21 June 20
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PO Box 2043
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20 June 20
Bill McKibben | How Public Opinion Changes for the Better
Bill McKibben, The New Yorker
McKibben writes: "You could feel the Zeitgeist shifting these past days, as culturally powerful parts of our society decided that the future lies with the protesters demanding accountability for America's past and safety from its present authorities."
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Bill McKibben, The New Yorker
McKibben writes: "You could feel the Zeitgeist shifting these past days, as culturally powerful parts of our society decided that the future lies with the protesters demanding accountability for America's past and safety from its present authorities."
READ MORE
Activists in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. (photo: Getty Images)
Stephen I. Vladeck, The New York Times
Vladeck writes: "In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to clear its docket of current term cases, with potential major decisions on DACA, abortion, President Trump's financial records and public funding for religious schools."
But for all of the attention that we pay to these “merits” cases on the court’s docket, the Trump administration, with a majority of the justices’ acquiescence, has quietly racked up a series of less visible — but no less important — victories by repeatedly seeking (and often obtaining) stays of lower-court losses.
Such stay orders are generally unsigned and provide no substantive analysis. But they nevertheless have the effect of allowing challenged government programs to go into full effect even though lower courts have struck them down — and often when no court has ever held them to be lawful in the first place.
Julia Iwaszek looked Friday at signs posted on a gate surrounding the Minnesota State Capitol during a rally to commemorate Juneteenth in St. Paul. (photo: Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune)
Police Reform Efforts Collapse in Divided Minnesota Legislature
Jessie Van Berkel and Briana Bierschbach, Star Tribune
Excerpt: "In the days since the world saw Minneapolis police kill George Floyd, expectations were high that the death of an unarmed black man would compel decisive action by the Minnesota Legislature."
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Jessie Van Berkel and Briana Bierschbach, Star Tribune
Excerpt: "In the days since the world saw Minneapolis police kill George Floyd, expectations were high that the death of an unarmed black man would compel decisive action by the Minnesota Legislature."
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Donald Trump. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Judge Rejects Trump Admin Bid to Block Release of John Bolton's Book
Colin Dwyer, NPR
Dwyer writes: "The release of former national security adviser John Bolton's new book, The Room Where It Happened, remains on track after a federal judge on Saturday rejected the Trump administration's request to block its release."
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Colin Dwyer, NPR
Dwyer writes: "The release of former national security adviser John Bolton's new book, The Room Where It Happened, remains on track after a federal judge on Saturday rejected the Trump administration's request to block its release."
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'We are not counterprotesters, we're just going to make sure Coeur d'Alene is safe,' said Conrad Nelsen, holding the flag, as he stands next to armed citizen Dan Carson, left, during a protest in Idaho on June 2, 2020, over the police killing of George Floyd. (photo: AP)
Armed Vigilantes Antagonizing Protesters Have Received a Warm Reception From Police
Mara Hvistendahl and Alleen Brown, The Intercept
Excerpt: "A former Albuquerque City Council candidate who ran on a tough-on-crime platform shot a protester at an anti-police brutality demonstration on Monday and was arrested alongside members of a right-wing militia group."
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Mara Hvistendahl and Alleen Brown, The Intercept
Excerpt: "A former Albuquerque City Council candidate who ran on a tough-on-crime platform shot a protester at an anti-police brutality demonstration on Monday and was arrested alongside members of a right-wing militia group."
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Ni Una Menos olla popular organized by the Asamblea Feminista Conurbana Noreste. (photo: María de los Ángeles Solís)
Argentina: Feminists Fight Covid on Buenos Aires' Urban Margins
Claire Branigan, NACLA
Branigan writes: "At the end of April, residents of Villa 31, one of Buenos Aires' largest informal settlements, started reporting a loss of running water. A couple of weeks later, Ramona Medina, a resident of Villa 31, recorded and released a video from her bathroom denouncing the lack of running water."
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Claire Branigan, NACLA
Branigan writes: "At the end of April, residents of Villa 31, one of Buenos Aires' largest informal settlements, started reporting a loss of running water. A couple of weeks later, Ramona Medina, a resident of Villa 31, recorded and released a video from her bathroom denouncing the lack of running water."
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A 'feather star' crinoid on the Mytilus seamount in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. (photo: NOAAS Okeanos Explorer Program)
Green Groups Sue to Save Atlantic's Only National Monument
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "President Donald Trump sparked the ire of conservationists earlier this month when he opened the country's only marine national monument in the Atlantic to commercial fishing."
Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch
Rosane writes: "President Donald Trump sparked the ire of conservationists earlier this month when he opened the country's only marine national monument in the Atlantic to commercial fishing."
Now, some of them are suing to stop him and preserve the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which protects 5,000 square miles of unique ocean habitat off Cape Cod.
"Trump has once again eliminated critical natural resource protections on a whim, and with no legal authority," Brad Campbell, president of the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), said in a press release announcing his organization's decision to sue. "This lawless act upends over a century of practice by presidents of both parties, and puts all national monuments on the block for the highest political bidder."
President Trump illegally gutted protections for New England’s marine monument. We’ll see him in court. clf.org/blog/snowball/…
The monument was created by President Barack Obama in 2016 using the Antiquities Act, CLF said. It protects an estimated 54 species of deep sea coral and hundreds of other marine animals, including endangered species like North Atlantic right whales and Kemp's ridley sea turtles, The Boston Globe reported. It is also home to four underwater mountains and three underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon.
The commercial fishing industry had argued that the creation of the monument was an overreach of federal authority that hurt livelihoods. Before its formation, fisherman said as many as 80 boats fished the area.
"President Obama swept aside our public, science-based fishery management process with the stroke of a pen," Bob Vanasse, executive director of fishermen lobby group Saving Seafood, told The Boston Globe. "That was a mistake, and whatever anyone thinks about President Trump is irrelevant."
But, in a lawsuit filed in Washington, DC Wednesday, CLF, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Natural Resources Defense Council argued that Trump's reversal was the overreach: A president may use the Antiquities Act to designate a monument, but only Congress can undo protections.
"Trump's order was illegal because he can't just declare commercial fishing is allowed in a protected marine monument," CBD attorney Kristen Monsell said in a press release. "The Seamounts monument was created to permanently safeguard this amazing ecosystem and vulnerable species like the endangered sperm whale. Presidents can't be allowed to gut protections by decree as a favor to commercial fishermen."
The Center and allies just filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump's executive order allowing commercial fishing in a protected marine monument. More: biodiv.us/2Y83SEp #SavingLifeOnEarth
CBD pointed out that, before Trump reversed the commercial fishing ban, courts had twice rejected the industry's attempt to challenge it.
Conservation groups also argue that the monument ultimately protects commercial fisheries by preserving the species that support them, according to The Boston Globe.
Further, not all business interests oppose the monument. Zack Klyver, a Maine marine scientist who has led more than 600,000 people on whale watching tours with the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company, has also joined the suit.
"I spend lots of time on the water so I know how important it is to protect this marine monument. My business depends on a healthy ocean," Klyver, who has also co-founded ocean conservation company Blue Planet Strategies, said in the CBD release. "Trump's attack on New England's prized marine monument is one I take personally. We need to protect our oceans and their abundance of marine life for future generations to experience."
