15
votes
Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of June 29
This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
Not at all shocking, but still extremely disappointing
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/29/nx-s1-5816232/supreme-court-ftc-independent-agencies-humphreys-executor?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
The Supreme Court lost all legitimacy long ago. Should Democrats take a majority in the Fall, impeachments, court packing, investigation of corruption, and punishment for findings of corruption need to be at the very top of the list.
I support court packing because it would lead to a cycle where every new president immediately packs the Supreme Court with enough new judges to tip the scale in their advantage, until the court has scores or even hundreds of judges, and that would be hilarious.
Unfortunately, we said the same thing in 2020.
No? More the complete opposite? Another step towards making the president a king, and I really hope all of this comes back to bite them when/if a Democrat is elected president/king.
The quote about it being the "President's power" doesn't even seem right to me. If I'm not mistaken, many of these agencies were created by Congress, the legislative branch, and placed under the executive branch for management of operations for practical reasons with some rule/structure that kept them from solely just being an extension of the current president, but the power granted to them is not the "President's power" to my understanding. Arguably that makes them the power of the legislature or a hybrid power sharing model of the legislature and executive branch.
This redefining as "President's power" is quite scary, and as you mentioned, is a step towards making the president more of a king.
I think that this Supreme Court is simply relying on them changing their rulings whenever they see fit when a Democrat is elected president to ensure that the king-like powers are only usable by the president who better aligns with their own personal interests. And to that end, likely using their powers to limit changes to the Supreme Court during Democratic party control. I would not doubt that if Democrats even manage to scrape out a majority in both legislative houses/chambers/bodies and gain the presidency, and even if they get rid of the filibuster if needed, and if they try to pack the courts or such, that the Supreme Court will find some grounds to rule against it.
And unlike RBG, I think all these justices understand the game and they will actually plan their retirements around what party is in control. At best we can potentially hope for some unexpected health issue like a heart attack or something to take one out in a term they weren't planning for.
I was going to say here that at least some of the recent Supreme Court decisions were good, even if a greater portion were terrible. But then I read the article.
This is horrifying.
I'm tired of pretending the Supreme Court is somehow above politics, as though it's composed of otherworldly fae who are magically immune to bias, influence, or corruption. We're overdue for some investigations and reform, I think.
I have a few suggestions for replacements...
Who are also definitely not fae either?
Obviously!
Tempting! Alas, my local folklore enthusiast has advised me against considering this deal.
sigh I never get any fun anymore.
Birthright citizenship is upheld but it's 6-3 (and arguably 5-4 the way they ruled) (gift link)
~~And Alito allegedly announced his retirement (there's been some back and forth on that.)
~~
He has not retired. Npr retracted their statement.
It's unsurprising to me that the "originalists" ignored the explicit intentions of the authors of the amendment and are more racist than the Kim Ark Wong court. But Gorsuch absolutely caved from his questioning previously and Kavanaugh contributed to undermining the constitution itself.
It should feel like a win but it's just scraping survival right now.
Also state trans athlete bans were upheld with Kavanaugh throwing a scrap of "but they deserve to be respected"... Sure.
That should've been a slam dunk 9-0 for these "originalists" or "textualists" or whatever bullshit they're calling themselves these days.
I realized that if the decision were to overturn, and it was decided to apply retroactively...I'd be the only one in my family who possibly wouldn't be a US citizen. Neither of my parents had naturalized before I was born. My dad would naturalize a couple years later so he could work for the US govt. My younger brother born a couple years after that, would derive his citizenship from my dad. And then my mom naturalized like 10yrs after my dad (she dragged her feet, even though she had been in the US like 30yrs already...). I'd be the only one left out.
The "fun" part is that I, too, work for the government. And I hold a clearance. I imagine there are lot of us in that boat. Figurative boat; not a literal one, thank god...
Yeah it's... Not great.
One big win and three defeats for Trump in dramatic day at Supreme Court (BBC)
He'll probably decide to fire one of them next.