10 things you need to know today: June 26, 2020

1. Texas pauses reopening as coronavirus cases surge in South and West

Coronavirus infections continued to surge across the South and West on Thursday as the nationwide daily tally surpassed a record set in April. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), one of the first to ease lockdown restrictions, paused the economic reopening in his state, where hospitalizations have tripled since Memorial Day. Businesses that were allowed to reopen, including bars, restaurants, and malls, can continue operating, with existing restrictions. "The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses," Abbott said in a press release. In Arizona, a record 415 COVID-19 patients were on ventilators. Mississippi reported record one-day jumps in new cases twice this week. "Really bad things are going to happen," Mississippi Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said.

The Associated Press The Texas Tribune

2. Supreme Court rules rejected asylum-seekers can't appeal in federal courts

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on Thursday that migrants seeking asylum in the United States have no right to appeal deportation orders in federal court if their applications are denied. The decision marked a key victory for President Trump's push to fast-track deportations for denied asylum seekers. An appeals court had ruled that Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, a Sri Lankan farmer and member of the persecuted Tamil minority, and other asylum-seekers had a right to petition for habeas corpus in federal court. Writing for the Supreme Court majority, conservative Justice Samuel Alito said that the rights of habeas corpus and due process don't require a review by a judge of those denied in their initial asylum screening, where applicants must prove a "credible fear" of persecution.

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Supreme Court NPR

3. CDC: True number of coronavirus infections could be 10 times higher

The United States has confirmed more than two million cases of COVID-19, but the true number might be about ten times higher, the CDC says. "Our best estimate right now is that for every case that's reported, there actually are 10 other infections," said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If this estimate is accurate, that would mean there have been more than 20 million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S, as about 2.3 million cases have been confirmed. Health officials have long said that the official number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is likely an undercount. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has also said the COVID-19 death toll, which is currently more than 120,000, is "almost certainly" higher.

NBC News Reuters

4. Poll: Biden leads Trump in 6 battleground states

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading among registered voters in six key battleground states Trump won in 2016, according to a poll from The New York Times and Siena College. Biden is up by double digits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and between six and nine percentage points in the other states: Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina. He was only leading by two percentage points across these states last October. If Biden were to carry these six states, as well as those Hillary Clinton won in 2016, he would win the election with 333 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed to win the White House. A separate New York Times/Siena College poll released Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump by 14 percentage points nationally.

The New York Times

5. Jobless claims of 1.48 million exceed expectations

Another 1.48 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The weekly total was down 60,000 claims from the week before, but higher than the 1.35 million new jobless claims economists had predicted. The figure came in higher than expected the previous week, too. Last week was the 14th straight with more than 1 million jobless claims as the coronavirus crisis forced many businesses to curtail operations and many customers to stay home. Before the coronavirus pandemic, weekly jobless claims had never even gotten close to 1 million. Continuing claims for benefits fell to 19.5 million, though, marking the first time in two months the figure fell below 20 million.

CNBC Bloomberg

6. Senate passes bill seeking China sanctions over Hong Kong

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill seeking to impose new sanctions on China after officials deemed the country to be chipping away at Hong Kong's autonomy. The bipartisan legislation, pushed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), came after China introduced a new national security law critics warned would roll back Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status, which the former British colony has had since returning to Chinese rule. "They are taking away the rights of the people in Hong Kong," Van Hollen said. The unanimous vote on the bill, which still the House has yet to approve, came after tweaks were made to satisfy the White House, which has been cool to new sanctions as it tries to preserve President Trump's trade deal with Beijing.

The Hill Politico

7. GAO: Federal government sent stimulus checks to 1.1 million dead people

The federal government sent nearly $1.4 billion in coronavirus stimulus payments to 1.1 million dead people, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported Thursday. The GAO, Congress' independent watchdog agency, released the finding in a report on the $3 trillion in coronavirus relief Congress approved in March and April. The news of checks sent to the dead was expected to fuel resistance among some Republican lawmakers to another round of direct relief payments. The GAO said the mistakes occurred as the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service rushed to send out 160.4 million payments totaling $269 billion under the CARES Act to counter economic damage as the coronavirus crisis shut down much of the economy.

The Washington Post

8. Judge rejects Trump family bid to block niece's tell-all book

Judge Peter J. Kelly of the Queens County Surrogate Court in New York on Thursday dismissed a bid by President Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, to block publication of a tell-all book by the president's niece, Mary Trump. Kelly said he didn't have jurisdiction over the dispute. Ted Boutros, a renowned First Amendment lawyer representing Ms. Trump, called the attempt to squelch the book "baseless," and said no court "has authority to violate the Constitution by imposing a prior restraint on core political speech." Robert Trump's attorney, Charles Harder, said the request to block the book, Too Much and Never Enough, was due to a confidentiality agreement Mary Trump signed and that he would file a new lawsuit in a different court.

CNN

9. House passes sweeping police overhaul bill

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a police overhaul bill named for George Floyd that would ban chokeholds, prohibit some no-knock warrants, and create a national database to track officer misconduct. The vote was 236-181, with three moderate Republicans — Reps. Will Hurd of Texas, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Fred Upton of Michigan — joining the Democrats to pass the bill. In late May, Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed Black man, died after a white police officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. On Wednesday, the Senate failed to advance its narrower policing bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated he will not take up the House package.

Politico

10. Colorado governor reopens investigation into Elijah McClain's death

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Thursday ordered the state attorney general to reopen the investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man who died last year after Aurora police put him into a chokehold. McClain, a massage therapist, was walking down a street after buying iced tea at a store. McClain had a blood disorder and was wearing a ski mask to keep warm, friends say. Police told him they were stopping him because he looked "suspicious." Officers held him down as he sobbed, saying he couldn’t breathe. McClain suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died several days later, but the officers weren't charged. Calls for a new investigation mounted after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

The Denver Post