Today’s edition of quick hits.
* There’s a reason confidence in the high court is fading: “The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that any trial in former President Donald Trump’s election interference case is unlikely to take place anytime soon, with justices expressing concerns about whether certain presidential acts should be off-limits. Although the court appears likely to reject Trump’s expansive claim of absolute immunity, it could remand the case for further proceedings, making it less likely that a trial would take place before the election.”
* An appeal to Hamas: “The United States and 17 other countries demanded Hamas release all the hostages it holds in Gaza as Biden administration officials tried to ratchet up global pressure on the militant group, which the White House blames for blocking a cease-fire deal that would see the release of hostages.”
* Below expectations: “U.S. economic growth was much weaker than expected to start the year, and prices rose at a faster pace, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced in the January-through-March period, increased at a 1.6% annualized pace when adjusted for seasonality and inflation, according to the department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.”
* Remember net neutrality? “The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to restore regulations that expand government oversight of broadband providers and aim to protect consumer access to the internet, a move that will reignite a long-running battle over the open internet.”
* H5N1: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday issued a federal order that any dairy cows being transported from one farm to another across state lines should be tested for bird flu.”
* Unlike his predecessor, Biden apparently didn’t make these decisions based on the criminals’ political connections: “President Joe Biden has granted clemency to 16 people who were convicted of non-violent drug crimes, issuing pardons to 11 men and women and commuting the sentences of five other people in the latest use of his clemency power to address racial disparities in the justice system. Biden said in a statement Wednesday that April is Second Chance Month and that many of the individuals getting clemency had received “disproportionately longer” sentences than they would have under current law.”
* This was, at best, a longshot: “A federal judge on Thursday rejected former President Trump’s request to strike $83.3 million in damages he was ordered to pay to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation.”
See you tomorrow.
