Listening to Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing on the legality of Trump’s global tariffs was, like most such audio casts, somewhat disconcerting but also ultimately fascinating and even rewarding.
Trump’s argument, as articulated by his Solicitor General D. John Sauer, is that his beloved tariffs are legally permissible under an obscure law known as The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Sauer, who is unquestionably a brilliant fellow, possesses a high, squeaky voice that only gets higher and squeakier as he becomes agitated — which happened a lot on Wednesday.
Sauer also speaks almost unbelievably rapidly as his agitation rises until he basically sounds like Mickey Mouse on acid.
By contrast, the Supremes all sound calm and grounded. At one point one of them urged Sauer to slow down and I started feeling sorry for him. They tend to speak in deep, rich, measured tones, which just made squeaky Sauer sound more pathetic as he flailed around in the minutiae of IEEPA.
To get to the point of all this, the Justices, in their unsettling disembodied, God-like way, sounded deeply skeptical that IEEPA or any other precedent justified Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, sending the President’s team away deeply disappointed.
The Court has not yet ruled on the matter but it’s not looking good for the home team. I just hope that when D. John Sauer got home afterward he tried my grandmother’s cure for a raspy throat — warm water with honey, lemon and a dash of Scotch.
HEADLINES:
Conservative Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of Trump’s sweeping unilateral tariffs (AP)
Takeaways from Trump’s rocky Supreme Court arguments over global tariffs (CNN)
Dow rises 300 points after Supreme Court doubts Trump tariff argument and AI trade recovers (CNBC)
The Supreme Court might actually stand up to Trump (Vox)
The Anti-MAGA Majority Reemerges (Atlantic)
Medicare patients who rely on telehealth left in limbo because of government shutdown (NPR)
A Big Win in California Propels Newsom (NYT)
How Newsom and allies delivered a redistricting counterpunch against Trump (WP)
Republicans Swiftly File Lawsuit in Bid to Block California’s New House Maps (NYT)
Zohran Mamdani’s transformative child care plan builds on a history of NYC social innovations (The Conversation)
What business leaders are saying about NYC’s new mayor (Business Insider)
Virginia redistricting gambit survives after Democrats dominate downballot (Politico)
Trump Officials to Cut Air Traffic in 40 Major Markets if Shutdown Continues (NYT)
Is MAGA Splitting Over Israel, Anti-Semitism & Neo-Nazis? (Daily Kos)
FBI urges ICE to ID themselves as criminals impersonate officers (The Hill)
Air traffic controllers warn of ‘tipping point’ as U.S. government shutdown drags on (NPR)
Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents reveal (Guardian)
Judge orders White House to restore sign language interpreters at briefings by Trump, Leavitt (Politico)
Jimmy Kimmel leading celebs in addressing food insecurity (CNN)
Snowflake builds new intelligence that goes beyond RAG to query and aggregate thousands of documents at once (VentureBeat)
Whisper Into This AI-Powered Smart Ring to Organize Your Thoughts (Wired)
The Company Quietly Funneling Paywalled Articles to AI Developers (Atlantic)
Google is hiring an economist to understand how advanced AI could affect our wallets (Business Insider)
AI-designed antibodies promise big boost to drug development (Financial Times)
Trump Imposes 25% Tariff On Chinese-Made Trump Products (Onion)
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