1/ Biden will send 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border ahead of an expected surge of migrants when Title 42 restrictions end. They will join the 2,500 National Guard members already at the border. The military members, however, will not serve in a law enforcement capacity and will not interact with migrants, but instead “fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support,” the Pentagon said. The troops will carry out this support for 90 days. Title 42, which was invoked at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, expires on May 11. It permitted the U.S., for public health reasons, to quickly expel migrants seeking asylum. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)

2/ House Democrats took a procedural step to bypass Kevin McCarthy and Republican leaders to raise the debt ceiling and avert a federal default. Democrats would need at least five Republicans to support a so-called “discharge petition,” which allows a majority of House lawmakers to bring a bill directly to the floor without the cooperation of leadership. Rather than trying to discharge the bill itself, Democrats instead would add the petition addressing the debt ceiling as an amendment to a placeholder bill from Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, which was filed in January. A possible default is now projected as soon as June 1. “House Democrats are working to make sure we have all options at our disposal to avoid a default,” Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a letter to colleagues. “The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option. It is now time for MAGA Republicans to act in a bipartisan manner to pay America’s bills without extreme conditions.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Hill)

3/ U.S. job openings dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years – a sign that demand for workers is cooling. The number of available jobs fell for a third-straight month to 9.59 million from nearly 10 million a month earlier. Layoffs, meanwhile, jumped to the highest level since December 2020. (

1/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the U.S. could default “as early as June 1” unless Congress raises or suspends the debt ceiling. A default could cause “severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position, and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests,” Yellen said. The revised estimate from the Congressional Budget Office comes less than a week after House Republicans passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling through 2024 in exchange for billions of dollars in spending cuts and the repeal of federal funds to fight climate change. Democrats in the Senate, however, have refused to take up the legislation. And Biden, who has threatened to veto the bill, said Republicans need to protect the economy by raising the debt limit without the “reckless hostage taking.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / CNN)

2/ Regulators took possession of First Republic Bank and sold most of its assets, marking the third major bank failure in the U.S. in less than two months. JPMorgan – already the nation’s largest bank – agreed to the takeover after a private-sector solution fell through and will assume about $173 billion of First Republic’s loans, $30 billion of securities, and $92 billion in deposits. As part of the agreement, the FDIC will share losses with JPMorgan on First Republic’s loans. When the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year to slow the economy and curb inflation, it hurt the value of bonds and loans the bank bought when rates were low and then customers began to move their money in search of better returns. First Republic is the second-largest U.S. bank to collapse after Washington Mutual, which failed during the 2008 financial crisis and was also acquired by JPMorgan. Three of the four largest-ever bank failures have happened since March. First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank held a total of $532 billion in assets – more than the 25 banks that failed in 2008 when adjusted for inflation. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NPR)

3/ The Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates for the 10th time as part of its yearlong effort to fight inflation despite the collapse of First Repu...

1/ Pence testified before the federal grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The closed-door appearance comes one day after a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s emergency attempt to prevent or limit Pence’s testimony. A grand jury subpoena was issued by special counsel Jack Smith to compel Pence to testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including the pressure campaign to have him block the certification of the election in his role as president of the Senate. It is the first time that a vice president has been compelled to testify about the president he served. (NBC News / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)

2/ Senate Republicans blocked a resolution that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment to be added to the Constitution. The bipartisan resolution to remove an arbitrary 1982 deadline for ratification failed 51-47. It needed to clear a 60-vote threshold. The ERA, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, was first introduced in 1923 and later passed by Congress in 1972. Although Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in 2020 – meeting the required three-fourths needed for Constitutional amendments – it did so after the deadline. Chuck Schumer changed his vote to a “no,” which would allow him to bring the resolution back up later, saying: “This issue is too important, and we are not giving up.” (The Hill / CNN / Politico / ABC News / USA Today / Washington Post)

3/ A Missouri judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a first-of-its-kind rule that limited gender-affirming care for minors and adults in the state – hours before it was set to take effect. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo said she wanted more time to review briefs from Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who issued the new restrictions. Ribaudo delayed implementation of the rule until 5 p.m. Monday, saying she expects to issue a ruling before then. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Montana House voted to discipline the state’s first transgender lawmaker after she told colleagues they would have “blood on [their] hands” if they passed a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Zooey Zephyr is barred from attending or speaking from the House floor for the remainder of the 2023 session, but will be allowed to vote remotely. In Kansas, Republican legislators enacted a transgender bathroom law, overriding the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure. The Kansas law prevents transgender people from using the restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, domestic violence shelters, and rape crisis centers associated with their gender identity.

1/ Chief Justice John Roberts declined to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Supreme Court’s ethics practices, calling such testimony “exceedingly rare” for what he called “mundane matters.” Instead, Roberts released a statement that was meant to provide “new clarity” to the public about the court’s ethics principles and practices. The statement said all nines justices “reaffirm and restate foundational ethics principles and practices to which they subscribe in carrying out their responsibilities” as Supreme Court justices. The committee had planned to hold a hearing to examine “common sense proposals” to hold Supreme Court justices to the same ethical standards as the rest of the federal judiciary after it was reported that Justice Clarence Thomas hadn’t disclosed several luxury trips he received from a Republican megadonor. (NPR / CNN / Politico / NBC News)

2/ Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch neglected to disclose details of a nearly $2 million sale of property to the CEO of a prominent law firm executive in 2017. While Gorsuch did note on his federal disclosure forms that he made between $250,001 and $500,000 on the sale – which occurred nine days after he was confirmed for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court by the Senate – he left the identity of the purchaser blank. The purchaser was Brian Duffy, chief executive officer of Greenberg Traurig – one of the nation’s biggest law firms that has appeared in at least 22 cases before the Supreme Court since Gorsuch joined in April 2017. Gorsuch sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times of the 12 times that Gorsuch recorded an opinion. (CNN / Politico)

3/ A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that requires the Supreme Court to implement a code of conduct – the only branch of government to operate without a code of conduct. The bill would require the court to establish its own code of conduct within one year and to make it available publicly, as well as appoint someone to handle any complaints of potential violations. “It’s pitiful that we’re having to introduce this bill—it’s pathetic that the Supreme Court hasn’t done this itself,” Sen. Angus King said, one of the bill’s sponsors. “The Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act is a commonsense step to restore and maintain faith in the high court by requiring the creation of consistent, transparent rules like the ones that apply to every other federal judge across our democracy. The other two branches of government already have codes of conduct, it is only reasonable the full Judiciary should as well.” (The Hill / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN /

1/ Biden formally announced his 2024 re-election campaign. Biden, who once pitched himself as “the bridge” to a new generation of Democratic leaders during his 2020 campaign, argued that “the question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” adding: “I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.” In a three-minute video announcing his re-election, Biden cast Republicans as a danger to democracy who want to cut “Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.” Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, concluded his announcement by saying: “It’s time to finish the job. Finish the job.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)

🚨 Get your free WTFJHT x “Dark Brandon” sticker. Support today’s essential newsletter and resist the shock and awe with a free WTFJHT x “Dark Brandon” 2024 sticker! Just enter your address and I’ll send you a sticker. (Let’s Go Brandon!)

[Analysis] Almost every recent poll shows a highly competitive presidential race. (New York Times)

[Analysis] Biden vs. Trump 2024 would be the rematch nobody wants. (NBC News)

[Analysis] What young Democrats want from a 2nd Biden campaign. “Just a quarter of people under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats.” (Axios)

2/ Biden threatened to veto a House Republican debt ceiling bill that would require spending cuts in order to raise the debt ceiling, calling it “a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred.” The Republican proposal would make cuts to discretionary spending, repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate change tax credits, impose new welfare work requirements, and cancel Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The White House has insisted that Republicans “address the debt limit without demands and conditions, just as the Congress did three times during the prior Administration,” saying Biden “has been clear that he will not accept such attempts at hostage-taking.” Still, if the proposal were to pass the full House, Chuc...

1/ Fox News parted ways with Tucker Carlson, effective immediately. Carlson’s departure comes a week after Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. Although Fox News said that the network and Carlson had “agreed to part ways,” Carlson found out he was fired about 10 minutes before the network announced his departure. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” Fox News said in a statement. Excluding sports, Tucker Carlson Tonight was the top rated prime-time show on cable TV. Carlson’s last broadcast aired Friday, and he ended the show by saying: “We’ll be back on Monday.” (NPR / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)

2/ The Supreme Court protected full access to the most commonly used abortion pill in the U.S. In its first major abortion-related decision since overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s ruling that had revoked the FDA’s approval of mifepristone after more than two decades. As a result, mifepristone will remain widely available while appeals play out. Two of the nine justices – Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – said they would have let part of District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone take effect. (NBC News / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)

3/ Chief Justice John Roberts declined to directly respond to a congressional request to investigate possible ethics violations by Justice Clarence Thomas. Instead, Roberts referred the request from Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin to the Judicial Conference. Durbin requested the investigation after a report found that Thomas had accepted luxury trips from a Republican megadonor for more than two decades. The trips were not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings. (CNN / Bloomberg)

4/ Trump’s legal team discussed using data from a breached Georgia voting machine to try and decertify...

1/ An arbitration panel ordered the MyPillow Guy to pay $5 million for losing his “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge that there was Chinese interference in the 2020 election. In August 2021, Mike Lindell, the MyPillow Inc. chief executive, claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and offered $5 million to anyone who could prove that the data was not from the 2020 election. Welp, Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and a Nevada Republican who voted twice for Trump, proved that Lindell’s data “unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data,” according to the arbitration panel. Zeidman called the ruling “great,” saying “this was obviously manufactured bogus data.” Lindell, meanwhile, claimed the court “made a terribly wrong decision!” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / CNN / The Hill / Wall Street Journal)

2/ An attorney who helped Trump in his effort to overturn the 2020 election told top Republican donors that they need to curtail college voting, same-day voter registration, and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters. “What are these college campus locations?” Mitchell asked during her presentation at a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Nashville. “What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.” Mitchell singled out on campus voting in five states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Virginia, and Wisconsin. (Washington Post / Stevens Point Journal)

3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify on Supreme Court ethics reform. The invitation follows a report that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted but never disclosed over two decades of luxury trips from a Republican billionaire donor. Chair Dick Durbin called on Roberts to appear before the committee on May 2, saying his testimony on ethics issues could “strengthen faith” in the Supreme Court. When asked if he planned to subpoena Roberts if he declines the invitation to testify, Durbin replied: “It takes a majority. I don’t have a majority.” Dianne Feinstein’s health-induced absence from the Judiciary Committee means Democrats don’t have the majority needed to issue a subpoena. (Politico / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg /

1/ A Montana judge ruled that the state’s oil and gas policies failed to consider climate change when approving energy projects, violating young people’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.” District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found that a provision in the Montana Environmental Policy Act had harmed the state’s environment and the plaintiffs – a group of 16 kids, teens, and young adults. It was the first-of-its kind youth-led climate trial. In the ruling, Seeley wrote that “Montana’s emissions and climate change have been proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment and harm and injury” to the youth. Montana is one of three states that have the affirmative right to a safe environment in their constitutions. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

Small changes in global average temperature are driving environmental and economic consequences. (Bloomberg)

The clean energy future is arriving faster than you think. “Wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal by 2025 as the world’s largest source of electricity. Automakers have made electric vehicles central to their business strategies and are openly talking about an expiration date on the internal combustion engine. Heating, cooling, cooking and some manufacturing are going electric.” (New York Times)

2/ An Atlanta area grand jury started hearing evidence against Trump and others in the 2020 election subversion case. Multiple witnesses were spotted and testified before the grand jury today, including two former state lawmakers. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments in the case. Meanwhile, a list of criminal charges against Trump briefly appeared on a Fulton County website, which included conspiracy, false statements, forgery and, racketeering. Prosecutors, however, said Trump had not been indicted (yet?) and the Fulton County Clerk called the document “fictitious.” The two-page docket was then removed from the Fulton County court’s website. In July 2022, Willis notified 16 Trump electors that they were targets of the investigation. At least eight of them reached immunity deals that allow them to avoid prosecution if they cooperated. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, having been indicted in three separate cases, which total 78 charges: 44 federal charges and 34 state charges, all of them felonies, in three jurisdictions. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post /

1/ Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans won’t allow Democrats to temporarily replace Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee, who was hospitalized for shingles in March and has been recovering at home. Feinstein’s absence has stalled confirmations of some of the Biden administration’s judicial nominees. She has not provided a return date. Chuck Schumer said he planned to ask for unanimous consent from the Senate to appoint a temporary substitute, but McConnell called the effort to substitute Feinstein on the panel “an extremely unusual” request with no known precedent. “Let’s be clear,” McConnell said. “Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees.” It would take the support of at least 10 Republicans to allow Democrats to make the temporary change on the committee. Some progressive House Democrats have called on the 89-year-old Senator to resign. (Washington Post / USA Today / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NPR / Politico / ABC News)

2/ An anti-abortion coalition urged the Supreme Court to reinstate a lower court decision that suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine claimed that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone more than 20 years ago had “stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion.” The government, pharmaceutical companies, leading medical organizations, former FDA officials, 250 Democratic members of Congress, Democratic-led cities and states, and abortion-rights groups, meanwhile, urged the court not to second-guess the expertise of the FDA. On April 7, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas suspended approval of mifepristone. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, modified the ruling so that the drug would remain available while the case continues, but rolled back the drug’s accessibility and limited its use through the seventh week of pregnancy. The Supreme Court is set to act by midnight on Wednesday. (Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)

3/ A federal judge in New York denied Trump’s request to delay the civil rape and defamation trial against him, which was brought by E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s lawyers wanted to postpone the trial ...

1/ The Supreme Court temporarily preserved access to the abortion pill mifepristone while considers a lower court’s ruling that restricted the FDA’s approval of the drug. The hold will remain in effect until midnight on Wednesday. Last week, U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone after more than two decades. Although an appeals court blocked Kacsmaryk’s order that suspended the approval of mifepristone, the judges blocked mail delivery of the pill, reimposed doctor visits, and shortened the length of time mifepristone can be used during pregnancy. They also blocked the 2019 approval of the generic form of the drug. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)

2/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reported rental income totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last two decades from a firm has not existed since 2006. Nevertheless, Thomas continued to disclose between $50,000 and $100,000 in income from the old firm annually on his financial disclosures. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, called on the federal court system’s policymaking body, the Judicial Conference, to refer Thomas to the U.S. attorney general for potential ethics violations after it was reported that he failed to report real estate deals made with Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas also accepted luxury vacations from Crow for more than two decades in apparent violation of a financial disclosure law. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics also filed a civil and criminal complaint against Thomas, saying his failure to disclose “repeated, lavish gifts” undermines confidence in the Supreme Court as an institution. (Washington Post / CNBC / Washington Post)

3/ The $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News was delayed by one day to allow both parties to discuss a possible settlement. Dominion Voting Systems, which sells voting machines and election software, claims it was defamed by Fox News after its hosts and guests made false claims on air that the company helped rig the 2020 election against Trump. Dominion’s civil lawsuit seeks $1 billion in “lost enterprise value” and $600 million in lost profits. People directly involved in the case said that they didn’t expect a settlement, and jury selection and opening arguments are now scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press /