Summary of the day
Here’s a quick recap of today’s developments:
The US supreme court dealt a major blow to LGBTQ+ rights, ruling that a Colorado civil rights law which compels businesses and organizations to treat same-sex couples equally is in violation of the right to free speech. The decision, reached by a six to three vote of the conservative supermajority, could open the door for businesses to refuse service to some couples based on their sexuality – but could also have the same effect on willingness of service based on a customer’s race or religion, gender or disability. The ruling prompted an excoriating dissent from the three liberal justices.
Joe Biden expressed his fears that the supreme court’s conservatives may fuel discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender Americans nationwide by striking down a Colorado law prohibiting businesses from turning away LGBTQ+ people. Biden vowed in a statement that his administration “will also work with states across the country to fight back against attempts to roll back civil rights protections that could follow this ruling.”
Vice-president Kamala Harris said the court’s ruling against the Colorado law “threatens future progress”. The court’s decision “departs from decades of jurisprudence by creating an exception to protections against discrimination in public accommodations”, she said in a statement.
The supreme court also ruled against the Biden administration’s $430bn student debt forgiveness plan in a blow to up to 40 million borrowers in the US. In a 6-3 decision, the conservative-leaning supermajority of justices ruled that the 2003 Heroes Act does not authorize Biden’s debt forgiveness plan. Under Joe Biden’s loan forgiveness plan, announced last August, $20,000 per person of federal student debt would have been forgiven for borrowers who were Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 of debt would have been forgiven for other borrowers.
Joe Biden vowed the “fight was not over” after the court ruled against his landmark student debt forgiveness plan. “I think the court misinterpreted the constitution,” the president said, announcing his intention to pivot to another law to find another path forward. Biden promised to now turn to the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restore student debt relief. He also plans to enact a 12-month repayment program that would help people with student debt avoid defaulting on their loans if they couldn’t pay and avoid years of bad credit ratings.
The education secretary, Miguel Cardona, said he “strongly disagreed” with the court’s decision, adding that the court had “ruled against more than 40 million working families”. “We’re talking about low and middle income families recovering from the worst pandemic in a century,” Cardona said at a White House briefing.
The supreme court turned away a case challenging Mississippi’s rules around voting rights for people with felony convictions, leaving intact a policy implemented more than a century ago with the explicit goal of preventing Black people from voting. Those convicted of any one of 23 specific felonies in Mississippi permanently lose the right to vote.
The supreme court agreed to next term take up a case that could give the conservatives a chance to further erode gun control laws. The court will consider whether a federal law that takes guns away from people who are under a domestic violence restraining order is constitutional.
Indiana’s highest court has allowed its near-total abortion ban to go into effect, a year after the supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade. Indiana was the first state in the nation to pass an abortion ban after the end of Roe v Wade, but its supreme court blocked the measure passed by the Republican-dominated legislature later in 2022.
Much of North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban will take effect on Saturday, after a federal judge temporarily blocked just one provision included in the law. The move deals a blow to one of the last bastions of abortion access in the south.
The state department released report critical of its handling of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. America’s diplomatic arm “failed to establish a broader task force as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated”, and “it was unclear who in the Department had the lead,” the report determined.
Prosecutors said they have turned over more than 80,000 pages of materials to congressman George Santos’s lawyers in the federal fraud and money laundering case against him. Santos pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire. The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts his life story, is free on bond, awaiting trial.
Much of North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban will take effect tomorrow, after a federal judge temporarily blocked just one provision included in the law.
US district court judge Catherine Eagles issued a narrow temporary restraining order putting on hold a requirement for doctors to document the location of a pregnancy when prescribing a medical abortion. The bulk of the law will be allowed to take effect on 1 July.
In May, the state’s Republican-controlled general assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of the 12-week abortion ban. The move dealt a blow to one of the last bastions of abortion access in the south, which has been significantly curtailed after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year.
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