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Vox
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Vox
The Supreme Court's rare moment of unanimity against a DEI rule, explained
is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he focuses on the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the decline of liberal democracy in the United States. He received a JD from Duke University and is the author of two books on the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down a raft of mostly unanimous opinions, three of which reached a conservative outcome despite the fact that they were each written by Democratic justices. Sometimes, the law in a case is clear. Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, authored by Biden-appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, was the first of these three cases. It involved a clearly illegal 'background circumstances' rule. This rule imposes a slightly higher burden on members of majority groups — such as white people, straight people, or Christians — who allege workplace discrimination compared to members of minority groups who bring similar claims. SCOTUS, Explained Get the latest developments on the US Supreme Court from senior correspondent Ian Millhiser. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. As Jackson writes in her opinion, this disparate treatment of majority-group plaintiffs is not allowed. She quotes the Supreme Court's opinion in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co. (1976), which held that the federal law governing employment discrimination prohibits 'racial discrimination in private employment against whites on the same terms as racial discrimination against nonwhites.' The plaintiff in Ames alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation, rather than race. Marlean Ames is a straight woman who was passed over for a promotion that was ultimately filled by a lesbian candidate. She was later demoted and replaced in her previous role by a gay man. She claims that she was discriminated against because she is straight. Neither the lower courts that heard this case nor the Supreme Court, however, actually determined whether Ames is a victim of anti-straight discrimination. Instead, both the trial court and an appeals court, the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, ruled against Ames because of an unusual rule applied by the 6th Circuit and a few other courts. Related The Supreme Court hears a challenge to a DEI rule that genuinely needs to go Under this rule, the plaintiff loses their case unless they can show, at a fairly early stage, 'background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.' This obligation applies only to majority-group plaintiffs. This rule is not consistent with federal law. In addition to quoting the McDonald opinion, Jackson also quotes the law banning workplace discrimination, which makes it illegal 'to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment' due to factors including race, religion, sex, and more. This language treats all plaintiffs exactly the same, regardless of their majority or minority status. In Jackson's words, 'by establishing the same protections for every 'individual' — without regard to that individual's membership in a minority or majority group — Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone.' Indeed, Ames is such a straightforward case that it is baffling that the 6th Circuit's 'background circumstances' rule, which has existed in some courts since 1981, survived as long as it did. McDonald, after all, has been the law for nearly half a century, and it was decided before any lower court embraced the 'background circumstances' rule.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
USA Today Quietly 'Updates' Fluff Piece On Boulder Terrorist's Daughter
USA Today initially published a fluff article about a family member of the illegal alien who set fire to pro-Israel protesters on June 1 in Colorado. However, rather than standing by its narrative and providing a stand-alone follow-up piece, the outlet quietly revised the originally published article after facing public backlash. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian in the country illegally, lit fire to a crowd of pro-Israel protestors in Boulder, Colorado, on June 1, as The Dallas Express reported. According to KDVR, officials recently updated the number of victims to 15 – plus a dog. The FBI is investigating the attack as a 'targeted act of terrorism.' USA Today published an article on June 3 titled, 'Boulder suspect's daughter dreamed of studying medicine. Now she faces deportation.' The article still had this headline when The Dallas Express archived the page early the afternoon of June 4. At that point, it read as a glowing feature of the terrorist's daughter, Habiba Soliman. However, after the article sparked a public backlash, the outlet watered down the title – and toned down the original piece. After The Dallas Express archived the piece, USA Today changed the title and reworked the original article to 'Habiba Soliman wanted to be a doctor. Then, her father firebombed Jewish marchers in Boulder.' Instead of writing a new piece, the outlet chose to cover its tracks. The outlet also the article to focus more on the horrific attack. A note at the top of the piece reads, 'This story has been recast and updated with new information.' At the time USA Today published the original article, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French replied on X: In the first version of the article, USA Today Habiba's life 'had been headed in a before the attack' – a phrase not present in the updated piece. It said she 'had written about her hope of accomplishing great things in the U.S.,' citing her hopes of a 'future medical career.' The outlet kept the latter phrases in the updated piece but slightly reframed or altered them. Before his terror attack against pro-Israel protestors, Habiba's father, Mohamed, recorded a tirade against America and the 'Zionists.' 'Allah is greater than the Zionists, Allah is greater than America and its weapons,' he said. 'Do not forget that Allah is greater than everything. Not the Zionists, America, Britain, France, or Germany.' Mohamed overstayed his visa under former President Joe Biden's watch, as The Dallas Express previously reported. According to The Greeley Tribune, Soliman lived in Kuwait for 17 years and then arrived in America in 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023. He overstayed the visa and then a work authorization. The White House posted on June 3 that Soliman's family was set for 'expedited removal' as early as that night. However, a Biden-appointed U.S. district judge in Colorado, Gordon Gallagher, blocked their deportation on June 4, according to Fox News. The State Department reportedly revoked the visas for Soliman's family. At the time of publication, it was unclear whether or not Habiba Soliman, her siblings, or her mother had committed visa violations. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on June 3 that ICE had Soliman's family on suspicions they could have known about or aided the attack. She said Soliman would be 'prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' 'We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,' Noem wrote. 'I am continuing to pray for the victims of this attack and their families. Justice will be served.'
New York Post
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Deportation of Boulder terror suspect Mohamed Soliman's wife, five children blocked by Biden-appointed judge
The family of Colorado terror suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman won't be tossed from the United States for now after a Biden-appointed judge slammed the brakes on their imminent deportation Wednesday. Soliman's wife, Hayam Salah Alsaid Ahmed Elgamal, 41, their daughter Habiba Mohamed Sabry Farag Soliman, 18, two more minor daughters and two minor sons were all detained and facing a swift deportation — before Judge Gordon Gallagher stepped in. The Post found children's toys scattered outside Soliman's home Toby Canham for the NY Post 'Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE Hayem El Gamal and her five children from … the United States unless and until this Court or Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this Order,' Gallagher, a Biden-appointed judge, said in his ruling obtained by Fox News. Stay up to date on the Boulder, Colorado, terror attack The family first reached the United States from Egypt in August 2022, but were only allowed to stay until February 2023, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. Soliman, 45, filed for asylum on September 29, 2022, and listed his wife and their five children as dependents in Denver, according to the department. The family was detained by ICE Tuesday and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem vowed authorities would probe if any of them knew about Soliman's plan to allegedly throw homemade flamethrowers and Molotov cocktails in the antisemitic attack that injured 12 people in Boulder. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Fires 13 Members of Education Research Board
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order about dismantling the Education Department alongside Education Secretary Linda McMahon at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 20, 2025. Credit - Chen Mengtong—China News Service/VCG via Getty Images The Trump Administration fired all 13 Biden-appointed members of a key federal education research board last month, a move that drew sharp rebuke from former members amid the Administration's ongoing campaign to dismantle the Department of Education. The firings, carried out on May 23, targeted the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES), which Congress established in 2002 to advise the Department of Education's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The board—whose members include researchers, educators, and civic leaders—had been tasked with shaping the Department's $900 million research agenda, including approving priorities, overseeing peer-reviewed grants, and advising on efforts to close achievement gaps across race, income, and disability status. The future of that work is now unclear, as the new Administration has slashed much of that spending. The dismissals are the latest blow to a board that has struggled for more than a decade to maintain its statutory role. For much of President Donald Trump's first term, he did not appoint enough members to NBES to fill the 15-member board. They didn't hold any meetings over those four years, according to the board's web page. 'We can confirm that the Department fired thirteen Biden appointees to the National Board for Education Sciences on May 23,' said Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications under Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a statement to TIME. 'One of the core duties of a board member is to ensure that activities are objective, nonideological, and free of partisan influence—they failed.' Biedermann cited poor student outcomes, excessive spending on research contracts, and the alleged politicization of federal research as justification for the purge. She said new appointees will be announced to 'drive forward President Trump and Secretary McMahon's vision' for education reform, which emphasizes decentralization and a sharp reduction in the federal government's role. 'As reflected in the dismal results of the recent Nation's Report Card, these board members stood by as student outcomes declined nationwide, oversaw research contracts that took gross advantage of the American taxpayer without delivering improvements in teaching and learning, and allowed partisan ideologies to seep into taxpayer-funded research and development,' Biedermann said. But former board members and education advocates say the firings are part of a broader and deeply political effort to discredit scientific research and roll back protections for vulnerable student populations. Shaun Harper, a University of Southern California professor who was among those dismissed, said he wasn't surprised by the Trump Administration's decision but disagreed with how they have characterized the board's work. 'We committed to spending four years in the unpaid role because we all want the best for our democracy,' he wrote in an op-ed for TIME published Wednesday. 'We approached our work as experts, not as politically-polarizing activists who somehow sought to advance anti-American agendas.' 'Without knowing or even asking what this entailed, it is possible that the Trump Administration presumed this to be a hotbed of DEI activities that privileged wokeness over merit,' he added. 'I never participated in nor witnessed this. There is no evidence of such wrongdoing.' The Trump Administration has made no secret of its disdain for the Department of Education itself. Trump has vowed repeatedly to abolish the agency, though a recent federal court ruling temporarily blocked his executive order aimed at doing just that. Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction ordering the reinstatement of thousands of department employees fired as part of the Administration's downsizing campaign. In testimony before Congress, Education Secretary McMahon acknowledged that as many as three-fourths of the roughly 2,000 staff members who had been fired at the agency had been dismissed under restructuring efforts led by Elon Musk, who formerly led the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The NBES firings come amid mounting concern over the future of the Institute of Education Sciences itself. According to department employees and internal emails reviewed by NPR, many IES contracts were canceled within the first two months of Trump's second term. These include long-term studies on math interventions, data collection on homeschooling, and surveys related to private education and career training. One canceled program had already been deployed in classrooms across multiple states. Founded under President George W. Bush as part of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, the IES and its advisory board were created to bring scientific rigor to the education field. The NBES in particular was tasked with ensuring that federal education research is objective, equitable, and informed by practitioners and scientists alike. Harper warned of the long-term implications of terminating members of the board without replacements: 'Consequently, students with disabilities will be even more underserved. Inequities between rich and poor, as well as white and racially diverse learners, will widen. Congress and educational leaders will have even less access to trustworthy, high-quality research on what works.' Write to Nik Popli at
New York Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Supreme Court rules Trump can restart deportation of more than 530K migrants from Biden-era ‘parole' program
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Trump administration can restart deportations of up to 530,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants who entered the US as part of a controversial 'humanitarian parole' program under former President Joe Biden. Seven of the high court's justices granted the stay on a Boston federal court ruling that had halted the removals. Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson authored a dissenting opinion, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor joining her. 3 This image released by the Department of Defense shows US Northern Command, US Transportation Command supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights by via military airlift, at Fort Bliss, Texas, February 7, 2025. US Department of Defense/AFP via Getty Images 3 Vehicles are lined up at the San Ysidro Port of Entry to cross into the United States on March 21, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. Getty Images 'The Court has plainly botched this assessment today,' Jackson seethed. 'It requires next to nothing from the Government with respect to irreparable harm.' The Biden-appointed justice also warned of 'the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.' 3 The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC, March 2, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 'Even if the Government is likely to win on the merits, in our legal system, success takes time and the stay standards require more than anticipated victory,' she added, saying the majority was allowing the Trump admin 'to inflict maximum predecision damage.' Boston US District Judge Indira Talwani, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had blocked Trump from the unilateral move, saying the migrants in the so-called 'CHNV program' were entitled to a case-by-case review. Trump ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to terminate the parole program pursuant to an executive order he signed on his first day in the Oval Office.
