Top of the Fold

• Justice Stephen Breyer retiring from SCOTUS today: As the U.S. Supreme Court ends its current term, it also marks the permanent end of Justice Stephen Breyer’s time on the bench. The left-leaning justice will be stepping down today, a move he announced earlier this year. Breyer, who was nominated by Bill Clinton, joined the Court in 1994, making him the second-longest active serving justice behind Clarence Thomas. The 83-year-old Breyer will be replaced by former DC Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who will be sworn in at noon today.

• EPA keeps throttling U.S. energy production: Despite Joe Biden’s repeated claims to the contrary, his administration is doing everything it can to inhibit energy companies from increasing oil and gas extraction capabilities. The latest evidence is the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of a new ozone regulatory standard that has direct implications on energy companies’ ability to extract oil from the Permian Basin. Located in Texas and New Mexico, the Permian Basin accounts for 43% of all U.S. oil production, and now the EPA has targeted parts of it for “non-attainment” with newly devised air quality standards. In truth, this is a backdoor approach to banning fracking, something the EPA is not permitted to do. Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded: “The EPA’s process could interfere in the production of oil in Texas which could lead to skyrocketing prices at the pump by reducing production, increase the cost of that production, or do both. Your administration’s announced action is completely discretionary. Thus, you have the power to stop it.” If Biden was really interested in helping Americans by getting the sky-high gas prices down, he could easily eliminate needlessly onerous regulations. Instead, he’s following through on his promise to end fossil fuels. In related news, the Supreme Court just limited EPA authority in regulating emissions.

• Vatican allows pro-abortion Pelosi to take communion: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Vatican this week and took part in a papal Mass where she was permitted to receive communion. Pelosi has long championed abortion despite the Catholic Church’s clear teaching that abortion is a grave sin. Pelosi responded to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe by calling it “cruel,” “outrageous,” and “heart-wrenching.” She even claimed it was evidence of Republicans’ raging hypocrisy. The only raging hypocrisy is Pelosi claiming to be a good Catholic while not only justifying but promoting abortion. Maybe the Vatican shares in Pelosi’s hypocrisy, since rather than take an opportunity to hold an unrepentant Catholic to account, the Holy See opted for political optics rather than fidelity to Church doctrine. Pope Francis’s defense of administering communion to pro-abortion politicians is tremendously twisted. He stated that bishops must minister “with compassion and tenderness” and that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect” but rather is “a gift of the presence of Jesus in the Church.” But is not repentance a prerequisite to taking communion? Indeed, it was this very issue of unrepentance that moved San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to send Pelosi a letter barring her from receiving communion.

• U.S. military recruiting sinks thanks to woke nonsense: It appears that the U.S. Army has adopted a new slogan: “Get Woke, Go Broke.” How else does one explain the Army coming up 60% short of its recruitment goals this year? With the Army’s embrace of woke critical race theory, a lot of young qualified Americans are asking, Why would I want to join a military that demonizes the very nation I would be serving? Apparently, many individuals have raised this question and decided not to sign up. Military recruitment efforts have taken a nosedive. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that the Army has eliminated its mandate that potential recruits have at least a high school diploma or a GED certificate. And it’s not just the Army; every branch of the U.S. military has seen recruitment numbers drop. Wokeness preaches hatred of country, not love of country, which is a necessary prerequisite when asking people to be willing to sacrifice their lives.

Headlines

• Supreme Court deals major blow to EPA power (Townhall)

• SCOTUS allows Biden to end Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy (NBC News)

• SCOTUS rules states can prosecute non-Native Americans on tribal lands (Fox News)

• Biden supports ending filibuster to protect abortion access (Fox News)

• Hershel Williams, last Medal of Honor recipient from WWII, dies at 98 (Washington Post)

• Delusional Democrats advance “Transgender Bill of Rights” (PJ Media)

• Two illegal immigrants arrested in connection with deaths of 50+ migrants (Free Beacon)

• Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln bust removed from Cornell library after “complaint” (NY Post)

• Mob loses a round: George Washington University will keep Clarence Thomas amid leftist pressure campaign (Free Beacon)

• Policy: The FDA’s ban on a popular e-cigarette defies logic (City Journal)

• Satire: J6 Committee says Cassidy Hutchinson told them that she heard Mark Meadows say that a Secret Service agent’s friend’s cousin’s husband once heard that one of Trump’s other aides said she thinks she heard him say he wanted to “do an insurrection” (Babylon Bee)

• Satire: Donald Trump to star in “Fast and Furious 10: Capitol Riot” (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.