proving the overall point, around the same time Aileen Cannon finally fully dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, claiming that there was an issue with the special counsel’s appointment. (Unsurprisingly, said special counsel is appealing.) There was also a massive global IT outage on Friday that airlines are still reeling from as I type this. And as Biden’s diagnosis would suggest, we’re also in the middle of another COVID wave.

Looking Ahead:

So What Happens Next? Obviously, this is a very unsettling time for much of the country, and a lot of folks I know were pretty shaken by the news this cycle. Against that backdrop, I think it’s helpful to talk a bit more about what we can expect from here, and what next steps make sense. As I mentioned above, I think it’s fair at this point to say that Harris is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party–although that won’t be finalized until after a virtual roll call and/or the Democratic National Convention itself, which will likely both be in August. The GOP is threatening to challenge a Harris ticket as illegal, but that has no real basis in legal reality and most state judges still know it. They’re also already calling for Biden to step down, claiming that if he can’t run he also can’t be President–but I think we’re unlikely to see real traction on that under these circumstances either. Nonetheless, the mere idea of a three-month Presidential campaign is wild, to put it politely, and we’re far from out of the woods on all the procedural and legal uncertainties; it will be deeply important to coalition-build and remain coordinated and cooperative. (As I mentioned yesterday, now is also a good time to be supportive of the people around you who are retraumatized and anxious in the face of all of this.) That said, the fact that the Democratic Party has stopped eating itself long enough to near-unilaterally endorse Harris, as well as the huge amounts she’s already fundraised, are signs I consider deeply encouraging. It’s possible that we do have the tools we need to successfully pivot here.

So that’s what I have for you, and I think we can agree that it was more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this Dumpling romp 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 more hours in the day!

Year 8, Weeks 22-24 (June 16 – July 6)

July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Folks, I won’t sugarcoat it: This is a deeply disturbing time to work in public policy. However, since I do in fact work in public policy, I want to spend this cycle giving more details and context for the many policy twists and turns of the last few weeks. We’ll return to our traditional format later this month. In the meantime, if you have questions about the material I’m covering today, or news in general, my ask box remains open.

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:

Things took a wild turn in the Election Et Cetera section this cycle, as Biden’s abysmal debate performance basically threw the party into disarray and Trump’s immunity case caused chaos as well. Here’s some explanation of those two fronts:

The Post-Debate Debate. Things were pretty calm ahead of Biden and Trump’s first debate reprisal–or at least, as calm as this election cycle ever gets. During the debate itself, Trump lied like usual, perpetuating the party’s false claims that Democrats kill live babies and claiming that Nancy Pelosi refused protection on January 6. But many outlets were more focused on President Biden’s presentation during the debate, where he came across as discombobulated and enfeebled. Though Biden’s fundraising campaign went into overdrive, several House Democrats began calling for him to step aside almost immediately – and those numbers kept growing. This in turn prompted a flurry of scrutiny and speculation that continues as I type this, particularly as Biden made it clear that he has no plans to conclude his campaign. These stark divides within the Democratic party are deeply concerning, particularly given the threat presented by a second Trump presidency backed by Project 2025. Suffice to say, the Democratic party needs to get on the same page as quickly as possible.

Immutable Presidential Immunity. Most folks reading this have probably heard by now that the Supreme Court issued a decision regarding Trump’s claim to Presidential immunity last week, and it… wasn’t great. It may be less clear, however, what exactly the ruling means, and how it will impact the election and landscape moving forward. The holding was not comprehensive, but the court did find that Trump has absolute immunity for “core” powers of the office, meaning that he can’t be prosecuted for things he does that are firmly within the constitutional purview of the Presidency to do (such as, for example, pardoning people and commanding the army). The court also found that a former President has presumptive immunity for all ‘official’ acts, but that “there is no immunity for unofficial acts.” The court then sent the whole thing back down so that someone could decide what on January 6 was an “official” act and what was “unofficial” (and thus could be prosecuted). President Biden issued remarks (cogently, I might add) almost immediately, noting that Trump will be “emboldened” by the decision and that the decision undermines the rule of law. He also reiterated the dissenting justices’ point that this ruling encourages an imperial Presidency with dangerously few checks and balances, and correctly observed that this decision virtually guarantees no consequences for January 6 before the election. For his part, Trump immediately celebrated his “BIG WIN” and set out to prove Biden correct. He got the hush money sentencing postponed by arguing that he now has Presidential immunity after the Supreme Court decision–despite the hush money conviction centering on events that happened before he was even President. He also successfully delayed the classified documents case on the same basis, though that case had already slowed to a snail’s pace thanks to the judge presiding over it. As I write this, Senate Democrats are considering legislation that will officially classify his January 6 actions as “unofficial actions” in an effort to get the insurrection case back on track, but it’s unclear whether that will go anywhere ahead of the election.

Unpacking the SCOTUS Barrage:

Unabashed Administrative Agency Attacks. These cases are the biggest deal that you may or may not have heard about. I urge everyone reading this to think of Loper Bright (and to a lesser extent, Corner Post and SEC v. Jarkesy) as occupying the same role that the Dobbs decision played regarding abortion in 2022 and Students for Fair Admissions played vis-à-vis affirmative action in 2023 – the Supreme Court undid a long-standing and extremely established doctrine yet again with these cases. The Chevron doctrine, in essence, required courts to give deference to administrative agencies regarding those agencies’ interpretation of laws that they have to enforce. The general logic is that these agencies have strong expertise in their areas of practice; expertise that, as Justice Kagan notes in her dissent, courts don’t necessarily have. Now that Chevron is repealed, courts… don’t have to do that, and can just reject agency judgment and substitute their own. In Corner Post, the court compounded this mess by expanding authority to sue federal regulators for decisions they make. In SEC v. Jarkesy, the court removed the SEC’s authority to hold tribunals in many financial fraud proceedings. The dissenting justices in these three cases are absolutely right that these decisions will have all kinds of implications for federal regulations, and the decisions benefit large corporations that don’t want to be regulated much more than anyone else. Expect all kinds of messes as conservatives and corporations all test the boundaries of their newfound lack of accountability. The Washington Post has put together a handy-dandy list of likely train wrecks, but it’s by no means exhaustive.
Abortion Case Aborted. Though it didn’t receive as much bruhaha as the immunity case or Chevron mess (for understandable reason), the emergency medical care abortion case had implications for our ongoing reproductive health battles and I want to cover it as well. This case started out with an accidental (perhaps “accidental?”) leaked opinion, much like happened with the Dobbs decision two years ago. A few days later, this was followed with an actual opinion along the same lines that simply dismissed the whole thing. (You may recall that something similar happened with the mifepristone case only a week or two before this.) What this means as a practical matter is that Idaho again has to pause its abortion restriction law while the whole thing goes through the ordinary avenues of the lower courts–essentially, SCOTUS punted this question, which in this case is probably a good thing. As a result, the question of whether federal emergency treatment laws preempt state laws that prohibit life-saving abortions is still a live issue, and we will likely see it come up again.
Other Cases to Know. The Supreme Court also issued a potpourri of (mostly garbage) cases over the last few weeks that may be falling through the cracks right now, simply because there was such a Gish gallop of awful going on. Among the other cases to note: 1) Snyder v. U.S., which held that bribery is cool as long as the payment comes after the corrupt act; 2) the Grants Pass case, which held that criminalizing homelessness is not cruel or unusual punishment; 3) the Harrington case, which voided a massive Purdue opioid settlement and bankruptcy plan; and 4) Murthy v. Missouri, which held that conservative rando conspiracy theorists did not have the standing to sue Biden over content moderation policies.

Looking Ahead:

Coming Down the Pike. I also want to draw attention to a few cases that SCOTUS agreed to hear next session that I think might be impacted by the stuff I wrote about above. SCOTUS plans to hear the Tennessee ban on gender affirming care for minors gender affirming care in the fall, which is an Equal Protection case but may be impacted by some of the Chevron mess (because the court may opine on definitions of ‘sex discrimination’ that are rooted in law and regulation). I also think the Chevron repeal, in conjunction with the SEC case, may impact the FDA e-cigarette decision case they agreed to hear – though I do have colleagues who disagree with me on that one, because the 2008 Tobacco Control Act provides explicit authority to the FDA. (Frankly, I just don’t think we can trust this court to stay on the rails for basically anything.) Obviously, the Corner Post case paves the way for all kinds of frivolous forced birth lawsuits – we might see something work its way up to SCOTUS extra quickly, the way we saw with Idaho v. United States and EMTALA preemption this year. And of course, though I can’t predict what exactly Trump is likely to wave under their noses between now and January 1, I wouldn’t bet against him filing something regarding one of his billion cases.

So that’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds even when we’re doing election and SCOTUS deep dives. For making it through, you deserve this duck grooming video and a more functional government. I’ll be back next time with your regular news structure, 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 Supreme Court!

Year 8, Weeks 20-21 (June 2-15)

June 18, 2024 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

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!

Year 8, Weeks 18-19 (May 19 – June 1)

June 4, 2024 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Friends, I’m sure most of you have probably already heard the biggest story of this cycle by now – but we can go through all of it again anyway. Have a little schadenfreude, as a treat.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be starting 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 criminal trial!–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 do have both Trump Court Cases and Trump’s Horrifying Stumping stories in the Election Et Cetera column this cycle, though of course his conviction looms the largest. Here’s what has happened since last time:

All 34 Counts. Trump was already having something of an eventful cycle by the time last Thursday rolled around, between his pet judge refusing to issue a gag order in the Florida case and getting booed out of a libertarian convention. But things took a sharp turn on Thursday, when the New York criminal trial ended with the jury finding him guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying records. Trump celebrated being the first convicted former President in U.S. history by holding some impressively disturbing press conferences and then fundraising off of the verdict. (Though in fairness to the cheeto, the Biden administration did stage a press conference at the courthouse, so his claims that Biden is behind the verdict are slightly less deranged than they might be otherwise.) The Internet, naturally, celebrated by having an entire field day. When the dust settles, Trump will almost certainly appeal, and when his sentence comes down, he’s also extremely unlikely to face jail time. That said, the sentence date is four days before the Republican National Convention, so have fun with that GOP.

In contrast, the Capitol Hill Dales stories were relatively minor. Here’s what I have for you:

The Rest of the Capitol Hill News. Of course nothing feels quite as dramatic as the above, but things do continue onward on Capitol Hill. In the least stunning political announcement of 2024, Joe Manchin announced that he’s not a Democrat (but like, for really real from now on). Joe Biden continues to walk a fine line with the war in Gaza, proposing a ceasefire which has Israeli popular support after an airstrike on Rafah killed two dozen people last weekend. And in other Biden news, Hunter Biden’s gun trial will begin tomorrow, as a jury was empaneled today.

Your New Normal:

My Wife Likes Flags. This cycle saw yet another Supreme Court ethics scandal, this time centering around Justice Alito flying not one, but two different insurrectionist flags on his properties over multiple years. Alito then refused to recuse himself from the Jan 6 cases currently before SCOTUS, responding to Democrats’ demands with an obnoxious letter that basically boiled down to “My wife likes flags, and anyway you can’t make me.” (Ethics experts had some good commentary on the letter; on X, a New York University Law professor rightfully describes said letter as “trolling us.”) Then Chief Justice Roberts, not to be outdone, refused to meet with Democrats about the very real ethics problems he has with several justices on his bench. Folks, I don’t think most outlets reporting on this are really capturing just how bad it is, so I want to take a few minutes to unpack it. Alito himself mentions in his letter that the standard here is whether impartiality might be reasonably questioned. This is because modern judicial conduct codes are designed to capture even activity that gives off an appearance of impropriety, whether or not impropriety is actually occurring. In other words, the point isn’t whether he has an opinion about insurrection (although yeah, he probably does support it), because it’s a problem if anyone even thinks he has an opinion about insurrection. And Alito is out here arguing that yeah, he was pulled over with an open handle of vodka sitting next to him in the cup holder, and yeah, he was captured on camera going 80 down the highway, but it was his wife’s cupholder, and she has the right to drink vodka while he goes 80 down the highway, so how dare anybody question his driving and he’s definitely not going to stop doing it.

The Bad:

Bad Health Law Blues. This was a rough cycle for health law news. In a disturbing expansion of the forced birth playbook, this cycle Tennessee became the first state to create a right to sue adults who help minors receive gender-affirming care. Meanwhile, last cycle’s Louisiana bill to make abortifacients a scheduled substance with possession a criminal felony is somehow already signed into law, making it through the entire legislative process in two weeks. And in Texas, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a decision which clarified abortion law exemptions, saying that the law was clear enough on its face and, in effect, it’s not the law’s fault that the plaintiffs were denied abortions when they had life-threatening conditions.

The Good:

Wu Tang World Premier. The world’s most expensive album — sold to Martin Shkreli in 2015 for $2M, seized by the U.S. government in his trial, and eventually sold off as an NFT for $4M — has been loaned out to the Museum of Old and New Art in Australia. The museum plans to play it for the public twice daily for nine straight days, from June 15 to 24. This will be the first time this album, called “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” has ever been played in public at all. It’s a fascinating development in what is a fascinating piece of musical history in its own right.

So that’s what I have for you, and let’s all be glad it’s not worse. For still reading these roundups, you deserve this doggo pool exit 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 more hours in the day!