John Roberts Joins Fray as Trump Intensifies Court Attacks
US Chief Justice John Roberts broke his silence on Donald Trump's intensifying attacks upon America's third branch of government as his administration inched closer to triggering a constitutional crisis. The last straw for Roberts, a Republican-appointee who in 2024 helped broadly expand presidential immunity, apparently was the 78-year-old president's invective-filled call for the impeachment of a veteran federal judge hearing a challenge to forced deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
'For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,' Roberts said. 'The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.' The chief justice's historic rebuke came after Trump—himself a convicted felon twice impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors—attempted to paint James Boasberg, chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, as being politically biased.
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Politico
30 minutes ago
- Politico
‘Forest fire': Corporate America's bitcoin buying spree fuels concern
Corporate America is finally embracing bitcoin. That has even some cryptocurrency boosters nervous. In the latest sign of how President Donald Trump's election has changed the perception of the digital assets industry, dozens of companies have begun pouring billions of dollars into bitcoin, creating so-called crypto treasuries. The emerging trend was underscored recently when Trump's own social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, unveiled plans to raise and spend about $2.5 billion on bitcoin. The gambit of selling stock and debt to buy bitcoin is helping to turbocharge the companies' shares as crypto prices soar. Yet critics warn that hoovering up digital assets could backfire whenever the volatile crypto markets take a turn for the worse. And some fear that the rush of corporate investors presents a risk to crypto itself that could feed into any panic during the market's next selloff. 'It's a lot of kindling being built up,' said Nic Carter, founding partner at Castle Island Ventures, a crypto-focused investment firm. 'There's going to be a forest fire, and it's going to be catastrophic.' Washington is beginning to take notice. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who has criticized Trump's enthusiasm for the upstart industry, raised concern about companies 'investing in crypto despite its financial risks and potential for corruption,' in a statement to POLITICO. A former Wall Street regulator, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the rise of corporate crypto treasuries — particularly those that are being built up through debt — could be 'the instigator of the next crypto crash.' And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, warned that the fallout from any future crypto crisis could reach beyond digital assets. 'When crypto crashed in 2022, the shock stayed mostly inside the crypto bubble, so our broader economy kept humming,' Warren said in a statement. 'If businesses start piling crypto onto their balance sheets, the next bust won't be so contained, and it could trigger layoffs and business failures in multiple sectors.' Still, the crypto market is riding high five months after Trump took office and kicked off his campaign to make the U.S. the 'undisputed bitcoin superpower' and the 'crypto capital of the world.' Trump's financial regulators have pulled back from an enforcement crackdown on the industry. The White House and Republican lawmakers have made crypto legislation a priority. And investors are latching onto anything tied to the roaring industry. Bitcoin recently notched an all-time high of nearly $112,000. More than 60 publicly listed companies around the world had bitcoin treasury operations that collectively owned more than 673,000 bitcoins — valued at more than $75 billion — as of the end of May, according to Standard Chartered. Among them is Trump Media, which announced late last month that it was selling about $1.5 billion worth of stock and another $1 billion in debt to buy bitcoin. CEO Devin Nunes said at the time that bitcoin is 'an apex instrument of financial freedom, and now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a crucial part of our assets.' A spokesperson for Trump Media did not respond to a request for comment. 'Everybody wants it as a balance-sheet item,' Eric Trump, the president's second son who has become a leading voice for the family business, said at a recent bitcoin conference. 'Everybody wants it, no one wants to get rid of it, and it's incredibly powerful. I think you're going to see the value skyrocket.' But the concern over companies bingeing on bitcoin is underscoring an uncomfortable truth about the 17-year-old market. While crypto may be the object of intrigue from investors and policymakers, it remains a risky asset class known for wild price swings — the next batch of which could leave an even broader array of mom-and-pop investors facing steep losses. 'The crypto industry is just prone to everyone being overly optimistic during the booms and then coming to regret it during the bust,' said Omid Malekan, an adjunct professor at Columbia University who teaches courses on blockchain technology and crypto. Pioneered by billionaire Michael Saylor's Strategy, a software company-turned-bitcoin giant, corporate crypto treasuries have amassed a growing following. Other companies that have jumped into the craze include former Japanese hotel company Metaplanet, the Trump-backed bitcoin firm American Bitcoin and a string of new ventures that are being set up to buy and hold bitcoin. Some have expanded into holding other tokens. 'It's the institutionalization of crypto adoption,' said Ravi Doshi, global co-head of markets at crypto financial services firm FalconX. 'You have more and more individuals buying crypto assets every day. But now, you're going to also see institutions do the same. … Companies have for years had U.S. Treasuries sitting on their balance sheets and now, they're like, 'You know what, actually bitcoin deserves a spot, [too].'' Wall Street has generally celebrated crypto-treasury companies with higher stock prices. The proliferation of such entities, proponents say, is offering investors greater access to the crypto markets. Those include bond fund managers who can only dabble in debt products and individual investors whose brokerages don't allow them to trade crypto-linked investment products. Companies are also able to cheaply raise cash through the stock and debt markets that can then be used to buy more bitcoin, effectively allowing them to multiply their returns on investment, Doshi said. Yet, whether investors will keep rewarding crypto-treasury companies is unclear. Currently, many of those stocks are trading at premiums relative to the value of their underlying bitcoin holdings. But critics like Jim Chanos, the long-time hedge fund manager who is best known for his bet against Enron before the company's spectacular collapse in the early 2000s, warn that those levels are unsustainable and bound to plunge should crypto start selling off. 'They call it the flywheel concept. I call it a financial perpetual motion machine,' said Chanos, who has been betting against Strategy's stock. He added that because the companies are not doing anything distinct for their businesses, they risk being 'competed away.' 'This is going to be self-defeating,' he said. Castle Island Ventures' Carter said the use of debt by companies to buy bitcoin for their treasuries is particularly worrisome. That's because whenever the market drops, they may need to start dumping the crypto, fueling the decline. For Christy Goldsmith Romero, who recently stepped down as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, companies need to make sure they are managing their finances appropriately. If not, she said, there is 'certainly a risk' that those with crypto treasuries will wind up strapped for cash during a downturn in the market and be forced to sell their bitcoin. But some crypto-treasury companies aren't fretting. In an interview, Twenty One Capital CEO Jack Mallers, whose newly formed bitcoin treasury company is backed by crypto giant Tether and recently struck a deal to go public on Wall Street, said if others wind up over their skis and are forced to sell bitcoin, they'll be there 'with smiles and dollars to buy it all up.' 'You don't buy scarce, desirable property and then get rid of it,' Mallers said. 'Leverage is only a problem when you exceed your means. Borrowing capital, taking out a loan — that's actually how society has been financed.'
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Red states push religion in public schools. Supreme Court is their end game.
For hard-right Republicans eager to upend America's long legacy of religious freedom, unconstitutional legislation and legal challenges set the path. The Supreme Court is the destination. The creeping Christian nationalist plot to force religion into public schools ‒ calculated to provoke legal challenges that could allow the conservative U.S. Supreme Court supermajority to obliterate part of our First Amendment ‒ took one step forward and one step backward in the same week recently. For hard-right Republican state governors eager to upend America's long legacy of religious freedom, both steps probably feel like they point toward an eventual victory. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on June 21 legislation mandating that public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments starting this fall. This is the same Greg Abbott who, just a day later, vetoed part of a different bill that would have accessed $450 million in federal funding for summer lunch programs for low-income children. Abbott prefers forcing religion down the throats of the children of Texas to actually feeding them. In Louisiana, on June 20, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a November ruling that found a similar law violated the opening line of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, known as the establishment clause, that prohibits our government from forcing religion on us in public places. Opinion: Louisiana's Ten Commandments push shows GOP doesn't care about the Constitution Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who signed the legislation last June, vowed to appeal. And of course he did. Landry gave up the game a year ago when he said, "I can't wait to be sued" for his Ten Commandments mandate. Unconstitutional legislation and legal challenges set the path. The Supreme Court is the destination. Buckle up for Supreme Court to decide Church v. State In Arkansas, seven families filed a federal lawsuit on June 11 seeking to block that state's version of the Ten Commandments mandate in public school classrooms. The law, signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is supposed to take effect in August. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU state chapters, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation are now representing families opposing the mandates in Louisiana and Arkansas. And they have vowed to take Texas to court. Rachel Laser, who leads Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told me these Ten Commandments mandates are "an effort to turn America into a country that prefers European Christians over a country that's dedicated to a pluralistic democracy and equality for all." She said the mandate proponents in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas are designed to "raise a new generation of Americans who are indoctrinated in that Christian nationalist lie that America is a country for European Christians," all in an effort to "get the Supreme Court to allow the Christianization" of public schools. Opinion: Threats against judges nearly doubled under Trump. Republicans blame the victim. Annie Laurie Gaylor, cofounder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, pointed to the First Commandment, taken by some literally, quoting God as saying, "You shall have no other gods before me." "No U.S. state or government ‒ whether Texas, Louisiana or Arkansas ‒ has the right to tell a captive audience of schoolchildren how many gods to worship, which gods to worship, or whether to worship any gods at all!" Gaylor told me. "The language of the First Commandment is the antithesis of our First Amendment." Christian nationalists want to unsettle our settled laws This is settled law that Christian nationalists want to unsettle. The Supreme Court in 1947 ruled that the Constitution's establishment clause applies to both the federal government and state governments. In a 1980 ruling, justices struck down a Kentucky law mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Our nation's highest court ruled the same way in a similar Kentucky case in 2005. Opinion: Supreme Court reminds Trump to follow the law, signaling concern that he won't So what's changed? The Supreme Court. It tilted rightward in a supermajority in 2020 due to three nominations by Donald Trump during his first term as president. But what do Americans want? The Pew Research Center, in an analysis released June 23, cited its 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed 37,000 American adults and found that 52% favored allowing teacher-led prayer in public schools while 46% opposed it. That was driven by strong support among Christians, especially evangelicals, matched by strong opposition from Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists and agnostics. And opinions varied when the survey was broken down, state by state, and when Americans were asked whether the prayers were to God with no specific mention of religion, or if Jesus was mentioned. Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on people, power and policies in the time of Trump from columnist Chris Brennan. Get it delivered to your inbox. Three-quarters of the adults surveyed in Arkansas and Louisiana favored prayer in public schools that specifically referred to Jesus, while 61% backed that in Texas. And that's why the very First Amendment in our Constitution ‒ written as a list of priorities ‒ was crafted to protect Americans from the religious overreach of their government. It was intended to keep politicians like Abbott from force-feeding us his system of values that favors performative religious gestures over real-world caring for children. Now we wait until this fight reaches the Supreme Court, where the justices will have to show us whether they revere our constitutional freedoms more than a mandate that our own Founding Fathers would have certainly rejected. Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
'A graveyard of companies': Climate tech startups are feeling the heat from Trump 2.0
Trump's new bill affects tax credits that benefited the clean energy sector and climate startups. It's spooked some climate founders who worked in industries relying on government subsidies. Many are now pivoting to new brands and geographies, and investors expect a reset. The Trump administration's proposed overhaul of green energy tax credits has jolted the climate tech sector — and investors and founders in the ecosystem are scrambling to make fallback plans. Cleantech stocks tumbled in May after a bill cutting tax credits for clean energy incentives passed through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Now, founders and investors are concerned about the knock-on impact this could have on the country's climate tech ecosystem, which was burgeoning under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA. They told Business Insider that Trump's bill has stifled startup growth ambitions, pushing them to scale back, pivot to new geographies, or shut down entirely. "There will be a graveyard of companies," Matthew Nordan, managing partner at clean tech fund Azolla Ventures, told BI. "And a lot of startups will hibernate to try to weather the storm." Early-stage startups are already beginning to feel the heat. In April, Spencer Gore, founder and CEO of Bedrock Materials, a sodium-ion battery startup, made an unusual announcement on LinkedIn: the startup would be returning most of its $9 million raised to investors and ceasing operations. The company had plenty of operational cash, but "it was the techno-economics that led us to pull the plug," Gore told BI, adding that the market conditions for climate tech startups in the US were hampered by waning industrial policy. Startups are pivoting and eyeing new geographies A byproduct of the new tax bill — and growing political backlash against ESG incentives — is that Europe is becoming more attractive for climate techs to set up shop. "There's a dramatic retrenchment to Europe occurring within climate tech startups now. It's broad-based, and the EU is doing the opposite of what the US is doing right now," Nordan told BI. Sam Kanner, the CEO of floating wind turbine startup Aikido, an Azolla portfolio company, told BI he's considering moving his company to Europe. Trump's executive orders have "put a chill on investor sentiment and project development in the US," he said. There are "no longer any grant opportunities" through the Department of Energy or other agencies, he added, which means its "go-to-market strategy is now completely focused on Europe." Blain said that startups in the EU could turn to government funding from bodies such as the European Investment Fund, adding that "energy prices make the Nordics very attractive" as a hub. Europe, in particular, has made significant headway in aligning regulatory frameworks with climate targets, which de-risks early-stage tech, said Todd Khozein, CEO of SecondMuse. Kanner said that the UK, France, and Norway had "enacted supportive policies which have had the opposite effect on investors in those ecosystems", encouraging private equity, infrastructure, and venture investors to back wind projects. Startups are also eager to look beyond Europe for expansion. "Generally speaking, the EU has made itself unattractive from a manufacturing standpoint, by over-relying on Russia. We'd look to Brazil, India, and the Middle East," Max Kufner, cofounder of carbon capture and utilization startup Again, told BI. "The Middle East is proving to be a viable partner in decarbonization." Right now, "a lot of climate tech entrepreneurs are asking themselves what it means to be an entrepreneur in the United States, and whether this is really the best place to attract and retain talent," Gore said. "What we're seeing right now with startups is similar to the playbook we saw with Trump 1.0. A lot of companies will make a push to rebrand themselves as energy security and resilience funds," Nordan said. Climate tech startups have had a rocky year The aftermath of a global tech downturn, rising interest rates, and mounting backlash against ESG incentives has made it increasingly difficult for climate tech startups to fundraise. In the first quarter of 2025, climate startups secured $10 billion, down 50% from the $20 billion raised in Q1 of 2024, per PitchBook data. Biden's IRA offered climate companies billions of dollars worth of subsidies, tax credits, and rebates. The Trump administration is now attempting to roll back parts of the $369 billion initiative. "Anything that relied on grants, that came out of the IRA, for first-of-a-kind (FOAK) projects, will be hit the hardest," Nordan said. For example, direct air capture startup Climeworks — which received a $50 million US government grant in 2024 — laid off over 100 employees in May. Its CEO told Bloomberg that the startup's upcoming Louisiana plant would be delayed in light of the Trump administration's green policy decisions. Nordan anticipates more layoffs and shutdowns of companies that were dependent on government grants. Offshore wind and solar projects have also been in Trump's crosshairs. While these aren't usually venture-backed categories, the steep reduction in staff at the Department of Energy's loan program office, which provided debt funding to clean energy startups, will have a more debilitating impact on companies in these sectors, Matthew Blain, an investor at Voyager Ventures, told BI. Still, investor appetite for nuclear fusion, long-duration energy storage, and startups making data centers more efficient has accelerated, partly due to the AI boom, which requires immense energy.
