• Georgia congressman dies: Democrat Rep. David Scott has passed away at the age of 80. His cause of death is not yet known. Scott represented Georgia’s 13th District and was seeking his 13th term at the time of his death. Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina announced Scott’s death Wednesday afternoon to the House, reducing the total number of members to 430. Scott was the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee and a prominent black voice in the Democrat Blue Dog Caucus. His death makes him the fifth member of the 119th Congress to die in office; all five were over 65 years old.

• Where is Rep. Thomas Kean Jr.? Two-term New Jersey Republican Congressman Thomas Kean Jr. has not been seen by his colleagues for over a month. He last voted in Congress on March 5, but since then, he has missed almost 50 roll-call votes. According to Kean’s chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, the “Congressman is addressing a personal health matter. He will be returning to a full regular schedule.” What that health issue may be and how serious it is have not been communicated. Fellow NJ Republican Reps. Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew are concerned. “We’ve both reached out,” Smith stated. “Don’t know.” Van Drew noted, “Complete radio silence. Nobody’s covering up. We just haven’t heard a word." NJ Democrat Rep. Rob Menendez also expressed concern, saying, "I’m worried. They’re keeping this really tight-lipped. Members have reached out and haven’t heard back.” Kean is running for reelection in a district that has been classified as a toss-up.

• Navy secretary dismissed: Navy Secretary John Phelan is the latest top member of the Trump administration to be dismissed in recent months. Unnamed sources who spoke to Pentagon officials say Phelan was not moving quickly enough on President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s shipbuilding priorities. At the Navy’s annual conference on Tuesday, Phelan outlined his plan for a bonus system for completing ships ahead of schedule. Another contributing factor was Phelan’s friendship with Trump, which allowed him to pitch ideas directly without consulting top Pentagon leadership. Phelan was the first secretary of the Navy without a military service record in 15 years. Still, he was confirmed by the Senate 62-30 last March. Navy Under Secretary Hung Cao, a Naval Academy graduate and 25-year service member, will serve as acting secretary.

• Immigration enforcement and budget reconciliation: On Thursday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a $70 billion package, which includes funding for ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s presidency. “It’s the first major step toward unlocking the budget reconciliation process,” according to Fox News. The measure was passed 50-48, with two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul, voting with Democrats against it. Two other lawmakers, Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Mark Warner, did not vote. Last month, the Senate voted to fund DHS without funding ICE and Border Patrol, though House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the bill.

• SPLC raked in the cash following Charlottesville: Following the Justice Department’s bombshell revelations that the Southern Poverty Law Center had been engaged in funding the very hate groups it was supposedly working to expose and eliminate, it was immediately evident that there were clear political motivations for these actions. As FBI Director Kash Patel explained, “The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public. They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups.” The infamous 2017 “Unite the Right” riot in Charlottesville served as a windfall for the SPLC. The year prior, the organization received $50 million in donations; however, the year after Charlottesville, it raked in $132 million. The SPLC paid one of the leaders and planners of the Unite the Right event $270,000 between 2015 and 2023. That’s quite a return on investment.

• Carter Page settlement: Former Trump staffer Carter Page alleges that he was unjustly surveilled under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act during an Obama-era investigation into possible Russian influence in U.S. elections. Obama did, of course, unjustly surveil the Trump campaign in the lead-up to his historic victory in 2016. The Trump administration has now settled with Page for $1.25 million. Page has agreed to drop his complaints against the federal government, but his complaints against individual defendants, such as FBI Director James Comey and other former FBI leadership, remain. Page’s case alleged that the warrant applications that led to his surveillance were false and misleading.

• Nuclear code faux imbroglio: “I’d have to see a couple of source confirmations before I even dignify that question with an answer,” said Sen. Thom Tillis of allegations that Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine had a heated exchange during which Trump attempted to use nuclear codes. The claim comes from podcaster and former CIA officer Larry Johnson’s “Judging Freedom” show in an episode released April 20. Trump has made threats to Iran regarding the consequences should it refuse to reach a negotiated peace deal, but there has been no mention of the use of nuclear weapons. Johnson included, as supposed evidence, footage of Gen. Caine walking with his head down after a meeting at the White House. No independent corroboration of Johnson’s claim has emerged at this point.

• California’s pro-ICE-doxing law blocked: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “No Vigilantes Act,” which sought to force ICE agents to reveal their identities, has been blocked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. California passed a law requiring ICE agents to unmask and wear visible identification while operating in the state, but the 9th Circuit has thwarted it with an injunction. The three-judge panel stated that the No Vigilantes Act “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions.” The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California’s new law in November, arguing that not only does it put the federal officers in danger, but it also violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by attempting to regulate the federal government. As Red State relays, “The Supremacy Clause, found in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, establishes that federal law outranks state law whenever the two conflict.”

• Ten Commandments in Texas schools reinstated: Both Texas and Louisiana passed laws requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, and, of course, a legal battle ensued. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a surprising decision in the case, ruling that Texas can enforce the requirement because the legislation does not require students to believe the religious teaching, and therefore it does not violate the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the Constitution. At the time of our country’s founding, “establishment” meant forced compliance under the law with a certain religion or church doctrine. The Fifth Circuit clearly pointed out that putting a poster on a wall is not coercion: “S.B. 10 requires no religious exercise or observance. Students are neither catechized on the Commandments nor taught to adopt them. Nor are teachers commanded to proselytize students who ask about the displays or contradict students who disagree with them.” If a pride flag displayed in a classroom isn’t coercive, then neither are the Ten Commandments.

• Acting AG proceeds with rescheduling marijuana: In December, President Trump signed an executive order requiring his attorney general to proceed with the necessary paperwork and rulemaking to move marijuana from its place as a Schedule I drug to the more appropriate Schedule III. Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use; this schedule includes heroin and LSD. Forty states now have laws legalizing marijuana for medical use, making it difficult to argue it belongs in Schedule I. Pursuant to Trump’s order, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed orders on Thursday reclassifying marijuana as Schedule III. Schedule III applies to less dangerous drugs that still have a risk of abuse, such as ketamine and anabolic steroids.

Headlines

• Judge dismisses Kash Patel’s MSNBC lawsuit (NY Post)

• Man who allegedly shot, stabbed DHS employee found dead in jail (Daily Caller)

• Trump administration nearing rescue deal for Spirit Airlines (WSJ)

• British politicians finalize lifetime smoking ban on anyone born after 2008 (Not the Bee)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.