Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Justice Neil Gorsuch, oddly enough, wrote the ruling: “The Supreme Court on Thursday handed a major win to Native Americans by rejecting a challenge to a federal law aimed at protecting children and buttressing tribal identity. In a 7-2 vote, the court turned away a series of claims seeking to invalidate parts of the Indian Child Welfare Act enacted in 1978 to keep Native American children within tribes. Among the provisions challenged was one that gives preference to Native Americans seeking to foster or adopt Native American children.”
* In Oregon: “Enough Republican members showed up in the Oregon Senate on Thursday to end a six-week walkout that halted the work of the Legislature and blocked hundreds of bills, including some on abortion, transgender health care and gun safety.”
* In Ukraine: “Russia is putting up a desperate fight in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News on Thursday, saying he believes that if the Kremlin loses this battle, it will ultimately lose the war.”
* Choudhury received zero votes from Senate Republicans: “The U.S. will have its first Bangladeshi American and first Muslim woman federal judge after the Senate confirmed Nusrat Choudhury on Thursday. The civil rights attorney was nominated by President Joe Biden to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in January and was confirmed to the life-tenured position with a narrow margin of 50-49 votes.”
* I was relieved to see there were zero “no” vote on this: “The House unanimously passed a resolution late Tuesday calling on Russia to immediately release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained since March.”
* Southern Baptists: “The Southern Baptist Convention announced Wednesday it has voted overwhelmingly to finalize the expulsion of two churches from the nation’s largest Protestant denomination for having female pastors. And the vote wasn’t even close, according to the SBC’s tally.”
* Irrational fear of the trans community doesn’t just affect those in the trans community: “A 9-year-old girl was left sobbing after she was falsely accused of being transgender just because she has short hair, in a clear sign of how transphobia harms everyone.”
* In Oklahoma: “It was not particularly surprising that Ryan Walters declared Oklahoma schools wouldn’t go ‘woke’ under his leadership as he campaigned for a role that would give him power over the public school system. … But since winning the election and taking over as state superintendent for public instruction, his plan for enacting his agenda — attacking teachers and claiming that they’re the linchpin of the indoctrination going on in schools — has rattled many people, including Republicans in his state.”
See you tomorrow.
