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Legislative contempt, church charter school denial and Harvard hit

 
Today's POLITICS story

GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump

What happened
The multitrillion-dollar Republican domestic policy bill the House passed yesterday on a 215-214 vote includes a provision that would limit federal judges' power to hold people in contempt, "potentially shielding" President Donald Trump and members of his administration "from the consequences of violating court orders," The New York Times said. 

Who said what
Republicans "tucked the provision" into their megabill as a handful of federal judges have "opened inquiries about whether to hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating their orders in cases related to its aggressive deportation efforts," the Times said. The limits, which also target injunctions blocking Trump's executive orders, "would apply retroactively to court orders that were made" before the bill was enacted.

A majority of taxpayers would see their federal taxes lowered under the legislation — extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts, at a cost of $2.18 trillion, is its biggest expenditure — but lower-income Americans will have fewer household resources while the richest will have more resources, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. That's mostly due to steep cuts and new requirements for Medicaid and food assistance. The CBO estimated yesterday that millions of Americans would lose access to food stamps and millions more would get less food aid.

The bill would boost U.S. annual growth by 0.03 percentage points, to 1.86% from 1.83%, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation predicted, which would lower its overall price tag to $3.7 trillion from $3.8 trillion. But the legislation's trillion of dollars in deficit spending has "spooked" bond investors, driving government borrowing costs to their "highest level in nearly two decades," The Washington Post said. If "yields remain elevated," that will drive mortgage, credit card and auto loan rates higher and add trillions more to the national debt from elevated interest payments.

What next?
The GOP bill now goes to the Senate, where Republicans have been "hotly debating whether to do a full teardown" of the bill "or gently renovate it," Semafor said. "Right now, the renovators are winning out." The provision on judicial contempt may not "survive under special procedures Republicans are using to push the legislation through Congress on a simple majority vote," the Times said. 

 
 
Today's CHURCH-STATE story

Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school

What happened
A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court yesterday effectively upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools. The 4-4 decision, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself, denied St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School public funding while avoiding setting a precedent for future cases. Legal experts suggested Chief Justice John Roberts likely sided with the court's three liberal justices in the terse, unsigned ruling. 

Who said what
A ruling for St. Isidore, run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa, would have "reshaped American education and blurred the line between church and state," allowing, "for the first time, direct and complete taxpayer funding to establish a faith-based charter school," The Washington Post said. The outcome "came as a surprise," The New York Times said, given the tenor of the oral arguments and the Roberts Court's embrace of "allowing religion a greater role in public life." 

What next?
The court's one-sentence ruling was an "unsatisfying end to one of the term's most closely watched cases," The Associated Press said, but neither side in the case expected this to be the final word. "There will be another case just like this one and Justice Barrett will break the tie," Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt (R) said on social media. "This is far from a settled issue."

 
 
Today's HIGHER Ed Story

Trump bars Harvard from enrolling foreign students

What happened
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday revoked Harvard University's authorization to enroll foreign students, sharply escalating President Donald Trump's pressure campaign against the institution. Harvard's roughly 6,800 current international students "must transfer or lose their legal status," Noem's office said in a statement. 

Who said what
Noem said in a letter to Harvard that she was removing the university from the Student Exchange and Visitor Program because it had failed to fully comply with her sweeping April 16 demand for information on foreign students who could face deportation for protests against Israel's Gaza war or for dangerous activity on campus. She said Harvard could regain its access if it turned over all records, including audio or video footage, within 72 hours. 

Harvard called Noem's move "unlawful" retaliation. Trump's "clash with Harvard" has "intensified since it became the first to openly defy" his push for sweeping changes and oversight, The Associated Press said. He has already "cut $2.6 billion in federal grants" and "said he wants to strip the university of its tax-exempt status." Trump's efforts are "directly subverting the ability of one of the nation's premier universities to attract the best and brightest students from all over the world," The New York Times said, a "capability, across all of academia," that has "long been one of the greatest sources of academic, economic and scientific strength in America."

What next?
If Harvard sues, it will likely "argue that the actions of the secretary are arbitrary and capricious," University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told the Times. "A court is likely to find that she lacks the power to eliminate its program for international students."

 
 

It's not all bad

A new brain tumor diagnosis method could reduce wait times from weeks to hours, offering quicker access to treatment. The technique uses nanopore technology and accurately identifies tumor types, even during surgery. It costs about $536 per sample and matches the success rate of traditional testing. The breakthrough, from researchers at the University of Nottingham in England, could lead to real-time treatment decisions and faster access to clinical trials for patients worldwide.

 
 
Under the radar

Dementia rates in China are rising 50% faster than in the rest of the world, according to a new report released as the Chinese government unveils a major investment in preventing and treating the condition. Researchers at Fudan University found that dementia diagnoses in China tripled between 1990 and 2021, while they only doubled across the rest of the world.  

The "main culprit" for the high numbers is population growth, said New Scientist. Smoking rates are another factor, as "roughly half" of all men smoke in China. A shift toward more Westernized eating habits has also played a part.  

Beijing's "action plan," a joint initiative of 15 government institutions, will encompass "all aspects" of the disorder, from "prevention and early detection to diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and care," said the South China Morning Post. Western diets are higher in fat and calories and correlate with greater incidences of diabetes and obesity, both of which are also risk factors for dementia.  

The prevention and early detection part of the plan includes a rollout of nationwide cognitive function screenings for older citizens to identify those at risk of developing dementia. Authorities will also raise awareness of how the disease can be prevented and managed.  

In parts of the country where "memory clinics" have already been established, such screenings are "as routine as blood pressure checks," said China Daily. These clinics also offer support to elderly residents concerned about their cognitive functioning. "We prescribe 'homework' [such as] daily mind-body exercises tracked through WeChat group chats," Beijing dementia caregiver Wang Hong told the state-run newspaper. "They really work."

 
 
On this day

May 23, 1707

Botanist Carl Linnaeus was born in Rashult, Sweden. Linnaeus helped codify and formalize the system of naming species in the animal kingdom. His taxonomy of the animal kingdom was also the first to include humans. The modern International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is still based on his work.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Two Israeli Embassy staffers "killed near Jewish museum were shot repeatedly," The New York Times says on Friday's front page. "Suspect in D.C. shootings charged with murder," The Washington Post says. The shooting by a Chicago resident claiming he "did it for Palestine"  was an "act of cowardice," the Chicago Tribune says, quoting acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. The Chicago Sun-Times calls it a "home-grown horror." Congress revokes California "rule on gas-only cars," the Los Angeles Times says. "Active hurricane season warned amid agency cuts," the Houston Chronicle says. 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Seeds of destruction

Spain's love of sunflower seeds, or pipas, is ruining soccer stadiums, with one banning visitors from snacking on them during games. Discarded shells are "clogging drains and pipes" and "deteriorating the seats" at Elche CF's stadium, contributing to the erosion of its concrete floor, the team said in a statement. The pipas also "attract infestations of rats and pigeons." The seeds are so popular you might end up "wading through" old shells, some of them left on the floor "for weeks," said Feast Magazine.

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images; Alex Wong / Getty Images; Brett Phelps / The Boston Globe via Getty Images; Illustration by Marian Femenias-Moratinos / Getty Images