12:30 Report is The Hill’s midday newsletter. Subscribe here or using the box below:
Happy Friday! The summer solstice is tonight! 🍦 Did anyone capture any cool photos or videos of those wild thunderstorms in D.C. yesterday?
In today’s issue:
- Supreme Court rules against FDA, EPA
- Trump calls for review of 2020 election
- Senate parliamentarian eyes ‘big, beautiful’ bill
- ChatGPT’s impact on critical thinking skills
🏛️️ IN THE SUPREME COURT
New opinions just dropped:
The Supreme Court weighed in on six cases this morning. In several, it was a tough day for federal agencies.
The court sided against both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The opinions getting the most attention:
🔷 Vaping: The court sided with the vaping industry, rejecting the FDA’s bid to limit where companies can challenge product marketing denials. The decision was 7-2 with two of the court’s liberal justices dissenting. Read more
🔷 Nixing EPA standards: The Supreme Court revived an effort to axe California’s strict vehicle emissions standards approved by the EPA. The decision was 7-2. Read more
🔷 Suing Palestinian leadership groups: The court ruled to allow victims of terrorist attacks to sue Palestinian leadership groups for damages in U.S. court. The decision was unanimous. Read more
Tidbit from the room: “Justice Kavanaugh’s daughters were present today to hear him announce two opinions. They [were] seated in the VIP section near LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey.” (via SCOTUSblog)
➤ SITUATIONAL AWARENESS:
While today’s decisions have sweeping impacts, the Supreme Court left several of its biggest-ticket cases for the coming weeks. There are 10 cases left for the high court to decide before the summer break.
Some of those remaining cases: Birthright citizenship, TikTok, age verification for porn sites and racial redistricting.
➤ INTERESTING READ:
“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s shunning of “experts” defending gender-affirming care is delighting conservatives in their assault on liberal influence in academics and medicine, a mission now reaching the courts,” report The Hill’s Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld.
Read their full reporting: ‘Justice Thomas delights conservatives in shunning gender-affirming care “experts”’
🗳️ IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Trump calls for special prosecutor:
President Trump this morning called for a special prosecutor to investigate his unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election results were fraudulent.
The push underscores how the president remains fixated on his loss to former President Biden in 2020, even after mounting a political comeback last year to win a second term.
Trump posted on Truth Social: “Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total FRAUD! The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in the United States of America! Let the work begin!”
Keep in mind: Numerous lawsuits from Trump’s allies claiming the 2020 election was stolen have been dismissed. Those dismissals include judges appointed by Republican presidents.
Appeals court hands Trump win:
President Trump celebrated a “big win” this morning in his fight with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over control of the state’s National Guard.🔎 Read Trump’s Truth Social post
What happened?: A federal appeals court based in San Francisco unanimously ruled last night that Trump could keep control of the California National Guard for the time being.
Backstory: Trump sent in thousands of National Guard troops to respond to the immigration protests. Newsom and other state officials argued they could handle the protests on their own. This sparked a lawsuit.🗨️ Follow today’s live blog
➤ HAPPENING TODAY IN L.A.:
Vice President Vance is in Los Angeles today to meet with Marines and visit a federal command center.
NOTUS’s Reese Gorman reports that Vance is also attending the Republican National Committee’s summer retreat in L.A. Gorman noted that contributions range from $15,000 to $445,000, per a source. 📸 The invite
⚾ ALSO IN L.A.: The Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday they denied Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to their stadium grounds.
The Trump administration has pushed back on the claims as well as the baseball organization’s characterization of why federal agents were there, while acknowledging that Department of Homeland Security personnel were outside the ballpark grounds.
🔴 ON CAPITOL HILL
Taking a red pen to the bill:
The nonpartisan Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough rejected several pieces of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” ruling they do not qualify for the procedure Senate Republicans are using to skirt the 60-vote threshold.
What did the parliamentarian nix?:
- Cutting $1.4 billion from Federal Reserve staff’s pay
- Capping funds for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
- Reducing the Office of Financial Research funding by $293 million
- Eliminating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
What happens now?: Senate Republicans can either remove these portions of the bill or would need to get enough Democrats on board to pass it with 60 votes — an unlikely prospect given broad opposition to the bill among Democrats.
Some Trump allies have previously flirted with Republicans trying to overrule the parliamentarian, though Senate GOP Leader John Thune (S.D.) has indicated he doesn’t plan to override the parliamentarian’s ruling with a simple majority vote on the floor.
Keep in mind: The parliamentarian isn’t ruling on whether these provisions can become law, only whether they qualify for passage through the budget reconciliation process that Republicans are using to advance the Trump megabill with a simple majority.
➤ 3D GAME OF CHESS:
Senate conservatives are demanding steeper spending cuts, adding even more turbulence to the negotiations.
Who is leading the charge?: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
In the middle: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has focused this week on addressing the concerns of Senate GOP colleagues such as Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who raised alarms about cuts to federal Medicaid spending.”
On the right: “But Thune has to worry about his right flank as Johnson and his allies are threatening to hold up the bill unless GOP leaders agree to deeper cuts to federal Medicaid spending and a faster rollback of the renewable energy tax credits enacted under former President Biden.”
Read the Hill’s Alexander Bolton’s reporting: ‘Trump’s megabill hits more trouble as Senate conservatives demand changes’
➤ LOOMING IN THE NEGOTIATIONS
The state and local tax (SALT) deductions cap. House moderates from high-tax states are standing firm on wanting to increase the cap, but Senate Republicans are at odds, reports The Hill’s Mychael Schnell. How this could play out
COMING UP
The House and Senate are out. President Trump is in Washington before heading to New Jersey this afternoon. (All times EST)
- Today: Iranian officials are meeting with foreign ministers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
- 2 p.m. Trump leaves for his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
- 2 p.m. State Department briefing. 💻 Livestream
- 3 p.m. The U.N. Security Council holds a meeting on Russia and Ukraine. 💻 Livestream
- 7:30 p.m. Trump attends a MAGA Inc. dinner.
INTERNET BUZZ
🥐 Celebrate: Today is National Kouign Amann Day.
🤖 Be careful using ChatGPT too much: New MIT research suggests that ChatGPT can harm peoples’ critical thinking skills over time.
🫖 I love hearing these behind-the-scenes tidbits: Investor Mark Cuban said he turned down an offer from former Vice President Kamala Harris’s team in 2024 to be vetted as a potential running mate.
AND FINALLY…
To celebrate the first day of summer (and today being a Friday!), enjoy these golden retrievers living their absolute best life.
Check out this 1-minute video recapping yesterday’s newsletter. You can send your feedback, tips and favorite cookie recipes to cmartel@thehill.com. See you next week!
