The Supreme Court Made Voting-Rights Cases Much Harder to Win. It Didn’t Strike Down the Law to Do It.
On April 29 the Court ruled 6–3 that Louisiana’s congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander — and, more lastingly, rewrote the test for proving a map discriminates against minority voters. The Voting Rights Act is still law. Winning a case under it just got much harder.
The Supreme Court Threw Out Trump’s Emergency Tariffs. The Steel and China Tariffs Survive.
On Feb 20 the Court ruled 6–3 that the president can’t use a 1977 emergency-powers law (IEEPA) to impose tariffs — ending the “Liberation Day” and fentanyl tariffs. But tariffs under other laws — steel, aluminum, China — are untouched. And the lineup wasn’t left-vs-right: Roberts and the three liberals plus Gorsuch and Barrett.
The Supreme Court Cleared the Way to End TPS for Haitians and Syrians. It Did It by Ruling Courts Can’t Step In.
On June 25 the Court ruled 6–3 that courts can’t review the administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for ~350,000 Haitians and ~6,000 Syrians. It did not order anyone deported and did not rule the terminations legal — it removed the courts as a check. The practical effect: the protections can now end.
The Obama Presidential Center Opens on the South Side
The $850M Obama Presidential Center opened on Juneteenth in Chicago's Jackson Park, on the South Side. Clinton, Bush, and Biden joined the Obamas at Thursday's dedication, museum tickets are sold out for months, and a line from Obama's 2015 Selma speech wraps the 225-foot tower in five-foot letters.