
Since Donald Trump last entered the White House, the Supreme Court created a more powerful president
CNN
When the Supreme Court justices first shared an inaugural stage with Donald Trump, they heard the new president deliver a 16-minute declaration against the country and vow, “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”
When the Supreme Court justices first shared an inaugural stage with Donald Trump, they heard the new president deliver a 16-minute declaration against the country and vow, “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” Afterward, when they returned to a chamber on the first floor of the Capitol where they shed the black wool skullcaps, mittens and rain gear worn on the blustery January 20, 2017, they fell unusually silent. There was little of the upbeat chatter that commonly occurred once they were together inside. Rather, a person in the room that day told CNN, no one knew what to say. The justices and their law clerks greeted Trump with collective apprehension eight years ago. Liberal or conservative, they wondered what to expect next. Today, no mystery exists as to what Trump is all about – or whether the Supreme Court majority is mostly with him. The bench has been remade in his image. Trump appointed three of the current nine justices during his first term (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett). Two other justices on the right wing, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, were galvanized by the Trump effect. Whatever guardrails were in place from Congress and Trump’s Cabinet in his first term have been lowered; the question for the Supreme Court is whether any of his moves will be a bridge too far. Chief Justice John Roberts, whose relationship with Trump has been bumpy, nonetheless shepherded the opinion in the case that mattered most to him. Roberts wrote the July 1 decision that gave Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution and ensured he would not face trial for charges of election subversion from the 2020 presidential contest.

Whether it’s conservatives who have traditionally opposed birth control for religious reasons or left-leaning women who are questioning medical orthodoxies, skepticism over hormonal birth control is becoming a shared talking point among some women, especially in online forums focused on health and wellness.

Former election clerk Tina Peters’ prison sentence has long been a rallying cry for President Donald Trump and other 2020 election deniers. Now, her lawyers are heading back to court to appeal her conviction as Colorado’s Democratic governor has signaled a new openness to letting her out of prison early.

The Trump administration’s sweeping legal effort to obtain Americans’ sensitive data from states’ voter rolls is now almost entirely reliant upon a Jim Crow-era civil rights law passed to protect Black voters from disenfranchisement – a notable shift in how the administration is pressing its demands.

White House officials are heaping blame on DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office’s criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, faulting her for blindsiding them with an inquiry that has forced the administration into a dayslong damage control campaign, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The aircraft used in the US military’s first strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a strike which has drawn intense scrutiny and resulted in numerous Congressional briefings, was painted as a civilian aircraft and was part of a closely guarded classified program, sources familiar with the program told CNN. Its use “immediately drew scrutiny and real concerns” from lawmakers, one of the sources familiar said, and legislators began asking questions about the aircraft during briefings in September.








