Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum appeared skeptical of the 14th Amendment challenge to former President Trump‘s inclusion on the Colorado ballot during Thursday’s oral arguments.
Refresher: The 14th Amendment bars a person from holding office if they engaged in insurrection after taking an oath as “an officer of the United States” to support the Constitution.
The focus: Justices didn’t spend much time Thursday discussing whether Trump engaged in insurrection.
Some other topics highlighted:
Whether states have authority to disqualify candidates:
Obama appointee Justice ElanaKagan: “Maybe put most boldly, I think there’s a question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States?”
Whether the president counts as an officer of the United States as discussed in the amendment:
Biden appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson: “Why didn’t they put the word president in the very enumerated list in Section 3? The thing that really is troubling to me …they were listing people that were barred, and ‘president’ is not there.”
Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch: “It seems to me that you know that you’re asking to enforce in an election, some contexts, a provision of the Constitution that speaks to holding office, so it’s different than the qualification clause, which is all about who can run and then serve.”
Whether the amendment could be used to disqualify someone from running for office:
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) announced Thursday she isn’t running for reelection.
President Bidenwill hostKing Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House Monday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise‘s (R-La.) office said he’s “in complete remission” after being treated for blood cancer and will return to Washington next week.
The Federal Communications Commission banned artificial intelligence-generated voices from being used in robocalls, weeks after a call featuring an imitation of President Biden‘s voice went out to New Hampshire residents before the state’s primary.
Special counsel Robert Hur decided not to bring charges against President Biden in the classified documents case, suggesting it would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden willfully mishandled classified material after serving as vice president.
The 388-page report released by Hur, who was appointed to oversee the case by Attorney General Merrick Garland last year, said the 81-year-old president frequently exhibited limitations with his memory and ability to recall details, comments that are sure to be used by former President Trump‘s campaign.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote.
Senate moves forward on supplemental bill without border provisions
The Senate advanced the legislative vehicle that’ll carry aid for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific and humanitarian needs on Thursday. Senate leaders stripped border provisions from the package Wednesday after the vehicle fell 11 votes short of advancing.
Several votes remain before the $95 billion package could clear the Senate, at which point it’d face tough odds in the House, where there’s doubt about whether Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will put the package up for a vote without border reforms attached.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is dismissing Valery Zaluzhny, the commander in chief of Ukrainian forces, from his role. Zelensky said it’s time for “renewal” and proposed Zaluzhny “remain part of the team.”
It’s been almost two years since Russia’s invasion. “The anniversary comes at a perilous moment, with Ukrainian troops stalled on front-line positions, short of ammunition, artillery and soldiers,” The Hill’s Laura Kelly wrote. Read more here.
NASA launched the Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite on a SpaceX launch system Thursday. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said PACE “will help us learn, like never before, how particles in our atmosphere and our oceans can identify key factors impacting global warming.”
President Biden mixed up which German leader he spoke to at the Group of Seven summit during remarks at a fundraiser Wednesday, the second time in a week he said he’d recently met with a European leader who is dead. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that misspeaking “happens to all of us. It is common.”
Former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci‘s memoir, “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service,” is set to be published June 18, book publisher Viking announced Thursday.
The average 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday will cost around $7 million, according to The New York Times.
“Saturday Night Live” alum and former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will play a senator in upcoming Netflix dramedy “The Residence.”
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levittnarrated a campaign video for California Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff (D).
The Switch Up podcast — Pregnant worker protections
The Hill’s Cheyanne M. Daniels digs into the decade-long fight to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act with Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, in the latest episode of The Switch Up podcast. Listen here.
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