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Supreme delay, Weinstein reprieve and Haiti transition

 
Today's politics story

Justices set to punt on Trump immunity case

What happened
The Supreme Court's conservative majority, after nearly three hours of oral arguments Thursday, appeared unlikely to give former President Donald Trump the "kind of get-out-of-jail free card" he is seeking in special counsel Jack Smith's 2020 election subversion case, Politico said. But a majority of justices seemed ready to enshrine some level of presidential immunity and send the case back to lower courts for time-consuming parsing of "official" versus personal presidential actions.

Who said what
This case has "huge implications" for the "future of the presidency" and the country, said Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "We are writing a rule for the ages," Justice Neil Gorsuch said. The "framers did not put an immunity clause into the Constitution," said Justice Elena Kagan. "Not so surprising — they were reacting against a monarch who claimed to be above the law." Telling "the most powerful person in the world" there is "no potential penalty for committing crimes" could turn "the Oval Office into the seat of criminality," said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The commentary
The conservative justices seem poised to give Trump "what he most desires in the case: further delays," Ronald Brownstein said at The Atlantic. People who went into Thursday's hearing "wishing to preserve a preelection trial against Trump" emerged "hoping that the court doesn't eviscerate the possibility of criminal consequences for any president who breaks the law."

What next?
The court's ruling is expected by the end of June.

 
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Today's LEGAL story

Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned

What happened
The New York State Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, ruling 4-3 that four other alleged Weinstein assault victims had "erroneously" been allowed to testify in his trial.

Who said what
"The accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged," Judge Jenny Rivera said. The majority opinion demonstrates "fundamental misunderstandings of sexual violence perpetrated by men known to, and with significant power over, the women they victimize," Judge Madeline Singas dissented. "New York's women deserve better."

The commentary
Weinstein's rape convictions in New York and Los Angeles "shut the door" on his career and opened the #MeToo floodgates, The Hollywood Reporter said. "Weinstein's accusers could fill an entire courtroom," but the "she said, she said, she said, she said" believability breakthrough of the #MeToo movement is still running into the old "he said, she said" wall in court, Jessica Bennett said at The New York Times.

What next?
Manhattan's district attorney vowed to retry Weinstein, who will likely be transferred to prison in California as he appeals his still-standing L.A. rape conviction.

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL Story

Haiti interim council, prime minister sworn in

What happened
A nine-member transitional council was sworn in to govern Haiti on Thursday following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The council includes representatives of political parties, civil society and the private sector. Henry, blocked from returning to Haiti by armed gangs that control much of the country, signed his resignation letter in Los Angeles on Wednesday. His outgoing Cabinet appointed Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert as interim prime minister.

Who said what
"We have served the nation in difficult times," Henry said in his resignation letter. Haiti's "multidimensional political crisis" has "lasted too long," Boisvert said. Today "opens the prospect of a solution."

The commentary
Haiti's gangs, which continue "looting houses, kidnapping civilians, raping women and killing people at random," say they intend to "disrupt the current political process," The New York Times said. But the council's seating should "clear the way for the arrival of a multinational police force led by Kenya."

What next?
The transitional council's nonrenewable mandate expires Feb. 7, 2026, by which point a new president must be elected and sworn in.

 
 

It's not all bad

Cutting-edge laser technology has uncovered an ancient city on the island of Tonga dating back to 300 AD. "This is 700 years earlier than previously thought," Phillip Parton at Australian National University told ABC Pacific. Using aerial scanners, Parton and a team of researchers found nearly 10,000 mounds near the capital Nuku'alofa once used as housing. This could be one of the first cities ever established in the region, and "having this type of information really adds to our understanding of early Pacific societies," Parton said.

 
 
Under the radar

Andrew Fahie, a former premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has been convicted on drug charges in the U.S., highlighting the territory's status as a "formidable cocaine-trafficking hub," Insight Crime said. Fahie was charged with scheming to shield "cocaine-filled boats" docked in the island's ports and bribing a government official as part a "plot intended to run thousands of kilograms of the drug through the territory," said Reuters.

Fahie agreed to a $700,000 payment from an undercover informant to allow traffickers to use BVI ports, according to charges filed in the U.S. Fahie's defense lawyer claimed the former premier was setting up his own sting, "acting like the fictitious CIA agent Jason Bourne," when he was approached by the man posing as a cartel member, said the Miami Herald. U.S. jurors "didn't buy the Bourne defense."

Fahie's case "exemplifies how high-level corruption makes the tiny BVI, with a population of only about 30,000 people, an outsized player in the international cocaine trade," said Insight Crime. There have "long been questions" about the way the BVI has been run, said James Landale, a diplomatic correspondent at the BBC. 

The territory, made up of more than 40 islands and located east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, operates as a parliamentary democracy, with the premier acting as the head of the elected government alongside a U.K.-appointed governor. The leaking of the documents known as the "Panama Papers" and "Paradise Papers" revealed the islands to be a popular tax haven.

 
 
On this day

April 26, 1986

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in the Ukrainian city of the same name. The crisis began when one of Chernobyl's nuclear reactors exploded, launching massive amounts of radioactive material into the sky and creating an environmental disaster. The city was eventually evacuated; decades later it remains abandoned.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

A New York appellate court's "'tragic" reversal" of Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction, as the New York Daily News puts it, features prominently on Friday's front pages. The court cited "errors by judge in 2020 proceedings," the Los Angeles Times says. Weinstein will "stay in prison as prosecutor plans new trial," The New York Times says, while the New York Post proclaims: "Sleaze baack!" 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Axeing the 'argy-bargy'

Axe body spray works on animals, too. Farmers have found it masks the hormones that make rams aggressive. A few spritzes on the rams, and "there's no argy-bargy, no rowing," British sheep farmer Sam Bryce told The Wall Street Journal. "I adore my sheep, but they're the naughtiest things I've ever owned." Another use for the spray is to mist some on orphaned lambs. Ewes identify babies by smell, and the Axe makes them think the lambs are their own.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images; Etienne Laurent / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; Guerinault Louis / Anadolu via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Alamy