10 things you need to know today: June 27, 2018

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1. Supreme Court upholds Trump's travel ban
2. Rep. Joe Crowley, No. 4 House Democrat, loses primary
3. Judge gives Trump administration 30 days to reunite migrant families
4. Supreme Court rules against California anti-abortion-clinic law
5. Trump urges Congress to tell immigrants 'you can't come in'
6. Reality Winner pleads guilty to leaking secrets
7. 17 states and D.C. sue to force Trump to reunite migrant families
8. U.K. judge grants Uber license to operate in London
9. Judge refuses to dismiss charges against Manafort
10. Argentina beats Nigeria 2-1 to advance in World Cup

published 27 June 2018

1. Supreme Court upholds Trump's travel ban

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the third version of President Trump's ban on travel to the U.S. from five mostly Muslim countries. The court's 5-4 conservative majority found that Trump was within his authority over immigration, and that his previous statements claiming that Muslims pose a danger to the U.S. did not make the policy an unconstitutional example of religious discrimination. The decision came after more than a year of legal wrangling that started days into Trump's administration. The president called the ruling "a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians." In a searing dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor likened the decision to Korematsu v. United States, the 1944 ruling that endorsed detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Ten-term Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), the No. 4 Democrat in the House, lost his party's primary on Tuesday to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a shocking upset. Crowley, 56, far outspent his 28-year-old challenger, a former organizer for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) presidential campaign, but she countered with an aggressive social media presence and a call for generational, racial, and ideological change, saying Crowley was out of touch with his district. Voters in seven states participated in primaries. Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney easily won his Senate primary in Utah. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, an early backer of President Trump, beat self-made multi-millionaire John Warren in a primary runoff after getting a boost from Trump, who tweeted his support and flew to the state Monday for a campaign rally.

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U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw in San Diego ruled Tuesday that the federal government can't separate migrant children from their parents, and gave immigration authorities 30 days to reunite families that have been split up under President Trump's "zero tolerance" border policy. Sabraw, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said children under 5 must be returned to their parents within just 14 days. More than 2,500 children were separated from their parents, and just over 2,000 remain in detention centers or with foster families. The ruling came days after Trump called for a halt to the separations, following an escalating bipartisan outcry. The government had argued Sabraw should not issue a nationwide injunction, saying Trump's order had resolved the matter.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a California law that required so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" to provide information about available abortion services. The California Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act, or FACT Act, required that clinics tell pregnant women requesting services that the state offered free or low-cost abortions. The two anti-abortion clinics that challenged the law argued that it violated their First Amendment rights. The case was the latest in a series of 5-4 rulings by the conservative majority, which was restored when the Senate approved Justice Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch was appointed by President Trump after Senate Republicans blocked former President Barack Obama's appointee, Judge Merrick Garland.

President Trump on Tuesday gave members of Congress some advice in crafting immigration laws, telling them it should be a "simple" policy that communicates to immigrants: "I'm sorry, you can't come in." Trump reportedly told Congress that the nation's "hodgepodge of laws" is overly complicated. "It's so simple," he said. Lawmakers are scrambling to craft new policies to address Trump's zero tolerance immigration policy, which led to separations of immigrant parents and children at the border. The president reversed the practice with an executive order, and border officials announced Monday that the retreat forces them to suspend prosecutions of undocumented immigrants until the administration sorts out how to detain them without violating federal law regarding the detention of children.

Former Air Force linguist Reality L. Winner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a felony charge of leaking classified information. Winner was arrested last June on allegations that she gave members of the news media a classified report about Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Winner, the first person prosecuted by the Trump administration for leaking government secrets, accepted a deal with prosecutors calling for a 63-month prison sentence. A prosecutor said last year that Winner was trying to make facts public after being angered by information reported in the media. "All of my actions I did willfully, meaning I did so of my own free will," Ms. Winner told Chief Judge J. Randal Hall on Tuesday.

Democratic attorneys general in 17 states, including New York and California, and Washington, D.C., sued the Trump administration on Tuesday in an attempt to force the government to reunite undocumented migrant children and parents separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. "The administration's practice of separating families is cruel, plain and simple," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. Immigration authorities have taken about 2,300 children from their parents since the policy was imposed in May. Trump, who originally blamed Democrats for the policy and said only Democrats could fix it, last week ordered it halted, and officials have suspended prosecutions of the parents. The states say Trump didn't go far enough, partly because he hasn't reunited the split families.

A British judge granted Uber a 15-month license to operate in London on Tuesday, reversing a decision that threatened to prevent the ride-hailing service from serving the U.K. capital. The license came with conditions, including an independent review of procedures and safety every six months. The regulatory agency Transport for London declined to renew Uber's license last year, accusing the company of a "lack of corporate responsibility" regarding such safety issues as handling crimes by drivers. London is a crucial market for Uber. More than 3.6 million people in the city regularly use the Uber app to get rides from about 45,000 drivers.

A federal judge who had criticized Special Counsel Robert Mueller's charges against Paul Manafort, President Trump's one-time campaign chairman, ruled Tuesday that the case could go to trial next month. In May, Judge T.S. Ellis III said in a hearing that he saw no link between the bank fraud and tax evasion case before him and "anything the special counsel is authorized to investigate." In the opinion Ellis released Tuesday, he said that "upon further review" it was clear Mueller's team "followed the money paid by pro-Russian officials" to Manafort, which fell within Mueller's mandate. Ellis' refusal to dismiss the charges marked the latest in a series of setbacks for Manafort. Another judge this month revoked Manafort's bail and ordered him jailed after prosecutors accused him of attempted witness tampering.

Argentina narrowly advanced out of the World Cup's highly competitive Group D on Tuesday, beating Nigeria 2-1. Forward Lionel Messi scored the first goal in the 14th minute — his first scratch of the tournament — but Nigeria's Victor Moses put in the equalizer in the 51st minute. Argentina's Marcos Rojo sealed his team's victory in the 86th minute. Because Croatia defeated Iceland 2-1 in a simultaneous game, Argentina snagged the second-place spot in Group D and will advance to the Round of 16 along with Croatia. The first games of the Round of 16 begin June 30.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.