Supreme Court sides with Steve Bannon in bid to dismiss Jan. 6 conviction The influential right-wing podcaster spent four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

NEW: The Supreme Court just handed Steven Bannon a huge win in his bid to get his Jan. 6 conviction tossed

Black Caucus scholarships discriminate based on race, lawsuit alleges The lawsuit, filed by an anti-affirmative action group, is part of a broader movement to dismantle programs meant to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

NEW: Congressional Black Caucus sued over scholarships for black students. Lawsuit says the scholarships illegally discriminate based on race. w/
@maeganvaz.bsky.social

Black Caucus scholarships discriminate based on race, lawsuit alleges The lawsuit, filed by an anti-affirmative action group, is part of a broader movement to dismantle programs meant to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

The legal campaign against DEI/affirmative action is now targeting the Congressional Black Caucus and its affiliated foundation's scholarships for Black students

@julez.bsky.social reports www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Live updates: Supreme Court hears birthright citizenship case; Trump is at court The case could redefine who is considered American in ways not seen for more than 150 years.

Follow along with the WaPo's live coverage of today's Supreme Court's birthright citizenship hearing. Follow @jjouvenal.bsky.social at the court and @julez.bsky.social on our SCourt legal team ... Gift link: wapo.st/4s5RnUs

Trump officials cite white supremacists in bid to end birthright citizenship An argument heading to the Supreme Court is built in part on a post-Civil War campaign that scholars say was steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism.

Trump leans pretty heavily on 19th century white supremacists to argue its case to limit birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday

wapo.st/41ynLnZ

Supreme Court won’t reconsider ‘Tiger King’ murder-for-hire conviction The Supreme Court declined to review the murder-for-hire conviction of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the “Tiger King,” who gained notoriety from a 2020 documentary.

Tiger King's criminal appeal doesn't get renewed for a final season at SCOTUS www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

This was a lesser noticed tech decision yday amid the earthquake verdict against Meta -- but one that may signal how SCOTUS will regulate social media. The ruling was 9-0 for ISPs.

Not difficult to imagine a similar outlook by the justices if and when the verdicts get appealed up.

Justices seem inclined to revive Trump policy blocking migrants at border The Supreme Court weighed a policy that would allow agents at U.S. borders to block migrants from entering the country to seek asylum.

New: Supreme Court seems ready to green-light a policy that allows border officials to turn away asylum seekers at the US border.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Thousands have swooned over this MAGA dream girl. She’s made with AI. Jessica Foster’s posts place her beside fighter jets, world leaders and Trump iconography. Experts say her rise shows how AI-generated women can capture attention.

New from me: Thousands have swooned over this pro-Trump Army dream girl. She’s made with AI.

"She's the apotheosis of what MAGA fantasizes about, all packed into one channel"

wapo.st/3NtfbUi

A teen’s traumatic path from bullying and abuse to Trump’s State of the Union Sage Blair’s parents didn’t know she identified as a boy at school. That was just the beginning. Rape, a lawsuit and an invitation to the State of the Union followed.

Remember that teenager Trump highlighted during his State of the Union address?

Here’s the deeply complicated story of how she got there, told by @laurameckler.bsky.social

wapo.st/4dAc9rQ

Supreme Court sides with antiabortion activist in free speech case The Supreme Court ruled an antiabortion activist can challenge a law blocking protests outside of a designated area.

SCOTUS today ruled -- unanimously -- that an antiabortion activist can sue to protest outside a designated area.

He had been arrested for protesting outside the area in a small Mississippi city. But when he tried to sue on free-speech grounds, courts blocked his suit.

wapo.st/41jjWTw

In January, we wrote about the Trump administration's efforts to rescind Temporary Protected Status for nationals covered by 12 different designations

New: Supreme Court grants cert on two TPS cases, involving 353,000 Haitian migrants and 6,100 Syrians. The Trump admin canceled their TPS status earlier this year, saying conditions in their home countries had improved. SCOTUS will now decide if the moves are legal. Args sked for 2nd week of April.

Bettors wagered $54 million on Khamenei’s death. Now they’re not getting paid. Kalshi, a prediction market site, has sparked outrage after freezing $54 million in bets on the death of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing a rule against profiting from death.

New: I talked to the traders who bet Khamenei would die.

One, an Israeli ex-pat, would've won $63,000 before Kalshi froze the bet: “I was booking my trip to Courchevel.”

“American commercial immorality on steroids," @chrismurphyct.bsky.social told me

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Supreme Court weighs whether smoking weed can eliminate your right to a gun The issue before the court is whether the law meets a strict Second Amendment standard that any gun restriction must be consistent with the “Nation’s historical tradition.”

The Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of a law barring regular users of controlled substances from owning guns.

Supreme Court sides with parents in legal battle over notification for trans students At issue is a California law prohibiting school policies that require employees to report students’ sexual orientation and gender identity to parents.

On emergency basis, SCOTUS conservatives upend California polities around parent notification for trans students. The justices said Christian parents were likely to succeed on their religious freedom and "parental rights" claims.

Supreme Court weighs whether smoking weed can eliminate your right to a gun The issue before the court is whether the law meets a strict Second Amendment standard that any gun restriction must be consistent with the “Nation’s historical tradition.”

SCOTUS talked A LOT about drugs today -- and not just weed. Lots of hypotheticals about Ambien of all things, but also references to ayahuasca (!!). Some justices seemed unconvinced that taking a weed gummy a few times a week is enough to take someone's gun away. We'll see.

Fun discussion about ayahuasca at the Supreme Court today.

Justice Elena Kagan pretty accurately described its effects.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett had never heard of it.

“Is that real?” She asked

The Trump admin is asking SCOTUS to intervene in a case that could end the TPS status of 6,100 Syrians. So far, SCOTUS has sided with DHS on similar requests -- and will probably grant this one. Decision could come in a few weeks. www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?...

SCOTUS unanimously ruled against Geo Group today. The justices said the company, which runs ICE detention centers, must live with a ruling that it's NOT immune from a lawsuit alleging the company put detainees to work for $1 a day.

More background here: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Handing defeats to Trump, Supreme Court signals potential course change A pair of rulings on tariffs and National Guard deployment mark the justices’ first major decisions against the president. More may be coming.

The Supreme Court signed off on nearly every policy of President Trump, but in a sharp reversal, the justices struck down his sweeping tariffs.

The rulings and argument could start a new and fraught era of relations between a president and justices.

Here's who the Washington Post just laid off.

I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.

Elizabeth Hughes: There is a path for Pittsburgh to save its newspaper As publisher of The Inquirer, I believe that our own experience over the past decade offers a template for success.

some (rare) good news for the journalism industry: The Philadelphia Inquirer is profitable
www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

X says Grok account will stop undressing women. I just tested the standalone Grok app, which immediately complied with my request to undress a photo of me. This is illegal, according to the legal experts I spoke with.

“The reports of F.B.I. agents raiding the home of a journalist and seizing her electronic devices are deeply concerning and portray a stark threat to free press rights in this country. Actions like this inevitably impede reporters’ ability to gather news in the public interest and as a result make the government less accountable. Reporting and newsgathering enjoy protection under the U.S. Constitution. Law enforcement intimidation like this imperils the transparency provided by independent media.” - David McCraw, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel

Trump’s pardons wipe out payments to defrauded victims In addition to clearing prison sentences, the president’s clemency actions have erased millions in restitution payments.

At least 20 people who have received clemency from President Trump so far this year were also forgiven of financial penalties totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Some of these offenders owed money to real-life victims of fraud.

Supreme Court tells state to reconsider screening child victim from defendant The placement of a screen to shield a child-abuse victim in court might violate the constitutional right of a defendant to face their accuser, high court says.

Screens are often used to shield child sex-abuse victims when they testify, but that can conflict with a defendant’s constitutional rights, the Supreme Court noted Monday.

MAGA lobbying firms are booming. This is where their money goes. Business is booming for MAGA-aligned lobbyists in Washington.

Money is pouring into MAGA lobbying firms amid a record surge in spending. Ballard Partners, which once employed Susie Wiles and AG Bondi, has become the most sought after shop for inroads into Trump’s orbit. W/ @federicacocco more here on where how that money is being spent: wapo.st/4nixqrd

Discrimination cases unravel as Trump scraps core civil rights tenet The administration is dismissing cases and unwinding settlements built on "disparate impact," which holds that even neutral policies can lead to biased outcomes.

For decades, the fed’l gov’t used data analysis - known as disparate impact - to ferret out discrimination, winning cases and reaching settlements in housing, education, policing and more. Now the Trump admin is unwinding those cases. w/
@julez.bsky.social

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...