Supreme Court Clears Way for Mass Firings at Federal Agencies

Source: New York Times

The Trump administration can move forward with plans to slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday. The decision could result in job losses for tens of thousands of employees at agencies including the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, State and Treasury.

The order, which lifted a lower court’s ruling that had blocked mass layoffs, was unsigned and did not include a vote count. That is typical in such emergency applications. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a public dissent.

The case represents a key test of the extent of President Trump’s power to reorganize the government without input from Congress. The justices’ order is technically only temporary, guiding how the administration can proceed while the challenge to Mr. Trump’s plans continues. But in practice, it means he is free to pursue his restructuring plans, even if judges later determine that they exceed presidential power.

In a two-paragraph order, the justices wrote that they had concluded that “the government is likely to succeed on its argument” that President Trump’s executive order announcing plans to downsize the government was legal. The justices added that they had not expressed a view on the legality of specific layoffs or reorganizations by the Trump administration.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/us/politics/supreme-court-federal-workers-layoffs.html

Trump announces Israel and Iran have agreed on a ceasefire

Source: CBS News

President Trump announced Monday that Israel and Iran have agreed on a "Complete and Total" ceasefire, a move he said would end a more than week-long conflict between the two countries.

The ceasefire will start in about six hours, and after 12 hours, the "War will be considered, ENDED," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, indicating that the ceasefire would begin at midnight ET.

"Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World," the president said.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-israel-iran-ceasefire/

Trump Voter Screams as Husband is Arrested by ICE

David Hogg will not run for DNC post again after party orders redo of vice chair elections

Source: NBC News

Progressive activist David Hogg said he won’t seek to continue his role as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, after the DNC called for a redo of the February election that elevated him to the post.

Shortly after the DNC announced it would hold hold new elections Thursday for two vice chair positions currently held by Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as a result of a procedural challenge, Hogg announced he would not be a candidate.

The decision comes amid a public spat with the DNC and its chairman, Ken Martin, over Hogg’s decision to support primary challenges to Democratic incumbents, a spat that loomed over the vote even though it was not directly related to the challenge that ultimately led to the party to call for a new election.

Hogg made the announcement in a lengthy statement that criticized the Democratic Party for a lack of vision and a refusal to pass the torch to the next generation. But his discussion the DNC and the vice-chair specifically was more muted.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/david-hogg-dnc-vice-chair-vote-malcolm-kenyatta-rcna212023

Rep. Mikie Sherrill wins Democratic nomination for NJ governor

Source: Politico

Democrats chose Rep. Mikie Sherrill as their nominee for governor of New Jersey, as the party attempts to defy odds by holding onto the governorship for a third term in a row.

The Associated Press called the race just under an hour after polls closed. The four-term member of Congress prevailed in the crowded Democratic primary field on Tuesday to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy. She’ll face Republican Jack Ciattarelli, setting up a high-stakes battle of two party establishment favorites.

Both sides acknowledge that November’s election will be competitive. Although the electorate does favor Democrats, it’s been decades since Democrats have won the governorship three terms in a row in the Garden State. But in recent history, the candidate of the party opposite of the one that controls the White House typically wins the race for governor.

Still, Republicans are emboldened by President Donald Trump’s closer-than-expected loss in New Jersey last November, as well as the gains they’ve made to cut into Democrats’ voter registration advantage. And Republicans argue it helps that they have a candidate with high name ID: Ciattarelli ran for governor two times prior and narrowly lost to Murphy in 2021.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/10/mikie-sherrill-democratic-nomination-for-governor-00398832

FDA approves Merck's RSV shot for infants, ramping up competition with Sanofi and AstraZeneca

Source: CNBC

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Merck’
s shot designed to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus during their first season of the virus, bringing to market a rival to a similar treatment from Sanofi and AstraZeneca
.

The decision will allow the company to launch the drug, which will be marketed as Enflonsia, ahead of the RSV season that typically kicks off around fall and winter and lasts through the spring. Merck said in a release that it expects orders for the shot to begin in July, with shipments delivered before the virus starts to spread widely.


The approval gives doctors a new treatment option for the virus, which causes thousands of deaths among older Americans and hundreds of deaths among infants each year. Complications from RSV are the leading cause of hospitalization among newborns.

“We are committed to ensuring availability of [Enflonsia] in the U.S. before the start of the upcoming RSV season to help reduce the significant burden of this widespread seasonal infection on families and health care systems,” Dr. Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a release.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/09/fda-approves-merck-rsv-shot-for-infants-to-rival-sanofi-astrazeneca.html

Supreme Court sides with Catholic Charities in case about tax exemptions and religion

Source: USA TODAY

WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court on June 5 said Wisconsin should not have denied a tax exemption to a Catholic Charities chapter, the latest in a series of rulings the justices have decided in favor of faith groups.

The court unanimously ruled that the state violated the First Amendment's protection for religion and discriminated against the religious organization in Wisconsin.

"There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.

Wisconsin’s law, which is similar to most states' and the federal government’s, grants exemptions from its unemployment insurance program for certain church-controlled organizations that are “operated primarily for religious purposes.”

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/05/supreme-court-catholic-charities-tax-exemption-religious-rights/83386550007/

UNC Asheville administrator out of job after she was filmed in undercover DEI video

Source: News & Observer

UNC Asheville’s dean of students is out of a job after an activist, undercover media organization recorded her making comments that implied the university is not in compliance with UNC System restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programming.

Accuracy in Media — which describes itself as using “investigative journalism and citizen-led activism to expose government corruption, public policy failures, and radical activists” — posted a video online Tuesday in which an undercover interviewer, who is not identified or seen on camera, spoke to dean of students Megan Pugh about DEI and related subjects.

At the opening of the video, the unidentified interviewer told Pugh, “I’m so glad that you guys are still doing equity work.” Pugh responded by saying, “I mean, we probably still do anyway, but you know, gotta keep it quiet.”

Pugh then said, “I love breaking rules.”

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article307858880.html

Supreme Court Curbs Scope of Environmental Reviews

Source: New York Times

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday that a federal agency had done enough to consider the environmental impact of a proposed 88-mile railway in Utah. The ruling limits the scope of environmental reviews required by federal law in all sorts of settings.

The proposed railway would connect oil fields in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah to a national rail network that runs next to the Colorado River and then to refineries on the Gulf Coast.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for five justices, said that many lower courts had dictated that the environmental impact statements required by a 1970 federal law, the National Environmental Policy Act, be needlessly elaborate.

“The goal of the law,” he wrote, “is to inform agency decision making, not to paralyze it.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/us/politics/supreme-court-environmental-reviews.html

Senate unanimously approves bill to create tax deduction for cash tips

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate on May 20 unexpectedly passed a bill to create a new tax deduction on tips worth up to $25,000.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was brought up for a voice vote by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada. It passed with unanimous consent – a rare occurrence for substantive legislation.

The deduction would only apply to cash tips and could be claimed by people who earn up to $160,000, which would rise along with inflation.

Ending taxes on tips would cost around $110 billion in federal revenues over the next 10 years, according to estimates by the center-right Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/20/senate-no-tax-tips/83753853007/