| | | | | | | Presented By Google | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Jun 24, 2022 | | Hello, Friday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,470 words ... 5½ mins. Edited by Noah Bressner. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Court, Congress split on guns |  | | | Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios | | | | The Supreme Court and Congress went in opposite directions on gun rights yesterday. Late last night, with 15 Republicans joining all Democrats, the Senate passed the most significant gun-safety legislation in 28 years. - Why it matters: Such a bill, which is expected to quickly pass the House and be signed by President Biden, seemed unimaginable before last month's mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
But because of a broad expansion of gun rights by the Supreme Court 12 hours earlier, yesterday may end up being a net loss for gun control, Axios' Sam Baker writes. - The major ruling will likely make it significantly harder to regulate guns.
In a 6-3 decision, the court struck down a New York law that set a high bar for people to get concealed-carry permits. The state had essentially required permit-seekers to prove that they faced unique dangers, greater than the risk that anybody would face, when out in public. - That's a violation of the Second Amendment, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, saying the right to bear arms includes a right to carry a gun for self-defense purposes outside the home.
🔮 What's next: The ruling will likely open the door to a host of new legal challenges to other state-level gun laws. - That could ultimately include challenges to state laws passed under Congress' new bipartisan bill.
👀 What we're watching: California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., have laws on the books similar to New York's. Those will have to change. Screenshot: Senate TV The House plans to take up the gun bill today and send it to Biden, who embraced it again after the Senate vote. - The bill expands background checks for gun purchasers between the ages of 18 and 21, and provides incentives for states to administer "red flag" laws for people considered dangerous.
It also would expand an existing policy that prohibits people who have been convicted of domestic assault from purchasing a gun. - That ban had only applied to people convicted of abusing a spouse. Now it will also apply to romantic partners who aren't married — closing what's known as the "boyfriend loophole."
Go deeper: What's in the bill. |     | | | | | | 2. ⚖️ Fortress court | | Capitol Police watch an abortion-rights rally from behind the security fence surrounding the Supreme Court yesterday. Photo: Nathan Howard/Getty Images With a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade expected by early next week — perhaps as soon as 10 a.m. today — the Supreme Court steps won't become the public square they once were on historic days. - While the rest of official Washington has at least partially reopened doors to the public after the COVID shutdowns, the court steps were locked down after the May 2 leak of the Roe draft — and the security ring has only tightened as the term raced toward an epic close.
Since the court completed oral arguments for the term on April 27, outsiders have been kept from the building, Reuters reports. - One of the many changes in court practice instituted during the pandemic was issuing rulings only online, with no official court session.
That means justices no longer read summaries and dissents from the bench. It was previously an opportunity for justices who strongly disagreed with a ruling to passionately voice their views. Anti-scaling fencing is seen outside the Supreme Court yesterday. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP Axios reported last month that governments had begun preparing for a potential surge in political violence after the abortion ruling. - Law enforcement agencies have investigated social-media threats to attack justices and burn down or storm the Supreme Court.
A June 7 bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security, "Summary of Terrorism Threat to the United States," warns: - "Given a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case about abortion rights, individuals who advocate both for and against abortion have, on public forums, encouraged violence, including against government, religious, and reproductive healthcare personnel and facilities."
Read the bulletin. | | | | | | | | 3. 🏛️ Inside Trump crisis | | What the committee sees. Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP At Hearing 5 of the House Jan. 6 committee, former President Trump's own Justice Department officials detailed his efforts to pressure them to find evidence of election fraud and overturn the 2020 election. - Why it matters: The testimony reveals the extent of Trump's efforts to politicize the Justice Department, Axios' Alayna Treene reports.
The Trump officials meticulously analyzed the fraud claims by Trump and his loyalists — and repeatedly found they were bogus. Trump refused to believe it. - Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified that "virtually every day" Trump told him the DOJ "had not done enough to investigate election fraud."
Notes by former Trump acting deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue. Exhibit: House Select Committee via MSNBC Rosen said Trump suggested the DOJ seize voting machines from state governments, something he refused. - "There was nothing wrong with the voting machines, so that was not something that was appropriate to do," he testified.
Trump grew increasingly frustrated with his response, he said. | | | | | | | | A message from Google | | Protecting websites and organizations from digital attacks | | |  | | | | Project Shield protects news and human rights organizations, government entities, and more from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. These digital attacks are used by bad actors and cyber criminals to censor information by taking websites offline. Learn more. | | | | | | 4. How to fight plane hell |  | | | Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios | | | | Almost all major U.S. airlines have proactively cut their schedules, some by as much as 15% — acknowledging that their operations are stretched to the brink, Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller reports. - Some of those revisions don't kick in until July 1, meaning cancellation hell continues.
Airlines say they need help from the FAA. - The industry's biggest bottleneck is air traffic control, says United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. "Even on a blue sky day, there are ground delays" at Newark, for example, because more flights are scheduled to land than the airport can handle, he told Bloomberg.
- United yesterday said it'll cut about 50 flights a day from Newark for the rest of the summer to ease congestion.
What you need to know: By law, "a consumer is entitled to a refund if the airline canceled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." - You're also entitled to a refund if there's a significant schedule change or delay — usually two hours or longer — and you opt not to travel.
🥊 The catch: But there's no hard-and-fast rule around what "significant delay" means. The "chooses not to travel" language is key — you fly, you buy. - It's even trickier when bad weather's involved, said Zach Griff, senior aviation reporter at The Points Guy. There are no refunds for weather-related delays, but those often turn into cancellations because crews "time out" — meaning they exceeded federal crew rest rules.
- Travelers often have to pursue their own refunds — airlines don't always issue them automatically. Squeaky wheels get the grease.
💡 Pro tip: If a long delay looks likely, start exploring alternatives early, using your airline's app. Look into other airlines — the refund on your original flight could be enough to cover switching airlines. - Go deeper: The Points Guy has a lot more tips.
| | | | | | | | 5. Juul ban triggers broad smoke fight |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | The FDA's decision to order Juul e-cigarette products off the U.S. market opens a new and grinding battle in the push to revamp the government's rules for smoking and vaping, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes. - With parallel efforts to cap nicotine in cigarettes and ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, the Biden administration is pursuing a broad tobacco agenda not seen since the Clinton administration.
Reality check: It could be a drawn-out and costly fight. Hours after the FDA issued the Juul order yesterday, the company said it will seek a stay and is exploring a possible appeal. - The tobacco lobby, e-cigarette makers and libertarian-leaning groups are digging in, portraying e-cigarettes as an effective cessation tool to wean adult smokers off cigarettes.
Zoom out: Juul's popular products led a new generation of teens to get hooked on smoking, driven by fruit and mint-flavored cartridges that fit in small vaping devices, research in the journal Pediatrics showed. | | | | | | | | 6. 🇺🇦 Ukraine pulls back |  | | | A Ukrainian soldier stands on an armored vehicle moving toward the front line in Lysychansk, across the river from Severodonetsk, on June 9. Photo: Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Image | | | | Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the besieged eastern city of Severodonetsk to avoid encirclement, the regional governor said today. - Why it matters: The last remaining major city in the Luhansk region of the Donbas still under Ukrainian control has endured weeks of bombardment by Russia's invading forces, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.
Lysychansk, Severodonetsk's twin city in the Luhansk region, has also endured days of heavy shelling, prompting a Ukrainian official to warn the battle for the Donbas is "entering a sort of fearsome climax." - "Unfortunately, we will have to remove our military from Severodonetsk, because staying in broken positions makes no sense — the number of dead is growing," Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor, said on Telegram.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | 7. POTUS behind scenes |  | | | Photo: Shawn Thew/EP via Getty Images | | | | Photographers got a rare peek at President Biden's notes as he spoke about wind energy in the Roosevelt Room yesterday. | | | | | | | | 8. 🐶 Pets boost workplace morale |  | | | Photo: Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images | | | | Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day — a made-up day that debuted in 1999. - Companies are hosting in-person and virtual celebrations for furry coworkers, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.
As workers return to offices and employers try to boost morale, pet-friendly policies are a way to foster social interaction. - More businesses are also offering voluntary pet insurance.
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