OA1134 - Mere hours after a literal pat on the back from Donald Trump on live TV, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a 5-4 decision against him in the emergency litigation over Trump’s unconstitutional efforts to eliminate foreign aid funding. How much of a win was this really, and why did Samuel Alito spend eight pages in dissent pretending to be “stunned” by the majority’s radical assertion that the federal government should pay out debts incurred by valid acts of Congress? We then turn to a less-noticed recent Supreme Court decision with concerning implications for the future of civil rights litigation before appreciating recent Congressional wins: blue city mayors schooling the House Oversight Committee without ever giving up even a  single point in six hours, and Senate Democrats taking a meaningful united stand for trans lives.

• U.S. Supreme Court’s order in Department of State et al v. AIDS Vaccine Coalition (3/5/25)

• Lackey v. Stinnie, Supreme Court #23-621 (2/25/2025) 

• Full video of House Oversight Committee’s hearing with mayors of Boston, New York, Denver, and Chicago, Associated Press (3/5/25)

• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu performs George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Boston Pops (9/22/2024)

• “Senate Dems Show Spine, and National Sports Bill Dies,” S. Baum, Erin in the Morning (journalist Erin Reed’s Substack)(3/3/25)

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