Children's Books Go Before the Supreme Court
Hosted by Rachel Abrams
Featuring Adam Liptak
Produced by Will ReidAnna Foley and Eric Krupke
Edited by Devon Taylor and Dan Powell
Engineered by Chris Wood
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard a case that could hand parents with religious objections a lot more control over what their kids learn in the classroom.
Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court, explains how a case about children's picture books with titles like 'Pride Puppy' and 'Uncle Bobby's Wedding' has broad implications for schools across the country.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments, for The New York Times.
In a lively and sometimes heated argument, the Supreme Court's conservative majority appeared set to allow opt-outs from L.G.B.T.Q. stories in schools.
There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here's how.
We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode's publication. You can find them at the top of the page.
The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Michael Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez, Brendan Klinkenberg and Chris Haxel.
Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
'Civil rights for everyone!' LGBTQ+ community holds massive rally in DC
'Civil rights for everyone!' LGBTQ+ community holds massive rally in DC DC is hosting WorldPride at a time when rights for the queer community are being threatened. Show Caption Hide Caption Jim Obergefell talks LGBTQ+ rights 10 years after Supreme Court ruling Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage nationwide, looks back on its impact 10 years later. WASHINGTON − A crowd of hundreds of protesters clad in the colors of the rainbow gathered Sunday at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to protest what organizers describe as a "coordinated, systematic attack" on human rights. The rally, which will conclude with a march to the Capitol, is part of WorldPride 2025, a global festival held in different cities and countries every year that promotes LGBTQ+ visibility and awareness. The event is being hosted by DC's Capital Pride Alliance, celebrating 50 years of Pride in the nation's capital. June is Pride Month, which comes amid a seismic shift in federal policy as the Trump administration turns back the clock on diversity, equity and inclusion rights the queer community battled to attain. Organizers warn that decades of progress in all human rights are under siege. "Our fundamental freedoms − and our very democracy − are at risk," organizers say on the website promoting the rally and march. "And if we fail to recognize the urgency of this moment, we'll only have ourselves to blame. Resist the marginalization and persecution of people just for being who they are." The front of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial was packed with Pride flags and flags representing trans and bisexual communities. The many signs read 'Proud and Gay,' 'Trans rights are human rights' and 'Gender affirming care saved my life.' The rally and march, which come a day after a parade through city streets, will be followed by the WorldPride DC Street Festival and concert. WorldPride comes to DC: Queer community vows to be 'louder than ever' Kat Robinson, 34, an active service member, attended the rally and march to protest the Trump administration's move to force transgender troops out of the military. In the first days in office, Trump issued executive order barring anyone who is transgender from military service, setting a June 6 deadline for transgender troops to leave voluntarily. While she is not transgender, the 15-year veteran said she knows many transgender troops who faced the decision of whether to leave the military voluntarily or stay and fight. She said it is becoming harder to put on the uniform and "represent something I deeply disagree with. This is not why I enlisted.''I am enraged by what is happening Robinson said. 'The language in the executive order was despicable and it makes me sick to my stomach.' The activities took place Sunday under cloudy skies with scattered showers. Miranda Burmeister, 29, and Danielle Caldwell, 33, drove seven hours from Connecticut to Washington to celebrate Pride and their wedding pair, who run a day care and have three children, said the mood has been celebratory, though they noted that the Trump administration and its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and actions have cast a dark cloud over the event. But it was an urge to protest that brought them to the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.'I wanted to fight back against the administration,' said Caldwell, a social said World Pride has been uplifting and inspiring.'It's nice to be around people who are like us and accepting,' she said. Many in the crowd wore ponchos and were holding umbrellas as they danced to pop songs − including Chappell Roan's 'Pink Pony Club."JC Cummings, an architect born and raised in Washington, has been attending the city's Pride festivals for decades. Cummings, 69, said this year's event is important because it provides hope and optimism in the face of 'attempted oppression.''It's almost as if we're partying while Rome is burning,' he said while holding a sign reading 'Civil rights for everyone!''We're thumbing our nose at (Trump)," he added. Several speakers addressed the crowd, including local organizers based in Washington and those who helped put on WorldPride. At one point, a video message from former Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the large screens at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, bidding the crowd 'a happy WorldPride.''Pride is a celebration and it is also a statement − a statement about courage, about community and about determination,' Harris said.'In this moment as we gather with friends and allies across the world, let us be clear: No one should be made to fight on their own. We are all going through this together,' she said to an eruption of cheers. President Donald Trump marked his first day in office by signing an executive order to dimantle diversity, equity and inclusion practices. The transgender community has been a primary target of the ensuing directives. They incude moves to end gender-affirming care for minors, revive a ban on transgender people in the military, remove references to the community from the Stonewall National Monument website and direct that federal agencies recognize only two sexes, male and female − affecting the ability of transgender people to identify on items such as passports. The actions have led some corporate sponsors to end support of Pride parades and prompted safety concerns for LGBTQ+ people traveling internationally to the WorldPride festival. Trump's 'bullying': LGBTQ+ advocates decry President Trump's actions during Pride Month "WorldPride is occurring at a crucial time, bringing together voices from around the world to support the LGBTQ+ community's ongoing fight for equality, visibility, and justice," the organization says on its website. "We encourage everyone in our global community to participate in this historic moment. By showing up and supporting Pride events globally, the LGBTQ+ community will be visible, vigilant, and heard."
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
The Tunnel That Leads Underneath a Hospital in Southern Gaza
Two feet wide and less than six feet tall, the tunnel led deep beneath a major hospital in southern Gaza. The underground air bore the stench of what smelled like human remains. After walking some 40 yards along the tunnel, we found the likely cause. In a tiny room that the tunnel led to, the floor was stained with blood. It was here, according to the Israeli military, that Muhammad Sinwar — one of Hamas's top militant commanders — was killed last month after a nearby barrage of Israeli strikes. What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war's biggest Rorschach tests, the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed. The military escorted a reporter from The New York Times to the tunnel on Sunday afternoon, as part of a brief and controlled visit for international journalists that the Israelis hoped would prove that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure as a shield for militant activity. To Palestinians, Israel's attack on, and subsequent capture of, the hospital compound highlighted its own disregard for civilian activity. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Southern Baptists to vote on effort to overturn same-sex marriage
Conservative Christian activists hope to build on their movement's success in overturning Roe v. Wade, the now-defunct Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, in 2022, and to apply the legal and political strategies that proved effective for that victory. Public support for legal same-sex marriage remains high, with more than two-thirds of American adults supporting it. As with abortion, activists hope to gain political power despite their minority viewpoints. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Christians are called to play the long game,' said Andrew T. Walker, an ethicist at a Southern Baptist seminary in Kentucky who wrote the resolution. He leads the Southern Baptist Convention's resolution committee, which coordinates proposals from Baptists around the country to be put for a vote at the annual meeting. Related : Advertisement 'There are burgeoning embryonic efforts being discussed at the legal-strategy level on how to begin to challenge Obergefell,' he said. 'How do we take the lessons from Roe that took 50 years? What is the legal strategy to overturn Obergefell at some point in the future?' Advertisement Activists are aware that their mission may take years. But the resolution calling for this concrete action shows 'a deepening of Southern Baptist thinking on this issue' and a recognition of the need for a long-term strategy similar to the one that ended a constitutional right to abortion, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He said 'there's a great deal of engagement' on this issue between Southern Baptist leaders and lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian legal advocacy group that worked to overturn Roe. 'As in Roe, it is not just a matter of arguing for or against abortion,' he said. 'It is also the larger pattern in terms of constitutional interpretation.' Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated outside the US Supreme Court following the ruling on same-sex marriage, on June 26, 2015. DOUG MILLS/NYT The Southern Baptist resolution, titled 'On Restoring Moral Clarity through God's Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family,' reflects a movement within conservative Christianity to see that laws align with their set of Biblical values and a political commitment to pursue those goals. The resolution calls for overturning not just Obergefell, but also any laws and policies 'that defy God's design for marriage and family,' potentially including the Respect for Marriage Act, a law that former President Joe Biden signed in 2022 mandating federal recognition for same-sex marriages. The resolution also specifically calls for the restriction of commercial surrogacy. Related : Lawmakers have a duty 'to pass laws that reflect the truth of creation,' it says, 'and to oppose any law that denies or undermines what God has made plain through nature and Scripture.' The measure also reflects an alignment with other Republican goals, and calls for laws that would 'strengthen parental rights in education and healthcare, incentivize family formation in life-affirming ways, and ensure safety and fairness in female athletic competition.' Advertisement Couples waited to apply for marriage licenses at Cambridge City Hall on May 17, 2004. RUTH FREMSON/NYT To go into effect, the resolution needs to pass by simple majority vote. Organizers say it is widely expected to pass. Passing the measure could be used as evidence to prove to politicians that culturally unpopular positions have support. Public opinion on same-sex marriage shifted drastically over the past 30 years toward overwhelming support. Last summer during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump had the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman removed from the Republican Party platform. 'It now seems the case in many sectors of American society that same-sex marriage is just as American as baseball and apple pie,' Walker acknowledged. 'I understand the political will is probably minute or minuscule.' Related : Of the nine Supreme Court justices, only Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have suggested that the court should reconsider Obergefell, which was decided by a 5-4 majority. Chief Justice John Roberts, now a swing vote, issued a strong dissent in the Obergefell ruling. In his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that overturned Roe, Thomas directly argued that the rationale the court used to negate a right to abortion should be used to overturn cases that established rights to same-sex marriage, consensual same-sex relations and contraception. Next month Mathew Staver, a Southern Baptist and the chair of the Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group, plans to ask the Supreme Court to hear a case about Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015. That request will directly ask the court to overturn Obergefell, he said. Staver has been trying for two decades to use the courts to stop same-sex marriage, ever since states began to legalize it in 2004. Advertisement Earlier this year his group worked with legislators in Idaho on the language of a resolution that passed the Idaho House of Representatives calling on the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell. Republican lawmakers, at times drawing on certain Christian principles, introduced similar measures calling for Obergefell's reversal in states like Michigan, Montana and South Dakota, and partially passed them in North Dakota and Idaho. 'That begins to show a sentiment from legislative officials, and it just begins to build a momentum,' Staver said. And while efforts like the SBC measure and the resolutions in the states have been largely independent of each other, he said, 'that momentum results in more coordination' between ideologically aligned groups, which was effective in overturning Roe. The Southern Baptist Convention, a largely conservative network of churches, has taken a rightward turn in recent years, particularly on issues of marriage, family and sex. It has also struggled following revelations of widespread sexual abuse of women and children, and the mishandling of those allegations over decades. The annual meeting is often regarded as a bellwether for broader evangelical sentiment on various political and cultural issues, even though it technically represents the views of only the 10,000 or so members who typically attend and vote, not of all 13 million members. Last year, Southern Baptists voted to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization, passing a resolution that Walker and Mohler proposed as part of a push to advance the 'fetal personhood' movement. The vote greatly worried many other evangelicals who rely on fertility treatments to have children and who believe IVF is life-promoting. Advertisement In 2023, Southern Baptists decided to expel several churches with female pastors, including one of the denomination's largest and most prominent congregations. An attempt to further expand restrictions on women in church leadership gained traction in 2023 but did not pass a second required vote in 2024. That effort is expected to be revived this week. This article originally appeared in
