Supreme Court justices recuse from case involving book publisher
Four Supreme Court justices recused themselves from a decision over whether to hear a case involving the parent company of their book publisher Monday, the most significant action of its kind since the court adopted a new ethics code in 2023.
As is customary with recusals, the justices did not explain their reasoning. But a longtime expert in court ethics said it was probably because a German conglomerate that is a party in the case owns Penguin Random House, which has paid the justices millions in advances and royalties for their published works.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
34 minutes ago
- Forbes
Cheap Advice Is Expensive: The Hidden Cost Of The Wrong Financial Partner
Too often, people choose their financial advisor the same way they'd pick a landscaper: whoever's local, friendly, and costs less. That decision might be the most expensive 'savings' of their life. Most people think financial planning is about budgeting apps, retirement calculators, or tuning in to CNBC while they multitask. It's not. Real financial planning is about making irreversible decisions with irreversible consequences—and knowing who you've trusted to guide those decisions. And yet, too often, people choose their financial advisor the same way they'd pick a landscaper: whoever's local, friendly, and costs less. That decision might be the most expensive 'savings' of their life. Early in my career, I started to notice a pattern. People—smart, successful people—would sit across from me and ask, 'What do you charge?' before they asked anything about the value, the process, or the outcomes. That instinct is deeply human. But in financial planning, cheap advice isn't just unhelpful—it's actively dangerous. A bad call on a tax strategy, estate plan, or investment allocation doesn't just cost you money. It compounds quietly over time, eroding wealth and creating future liabilities. I've seen clients pay six figures in unnecessary taxes because they followed product-driven advice from someone earning commissions on the backend. They didn't know better—because no one told them how the system works. Here's the uncomfortable truth: most of the financial services industry isn't built to serve you. It's built to sell to you. There are three models you need to understand: People often assume wealthy individuals manage everything themselves. That's false. The wealthy aren't just better earners—they're better delegators. They build teams. Accountants. Estate lawyers. And critically, independent advisors who act as true partners. This mindset shift—seeing financial planning as a partnership, not a transaction—is what separates people who preserve wealth from those who lose it to bad guidance. I tell prospective clients this often: If you think it's expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur. The wrong advisor won't just charge less. They'll cost more—over years, in ways you won't even see until it's too late. According to a 2015 White House report about the impact of questionable investment advice on retirement savings, 'A retiree who receives conflicted advice when rolling over a 401(k) balance to an IRA at retirement will lose an estimated 12 percent of the value of his or her savings if drawn down over 30 years.' In today's market, transparency is rare. Alignment is rarer. But it's what you should demand when your financial future is on the line. Don't ask, 'What do you charge?' Ask, 'How do you make money?' Then ask, 'Who are you loyal to?' If the answer isn't 'you'—walk away. Financial planning isn't a luxury good. It's a core discipline for anyone who wants to own their future. And that means cheap isn't just the wrong mindset—it's the wrong investment.
Fox News
34 minutes ago
- Fox News
Speaker Johnson surprised by Musk's criticism of 'big, beautiful bill': He's 'flat wrong'
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he was "surprised" by Elon Musk's criticism of the "big, beautiful bill" after the two of them discussed the legislation. While the speaker expressed confidence in the bill, he acknowledged that it took Congress "decades" to reach a point where the national debt has crept past $36.2 trillion and that it would take more than one bill to fix the situation. "The Trump administration needs four years to do all this reform, not two years. The Biden administration, Biden-Harris, made such a disaster of every metric of public policy, it's going to take us more than one bill to fix it all," Johnson said. The Republican House leader said he and Musk, whom he considers a "friend," had a "great conversation" about the "big, beautiful bill" Monday. The tech billionaire apparently joked that the bill could not be "big and beautiful," to which Johnson replied, "Oh, yes it can, my friend. It's very beautiful." "Elon and I left on a great note. We were texting one another — you know, happy texts," Johnson told reporters. The speaker added he was surprised when Musk came out against the bill the next day. "I think he's flat wrong," Johnson said. "I think he's way off on this, and I've told him as much." Johnson also praised the "obviously brilliant" tech billionaire for his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government waste. Despite seemingly ending his tenure with the Trump White House on good terms last week, Musk came out swinging against the "big, beautiful bill," calling it a "disgusting abomination." "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk tweeted. Musk also retweeted multiple pleas from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for the Senate to improve the bill and avoid saddling Americans with more government spending. On Wednesday, during a weekly press briefing, House Republican leadership advocated for the "big, beautiful bill," saying it was necessary for funding the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Multiple leaders, including Johnson and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., cited the antisemitic attack in Colorado allegedly carried out by an illegal immigrant as an example why the bill's funding is needed. "We need to go find the other Solimans and get them out of America," Johnson said in reference to suspected Boulder, Colorado, attacker Mohamed Soliman, the Egyptian national accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza. Now that the bill has passed the House, it's up to Senate Republicans to meet President Donald Trump's July 4 deadline.
Motor Trend
34 minutes ago
- Motor Trend
The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Charges *Slower* Using Tesla's NACS Port?!
As more EVs are built with the North American Charging System (NACS) port, the charging convenience that was once a main selling point for any Tesla is opening up to more vehicles. NACS, designed by Tesla and for years exclusive to that automaker, is innovative, user-friendly, and capable. 0:00 / 0:00 More important, a NACS port allows non-Tesla EVs to use some 20,000 Tesla Superchargers that are part of the largest and most reliable public fast-charging network. Hopefully, it'll make clunkier plugs like CHAdeMO, J1772, and CCS history. But at this moment of transition, Supercharging a non-Tesla EV isn't necessarily the fastest way to charge. For a vehicle like the the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, it's quicker to use an adapter to plug this NACS-equipped car into the CCS plug commonly found at other DC fast-charging stations. Doing so, we saw a maximum charging rate of 266 kW versus 126 kW using NACS and a Supercharger. For this test, MotorTrend charged the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5—newly equipped with a NACS port—at both a 325-kW Tesla V4 Supercharger and a 350-kW Electrify America charger. The results reveal new layers of complexity in EV charging that may end up frustrating EV drivers before it makes life easier. Tesla Supercharger vs. Electrify America MotorTrend's real-world fast-charging test zaps an EV's battery from 5 to 100 percent and reports the results on how much range has been added for 70-mph highway driving. After 15 minutes of charging, the Supercharger pumped 90 miles' worth of electricity into the Ioniq 5. The Electrify America station delivered 152 miles in the same period. We've traditionally tested non-Tesla EVs at Electrify America stations, as they represent the second most common fast chargers, behind Tesla's units. It made more sense to us—as it will to most owners, we assume—to plug the Ioniq 5 and its new charging port into a Supercharger capable of delivering well in excess of the Hyundai's claimed 250-kW peak charging power. Unfortunately, any owner doing that is likely to be disappointed. The power plateaued at 126 kW from 5 to 73 percent in our test, and a Hyundai spokesperson confirmed that MotorTrend's Supercharger experience matched what customers should expect. (We'll explain the why in greater detail below.) To test the Ioniq 5's true charging capability, we pivoted back to an Electrify America station using a NACS-to-CCS adapter. The difference means that, in the time it takes to use the bathroom and grab a snack, someone using the Electrify America station has enough additional energy to drive for an extra 51 minutes compared to the Supercharger user. Staying plugged in for longer brought the state of charge closer to parity, but EV road tripping goes faster when you make shorter and more frequent stops. These differences call into question why you'd even bother to use your non-Tesla EV at a Supercharger. As the 2025 Ioniq 5 demonstrates, going elsewhere will be quicker and more effective with certain EVs. What? Why? How? It's Complicated The auto industry typically talks about fast charging in terms of kilowatts (kW), a measure of power. Before the Supercharger network opened to a wider audience, EV drivers generally just needed to know that if the power number on the charger was equal to or larger than what their vehicle could accept, they could expect the full juice. In theory, at least. Reliability issues and battery preconditioning nuances often prevent this in reality. But the idea was easy enough to understand: Plug a 240-kW 2024 Ioniq 5 into a 350-kW Electrify America station, and you should get 240 kW. In the new era, EV drivers also need to understand how much voltage a fast-charging station can deliver—a number that isn't widely advertised by charging providers. Tesla's newest V4 Superchargers, which are fed by older V3 power cabinets, can only output up to 500 volts, while every other 350-kW charger can deliver 1,000 volts. The 2025 Ioniq 5's larger battery pack operates at 697 volts (though it's often referred to as an 800-volt electrical architecture), and one of the principles of charging a battery is that the power input needs to be higher than the pack voltage or else the electricity moves in the wrong direction: out of the battery pack. The fact that a 697-volt Hyundai can charge at all on a 500-volt Tesla Supercharger is a tiny feat of modern engineering. Plugged into a Supercharger, the Ioniq 5 sends electricity through its motor windings to step up the voltage before delivering it to the battery pack. That process has a maximum power limit of 126 kW, as we observed. Give it time, and this confusion should—hopefully—fix itself. Tesla has announced that 1,000-volt Superchargers are coming to North America this year, but the timeline for when and how quickly they'll roll out is as certain as any other timeline thecompanyhaseverindicated. Other charging providers such as EVgo and Ionna are also opening new dispensers with NACS connectors that can hit 1,000 volts. Supercharging Could Still Be Faster There's still real potential that using a Supercharger for your NACS-equipped EV could be faster when you account for all the variables aside from time spent plugged in. Anyone who's road tripped a non-Tesla EV in recent years has charging horror stories. Long lines, broken equipment, slow connections, and human error can all cause infuriating delays. I will never forget the time MotorTrend's long-term 2023 Ioniq 5 demonstrated its great charging capability by going from 5 to 80 percent in about 20 minutes on a 350-kW Electrify America plug—after a two-hour wait behind a pile of other EV drivers. Meanwhile, Tesla Superchargers are common, nearly foolproof in their operation, have a reputation for reliability, and typically have abundant plugs available. According to recent U.S. Department of Energy data, Tesla has more than 2,500 Supercharger stations across the country, comprising nearly 30,000 individual plugs between them (some older stations aren't open to non-Tesla EVs). Electrify America says it has fewer than 1,200 stations with fewer than 5,000 plugs. With this, Tesla offers easy EV charging instead of the chaotic ambiguity of other networks, even if the actual charging is slower and takes longer. It's All Good News The good news is that buyers of new EVs with built-in NACS now have more options than ever—the choice is yours to decide what's the timeliest approach. For now, Ioniq 5 buyers will probably want to keep a CCS to NACS adapter in the car. But as NACS becomes the standard across EVs and the public charging stations, we see a future where that adapter won't be needed anymore.
