The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Executive News Summary
SCOTUS overturns Louisiana’s second majority-black district: Today, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Supreme Court’s conservatives in a 6-3 decision to strike down an unconstitutional majority-minority district in Louisiana. The district was drawn after a 2022 redistricting map was successfully challenged in lower courts for having only one majority-black district. Conservatives countersued, arguing that the new map forced upon the state was a racial gerrymander, and the Supreme Court has now agreed. Deputy Solicitor General Hashim Mooppan summed up the situation nicely: Democrats were being granted a second district in Louisiana because these particular Democrats were black. “If they were all white, we all agree they wouldn’t get the same.” Despite this decision, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, stated that “properly construed,” the Voting Rights Act can require race-based redistricting. Still, this decision is poised to wipe out several Democrat House seats across the South.
Comey indicted again: Charges were brought against former FBI Director James Comey again on Tuesday after a grand jury returned an indictment. The charges relate to Comey’s now-infamous Instagram post of a shell formation reading “86 47.” Online users quickly pointed out that to “86” something in a restaurant context means to take it out or eliminate it, interpreting Comey’s post as a call for the assassination of President Donald Trump. A North Carolina grand jury agreed, charging Comey with making threats to kill or harm the president and transmitting those threats across state lines. Comey faced a similar indictment last September, but that case fell apart after a judge determined the then-interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was serving unlawfully. Comey maintains that he did not arrange the shells or understand their potentially violent interpretation.
UAE leaving OPEC: In a massive decision with implications that will take time to fully grasp, the United Arab Emirates, the third-largest oil-producing member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is leaving the cartel. Abu Dhabi, one of the core emirates of the UAE, joined the cartel in 1967, four years before the UAE’s formation. The UAE is also leaving the Russian-led OPEC+ group, which aimed to stabilize oil prices. Emirati leadership insists that the decision, which takes effect on Friday, does not represent a break in their friendship with OPEC neighbors — although missile and drone attacks from fellow OPEC member Iran probably didn’t help. The UAE has made its decision at a time when the Strait of Hormuz is already closed, minimizing market shocks. The UAE hopes to gain more freedom to increase oil production, aiming to pump five million barrels a day by 2027.
Supreme Court weighs TPS for Haitians, Syrians: For more than a decade, thousands of Syrians and tens of thousands of Haitians have enjoyed Temporary Protected Status in the United States. A Trump administration policy would return to the temporary nature of that status, ending protections put in place during Barack Obama’s first term. Court cases have halted the policy’s effect and have now reached the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments today. Under challenge is the homeland security secretary’s authority to grant, review, and terminate TPS, as well as the statute’s clear text, which prohibits “judicial review” of any such decision-making. Lower courts ignored that text, arguing that TPS was terminated without the appropriate decision-making process. If the Supreme Court chooses to uphold the plain text of the statute, more than 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians will lose their status.
California’s gubernatorial debate: Last night’s California gubernatorial debate featured Democrats Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Tony Thurmond, and Antonio Villaraigosa, and Republicans Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton. Porter called for “insuring the insurers” (a.k.a. spend more money) to bring companies back to California. Steyer stuck to the usual talking points of blaming Donald Trump and the Iran war for high gas prices instead of California’s overregulation of oil refineries. Becerra’s socialist solution to California’s insurance problem is to force the insurance companies to freeze their rates. Mahan called Trump’s tax cuts “cruel.” Thurmond said he would look for a way to defer student loan payments, while Villaraigosa called state university tuitions “unacceptable.” Hilton promised to make the state “Califordable” by cutting utility costs and making home-buying more accessible to young people. And finally, Bianco pointed out that the state legislature’s progressive agenda is “destroying California.” Hilton leads the race with 16%.
Improper government payments: The Government Accountability Office has released an estimate of the improper payments made by the federal government in 2025, which totals $186 billion. Of that, $153 billion was overpayments, $10 billion was underpayments, and the remainder was unknown. Improper payments were concentrated in five agencies, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). 2025 shows a $24 billion increase in improper payments over 2024. Several programs that are likely to have significant numbers of improper payments were excluded from the calculation, so the GAO warns that the actual figure is much higher. The GAO concluded, as it has every year since 1997, that the federal government is unable to determine the full extent of its improper payments.
The minimum wage squad: Those handful of congressional Democrats collectively known as the “Squad” are useful idiots. Along with union representatives and advocacy groups, they announced the Living Wage for All Act at a press conference on Tuesday. Their genius idea is to raise the federal minimum wage to $25/hour while also taxing the rich. They want to remove “power and privilege” from “the wealthy and well-connected” to advance “racial justice.” NAACP President Derrick Johnson added, “A living wage is about dignity, but it is also about who holds power in this country.” E.J. Antoni, chief economist for The Heritage Foundation, called the bill’s bluff, saying that an artificial price floor creates surpluses. “In the labor market, we call that surplus ‘unemployment,’ exactly what happens whenever the minimum wage is above the market wage. The law of supply and demand will not be conned.”
Google cofounder comes out as right-wing: LGBT members love when someone “comes out of the closet” as one of them, throwing around accolades like “brave” and “stunning.” Those accolades might not apply to those who “come out” because they feel they really aren’t socialists; nevertheless, Sergei Brin, one of the world’s richest men and a cofounder of Google, has done just that. A California “one-time” proposal to seize 5% of his net worth might have contributed to his decision. Brin has donated to the Republican National Committee, challenged Gavin Newsom on policies that will wreck California’s economy, and is dating a full-on member of MAGA. Asked about his rightward shift, Brin explained that he fled socialism, knows the destruction it wreaked on the Soviet Union, and wants to spare California the same fate.
Headlines
Supreme Court unanimously sides with New Jersey crisis pregnancy center (NY Post)
Biden admin used “Benghazi” to hide $90M to Planned Parenthood (Daily Signal)
To Virginia Supreme Court, Democrats’ lawyer admits gerrymandering vote is irrelevant (The Federalist)
NC Board of Elections finds 34,000 dead people on voter rolls (WTVD)
The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.