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shadowkatI read this week in some psychology posting that it was more than okay not to be okay at the moment. In fact feeling awful right now, with a sense of dread - means you are most likely a caring empathetic human being and struggling with human failings. If this is the case? Than I'm clearly a caring empathetic human being - because I've been feeling kind of awful for several months now?
What helps? Watching comfort shows, avoiding dingbats, avoiding bad news (as much as possible), trying to eat healthy, and focus on the positive.
As always, good news is often in the eye of the beholder - so mileage may vary on it?
1. A federal judge extended the block on Trump’s attempt to ban Harvard from accepting international students. It's been extended multiple times.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/23/judge-trump-proclamation-harvard
2. There are more than 140 lawsuits against the Trump Administration to date and the Trump Administration has won precisely 0 in the lower courts and District Courts. (Note - the Supreme Court gets between 5000-8000 cases annually, and only will cert 30. And they don't choose them, their staff riffles through the cases and chooses. Also some of their decisions are more complicated than the media is expressing - in that it's often about a rule of law, and not necessarily the issue at hand? So there are work arounds, and it goes back to the lower courts to adjudicate and interpret. So don't get too riled up about the Supreme Court rulings - the folks reporting on them, don't completely understand them. (I found a few folks that do.)
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-series/trials-of-the-trump-administration/tracking-trump-administration-litigation
3.The American Bar Association sued the Trump administration over its attack on law firms.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/politics/american-bar-association-lawsuit
4. A federal judge ruled all transgender and intersex people can obtain passports that align with their gender identity while the case against Trump’s EO proceeds.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/transgender-us-passport-holders-granted-temporary-relief-in-challenge-to-trump-gender-marker-policy
5. One of Germany’s largest asset managers divested from ExxonMobil, accusing it of “insufficient commitment” to climate tar
https://www.ft.com/content/9d837c44-10f8-49f5-94b5-6153fcdee6fa?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
6.Journalists sued the LAPD for use of excessive force at anti-ICE protests
https://www.audacy.com/knxnews/news/local/journalists-sue-lapd-for-excessive-force-at-protests
7.Nearly all the members of a board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright scholarships resigned in protest of what they call the Trump administration’s meddling with the selection of award recipients for the international exchange program.
https://apnews.com/article/fulbright-scholarship-trump-board-resign-29128f9f80f31f2d8249bdfb88aa36a2
8.The Smithsonian Institution rebuffed Trump’s attempt to fire the director of its National Portrait Gallery, with the museum’s governing board asserting its independence in a direct challenge to the president.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/10/kim-sajet-trump-national-portrait-gallery-director?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
[And they were right too - the President really has no say in who runs the Museum.]
9.Voters of Tomorrow plans to invest $3 million in hiring campus organizers and supporting local youth organizations in 18 Congressional districts where young voters will be the margin of victory in 2026.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5349784-gen-z-group-youth-voter-mobilization/
10. A federal judge ruled it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/health/nih-grant-cuts-ruling
And afterward the head of the NIH agency put a permanent halt on the cancellation of grants, and stated that they weren't doing it any longer.
https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/25/nih-halts-research-grant-terminations-email-shows/
"THURSDAY, June 26, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped canceling biomedical research grants after a federal judge said hundreds of those cuts were illegal.
This decision comes just days after U.S. District Judge William Young ordered the NIH to restore more than 900 canceled grants. The ruling stemmed from a Boston case, in which researchers and several state attorneys general challenged the terminations, STAT News said in a report.
An internal email sent Tuesday by Michelle Bulls, director of the NIH’s Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, said no more grant cancellations should move forward."
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-06-26/nih-stops-canceling-research-grants-following-court-ruling
11.Mike Lindell [the My Pillow CEO idiot] was found liable in a defamation case brought by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive. The jury ordered him to pay roughly $2.3 million in damages.
https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/16/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-defamation-lawsuitverdict/
12.The Supreme Court ruled that innocent victims of wrong-house raids and other abuses by federal law enforcement can seek compensation for emotional and physical harms, upholding a key exception to sweeping legal immunity that has long protected the government from being sued.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-family-sue-wrong-house-raid-fbi/story?id=122769620&emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
13.U.S. drug deaths dropped by roughly 40% last year among people under the age of 35.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/10/nx-s1-5414476/fentanyl-gen-z-drug-overdose-deaths?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
14.In the first quarter of 2025, Colombia saw a 33% drop in deforestation compared to the same period last year.
https://apnews.com/article/deforestation-colombia-amazon-environment-data-2025-crime-crackdown-coca-21dd60ac0865cecb12ca1870ab4de645
15.A bill creating a minimum wage for farmworkers in Maine has been signed into law. Starting next year, their minimum rate will rise to $14.65 an hour.
https://www.threads.com/@perfectunion/post/DLDLs2esenl?xmt=AQF0dRDTXdh24cjhwEJnChoj-GmolCdbxja_s9bmsLTgEQ
16.Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-sen-josh-hawley-introduces-bill-raise-federal-minimum-wage-15-hour-rcna212095?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
17.Disney and Universal are suing an AI firm for copyright infringement, alleging that it stole “countless” copyrighted works to train its AI engine in the creation of AI-generated images.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5431684/ai-disney-universal-midjourney-copyright-infringement-lawsuit
18.Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi has won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Hashmi is the first Muslim woman in the Virginia Senate and could become the first to hold the state’s second-highest office.
https://apnews.com/article/virginia-election-lieutenant-governor-ghazala-hashmi-9e2451e5bb3aa9fa787976d33a9ce961?link_source=ta_thread_link&taid=6852f0f14dfb8e00010eaca2
19. Josh Weil, the progressive teacher who stunned the political world in March by raising nearly $14 million for a failed congressional special election bid in Florida, is now running to become their next U.S. senator.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/florida-midterms-senate-weil-democrats-moody-00410667
20. A federal judge found that Trump’s dismissal of three Democratic members of the five-member Consumer Product Safety Commission last month was unlawful, clearing the way for the nation’s product safety regulators to return to work.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/06/16/fired-product-safety-commissioners-reinstated/84229000007/
21. In New Jersey, the drought warning that has been in place since last fall has finally been lifted.
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/new-jersey/new-jersey-lifts-drought-warning-after-record-breaking-dry-weather/
22. Mahmoud Khalil is back home and with his newborn baby. [By the way - he's interview with the media is now on streaming - I think it's Hulu. I've not watched it, mainly because I'm not going to learn anything I don't already know and I really don't want all the gritty details.]
https://archive.ph/6I8h2
23. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funding for the nation’s libraries, a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country’s spending.
https://archive.ph/WyLUW#selection-685.0-685.274
24. The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously backed Attorney General Josh Kaul in a ruling determining that attempts by the Republican-led Legislature to control settlements in certain civil cases are unconstitutional.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/17/wisconsin-supreme-court-backs-josh-kaul-in-lame-duck-law-challenge/84191203007/
25.John Eastman's disbarment has been upheld by a California Court -"A California court has upheld a recommendation that attorney John Eastman should lose his law license because of his central role in President Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/17/california-court-john-eastman-disbarment-00411266
26.A federal court granted an injunction to stop HHS’s unlawful termination of grants that the plaintiffs and their public health workforce rely on to protect against infectious diseases and pandemics. The injunction will require HHS to issue the grants while the litigation proceeds. [This is separate from the NIH case. Two different government agencies.]
https://democracyforward.org/updates/courts-partially-blocks-trump-vance-administrations-anti-science-meddling-and-cuts-to-pandemic-prevention-programs/
[Note while the Supreme Court's ruling does adversely affect this - there is wiggle room and legal loopholes. In that they can change it to a "class action case" or "do it in every state" or "push for legislature resolution".]
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/06/mass-layoffs-likely-remain-blocked-now-thanks-supreme-court-footnote/406381/?oref=ge-author-river
27. Denver recorded the largest multi-year reduction in unsheltered homelessness in American history.
https://denverite.com/2025/06/09/denver-point-in-time-homelessness-2025/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
28. In a unanimous decision a federal court of appeals has ruled that Louisiana’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms is unconstitutional.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-louisiana-law-requiring-public-schools-to-display-ten-commandments-in-every-classroom
29.An Instagram account called No Sleep For ICE is posting the locations of Los Angeles-area hotels where ICE agents are staying so protestors can go play loud music and bang drums in front of them. It’s working! Hotels have asked ICE to leave to keep the peace.
https://www.instagram.com/no.sleep.for.ice/
30.For the first time in years, Democrats have fielded candidates in all 100 Virginia House districts — including deep-red districts — and during early voting this year, voter turnout surged, jumping by 65,000 more votes than in 2021.
https://virginiamercury.com/2025/05/07/democrats-reach-historic-goal-full-slate-in-virginia-house-races/
31.After decades of being underpaid, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have secured a 400% pay raise.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders-pay-raise-netflix-show-americas-sweetheart-rcna213835?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
32.A coalition representing educators and researchers sued to stop the recent mass termination of grants by the National Science Foundation.
https://democracyforward.org/updates/coalition-files-suit-challenging-doge-attacks-on-congressionally-approved-stem-programs/
33.Former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro disbarred in New York over 2020 election interference case. Chesebro played a key role in devising a strategy to create slates of fake pro-Trump electors in several states the president lost to disrupt or delay Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/former-trump-lawyer-kenneth-chesebro-disbarred-new-york-2020-election-rcna215425
34.R emember that CEO who took a pay cut so he could pay all his employees a minimum wage of $70,000? Here’s what happened next:
“Six years later after the decision that others said would destroy his business, Dan reports that revenue has tripled, the customer base has doubled, 70% of his employees have paid down debt, many bought homes for the first time, 401(k) contributions grew by 155% and turnover dropped in half. His business is now a Harvard Business School case study.”
In his own words:
“6 years ago today I raised my company's min wage to $70k. Fox News called me a socialist whose employees would be on bread lines.
Since then our revenue tripled, we're a Harvard Business School case study & our employees had a 10x boom in homes bought."
35. Oslo police have announced charges against the eldest son of Norway's crown princess on multiple counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm.
https://apnews.com/article/marius-borg-hoiby-norway-mettemarit-haakon-1cf7cc4b634ec278d30e60735283d0ae
36. YES!!! SUPREME COURT *PROTECTS* PREVENTIVE SERVICES UNDER THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (EVEN THOUGH THE RULING ITSELF IS ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY). The Supreme Court held up a portion of the Affordable Care Act.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires participating insurances to cover certain preventive measures, including screening for cancer and diabetes, nicotine patches, and physical therapy to help the elderly avoid falls.
Which items are considered preventative, and which the ACA will cover, are in large part based on the advice of an advisory panel of experts known as the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force. Members of the Task Force are appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and are, by statute, considered "independent".
The plaintiffs included a 'health and wellness' clinic, Braidwood Management, which self-insures its employees, and which didn't want to have to cover those preventive measures. So they sued, attacking not the preventive provisions, but the Task Force itself. Their theory was basically that the Task Force was improperly created, and that it violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Appointments Clause basically says that "inferior officers" may be appointed by certain members of the executive branch (such as the Secretary of HHS), but because the Affordable Care Act says that the Task Force is "independent", therefore the members of the Task Force are not actually inferior officers, and so (plaintiffs say) the entire Task Force is in violation of the Constitution and therefore has no authority to make recommendations and policy. Therefore, according to the lawsuit, the requirements under the ACA to cover preventive care are rendered void because, they say, the Task Force was unconstitutional.
(See how both convoluted and precise dealing with law can be? 😂)
The Supreme Court, 6-3, ruled that members of the Task Force are indeed inferior officers, properly appointed by the Secretary of HHS. The part that may be surprising is that three of the conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined with the three liberal justices. At least, it *would* be surprising, however this was, in fact, a strict construction of the Constitution's Appointments Clause (conservative judges tend to be more strict constructionist). So, perhaps not so surprising, or perhaps it is, depending on how you look at it, but in the final analysis, the ACA's requirement to cover preventive care stands.
This is also an object lesson in how *one* thing decided about the law may mean something entirely different than you might think. You might *think* this was a case about the Affordable Care Act, but it isn't. It's about whether a task force appointed by a Secretary is properly appointed under the Constitution's Appointments Clause. [It is.]
37. SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN AXES CERTAIN MEDICAID CUTS FROM THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.
The specific Medicaid cuts that the parliamentarian said are in violation of the rules are the cuts that the bill contained requiring states to cut in *half* the taxes the states will receive from Medicaid providers. It's estimated that this would have accounted for more than $250billion in cuts to healthcare spending. This was the provision that was threatening rural hospitals with closure.
In addition, provisions in the bill barring Medicaid from covering gender affirming care, and barring coverage to some Medicaid recipients who are not U.S. citizens, were nixed by the parliamentarian.
As a reminder, the OBBBA was submitted as a budget reconciliation bill so that they would only have to get a simple majority to pass it. However, that also means that anything in it must be *about* the budget. It's like when you have a household budget: putting your money in an interest-bearing account is *about* the budget; treating yourself to a new car affects your finances, but is not *about* your budget.
38.Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has struck down the clause in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' that tried to hamstring the courts from holding defendants (read as "Trump and others in his administration") in contempt. (Ironic as Trump clearly holds the courts in contempt.)
Parliamentarian MacDonough held that the clause, along with some others, including withholding the already-approved funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the larger cuts to SNAP, violate the Byrd Rule. You see, budget reconciliation bills, such as the Big Beautiful Bill, only need a simple majority to be passed, which is *why* the BBB was introduced as a budget reconciliation bill.
BUT, the Byrd Rule says that any budget reconciliation bill must deal with, and *only* deal with, you know... *the budget*. No policy items dressed up as budgetary items allowed! Sneaking policy into a budget reconciliation bill so that the policy only needs a simple majority to be passed and enacted, rather than a 60+ vote majority of the full senate, is a no no. And so the Parliamentarian has told the Republican senators "No, no."
39. TRUMP SPANKED FOR TRYING TO TIE TRANSPORTATION FUNDING TO WHETHER A STATE COMPLIES WITH TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES.
In other words, they were trying to withhold federal transportation funds from the so-called "sanctuary states" (and remember there isn't even a legal definition for "sanctuary state" or "sanctuary city"). So 20 states sued (so proud that my adopted home state is one of them!); they are California, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, State of Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, People of The Michigan, State of Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Said the Court, "If Defendants are prevented from conditioning transportation grants on an agreement to cooperate with ICE, they would merely have to consider the applicants application and make the awards as usual. On the other hand, if the Court denies the preliminary injunction, the States will be forced to commit their state and local law enforcement (and potentially other state and local actors) to the mission of federal immigration enforcement or sacrifice securing billions of dollars in federal funding that Congress intended to be used for transportation purposes. The fact that the States have shown a likelihood of success on the merits strongly suggests that an injunction would serve the public interest. Moreover, the public interest further favors an injunction because absent such an order, there is a substantial risk that the States and its citizens will face a significant disruption in transportation services jeopardizing ongoing projects, ones in development for which resources have been expended, and the health and safety of transportation services that are integral to daily life."
(The Supreme Court didn't overrule this. Note it's not a nationwide injunction. It's stating that Trump Administration cannot force states to commit law enforcement to its tasks by withdrawing funding for transportation.)
40. U.S. DOGE Service loses control of process for awarding billions in federal funds, in latest sign of its declining influence. Federal officials were instructed Thursday to stop routing the grant-making process through DOGE, the fate of which has remained uncertain since Elon Musk departed the government. The move follows fears that months of DOGE-linked delays would lead to the impoundment of federal funds, according to emails obtained by The Post and two people familiar with the situation, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive situation.
41.Polls show voters oppose the Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill by large margins. A Fox News poll released June 13 showed that only 38% of registered voters support the budget reconciliation bill that benefits the wealthiest Americans, while 59% oppose it. Independents oppose the bill by a margin of 22% in favor to 73% against, and white men without a college degree, Trump’s base, oppose the bill by 43% to 53%. That negative polling holds across a number of polls. (NBC News)
42.A new Quinnipiac poll shows that 64% of registered voters support a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. Only 31% want most of them deported. That percentage has swung 9 points toward legalization since Trump took office. Trump is also underwater on immigration more generally, with 41% approving of his stance and 57% disapproving.
Nearly half of registered voters—49%—said they do not think democracy is working in the United States, while 43% say it is. Sixty percent of those who do not think it is working told Quinnipiac pollsters they blame Republicans, while 15% blamed Democrats. Twenty percent said they blame both parties.
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3926
***
The below isn't necessarily good news, but it is a necessary explanation of a recent Supreme Court ruling, since a lot of folks think it trumps or undoes some of the good news above, it doesn't. It may reframe it or change it, but it doesn't undo it. Trump didn't necessarily win, nor do the Republicans, also this issue has been hanging around for a while now. And it may just bite the Republicans in the ass down the road.
While it is entertaining to watch amateur lawyers debate what the recent Supreme Court decision on Birth Nationals and Injunctions is, it's also annoying - so below is an actual lawyer, who specializes in legislative, Constitutional and Administrative Law - has to say about it (and no, it's not me):
WHAT TODAY'S SUPREME COURT DECISION ON UNIVERSAL INJUNCTIONS AND BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP MEANS by Anne P. Mitchell
First, and most importantly, it does NOT UNDO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP! And really that was never what it was about, as I've said before. (In fact here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16sATn6TcJ/)
This was *always* a universal injunction case dressed up in birthright citizenship clothing. It was and is about universal injunctions. And that is on what the Supreme Court just issued its opinion.
In the case, Massachusetts issued a universal injunction (applies to everyone similarly situated) against the birthright citizenship executive order; the Supreme Court is saying the injunction should have only applied to the plaintiffs in the case.
Here is what the Supreme Court *actually* said:
"Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that
Congress has given to federal courts. The Court grants the Government’s applications for a partial stay of the injunctions entered below, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue."
[It only applies to injunctions that are issued broader than necessary to provide complete relief to the plaintiffs. ]
Not *does* exceed the court's authority, but *likely* exceeds. And the grant of the partial stay is "only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary".
Remember, this case is going back down to the lower courts, this was all based on an appeal to the Supreme Court of a temporary court order, to which the Supreme Court just granted a partial stay (pause).
So what does this actually mean? You're going to hear a LOT of hand-wringing about how it means that if John Doe sues and gets a result, that result won't apply to Jane Smith when she sues for the exact same reason. And how it means that every person will have to get their own lawyer for every single lawsuit against the Federal government and the administration.
Here's why that's not actually the case:
First, this is about injunctions - which are a legal instrument to stop someone from doing something. NOT about decisions about the law. Once an appeals court makes a *decision about the law*, it applies to everyone.
Second, yes, until a case gets a final decision on the *law* it *could* mean, and one reading of this is that, every single person will have to file their own lawsuit. BUT, hey, that's what class actions are for. Is that a hurdle that one would have to go through? Yes, in fact sometimes a big hurdle. But that is still *very* different from the hand-wringing you are hearing and the headlines you are seeing!
Third, a LOT of what is being said is about what *could* happen, not what *will* happen. Personally, I don't see thousands of people suddenly scrambling to find their own lawyers who will represent them (perhaps for free) in order to file those thousands of lawsuits. What I see is an orchestrated pushback through the trial courts that will reshape and refine this, particularly given the "but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue." And, again, class action.
Finally, it's important to remember that our last two Democrat presidents also had issues with universal injunctions; this isn't a Republican thing, it's a general balance of power thing that has been brewing for decades. So even if all of the sky-is-falling hand-wringing were accurate, what goes around comes around.
Sigh, here's a pretty picture of flowers..
What helps? Watching comfort shows, avoiding dingbats, avoiding bad news (as much as possible), trying to eat healthy, and focus on the positive.
As always, good news is often in the eye of the beholder - so mileage may vary on it?
1. A federal judge extended the block on Trump’s attempt to ban Harvard from accepting international students. It's been extended multiple times.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/23/judge-trump-proclamation-harvard
2. There are more than 140 lawsuits against the Trump Administration to date and the Trump Administration has won precisely 0 in the lower courts and District Courts. (Note - the Supreme Court gets between 5000-8000 cases annually, and only will cert 30. And they don't choose them, their staff riffles through the cases and chooses. Also some of their decisions are more complicated than the media is expressing - in that it's often about a rule of law, and not necessarily the issue at hand? So there are work arounds, and it goes back to the lower courts to adjudicate and interpret. So don't get too riled up about the Supreme Court rulings - the folks reporting on them, don't completely understand them. (I found a few folks that do.)
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-series/trials-of-the-trump-administration/tracking-trump-administration-litigation
3.The American Bar Association sued the Trump administration over its attack on law firms.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/politics/american-bar-association-lawsuit
4. A federal judge ruled all transgender and intersex people can obtain passports that align with their gender identity while the case against Trump’s EO proceeds.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/transgender-us-passport-holders-granted-temporary-relief-in-challenge-to-trump-gender-marker-policy
5. One of Germany’s largest asset managers divested from ExxonMobil, accusing it of “insufficient commitment” to climate tar
https://www.ft.com/content/9d837c44-10f8-49f5-94b5-6153fcdee6fa?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
6.Journalists sued the LAPD for use of excessive force at anti-ICE protests
https://www.audacy.com/knxnews/news/local/journalists-sue-lapd-for-excessive-force-at-protests
7.Nearly all the members of a board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright scholarships resigned in protest of what they call the Trump administration’s meddling with the selection of award recipients for the international exchange program.
https://apnews.com/article/fulbright-scholarship-trump-board-resign-29128f9f80f31f2d8249bdfb88aa36a2
8.The Smithsonian Institution rebuffed Trump’s attempt to fire the director of its National Portrait Gallery, with the museum’s governing board asserting its independence in a direct challenge to the president.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/10/kim-sajet-trump-national-portrait-gallery-director?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
[And they were right too - the President really has no say in who runs the Museum.]
9.Voters of Tomorrow plans to invest $3 million in hiring campus organizers and supporting local youth organizations in 18 Congressional districts where young voters will be the margin of victory in 2026.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5349784-gen-z-group-youth-voter-mobilization/
10. A federal judge ruled it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/16/health/nih-grant-cuts-ruling
And afterward the head of the NIH agency put a permanent halt on the cancellation of grants, and stated that they weren't doing it any longer.
https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/25/nih-halts-research-grant-terminations-email-shows/
"THURSDAY, June 26, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped canceling biomedical research grants after a federal judge said hundreds of those cuts were illegal.
This decision comes just days after U.S. District Judge William Young ordered the NIH to restore more than 900 canceled grants. The ruling stemmed from a Boston case, in which researchers and several state attorneys general challenged the terminations, STAT News said in a report.
An internal email sent Tuesday by Michelle Bulls, director of the NIH’s Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, said no more grant cancellations should move forward."
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-06-26/nih-stops-canceling-research-grants-following-court-ruling
11.Mike Lindell [the My Pillow CEO idiot] was found liable in a defamation case brought by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive. The jury ordered him to pay roughly $2.3 million in damages.
https://www.cpr.org/2025/06/16/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-defamation-lawsuitverdict/
12.The Supreme Court ruled that innocent victims of wrong-house raids and other abuses by federal law enforcement can seek compensation for emotional and physical harms, upholding a key exception to sweeping legal immunity that has long protected the government from being sued.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-family-sue-wrong-house-raid-fbi/story?id=122769620&emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
13.U.S. drug deaths dropped by roughly 40% last year among people under the age of 35.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/10/nx-s1-5414476/fentanyl-gen-z-drug-overdose-deaths?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
14.In the first quarter of 2025, Colombia saw a 33% drop in deforestation compared to the same period last year.
https://apnews.com/article/deforestation-colombia-amazon-environment-data-2025-crime-crackdown-coca-21dd60ac0865cecb12ca1870ab4de645
15.A bill creating a minimum wage for farmworkers in Maine has been signed into law. Starting next year, their minimum rate will rise to $14.65 an hour.
https://www.threads.com/@perfectunion/post/DLDLs2esenl?xmt=AQF0dRDTXdh24cjhwEJnChoj-GmolCdbxja_s9bmsLTgEQ
16.Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a bill with Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-sen-josh-hawley-introduces-bill-raise-federal-minimum-wage-15-hour-rcna212095?emci=07cadf5b-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=2c71ac8a-a148-f011-8f7c-6045bdfe8e9c&ceid=24376453
17.Disney and Universal are suing an AI firm for copyright infringement, alleging that it stole “countless” copyrighted works to train its AI engine in the creation of AI-generated images.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5431684/ai-disney-universal-midjourney-copyright-infringement-lawsuit
18.Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi has won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Hashmi is the first Muslim woman in the Virginia Senate and could become the first to hold the state’s second-highest office.
https://apnews.com/article/virginia-election-lieutenant-governor-ghazala-hashmi-9e2451e5bb3aa9fa787976d33a9ce961?link_source=ta_thread_link&taid=6852f0f14dfb8e00010eaca2
19. Josh Weil, the progressive teacher who stunned the political world in March by raising nearly $14 million for a failed congressional special election bid in Florida, is now running to become their next U.S. senator.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/florida-midterms-senate-weil-democrats-moody-00410667
20. A federal judge found that Trump’s dismissal of three Democratic members of the five-member Consumer Product Safety Commission last month was unlawful, clearing the way for the nation’s product safety regulators to return to work.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/06/16/fired-product-safety-commissioners-reinstated/84229000007/
21. In New Jersey, the drought warning that has been in place since last fall has finally been lifted.
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/new-jersey/new-jersey-lifts-drought-warning-after-record-breaking-dry-weather/
22. Mahmoud Khalil is back home and with his newborn baby. [By the way - he's interview with the media is now on streaming - I think it's Hulu. I've not watched it, mainly because I'm not going to learn anything I don't already know and I really don't want all the gritty details.]
https://archive.ph/6I8h2
23. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funding for the nation’s libraries, a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country’s spending.
https://archive.ph/WyLUW#selection-685.0-685.274
24. The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously backed Attorney General Josh Kaul in a ruling determining that attempts by the Republican-led Legislature to control settlements in certain civil cases are unconstitutional.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/17/wisconsin-supreme-court-backs-josh-kaul-in-lame-duck-law-challenge/84191203007/
25.John Eastman's disbarment has been upheld by a California Court -"A California court has upheld a recommendation that attorney John Eastman should lose his law license because of his central role in President Donald Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/17/california-court-john-eastman-disbarment-00411266
26.A federal court granted an injunction to stop HHS’s unlawful termination of grants that the plaintiffs and their public health workforce rely on to protect against infectious diseases and pandemics. The injunction will require HHS to issue the grants while the litigation proceeds. [This is separate from the NIH case. Two different government agencies.]
https://democracyforward.org/updates/courts-partially-blocks-trump-vance-administrations-anti-science-meddling-and-cuts-to-pandemic-prevention-programs/
[Note while the Supreme Court's ruling does adversely affect this - there is wiggle room and legal loopholes. In that they can change it to a "class action case" or "do it in every state" or "push for legislature resolution".]
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/06/mass-layoffs-likely-remain-blocked-now-thanks-supreme-court-footnote/406381/?oref=ge-author-river
27. Denver recorded the largest multi-year reduction in unsheltered homelessness in American history.
https://denverite.com/2025/06/09/denver-point-in-time-homelessness-2025/?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40
28. In a unanimous decision a federal court of appeals has ruled that Louisiana’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms is unconstitutional.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-louisiana-law-requiring-public-schools-to-display-ten-commandments-in-every-classroom
29.An Instagram account called No Sleep For ICE is posting the locations of Los Angeles-area hotels where ICE agents are staying so protestors can go play loud music and bang drums in front of them. It’s working! Hotels have asked ICE to leave to keep the peace.
https://www.instagram.com/no.sleep.for.ice/
30.For the first time in years, Democrats have fielded candidates in all 100 Virginia House districts — including deep-red districts — and during early voting this year, voter turnout surged, jumping by 65,000 more votes than in 2021.
https://virginiamercury.com/2025/05/07/democrats-reach-historic-goal-full-slate-in-virginia-house-races/
31.After decades of being underpaid, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have secured a 400% pay raise.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders-pay-raise-netflix-show-americas-sweetheart-rcna213835?ck_subscriber_id=2496857656
32.A coalition representing educators and researchers sued to stop the recent mass termination of grants by the National Science Foundation.
https://democracyforward.org/updates/coalition-files-suit-challenging-doge-attacks-on-congressionally-approved-stem-programs/
33.Former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro disbarred in New York over 2020 election interference case. Chesebro played a key role in devising a strategy to create slates of fake pro-Trump electors in several states the president lost to disrupt or delay Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/former-trump-lawyer-kenneth-chesebro-disbarred-new-york-2020-election-rcna215425
34.R emember that CEO who took a pay cut so he could pay all his employees a minimum wage of $70,000? Here’s what happened next:
“Six years later after the decision that others said would destroy his business, Dan reports that revenue has tripled, the customer base has doubled, 70% of his employees have paid down debt, many bought homes for the first time, 401(k) contributions grew by 155% and turnover dropped in half. His business is now a Harvard Business School case study.”
In his own words:
“6 years ago today I raised my company's min wage to $70k. Fox News called me a socialist whose employees would be on bread lines.
Since then our revenue tripled, we're a Harvard Business School case study & our employees had a 10x boom in homes bought."
35. Oslo police have announced charges against the eldest son of Norway's crown princess on multiple counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm.
https://apnews.com/article/marius-borg-hoiby-norway-mettemarit-haakon-1cf7cc4b634ec278d30e60735283d0ae
36. YES!!! SUPREME COURT *PROTECTS* PREVENTIVE SERVICES UNDER THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (EVEN THOUGH THE RULING ITSELF IS ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY). The Supreme Court held up a portion of the Affordable Care Act.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires participating insurances to cover certain preventive measures, including screening for cancer and diabetes, nicotine patches, and physical therapy to help the elderly avoid falls.
Which items are considered preventative, and which the ACA will cover, are in large part based on the advice of an advisory panel of experts known as the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force. Members of the Task Force are appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and are, by statute, considered "independent".
The plaintiffs included a 'health and wellness' clinic, Braidwood Management, which self-insures its employees, and which didn't want to have to cover those preventive measures. So they sued, attacking not the preventive provisions, but the Task Force itself. Their theory was basically that the Task Force was improperly created, and that it violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Appointments Clause basically says that "inferior officers" may be appointed by certain members of the executive branch (such as the Secretary of HHS), but because the Affordable Care Act says that the Task Force is "independent", therefore the members of the Task Force are not actually inferior officers, and so (plaintiffs say) the entire Task Force is in violation of the Constitution and therefore has no authority to make recommendations and policy. Therefore, according to the lawsuit, the requirements under the ACA to cover preventive care are rendered void because, they say, the Task Force was unconstitutional.
(See how both convoluted and precise dealing with law can be? 😂)
The Supreme Court, 6-3, ruled that members of the Task Force are indeed inferior officers, properly appointed by the Secretary of HHS. The part that may be surprising is that three of the conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined with the three liberal justices. At least, it *would* be surprising, however this was, in fact, a strict construction of the Constitution's Appointments Clause (conservative judges tend to be more strict constructionist). So, perhaps not so surprising, or perhaps it is, depending on how you look at it, but in the final analysis, the ACA's requirement to cover preventive care stands.
This is also an object lesson in how *one* thing decided about the law may mean something entirely different than you might think. You might *think* this was a case about the Affordable Care Act, but it isn't. It's about whether a task force appointed by a Secretary is properly appointed under the Constitution's Appointments Clause. [It is.]
37. SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN AXES CERTAIN MEDICAID CUTS FROM THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.
The specific Medicaid cuts that the parliamentarian said are in violation of the rules are the cuts that the bill contained requiring states to cut in *half* the taxes the states will receive from Medicaid providers. It's estimated that this would have accounted for more than $250billion in cuts to healthcare spending. This was the provision that was threatening rural hospitals with closure.
In addition, provisions in the bill barring Medicaid from covering gender affirming care, and barring coverage to some Medicaid recipients who are not U.S. citizens, were nixed by the parliamentarian.
As a reminder, the OBBBA was submitted as a budget reconciliation bill so that they would only have to get a simple majority to pass it. However, that also means that anything in it must be *about* the budget. It's like when you have a household budget: putting your money in an interest-bearing account is *about* the budget; treating yourself to a new car affects your finances, but is not *about* your budget.
38.Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has struck down the clause in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' that tried to hamstring the courts from holding defendants (read as "Trump and others in his administration") in contempt. (Ironic as Trump clearly holds the courts in contempt.)
Parliamentarian MacDonough held that the clause, along with some others, including withholding the already-approved funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the larger cuts to SNAP, violate the Byrd Rule. You see, budget reconciliation bills, such as the Big Beautiful Bill, only need a simple majority to be passed, which is *why* the BBB was introduced as a budget reconciliation bill.
BUT, the Byrd Rule says that any budget reconciliation bill must deal with, and *only* deal with, you know... *the budget*. No policy items dressed up as budgetary items allowed! Sneaking policy into a budget reconciliation bill so that the policy only needs a simple majority to be passed and enacted, rather than a 60+ vote majority of the full senate, is a no no. And so the Parliamentarian has told the Republican senators "No, no."
39. TRUMP SPANKED FOR TRYING TO TIE TRANSPORTATION FUNDING TO WHETHER A STATE COMPLIES WITH TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES.
In other words, they were trying to withhold federal transportation funds from the so-called "sanctuary states" (and remember there isn't even a legal definition for "sanctuary state" or "sanctuary city"). So 20 states sued (so proud that my adopted home state is one of them!); they are California, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, State of Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, People of The Michigan, State of Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Said the Court, "If Defendants are prevented from conditioning transportation grants on an agreement to cooperate with ICE, they would merely have to consider the applicants application and make the awards as usual. On the other hand, if the Court denies the preliminary injunction, the States will be forced to commit their state and local law enforcement (and potentially other state and local actors) to the mission of federal immigration enforcement or sacrifice securing billions of dollars in federal funding that Congress intended to be used for transportation purposes. The fact that the States have shown a likelihood of success on the merits strongly suggests that an injunction would serve the public interest. Moreover, the public interest further favors an injunction because absent such an order, there is a substantial risk that the States and its citizens will face a significant disruption in transportation services jeopardizing ongoing projects, ones in development for which resources have been expended, and the health and safety of transportation services that are integral to daily life."
(The Supreme Court didn't overrule this. Note it's not a nationwide injunction. It's stating that Trump Administration cannot force states to commit law enforcement to its tasks by withdrawing funding for transportation.)
40. U.S. DOGE Service loses control of process for awarding billions in federal funds, in latest sign of its declining influence. Federal officials were instructed Thursday to stop routing the grant-making process through DOGE, the fate of which has remained uncertain since Elon Musk departed the government. The move follows fears that months of DOGE-linked delays would lead to the impoundment of federal funds, according to emails obtained by The Post and two people familiar with the situation, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive situation.
41.Polls show voters oppose the Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill by large margins. A Fox News poll released June 13 showed that only 38% of registered voters support the budget reconciliation bill that benefits the wealthiest Americans, while 59% oppose it. Independents oppose the bill by a margin of 22% in favor to 73% against, and white men without a college degree, Trump’s base, oppose the bill by 43% to 53%. That negative polling holds across a number of polls. (NBC News)
42.A new Quinnipiac poll shows that 64% of registered voters support a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. Only 31% want most of them deported. That percentage has swung 9 points toward legalization since Trump took office. Trump is also underwater on immigration more generally, with 41% approving of his stance and 57% disapproving.
Nearly half of registered voters—49%—said they do not think democracy is working in the United States, while 43% say it is. Sixty percent of those who do not think it is working told Quinnipiac pollsters they blame Republicans, while 15% blamed Democrats. Twenty percent said they blame both parties.
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3926
***
The below isn't necessarily good news, but it is a necessary explanation of a recent Supreme Court ruling, since a lot of folks think it trumps or undoes some of the good news above, it doesn't. It may reframe it or change it, but it doesn't undo it. Trump didn't necessarily win, nor do the Republicans, also this issue has been hanging around for a while now. And it may just bite the Republicans in the ass down the road.
While it is entertaining to watch amateur lawyers debate what the recent Supreme Court decision on Birth Nationals and Injunctions is, it's also annoying - so below is an actual lawyer, who specializes in legislative, Constitutional and Administrative Law - has to say about it (and no, it's not me):
WHAT TODAY'S SUPREME COURT DECISION ON UNIVERSAL INJUNCTIONS AND BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP MEANS by Anne P. Mitchell
First, and most importantly, it does NOT UNDO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP! And really that was never what it was about, as I've said before. (In fact here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16sATn6TcJ/)
This was *always* a universal injunction case dressed up in birthright citizenship clothing. It was and is about universal injunctions. And that is on what the Supreme Court just issued its opinion.
In the case, Massachusetts issued a universal injunction (applies to everyone similarly situated) against the birthright citizenship executive order; the Supreme Court is saying the injunction should have only applied to the plaintiffs in the case.
Here is what the Supreme Court *actually* said:
"Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that
Congress has given to federal courts. The Court grants the Government’s applications for a partial stay of the injunctions entered below, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue."
[It only applies to injunctions that are issued broader than necessary to provide complete relief to the plaintiffs. ]
Not *does* exceed the court's authority, but *likely* exceeds. And the grant of the partial stay is "only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary".
Remember, this case is going back down to the lower courts, this was all based on an appeal to the Supreme Court of a temporary court order, to which the Supreme Court just granted a partial stay (pause).
So what does this actually mean? You're going to hear a LOT of hand-wringing about how it means that if John Doe sues and gets a result, that result won't apply to Jane Smith when she sues for the exact same reason. And how it means that every person will have to get their own lawyer for every single lawsuit against the Federal government and the administration.
Here's why that's not actually the case:
First, this is about injunctions - which are a legal instrument to stop someone from doing something. NOT about decisions about the law. Once an appeals court makes a *decision about the law*, it applies to everyone.
Second, yes, until a case gets a final decision on the *law* it *could* mean, and one reading of this is that, every single person will have to file their own lawsuit. BUT, hey, that's what class actions are for. Is that a hurdle that one would have to go through? Yes, in fact sometimes a big hurdle. But that is still *very* different from the hand-wringing you are hearing and the headlines you are seeing!
Third, a LOT of what is being said is about what *could* happen, not what *will* happen. Personally, I don't see thousands of people suddenly scrambling to find their own lawyers who will represent them (perhaps for free) in order to file those thousands of lawsuits. What I see is an orchestrated pushback through the trial courts that will reshape and refine this, particularly given the "but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue." And, again, class action.
Finally, it's important to remember that our last two Democrat presidents also had issues with universal injunctions; this isn't a Republican thing, it's a general balance of power thing that has been brewing for decades. So even if all of the sky-is-falling hand-wringing were accurate, what goes around comes around.
Sigh, here's a pretty picture of flowers..
no subject
Date: 2025-06-28 03:40 am (UTC)I love the flowers that you put at the end of your list. It's like having a tall glass of cool water when thirsty.