Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Devastation in Venezuela: “Rescue teams rushed Thursday to areas hit hardest by a pair of powerful earthquakes that rocked Venezuela, killing at least 164 people, injuring nearly 1,000 and trapping many under the rubble. Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region.”
* The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority makes the wrong call, Part I: “The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority sided with the Trump administration over Haitians and Syrians on Thursday in a ruling on the administration’s attempt to end humanitarian safeguards under the Temporary Protected Status program. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion curbed the power of courts to review government decisions to terminate protections under the TPS program.”
* The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority makes the wrong call, Part II: “A divided Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in a case about the federal government’s power to turn away asylum seekers if they’re still on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border. The case hinged on the interpretation of federal law that says a person can apply for asylum if they are ‘physically present in the United States” or if the person “arrives in the United States.’”
* The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority makes the wrong call, Part III: “The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed majority struck down a Hawaii gun law on Thursday, ruling 6-3 that the state can’t make concealed-carry permit holders get property owners’ permission before bringing guns onto private property open to the public. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion deeming the law unconstitutional.”
* This ruling, unlike the others, did not fall along ideological lines: “The Supreme Court sided with the maker of Roundup weedkiller Thursday in a ruling expected to block thousands of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people the product could cause cancer.”