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Democrats renew court packing calls, blast the Supreme Court's final two decisions of term
Democrats on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the Supreme Court's final decisions of its 2020-2021 term, accusing the justices of doing "severe damage" to the political system and in some cases re-upping their calls to pack the court with liberal justices appointed by President Biden.
One decision was on a challenge to Arizona election laws, including a ban on ballot harvesting. The other was about a California law that required nonprofits to disclose their largest donors to the state government for law enforcement purposes.
The court upheld the Arizona laws – which liberals saw as voting rights restrictions and conservatives saw as election security measures – and struck down the California law on the grounds that it chilled free speech.
Biden weighed in on the Arizona decision in a statement that was remarkably critical of the Supreme Court for a sitting president.
"I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court that undercuts the Voting Rights Act," Biden said. "In a span of just eight years, the Court has now done severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the court's decision in the Arizona case is part of an "unprecedented assault on voting rights" from the court before also tearing into the court over the California case.
"The decision in Americans for Prosperity further harms our democracy by allowing the suffocation of the airwaves caused by big dark special interest money," Pelosi said. "This torrent of dark money silences the voices of voters and prevents passage of commonsense, bipartisan and popular legislation – from gun violence prevention to climate action to LGBTQ equality. It is fundamentally anti-democratic, and it cannot go unanswered." CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.
In other developments:
- Supreme Sendoff: The nine justices end term with unanimity and uncertainty
- Kamala Harris silent on SCOTUS ruling on lawsuit that started while she was state AG
- Severino & Scaturro: Biden suffers Supreme Court smackdown
- Conservatives laud SCOTUS' Arizona voting decision, while Schumer laments one of court's 'darkest days'
- Supreme Court upholds Arizona voter fraud protections
GOP rep warns ‘no operational control’ of border after seeing migrants stream in, board flights
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., on Thursday warned that the U.S. has "no operational control" of the border after a trip to Texas in which he and a number of other Republicans saw migrants streaming into the U.S. and being put on flights to other states.
"We have no operational control, no legal control, no law enforcement control of our border," Good said in an interview with Fox News. "We are not enforcing our laws, we are not preventing people. This is willful and intentional on the part of this administration to facilitate the illegal entry into our country of tens of thousands, 180,000 in [the] month of May…some 700,000 this year, of the ones we’ve apprehended."
Good and a number of other lawmakers from the Republican Study Committee visited McAllen, Texas this week in a visit that coincided with a visit by former President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The 20 Republicans went to the border itself around midnight, and Good described a stream of migrants coming through and turning themselves over to Border Patrol with no effort to evade apprehension -- even going so far as to seek out Border Patrol.
"We saw hundreds coming through in just a short time, we were there about midnight and just saw many many folks coming across the border, many illegals streaming across," he said.
He said that while there were many families and children showing up, it raised the question of how many are getting past Border Patrol, who have frequently faced significant surges in migrants coming past them -- and have also apprehended MS-13 gang members and child sex offenders trying to get into the U.S. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Reps. Scalise & Gonzales: Biden's border crisis – 2 things the president needs to do right now
- Sean Hannity: Biden told migrants to 'surge the border' and results have been catastrophic
- Illegal immigrants burglarize Texas ranch house, steal weapons and ammo: Border Patrol
- Rep. Banks on Trump border visit: 'Humanitarian crisis unlike anything in American history'
Gwen Berry vows to compete at Olympics despite mounting pressure after anthem snub
There is no backing down from Gwen Berry even as the criticism poured in this week over her decision to turn her back on the podium while the national anthem played at U.S. Olympic track and field trials.
Berry on Wednesday responded to a tweet demanding her to respect the flag and the national anthem. The Olympian hammer thrower said her goal is just to compete and bring home gold for the U.S.
"The point is to compete ... which I will be doing," she fired back.
Her demonstrations have led to calls from conservative voices for her to step aside. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Sen., have been among the loudest voices. Berry has received support from many on social media, including Olympic legend Michael Johnson.
Berry made the Olympic team as a hammer thrower after finishing third last weekend at the trials behind DeAnna Price and Brooke Anderson.
She drew scrutiny after she turned her back during the national anthem. She then draped a shirt with the world "ACTIVIST ATHLETE" over her head as "The Star-Spangled Banner" played. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
- Old Gwen Berry photo of her holding American flag goes viral amid anthem uproar
- North Korean defector says US Olympian Gwen Berry's flag protest 'unthinkable'
- Dan Crenshaw doubles down on Gwen Berry criticism: 'You should like the USA'
- Tomi Lahren tears into 'crybaby' Gwen Berry: 'Why the heck are you competing on behalf of this country?'
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TODAY'S MUST-READS:
- Trump Organization, CFO Weisselberg plead not guilty to tax charges
- US hands Bagram Airfield to Afghans after nearly 20 years
- Tom Cotton: It is time to 'lower the boom' on China
- Philadelphia violence: Girl among 2 killed in shootings; 8 hurt
- Facebook warns users they may have been exposed to 'harmful' extremists
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#TheFlashback: CLICK HERE to find out what happened on "This Day in History."
SOME PARTING WORDS
Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, was a guest on "The Ingraham Angle" hosted by Raymond Arroyo Thursday night to discuss the charges against the organization and CFO Allen Weisselburg.
"Well, Raymond," Trump said, "they’ve been trying to get my father the second he came down the escalator. They’ve been going after him for the last five years. The district attorney has subpoenaed 3.5 million documents. And they don’t care about Allen Weisselburg, they care about one person, and that’s taking down my father."
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Fox News First was compiled by Fox News' Jack Durschlag. Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! Have a great Independence Day, stay safe and we’ll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday.
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