COURT OF NAH

The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a pair of major wins today, creating new dangers for the most vulnerable immigrants in America.

• Before we get to today’s historic court rulings, let me pause for just a moment to take in the astonishing split screen that America is presenting to the world right now. First up: The World Cup. My social media feed is bursting with posts from foreign visitors gushing about their warm welcome to America. Europeans are falling in love with ranch dressing. Brits stare agog at American football stadiums. Scotland’s famous Tartan Army whoops it up in bars from Boston to Miami. It’s been downright heartwarming to see the world reveling in American hospitality and friendship, despite how our country’s been acting lately.

• Yet these are, of course, relatively prosperous soccer fans, who can afford airfare and infamously pricey game-day seats. So… how is America treating the most vulnerable who seek refuge on our shores? Well, that brings us to today’s news. In short, Trump and his gang want to boot those folks out. And the Supreme Court just said: Go for it.

• The court sided with the Trump administration in two separate rulings: Trump’s team can strip legal protections from immigrants who have been allowed to live here due to concerns about safety in their home countries, and federal agents can turn back asylum seekers before they enter the United States. Both rulings were decided 6-3, with the liberals dissenting.

• The rulings cement Trump’s efforts to overhaul the United States’ immigration system, and could also embolden him to keep chipping away.

• Trump launched his political career by describing Mexicans as “rapists” and won re-election after falsely claiming that Haitian migrants are eating pets. But don’t worry. His racism didn’t factor into the legal protections case, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

• “None of the cited statements by either the president … was overtly racial, and in substance all expressed policy views that could rest on race-neutral justifications,” Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

• Justice Elena Kagan begged to differ. In her dissent, she wrote that the conservative majority wouldn’t even include Trump’s own statements about immigration in the opinion because the comments are “so repellent and racially inflected.” She added: “The statements fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country.”

Republicans cheered the rulings, while activists decried the impact that they’ll have on hundreds of thousands of people.

• Ever since Trump took office for a second time, Republican lawmakers have fumed whenever federal courts block his authoritarian tendencies. The legal protections ruling, which has gotten more attention, is “a massive win for our sovereignty & the Constitution,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) tweeted. “Congress & the Executive branch control immigration policy — not rogue district court judges.”

• Activists are concerned about the fate of immigrants, including some 350,000 Haitians, who have established lives in the United States, as violent gangs overtook their homeland.

• Once the ruling goes into effect, “hundreds of thousands of people who have been living and working legally in the United States, some for many years, and many who entered completely legally, will lose their work permits and deportation protections,” tweeted Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration policy expert.

• The most consequential case on immigration, deciding the fate of birthright citizenship, is still to come. Federal judges have blocked Trump’s executive order that would end the law that allows people born in the U.S. to automatically receive citizenship. A decision could come as soon as Monday.

Is America still a proud melting pot of immigrants? Just days before the country’s 250th birthday, conservatives on the Supreme Court seem to think not.

WHAT ELSE? 👀

The U.S. is deploying search and rescue teams to Venezuela, after two massive earthquakes killed more than 180 people and injured at least 1,500 others. “The most immediate need right now is search and rescue efforts,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters today. “They have a bunch of collapsed buildings and so they'll need a lot of help in terms of digging through that.”

Prices in the U.S. are rising at the fastest rate in three years, according to the government’s preferred inflation gauge. Is this still Joe Biden’s economy? Are we being haunted by the Ghost of Bidenflation?

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urged a Libertarian candidate in Iowa earlier this month to drop out of his House race, according to recordings obtained by the Washington Post. Kennedy described himself as a “liaison” for the White House and “suggested that the candidate could ‘make an agreement’ that would accomplish more than a ‘symbolic run’ for office.” So, Trump’s team is officially freaking out over losing control of the House — and, apparently,offering quid pro quo deals. But why are they deploying the roadkill guy?

Moderate Democrats are worried that the momentum from democratic socialists’ New York primary wins could spread across the country. “Having party leaders not make the newest and most exciting members of the party feel like they belong is counterproductive for a party that wants to keep growing,” progressive strategist Rebecca Katz told Politico. Meanwhile, Democratic strategist James Carville is losing his mind.

A majority of Americans see grounds to impeach Trump, according to a new poll. “The most common reason voters think Trump should be impeached … was corruption and self-enrichment,” data journalist G. Elliott Morris writes. “People mentioned things such as generally profiting from the office, violating the emoluments clause, the president’s Boeing jet from Qatar, his crypto ventures, and more.”

LIGHT AT THE END… ☀️

Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire — for now. He lost the title after shares in his biggest companies, SpaceX and Tesla, tumbled this week.

Astronomers discovered two planets that are as big as Jupiter… and lighter than cotton candy. “These two planets have densities comparable to a nice blob of shaving foam, fresh from the can,” one researcher told the Associated Press. If these blobs weren’t more than 1,000 light-years away, I’d be tempted to jump into a spaceship and see if they taste like cotton candy, too. I mean, imagine falling into this planet. Floooooooooooofffffffff!

Scientists managed to virtually unwrap ancient scrolls, which would have fallen apart at the touch. The scrolls were torched in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Researchers are now using machine learning technology to decipher the scrolls, piecing together words including “providence,” “future things” and “invisible entities.” The scrolls are believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law. I wonder if they contain the original secret recipe for the salad….

Four sketches by famed painter Norman Rockwell are being displayed to the public for the first time, after being hung in the White House for the past four decades. The sketches — titled “So You Want to See the President!” — shows people sitting on couches and chairs, waiting to meet former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Several roadside diners in England have transformed into sex shops, surprising visitors who just want to grab a fry-up, pie and mash, or milky tea. “We do have the odd elderly couple who pull in every now and then and try to order the Olympic breakfast,” the owner of the erotic retailer, which took over about a dozen diners, told the Wall Street Journal. “But they usually have a giggle and sometimes walk out with a bag full of goodies, too.”