Nation & World Glance
Supreme Court limits EPA in curbing power plant emissions
WASHINGTON – In a blow to the fight against climate change, the Supreme Court on Thursday limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.
The decision, said environmental advocates and dissenting liberal justices, was a major step in the wrong direction – “a gut punch,” one prominent meteorologist said – at a time of increasing environmental damage attributable to climate change amid dire warnings about the future.
The court’s ruling could complicate the administration’s plans to combat climate change. Its detailed proposal to regulate power plant emissions is expected by the end of the year. Though the decision was specific to the EPA, it was in line with the conservative majority’s skepticism of the power of regulatory agencies and it sent a message on possible future effects beyond climate change and air pollution.
The decision put an exclamation point on a court term in which a conservative majority, bolstered by three appointees of former President Donald Trump, also overturned the nearly 50-year-old nationwide right to abortion, expanded gun rights and issued major religious rights rulings, all over liberal dissents.
Biden notched gains at summit; returns to turmoil at home
MADRID – The dissonant realities of President Joe Biden’s second year in office were on display Thursday as he wound up a five-day trip to Europe that highlighted both the key U.S. role in mounting a strong allied response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression and the domestic turmoil that is dragging Biden down at home.
Huddling with the leaders of Group of Seven advanced economies in the Bavarian Alps and with NATO allies in Madrid, Biden was greeted warmly by colleagues and notched significant policy accomplishments on modernizing the trans-Atlantic alliance to adapt to new threats from Russia and China.
At home, though, the U.S. was grappling with fallout from last week’s Supreme Court decision ending the constitutional right to abortion, which Biden condemned Thursday as “destabilizing.” Biden faces both the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and rising pessimism about the direction of the country.
Biden appeared to welcome the time away from Washington as a respite from his domestic predicament, insisting that despite turmoil at home on matters from inflation to gun violence, world leaders still valued America’s – and his – leadership.
“I have not seen anyone come up to me and ... say anything other than ‘Thank you for America’s leadership,’” Biden said in high-spirited remarks during a press conference at the end of what he called a “historic” summit. “America is better positioned to lead the world than we ever have been.”
US official: Migrants who died cleared inland checkpoint
SAN ANTONIO – The tractor-trailer at the center of a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead had passed through an inland U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint with migrants inside the sweltering rig earlier in its journey, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The truck went through the checkpoint on Interstate 35 located 26 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of the border city of Laredo, Texas.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said there were 73 people in the truck when it was discovered Monday in San Antonio, including the 53 who died. It was unclear if agents stopped the driver for questioning at the inland checkpoint or if the truck went through unimpeded.
The disclosure brings new attention to an old policy question of whether the roughly 110 inland highway checkpoints along the Mexican and Canadian borders are sufficiently effective at spotting people in cars and trucks who enter the United States illegally. They are generally located up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the border.
Texas state police also announced they would operate their own inland checkpoints for tractor-trailers on the orders of Gov. Greg Abbott, who considers the Biden administration’s efforts insufficient. It was unclear how many trucks they would be stopping.
China’s Xi swears in new Hong Kong leader John Lee
HONG KONG – Chinese President Xi Jinping officiated the swearing-in ceremony of Hong Kong’s new leader John Lee on Friday as the city marked the 25th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule after being pulled in recent years under much tighter Communist Party control.
Lee, a former security official who oversaw the crackdown on dissent in the city since 2019 pro-democracy protests, pledged to uphold the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and bear allegiance to Hong Kong. He also pledged to be accountable to the central government in Beijing.
His inauguration followed a morning flag-raising ceremony attended by Lee, outgoing city leader Carrie Lam and several hundred other people. Xi, who is making his first trip off the mainland in 2 1/2 years, was not present at the ceremony.
On his arrival Thursday, Xi told well-wishers that Hong Kong has overcome many challenges over the years and had been “reborn from the ashes” with “vigorous vitality,” in an apparent allusion to the 2019 pro-democracy protests, which were followed by a sweeping crackdown on dissent that has transformed the economic hub once known for its political and civic freedoms.
The flag-raising ceremony was held amid strong winds, and police officers carrying the Chinese and Hong Kong flags marched into the Golden Bauhinia Square for the ceremony with the Chinese “goose-stepping” style, replacing a British-style march. Guests stood at attention as the Chinese national anthem was played.
Jackson sworn in, becomes 1st Black woman on Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the Supreme Court on Thursday, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.
The 51-year-old Jackson is the court’s 116th justice, and she took the place of the justice she once worked for. Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement was effective at noon.
Moments later, joined by her family, Jackson recited the two oaths required of Supreme Court justices, one administered by Breyer and the other by Chief Justice John Roberts.
“With a full heart, I accept the solemn responsibility of supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States and administering justice without fear or favor, so help me God,” Jackson said in a statement issued by the court. “I am truly grateful to be part of the promise of our great Nation. I extend my sincerest thanks to all of my new colleagues for their warm and gracious welcome.”
Roberts welcomed Jackson “to the court and our common calling.” The ceremony was streamed live on the court’s website. All the justices except for Neil Gorsuch attended the swearing-in, the court said. There was no immediate explanation for Gorsuch’s absence.
McConnell warns Dems of fallout for reviving Biden bill
WASHINGTON – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell threatened
Thursday to derail a bill designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States if Democrats revive their stalled package of energy and economic initiatives.
The rejuvenation of the Democratic reconciliation package, central to President Joe Biden’s agenda is far from certain. But with some signs of progress in the negotiations, McConnell is moving to complicate Democratic plans. He’s warning that Republicans would react by stopping separate semiconductor legislation from moving over the finish line in the coming weeks, despite its bipartisan support.
“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be no bipartisan USICA as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill,” McConnell tweeted, referring to the shorthand name for the computer chips bill that passed the Senate last year.
Both chambers of Congress have passed their versions of the legislation, which would include $52 billion in incentives for companies to locate chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. Lawmakers are now trying to reconcile the
considerable differences between the two bills, but at a pace that has many supporters worried the job won’t get done before lawmakers break for their August recess.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said McConnell was “holding hostage” a bipartisan package that would lower the cost of countless products that rely on semiconductors and would yield hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
Wisconsin’s conservative high court hands GOP another weapon
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin’s conservative-controlled Supreme Court handed Republicans their newest weapon to weaken any Democratic governors in the battleground state, ruling this week that political appointees don’t have to leave their posts until the Senate confirms their successor.
The court’s decision – in the case of a conservative who refused to step down from an environmental policy board for more than a year after his term expired – marks another loss for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers as he faces reelection in November.
Republicans have worked to reduce Evers’ powers since even before he took office and have refused to confirm many of his appointees. This week’s ruling gives them the ability to block them simply by declining to hold a nomination vote.
“Most people on the street would say when a term ... expires, there’s an opening. The Supreme Court has said that commonsense understanding is not right,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said. The ruling “raises the question of why is there a term at all? Maybe we just say a person serves for life the way a U.S. Supreme Court justice does.”
Republicans are likely to control the Legislature for years to come largely due to gerrymandered districts.
After Evers was elected in 2018 but before he took office, they passed laws during a lame-duck session that temporarily stripped him of his power to appoint members of the state’s economic development agency and gave legislators the ability to block executive branch agencies’ rules and policies.