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I was always taught that the Supreme Court is, by design, a slow-moving, centrist institution. Its only real power comes from public trust. It has no police force, no enforcement arm — just a reputation for integrity, restraint, and political independence. That’s why, my history teachers explained, the Court would never casually discard precedent, contradict assurances made during confirmation hearings, or lurch far outside the public mainstream.
Apparently, the Supreme Court is now in its DGAF era.
Today it issued a ruling so sweeping and startling that you want to take off your glasses, rub your eyes, and read it again.
The ruling involves Trump’s firing of an FTC commissioner. The Court’s decision allows the president to fire officials at independent agencies — including members from the opposing party appointed to preserve balance. The decision weakens congressional oversight, agency independence, and the separation of powers. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned, it gives the president something approaching the power of a king: The ability to remake the federal regulatory apparatus with loyalists responsive to his political whims.
And that was just one ruling.
I wanted to know whether there was a defensible legal rationale — and what the larger consequences might be — so I took a shot at booking one of the sharpest Supreme Court analysts anywhere, Dahlia Lithwick. She said yes.
We discuss this decision, why the Court carved out a protection for the Fed and what may be coming next. Lithwick is senior editor at Slate, cohost of the Amicus podcast, and author of Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America. Find our conversation at the top of this newsletter.
Also in this newsletter: The Supreme Court hands Trump a “tremendous loss.” A low turnout for the Great American State Fair. The Pentagon vs. the flu. A company replaced AI with humans, and the result won’t surprise you. Administration family members cash in on billion-dollar mining deals. Federal government websites, now with commercial trackers. Watch out for record-breaking heat. And in News That Doesn’t Suck, a shocking new discovery from one of the world’s most controversial fossil sites.
Here Are Your Headlines
Courting Controversy: The Supreme Court issued several consequential decisions today.
Fire At Will: The Court voted 6–3 to give Trump the power to fire members of more than 20 independent agency boards and commissions without cause. For over 90 years, federal law and the Court’s unanimous Humphrey’s Executor ruling barred presidents from firing these officials at will. But this Court’s conservative majority concluded that limit violates the Constitution’s separation of powers. Chief Justice John Roberts argued that these agencies must “be controlled by the chief executive” — and their members are, therefore, “subordinate” to the president, who is entitled to fire them at will. How does this account for the role of Congress, which created and funds these agencies, confirms their leaders, and writes the laws they enforce? The Court’s liberals say it doesn’t. Justice Sonia Sotomayor condemned the ruling as “grievously wrong,” warning it gives the President, “a power unknown even to the English Crown against which the Founders revolted,” potentially transforming “dozens of independent commissions” into “purely executive agencies. The president, she wrote, now “emerges with far greater powers than ever before.”
About the Case: The case concerned Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. Congress designed the FTC to be independent and bipartisan: no more than three of its five members may belong to one party and members can be fired only for misconduct, neglect, or inefficiency. Trump nominated Slaughter in his first term, and Biden reappointed her in 2023. Trump fired her in 2025, saying her continued service was “inconsistent” with his “priorities.” (Trump did the same to the board’s other Democratic member.) Slaughter sued, two lower courts sided with her, and an appeals court agreed, citing binding Supreme Court precedent. The conservative majority has now overturned it.
The Impact: Trump now effectively has the power to bend independent agencies — responsible for protecting the rights of millions of Americans — to his will. Agencies created to be bipartisan and insulated from politics may now be controlled by one party and staffed by officials beholden to the president. Since the start of his second term, Trump has fired or attempted to fire 16 Democratic members of 11 partisan-balanced boards or commissions, leaving nearly 40% without any Democratic membership — and, in some cases, without enough members to function. Trump also fired or attempted to fire 20 officials who, until today, enjoyed “for-cause” protections. Today’s decision is expected to resolve many of the lawsuits some of those officials filed in Trump’s favor.
Yes, But: Chief Justice Roberts left unclear exactly which agencies are subject to presidential control. He identified the Federal Reserve as an exception.
Kept In Reserve: The Court voted 5–4 to reject Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook — at least, for now. Chief Justice Roberts argued that allowing Trump to oust Cook would turn membership on the Fed board into “little more than at-will employment,” allowing a president to “remove a member … at any time, for any reason, without any notice before, and without any judicial check after.” “Nothing could be more corrosive,” Roberts concluded, “of the independence that Congress sought to preserve.” Trump can still try to fire Cook for cause.
Ballot Counting: The Court ruled 5–4 to protect grace periods for mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the majority, explained that while federal laws determine when votes must be cast — not when they must be received. Only Congress can impose that deadline. Trump raged at what he called a “tremendous loss” and again urged lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act. More on that here. 18 states and territories have policies allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by election day to be counted even if they arrive later. 12 others offer grace periods for overseas ballots. Read more about the Court’s decision here.
Location Data: The Court ruled 6–3 that geofence warrants are subject to the Constitution’s privacy protections, narrowing the location data the government can access without an individualized warrant. Police use geofence warrants to draw a virtual “fence” around an area, then force a tech company to identify users who were there during a certain period. The government argued that people voluntarily share location data with, say, Google, so it isn’t protected. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, rejected that argument: People are simply using their devices as intended, not consenting to share sensitive data with the government. They therefore enjoy a “reasonable expectation of privacy” under the Fourth Amendment. More here.
E Jean Carroll’s Day: The Court rejected, with no noted dissents, Trump’s appeal of a lower court’s finding that he sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll. Though he vowed to keep fighting, the Court’s decision is final. That means the civil jury’s verdict, and $5 million penalty, stand. Trump reacted with fury, calling the case “Fake” and insisting he “never met” Carroll — the kind of claims that led to the defamation case in the first place.
Standards: The Court refused to revive Alan Dershowitz’s $300 million defamation case against CNN, effectively upholding a longstanding requirement that public figures must prove “actual malice” to justify a defamation claim. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing the legal standards for proving defamation should be reconsidered. More here.
Up Next: The Court agreed to consider whether states can conduct mass voter purges to remove non-citizens from voter rolls. Under the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, such purges are prohibited within 90 days of an election; states must instead remove voters individually. The administration and GOP argue this protection doesn’t cover efforts targeting non-citizens. Critics warn that the programs used to identify non-citizens make mistakes, potentially disenfranchising eligible voters without enough time to make corrections. More here.
Sad State of Affairs: Trump’s Great American State Fair opened on the National Mall to crowds described as “sparse,” “small” and “virtually deserted.” Attractions included a Confederate flag, an AI-generated image of George Washington riding a rollercoaster, a golden calf named Melania, and a glitchy national anthem performed by Kash Patel’s girlfriend. There were some last-minute hiccups, like power issues that melted ice cream, brought the Ferris wheel to a standstill, and left multiple booths in the dark or without AC. Several states skipped the fair entirely. Trump held a campaign rally as attendees left. Bad weather repeatedly closed the event and the digital billboard telling people to evacuate misspelled the fair organizer’s name. Otherwise, flawless.
Keep reading to find out…
Why the Pentagon is making flu vaccines mandatory again
What happened when Ford replaced its AI tools with human workers
Whose family members are set to benefit from over a dozen critical mining deals
How a new, DOGE-connected federal agency you’ve never heard of is working to track hundreds of millions of Americans
Where to expect record-breaking temperatures this weekend
The new agreement between Lebanon and Israel
What the world’s most controversial fossils just revealed about an ancient human ancestor’s attitudes toward women
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