01 July 23
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We may wish we lived in a society where the color of one’s skin and one’s ethnic and cultural background didn’t matter, where we were solely judged by what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously called the “content of our character.” But we are not there. We’ve improved, we’ve learned, we’ve made progress. But we’re not there. Not nearly.
The Supreme Court’s ruling today largely banning affirmative action for race in college admissions is based on a fundamental distortion of American reality. The court’s majority stipulates that the consideration of race as one of many factors in whom a college admits poses a grave constitutional injustice. To be sure, the tool is an imperfect remedy for centuries of systemic racial hatred, exclusion, and violence. But to measure its worth, we can’t ignore the history that necessitated it. Or the reality of what persists.
In America, race has long been a factor, and often the biggest one, for a host of societal considerations — who was allowed freedom, who was viewed equally under the law, whose civil and human rights were respected, where people could live, and who could vote. In all of these cases, Black Americans, Native Americans, and other groups to some extent were the ones who were excluded. That should be the rightful historical framework for any court action.
“Gulf-sized race-based gaps exist with respect to the health, wealth, and well-being of American citizens. They were created in the distant past, but have indisputably been passed down to the present day through the generations,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her compelling (and demoralizing) dissent. “No one benefits from ignorance. Although formal race-linked legal barriers are gone, race still matters to the lived experiences of all Americans in innumerable ways, and today’s ruling makes things worse, not better.”
In the wake of the decision, many are sharing their personal experiences and examining the legal and social context for affirmative action. Sadly, these powerful real-world considerations were ignored by the court. What we are left with are passionate, erudite, and harrowing testimonials of loss.
It is not surprising that this court threw aside its own precedent along with an honest assessment of the realities of American society in 2023. After all, the decision’s author, Chief Justice John Roberts, also felt that most of the protections of the Voting Rights Act were no longer necessary. We can see how that worked out.
But supporters of affirmative action also have to contend with the fact that the practice, whatever its merits, was unpopular with a majority of the American public. Part of that is due to the forces of privilege and intolerance that made it necessary in the first place. But affirmative action’s critics were also able to effectively appeal to notions of fairness, even if their arguments conveniently omitted the full context of both history and the present.
Ironically, reclaiming the banner of fairness will fall mostly on the populations who have suffered its absence.
Where does this leave us? Some court watchers believe there will be more chaos as schools scramble to conform to a new reality that remains legally murky. But there is also a challenge for policymakers who care about promoting opportunity for all Americans.
The Supreme Court has ruled. So what now? Who has workable ideas on what should be next?
Perhaps this moment can usher in a new era of commitment and innovation. Let us hope that we will now focus on creating new pathways for those needing to overcome the odds to reach the full measure of their potential. Doing so necessitates a much earlier start than college admissions. It means investment in health and welfare, a renewed commitment to public education, and opportunities for those of every race confronting the hurdles of generational poverty.
It means a commitment to diversity that reaches out to those most in need of help and includes them in the decisions of how we allocate American abundance. It means voting reforms. And a commitment to broad democratic principles. It means action, energy, and resilience for those who have already borne unequal burdens. And it means dedicated allies.
Affirmative action was a helpful but modest Band-Aid on the deep and persistent wounds of American racism. It is now largely gone. The robustness of our nation requires that a more substantial and sustainable set of remedies take its place.
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President Joe Biden. (photo: NBC)
President says ‘the court misinterpreted the constitution’ as he announces intention to use another law for debt forgiveness
“I think the court misinterpreted the constitution,” the president said, delivering remarks at the White House and announcing his intention to pivot to another law to find another path forward.
The 6-3 decision from the court dealt a blow to an estimated 40 million borrowers who had hoped the $430bn plan would allow the 2003 Heroes Act to help curb the ongoing costs of their education. The law gave the secretary of education authority to make changes to any provision of applicable student aid program laws in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Biden said 16 million people had already been approved for the program, which would have given them $10,000 to $20,000 in relief. “More homes would’ve been bought, more businesses would’ve been started,” he said.
Biden promised to now turn to the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restore student debt relief. He also plans to enact a 12-month repayment program that would help people with student debt avoid defaulting on their loans if they couldn’t pay and avoid years of bad credit ratings.
But the supreme court decision struck down a major tenet of the Biden administration’s program with the 2024 election quickly approaching. Helping combat student debt was one of Biden’s campaign vows, especially to progressive voters in his base.
Asked if he had failed to deliver on his promise, Biden reacted quickly. “I didn’t give any false hope,” he said. “Republicans snatched away the hope that was given.”
Biden also doubled down on what he called the “hypocrisy of Republican elected officials” in an earlier statement. He pointed to the higher cost of the paycheck protection program approved by Republicans in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic-era program gave businesses loans for their payroll and allowed the principal of the loan to be partially or fully forgiven. The program benefited some members of Congress.
“They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses – including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven,” Biden said in the statement. “But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.
“It’s only about forgiving loans they have to pay,” he said at the White House.
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Protesters clashed with riot police officers in Marseille, in southern France, on Friday. (photo: Christophe Simon/AFP)
ALSO SEE: France: 45,000 Police, Armored Vehicles Deployed to Quell Unrest
As the authorities pressed ahead with efforts to contain violence set off by the police killing of a 17-year-old at a traffic stop, officials said the violence was less intense than in previous nights.
The teenager’s family is holding a funeral for him on Saturday in Nanterre, the Paris suburb where he lived and where a police officer killed him on Tuesday during a traffic stop.
The Interior Ministry described the overnight violence as being of a “lower intensity” than in previous nights, but scenes of unrest and clashes still gripped places like Marseille and Lyon. Since Tuesday, across France hundreds of cars have been set on fire, buildings have been damaged and stores in some cities have been looted.
The police arrested 1,311 people overnight, and the Interior Ministry said that 79 officers had been injured. Over 45,000 officers, along with armored vehicles and specialty police units, were mobilized to clamp down on the riots.
Many of the protesters identify with the teenager, who has been named only as Nahel M. and who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent. Anger over the shooting is rooted in decades-long complaints about police violence and persistent feelings of neglect and racial discrimination in France’s poorer urban suburbs.
The police officer who fired the fatal shot has been detained while being investigated on a charge of voluntary homicide, a rare move that has angered police unions, who said it ignored the presumption of innocence.
They have also denounced the violent protests set off by the shooting, with the largest of the unions referring to those who have taken to the streets as “savage hordes.”
In the southern city of Marseille, the police said they had arrested nearly 90 people overnight as protesters set fires and looted some stores. The city’s mayor, Benoit Payan, condemned the “acts of vandalism” and called on the authorities to send in stronger law enforcement.
Officials say the violence has been driven by young people who are coordinating on social media.
On Friday night, France’s national soccer team — many of whom are also from working-class neighborhoods — called “the brutal death” of Nahel “unacceptable” but urged those participating in the violence to stop.
In a statement shared by Kylian Mbappé, one of the players, the team members said that they shared the feelings of anger and sadness. But, they said, “Violence solves nothing,” adding that those contributing to the destruction were hurting their own neighborhoods, cities and “places of fulfillment.”
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Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts. (photo: Getty Images)
A report in the New Republic raised questions about a 2016 inquiry that the plaintiff in a major Supreme Court case said she received for a same-sex wedding website.
On Friday morning, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that Lorie Smith, a Colorado graphic designer who wanted to create wedding websites, could choose not to make them for same-sex couples despite a state law that protected against discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith, a Christian who does not make wedding websites but said she would like to, said the Colorado law violated her First Amendment rights. In a major win for the religious right, the court’s conservative justices all agreed.
However, according to a Thursday story in the New Republic, the only inquiry Smith has ever received about potentially creating a wedding website for a gay couple apparently came from a man who says he never sent it.
According to Smith and her legal team, the Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a man identified as Stewart requested a wedding website in September 2016 for his upcoming marriage to someone named Mike. When reporter Melissa Gira Grant used the contact information provided by the plaintiffs in court documents to contact him, there was immediate confusion.
Grant reached a man named Stewart, who confirmed that the contact information used in the filing was his but said he was straight and married to a woman, not to a man named Mike.
“If somebody’s pulled my information, as some kind of supporting information or documentation, somebody’s falsified that,” Stewart told the outlet, adding, “I wouldn’t want anybody to ... make me a wedding website? I’m married, I have a child — I’m not really sure where that came from? But somebody’s using false information in a Supreme Court filing document.”
In a Zoom press conference following the ruling, Smith’s lawyer Kristen Waggoner said the New Republic report “was absolutely untrue” and “irrelevant to the case,” but said they did not verify if the request was from an actual gay couple or a “troll.” Waggoner, who is president of ADF, said her organization did not fabricate the request, calling the allegation “reprehensible and disgusting.”
Stewart’s supposed inquiry came the day after Smith initially filed suit. According to the New Republic, ADF did not include the information about Stewart in the initial 2016 filing but only did so in 2017 to prove that Smith had a claim.
In September 2017, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger dismissed parts of Smith’s case, writing, “Assuming that it indicates a market for Plaintiffs’ services, it is not clear that Stewart and Mike are a same-sex couple (as such names can be used by members of both sexes) and it does not explicitly request website services, without which there can be no refusal by Plaintiffs.”
ADF criticized Krieger’s ruling in a statement, lamenting that “a federal judge ruled that Smith and her studio can’t sue to challenge a portion of Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act because a request sent to Smith by a couple, self-identified as ‘Stewart’ and ‘Mike,’ isn’t formal enough to prove that a same-sex couple has asked her to help them celebrate their wedding.”
Grant allowed that it’s possible Stewart did, in fact, file the request and was lying to her, but ADF and Smith did not respond to her questions attempting to establish whether Stewart and Mike were a real couple.
The ruling is a step back for LGBTQ rights in the country. It follows a similarly ideological decision last year by the court’s 6-3 conservative majority that sided with a football coach who wanted to pray on the field after games.
In a statement following the ruling, President Biden said he was “deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans. More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations — including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.”
In her dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.” The Human Rights Campaign called it “a dangerous step backward and gives some businesses the license to discriminate.”
Amid record low approval and bipartisan support for reform, the court closed out its session this week with rulings against affirmative action and President Biden’s student loan debt relief plan.
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Pope Francis at the Vatican. (photo: Yara Nardi/Reuters)
Pope Francis has met with Stella Assange, the wife of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
In an interview with The Associated Press after the audience, Stella Assange recalled that Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period.
“He has provided great solace and comfort and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way,” she told AP. “He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.”
Assange has spent four years in Britain’s Belmarsh Prison fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces up to a 175-year sentence on espionage charges for publishing classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.
Before that, Assange had taken asylum for seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.
Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but British judges have kept Assange in prison pending the outcome of the long-running extradition case.
The Vatican didn’t release any details of the private audience, other than to confirm that it happened. The Argentine Jesuit pope has long expressed solidarity with prisoners, frequently visiting detainees on his foreign visits and prioritizing prison ministry when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires.
Stella Assange, a lawyer who married her husband in prison in 2022, said she and Francis spoke in Spanish, and that she showed him two photos of their wedding. She called the audience “overwhelming” and noted that she brought along her mother, brother and the couple's two young sons, Gabriel and Max, who were conceived during Julian Assange’s time in the embassy.
The visit came as Stella Assange has been seeking to drum up political support for her husband’s cause, including a visit to his native Australia last month. She said there was a growing consensus that his continued detention was inhumane.
“I have a lot of faith that the situation will change, and there are a lot of people around the world, from all parts of the world here and elsewhere, who are trying to get justice and see freedom for my husband,” she said.
Citing Australia's intervention, human rights organizations and press freedom organizations, she said there was growing consensus that “what is being done to my husband is inhumane, that he is suffering, that he’s been in prison for four years for publishing true information revealing the killing of innocents and criminality and injustice.”
To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. American prosecutors allege he helped former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.
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U.S. B-52H bombers, center, and F-16 fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jets, right bottom, fly over the Korean Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea. (photo: South Korea Defense Ministry/AP)
The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers’ flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea’s push to expand its nuclear arsenal.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigan’s arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers' deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.
On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing “merciless revenge” against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.
The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.
Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn’t performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers’ deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.
Enhancing “regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets" to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.
Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.
In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff. North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying it’s crucial to build space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility.
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Extreme weather events like heatwaves have increased in frequency and intensity partly due to climate change. (photo: NOAA)
At least 14 heat-related deaths have been tallied in Texas and Louisiana, while Mexico clocks 112 fatalities this year.
The heat wave has resulted in at least 14 deaths in the US states of Texas and Louisiana as of Thursday.
And on Wednesday, Mexican authorities released a report indicating that 112 people have died from heat-related causes so far this year, including 69 deaths in just one week this month.
That total was nearly three times higher than the overall number of heat-related deaths in 2022, which peaked at 42, according to Mexico’s health ministry.
But Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has cast doubt on the rising death toll, dismissing reports as part of an “alarmist, yellow-journalism trend”.
Meanwhile, the country has experienced temperatures soaring as high as 40 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent weeks. Many of the deaths have occurred in northern states such as Nuevo Leon, which partly borders Texas, due to heat stroke and dehydration.
Climate change a factor
Extreme weather events like heatwaves have increased in frequency and intensity partly due to climate change. The extreme temperatures can pose deadly risks to residents and disrupt services in areas such as energy and transportation.
The current heat has strained the power grid in states such as Texas.
A joint study by the Red Cross and the United Nations previously found that 38 heatwaves resulted in at least 70,000 deaths between 2010 and 2019. The actual death toll, the study added, is likely much higher.
The current heat wave stretches across the length of Mexico and the southern US, covering a region from Florida’s Panhandle west to Arizona.
US authorities urge caution
The US National Weather Service (NWS) issued excessive heat warnings in states such as Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, with temperatures of more than 43 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) baking the region.
Authorities have urged residents to exercise caution when contending with the sweltering outdoor conditions.
“The excessive heat warning continues for south Texas,” the Texas border city of Laredo said in a Twitter post. “Remember to drink plenty of water, never leave kids or pets in vehicles and be aware of any symptoms of heat stroke.”
Farther north in Memphis, Tennessee, city officials have enlisted residents’ help in monitoring the health of community members.
“Please, please, PLEASE make frequent checks on your family members, friends and neighbors today, especially if they are part of a vulnerable population,” Memphis officials said in a statement on social media.
Power outages amplify risks
Power outages have exacerbated the risks in cities like Memphis, where tens of thousands of residents remain without power following storms that knocked down power lines on Sunday.
“I just suck it up with a washcloth, towel, whatever. I just sit in my chair by the window, and maybe get a breeze,” John Manger, a 74-year-old retiree who lives with his wife outside of Memphis, told The Associated Press.
While extreme heat can affect people from all backgrounds, people from low-income communities are more likely to lack resources such as air conditioning.
People with jobs involving manual labour can also face higher risks, especially if there are not laws in place to guarantee protective measures, such as access to cold water, shade and work breaks during periods of extreme heat.
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