10 things you need to know today: June 28, 2019

1. Democratic candidates take swipes at Biden in debate

A second group of 10 Democratic presidential candidates met in the party's first round of debates on Thursday. The forum featured most of the Democrats' highest profile 2020 hopefuls, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The candidates debated health insurance and climate change, but Harris stood out by criticizing Biden, who leads in the polls, for his civil rights record and comments regarding his past work with segregationists. Biden called the attack a "mischaracterization" of his record. Harris also scored one of the night's biggest applause lines, interrupting a noisy exchange by saying, "America does not want to witness a food fight — they want to know how we are going to put food on their table."

The Washington Post

2. Justices block Trump administration's citizenship census question

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Thursday that the Trump administration could not add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The court said that although Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had the authority to add a question, the administration's justification for making the change was inadequate. The limited ruling was supported by the court's more liberal justices, along with Chief Justice John Roberts. The case was sent back to a lower court for further review, meaning the court left open the possibility that the question could be added in future years. President Trump tweeted his displeasure with the ruling, and said he had asked his lawyers "if they can delay the Census, no matter how long," until the administration can re-argue its case.

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The Associated Press Supreme Court

3. Pelosi: House 'reluctantly' approves Senate border bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the Democrat-led House "reluctantly" passed the Senate's bipartisan legislation to provide $4.6 billion to address a humanitarian crisis at the southern border. The House had approved a version that included tighter restrictions on the Trump administration's use of the money, but Pelosi said a showdown with the Senate risked delaying efforts to improve conditions for children detained at the border. The decision came after an image of a Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande increased pressure for finding a solution. "The children come first. At the end of the day, we have to make sure that the resources needed to protect the children are available," Pelosi told colleagues in a letter.

BBC News

4. Supreme Court rules courts can't stop gerrymandering

The Supreme Court on Thursday decided 5-4 against challengers to partisan gerrymandering, a practice that allows majority political parties to draw voting districts in their states that benefit their candidates. The court's conservative justices backed the decisions in two cases, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing that "partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts" in his majority opinion. The two cases involved challengers to Maryland and North Carolina's congressional district maps. The court also suggested that it would avoid hearing future cases involving partisan gerrymandering.

The New York Times

5. Smiling Trump tells Putin: 'Don't meddle in the election'

President Trump on Friday appeared to make light of Russia's interference in his favor in the 2016 presidential election, wagging his finger at Russian President Vladimir Putin and saying, "Don't meddle in the [2020] election." Trump and Putin are meeting privately Friday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Trump said at the start of the summit that he and Putin have a "very, very good relationship" that could yield "many positive things." Trump also expressed optimism about negotiations for a U.S.-China trade deal ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit. "At a minimum, it will be productive," Trump said about the planned Saturday meeting with Xi.

The New York Times

6. Tillerson told Congress Kushner shut him out of talks with world leaders

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in newly disclosed testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, independently talked with world leaders, cutting him out of key policy discussions. Tillerson also said he found it challenging to brief Trump because the president did not read briefing papers and often got distracted, according to a transcript of Tillerson's May testimony the committee released Thursday. Tillerson said he once went to a Washington restaurant and found that Kushner was dining there with Mexico's foreign minister, whom Tillerson didn't know was in town. He also said he was "angry" to find out that Kushner had talked with Saudi and Emirati leaders about their secret plan to blockade Qatar, a key U.S. ally.

The Washington Post The New York Times

7. World powers, Iran meet in 'last chance' talks to save nuclear deal

Senior diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia are meeting with counterparts from Iran on Friday in an attempt to keep Tehran from ditching the landmark 2015 deal to curb its nuclear program. Iran has threatened to enrich more uranium than allowed under the deal in response to new sanctions the U.S. has imposed to cut off Iran's oil sales after President Trump last year withdrew the U.S. from the accord. "We will repeat to the Iranians that nuclear issues are not negotiable," a senior European diplomat said. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the talks were a "last chance for the remaining parties" to show they are committed to the sanctions relief Iran was promised.

Reuters

8. Apple chief designer Jony Ive leaving to start design company

Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive plans to leave later this year to form his own design company, which will be called LoveFrom. Apple said Ive, who was a close creative collaborator with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and played a key role in developing the iPhone, will continue to collaborate with Apple at the new company, but analysts still said the departure was jarring. "It's the most significant departure of somebody who was a core part of the growth story" under Jobs, said Ben Bajarin, analyst with Creative Strategies. The iPhone maker's shares fell by as much as 1.5 percent in after-market trading, enough to reduce the company's market capitalization by $9 billion.

Reuters

9. Slain University of Utah student's family sues school

The family of former University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey filed a $56 million lawsuit Thursday accusing school administrators of failing to protect her from the ex-boyfriend suspected of killing her, despite their repeated complaints to police about him. Jill McCluskey said she and her husband asked University President Ruth Watkins numerous times "to take responsibility and to hold individuals accountable" for the death of their daughter on the university's campus. "The university has taken no responsibility for Lauren's preventable death," Jill McCluskey said. "No one has been disciplined or held accountable in the campus police or housing." Watkins responded with a statement repeating the university's expression of "deep sorrow for the loss of Lauren McCluskey."

CNN

10. U.S. women's soccer captain Megan Rapinoe stands by White House comment

Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain of the U.S. women's national soccer team, doubled down on comments that drew criticism from President Trump earlier this week. Rapinoe previously said she would not go "to the f---ing White House" if the U.S. wins the ongoing Women's World Cup, and Trump tweeted on Wednesday that she "should WIN first before she talks!" Asked about her comments on Thursday, Rapinoe said, "I stand by the comments ... with the exception of the expletive. My mom would be very upset about that." Teammates and fellow stars Alex Morgan and Ali Krieger said they'd also sit out a White House visit. Rapinoe said the Trump administration "doesn't fight for the same things that we fight for."

CNN