• Supreme Court won’t restore Virginia’s map: On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request by Democrats to weigh in on the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling invalidating the Democrats’ drastically gerrymandered map. Democrats argued that since voters narrowly approved the new map, the people had spoken, irrespective of the fact that Democrats had violated the Virginia constitution to make it happen. It comes as no surprise that SCOTUS refused to intervene given the reality that, as state Republicans pointed out, the Democrats “have no case on the merits.” This decision effectively kills the last-ditch effort by Democrats to impose their massively gerrymandered map onto Virginians. Gov. Abigail Spanberger responded by disingenuously spinning the Court’s decision as nullifying “an election and the votes of more than three million Virginians.”

• Cohen calls it quits: The 76-year-old, 10-term Democrat congressman from Tennessee’s Ninth District, Steve Cohen, announced on Friday that he will not seek reelection following the state’s Republican-led redrawn district map. The new map eliminated the Volunteer State’s lone Democrat majority-minority district, seriously diminishing Cohen’s reelection prospects. Cohen and other state Democrats charged the state with racist motives for the move. However, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais declaring racial majority-minority districts unconstitutional, state Republican leaders acted to ensure Tennessee’s congressional maps were in compliance. Furthermore, Cohen likely found that crying racism was a tough sell considering his Republican opponent could be Charlotte Bergmann, a black woman.

• Massie in tight primary battle: Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has a history of clashing both with his Republican colleagues as well as President Donald Trump, faces a tight primary tomorrow. Recent polling gave his challenger, Ed Gallrein, a 3.3% edge, and likely voters favor Gallrein (48.3%) over Massie (43.1%). Trump blasted “The Worst Republican Congressman in History” on social media, saying, “Bad Congressman Tom Massie voted against Tax Cuts, the Border Wall, our Military and Law Enforcement.” Massie responded, “Every time he tweets about me, it’s good. I know some money is coming in because people don’t like that.” Massie also took on “the Israeli lobby” that opposes him, saying, “It will be a referendum on foreign policy — whether Israel gets to dictate that by bullying members of Congress. And I’m the one they haven’t been able to bully.”

• Yale Medical School is bigoted: In 2023, Yale and other Ivy League schools were ordered to stop considering race in admissions by the Supreme Court. Yet progress in actually eliminating race-based admissions has been slow — so slow, in fact, that Yale is now being taken to court for failing to abide by the law. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon is now bringing a new case against Yale Medical School, alleging that black applicants are 29 times more likely to be admitted than an Asian with an equivalent academic record. Yale is accused of using “racial proxies” to determine the race of an applicant without overtly considering race.

• House Democrats refuse to honor law enforcement officers: On Wednesday, the House passed a GOP-led measure paying tribute to law enforcement officers for their “extraordinary sacrifice” amid a spike in assaults against them. Only 29 Democrats supported the resolution, with 173, including their “leader,” Hakeem Jeffries, in opposition. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) praised the bipartisan support but was expecting unanimous support. Perhaps Democrats were miffed at the truthful language in the measure, which mentioned the defund-police movement supported by left-wing activists and politicians. And a reminder: The Patriot Post honors fallen law enforcement officers on our End of Watch page, a tribute to every officer killed in the line of duty.

• Trump blames NY commuter rail strike on Hochul: In the fourth strike in Long Island Rail Road history, at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, five unions representing 3,700 workers walked off the job. That includes signalmen, electricians, clerks, locomotive engineers, and machinists. The unions are asking for a 5% raise in the final year of their next contract with the Metropolitan Transit Authority, but MTA officials say they can’t agree to the wage increase because it would require fare increases. The unions had asked the Trump administration to intervene, and the panels Trump appointed recommended that the MTA offer the workers more money. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul blames Trump for the strike, claiming his intervention ended the mediation too soon. Trump responded by trolling Hochul, saying, “Kathy, call me if you can’t do it, I will get it done — I know all the players, great people!!”

• U.S. nearing indictment of Raúl Castro: The 94-year-old brother of Fidel Castro and former Cuban President Raúl Castro is facing a possible indictment 30 years after shooting down planes operated by a humanitarian group. In 1996, Cuba was still being led by Fidel, while Raúl led the armed forces, when two Cessnas operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down by a Cuban MiG, killing four people. An after-action report found the Cubans had shot without warning and without evidence that it was necessary. Cuba argued that the group was carrying out sabotage, but one Cuban, Gerardo Hernandez, was convicted of murder conspiracy in the U.S. Raúl has stepped down from public office in Cuba but is still viewed as one of the most powerful men in the country. The indictment will still need to be approved by a grand jury.

• Intel suggests Cuba is planning an attack on the American homeland: Axios leaked an American intelligence assessment Sunday that suggests Cuba is plotting to attack Guantanamo Bay and possibly Key West, Florida. The communist Cuban government has acquired over 300 drones and is now discussing using them to attack the U.S. Cuba has supported Russia’s war in Ukraine, with more than 5,000 Cuban soldiers serving as mercenaries for the Russian forces. The U.S. has pressured Cuba hard in recent months after the capture of former Venezuelan dictator and Cuban ally Nicolás Maduro. CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuba’s interior minister on Thursday, urging the country to work with the U.S., make fundamental changes, and take President Trump’s talk of a possible takeover seriously. Cuba is in dire straits as extensive blackouts sweep the country, now deprived of Venezuelan oil.

Headlines

• Republicans are readying a Jack Smith reckoning (Washington Times)

• Texas Children’s Hospital settlement deals massive defeat to trans agenda (Washington Stand)

• Terror “commander” hauled into NYC court after targeting Americans (NY Post)

• NRA files lawsuits challenging Virginia’s new ban on “assault” firearms (Washington Times)

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