The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Executive News Summary
Green-card criminal suspects can be blocked from re-entry
In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration an immigration win yesterday. Blance v. Lau involved various issues the Court decided not to address, but what it did tackle will make it easier to exclude criminal foreigners from entering the U.S. The decision hinges on whether a green-carder charged with a serious crime, such as Muk Choi Lau’s trademark counterfeiting charge, can be considered an “applicant for admission” rather than a returning permanent resident when returning to the U.S. from foreign travel. The defense argued that immigration officials needed “clear and convincing evidence” to treat such a person as only an applicant. The conservative justices rejected that standard, which is not found in the law, deciding that immigration officials’ job is to make quick decisions at ports of entry.
Exxon lawsuit against Cuba okayed by SCOTUS
In a decision that will increase economic pressure on Cuba’s government, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a 6-3 ruling granting ExxonMobil the right to sue for stolen property. Exxon filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Cuba in 2019 over the communist government’s seizure of its oil and gas assets in 1960. In 2024, a lower court ruled against Exxon’s right to sue, on the grounds that it was a foreign sovereign immunity matter. While prior presidents had not allowed lawsuits against Cuba, President Donald Trump lifted the suspension of Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act in 2019. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing the majority opinion, observed, “It would make little sense for Congress to construct an elaborate statute authorizing suits against the Cuban government agencies and instrumentalities if, because of the FSIA, almost no suits could ever get through the courthouse door.”
Senate passes Iran resolution
Tim Kaine of Virginia successfully led the Democrats’ effort to pass the war powers resolution, which seeks to force a U.S. withdrawal from Iran, in the Senate after it already passed the House. Four Republican senators — Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy — joined Democrats to pass the bill 50-48, while two Republicans who would’ve opposed the resolution were absent. John Fetterman was the only Democrat in Congress to oppose the measure. As a concurrent resolution, the measure does not carry the force of law. Nevertheless, it gives Iran leverage in ongoing negotiations during the peace deal. Indeed, had Democrats not steadfastly signaled support for Iran and hostility to the U.S. during the entirety of the U.S.-Iran war, the outcome might have been very different.
House passes housing bill
By a vote of 358-32, the House passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on Tuesday. The Senate passed the bill on Monday, 85-5. The overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation now heads to President Trump’s desk, and he has enthusiastically promised to sign it. Among its features, the legislation removes regulatory barriers and pre-approves designs for expedited environmental reviews, both of which will speed up home construction, increase supply, and reduce prices. However, the bill also heavily regulates the purchase of single-family homes by corporate investors, a provision touted by Trump and Elizabeth Warren. Yet that is a localized problem in some cities, where institutional investors buy up swaths of housing and then rent those homes, but nationally, their share is just 3% of single-family rentals. Thus, the wisdom of a national solution is debatable.
Update: Never mind! Just as we went to press, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT”
MRC urges FCC to crack down on “The View”
On Monday, the Media Research Center sent an 18-page letter to the Federal Communications Commission arguing that ABC’s “The View” is a partisan political organ rather than a news program. “The View is a political operation of the Democratic Party, not a bona fide news interview program,” wrote MRC President David Bozell. “ABC’s petition in defense of The View is a terrible misstatement of First Amendment law that obfuscates how ABC’s use of U.S. public spectrum is a privilege, not a right.” Historically, news interview programs have been exempt from the Communications Act of 1934’s equal-time rule. However, Bozell noted, “MRC has published eight studies documenting how The View engages in partisan programming to promote Democrat candidates and Democrat-aligned policies, while refusing to interview those who would imperil Democrat electoral chances.”
$6.5B in fraud
The FBI has cracked down on 455 fraudsters, including 90 doctors and medical professionals, who have been charged with stealing $6.5 billion using fake Medicaid and Medicare claims. The scope of the bust spanned 45 U.S. states and territories, with one person being arrested and flown back from Cyprus. The con artists stole taxpayer money to use on luxury cars, jewelry, mansions, fine art, an NFL box, yachts, and resorts. Among the more egregious schemes was a doctor using cardiovascular tests as part of his $89 million heist, resulting in the death of a student athlete after the doctor signed off on his obviously problematic cardiovascular test. A nurse in Texas stole $906 million by billing Medicare for unnecessary tissue grafts, charging $1 million each, and using the proceeds on a Bulgari necklace, a Ferrari, and a $4.6 million beach resort in the Philippines.
Judge blocks DHS from arresting illegal immigrants at courts
U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts in the Northern District of California has issued a nationwide injunction against several Trump administration policies, primarily the practice of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest illegal aliens at immigration courts. Pitts asserted that these policies violated the Administrative Procedure Act and that ICE and the Executive Office for Immigration Review “failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions.” Pitts also ruled that ICE’s practice of holding detainees longer than 12 hours violated the Fifth Amendment. DHS general counsel James Percival argued, “When a judge sentences a defendant, the defendant is taken into custody. If an alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge, the same should happen. A district judge ordering otherwise is naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda.”
Chicago’s “Transfemicide State of Emergency”
Socialist Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a city in which blacks murder blacks by the hundreds. Just over Juneteenth weekend, 39 Chicagoans were shot and six were killed. Yet what does the black mayor find most pressing? The “targeted killing of a transgender woman motivated by transphobic and misogynistic hatred.” First invoked in 2024, Johnson’s office this week re-upped a “Transfemicide State of Emergency.” According to Fox News, “A report on the subject suggests that violence against transgender women, particularly black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC) transgender women, is endemic in Chicago.” That report, however, doesn’t give a number of deaths, only 21 pictures, and it conflates suicide with homicide. How many “trans women” (read: delusional men) have been killed this year? One.
Brexit turns 10
A decade ago, the citizens of the United Kingdom shocked their establishment and the bureaucrats in Brussels when they voted to leave the European Union. One of the primary motivations for voters was an end to mass migration, and for a couple of years, they almost got what they wanted. Post-COVID, however, migration numbers surged to more than twice their previous peak. Illegal immigration via “small boats” has also surged dramatically. Overall, the drastic expectations from Brexit failed to materialize; numerous politicians have had their careers dashed on the rocks of Brexit, but Britain has neither fallen behind the EU nor surged ahead. Re-entry into the EU is an ultimate goal for some politicians, including the likely next prime minister, Andy Burnham, but even he admits it is not the time to relitigate the issue.
Headlines
Supreme Court ends suit alleging Cisco helped China pursue Falun Gong (Reuters)
Trump-endorsed Alan Wilson thrashes Trump-endorsed Pamela Evette in SC gubernatorial race (Daily Caller)
RNC sues to stop Nebraska election law that allows nonresidents to vote (Washington Times)
Energy Department to provide $17.5 billion for large-scale nuclear power projects (WFB)
The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.