| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | |  Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored an opinion turning aside a challenge to officials' communications with social media companies. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | ANOTHER SCOTUS ABORTION SNAFU — “US Supreme Court Poised to Allow Emergency Abortions in Idaho,” by Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr, Kimberly Robinson, and Lydia Wheeler: “The decision would reinstate a lower court order that had ensured hospitals in the state could perform emergency abortions to protect the health of the mother. … Bloomberg Law obtained a copy of the opinion that appeared briefly on the court’s website as the justices were issuing two other opinions Wednesday morning. The copy of the opinion isn’t necessarily the final ruling, given that it hasn’t been released.” MORE FROM THE JUSTICES — The Biden administration scored another victory from the conservative Supreme Court today, as the justices ruled that challengers did not have standing to sue the federal government over its communications with social media companies about misinformation. The 6-3 decision in Murthy v. Missouri, authored by Justice AMY CONEY BARRETT, was also the latest reversal of the Fifth Circuit. Barrett wrote that Missouri, Louisiana and several individuals didn’t have the right to challenge the government messages to Big Tech during the 2020 election and the pandemic, when federal officials allegedly sought to limit the spread of false information about vaccines, election fraud and more. The case cut to the heart of an ongoing debate, especially charged on the right, about content moderation vs. unfettered expression online. Though the Republican-led states and other critics charged that federal officials were trying to censor dissenting views, Barrett and her colleagues in the majority determined that the social media platforms’ content moderation was of their own volition, making claims of censorship too indirect. She called it “entirely speculative that the platforms’ future moderation decisions will be attributable, even in part,” to the defendants including Surgeon General VIVEK MURTHY. “The court’s majority also expressed discomfort with the intrusive role the case seemed to urge the judicial branch to take in managing the communications of a slew of executive branch agencies,” Rebecca Kern and Josh Gerstein write. Unsurprisingly, congressional Democrats applauded the ruling and said Republicans should stop their probe into alleged censorship. Also unsurprisingly, Republicans said they’d charge ahead. Justices SAMUEL ALITO, NEIL GORSUCH and CLARENCE THOMAS dissented, saying the majority required too direct a connection from government officials to Big Tech decisions to establish censorship. “If the lower courts’ assessment of the voluminous record is correct, this is one of the most important free speech cases to reach this Court in years,” Alito warned in his dissent. In the only other decision handed down today, the conservatives ruled 6-3 to shrink the scope of a federal criminal statute against corruption by public officials. Writing for the majority, Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH undid the conviction of a former mayor in Indiana and said the law could be used to convict state and local officials only when they accept a bribe before taking a commensurate action, not when they accept it after (a “gratuity”). Kavanaugh said Congress had intended for the law to cover bribes specifically, and for gratuities to be left up to state/local regulation. In a fiery dissent, Justice KETANJI BROWN JACKSON took some shots at the court’s conservatives, who have consistently narrowed the ability to prosecute public officials for corruption in recent years. “[Former Portage, Indiana, Mayor JAMES] SNYDER’s absurd and atextual reading of the statute is one only today’s Court could love,” she wrote, calling Kavanaugh’s reasoning “a quintessential example of the tail wagging the dog.” HOW TRUMP WINS — “New Pro-Trump Super PAC Quietly Spends Millions on G.O.P. Ground Game,” by NYT’s Theodore Schleifer: “Republicans have quietly formed a new super PAC that is preparing what appears to be a significant push to persuade former President DONALD J. TRUMP’s voters to vote early or by absentee ballot. The group, America PAC, was created last month and remains fairly secretive. But over the last two weeks, it has spent $6.6 million on behalf of Mr. Trump … vaulting it suddenly into the top tier of pro-Trump outside groups.” ONE TO WATCH — HUNG CAO is the latest Senate Republican recruit to STREISAND-effect himself: We don’t know what USA Today is reporting out about the Virginia nominee’s military career, but after his preemptive criticism of the story, we’re curious to find out. Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The American Petroleum Institute: Energy demand is rising. Why is the government trying to slow future energy production in the U.S.? [Get Answers Here] | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  The Biden administration announced several new policy moves and results this morning. | Alex Brandon, File/AP Photo | 1. WHAT JOE BIDEN CAN TOUT AT THE DEBATE: The Biden administration unveiled a smattering of notable new policy moves and announcements this morning, at least some of which you can be sure he’ll bring up tomorrow night:
- Immigration: The U.S. said there’s been a 40 percent drop in illegal crossings from Mexico since Biden’s drastic new executive action cracking down on the border a few weeks ago, WaPo’s Nick Miroff reports from McAllen, Texas. In the past week, the daily average has been under 2,400 — the lowest level of Biden’s presidency.
- LGBTQ+ rights: Biden announced that he’ll issue mass pardons for U.S. military members who were convicted for having gay sex, per CNN’s Haley Britzky, Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand. An estimated 100,000 LGBTQ+ people were shunted out of the armed forces for their sexuality, though the number who faced criminal proceedings and can now receive pardons is closer to 2,000.
- Housing: VP KAMALA HARRIS and HUD announced $85 million in federal grants to help state and local governments create or maintain more affordable housing, per Reuters’ David Lawder.
- Prescription drug prices: The Biden administration announced 64 more drugs that saw cost savings this quarter thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, per WaPo’s Dan Diamond.
What Biden will face at the debate: The conservative nonprofit Building America’s Future is putting $200,000 behind an ad during the debate that will run on digital in swing states, plus billboards and building projections. The spot highlights girls and women killed recently by undocumented immigrants. (Of course, as Playbook readers know, the data shows that immigrants don’t commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans.) Watch it here 2. FROM 30,000 FEET: “Joe Biden: The Old-School Politician in a New-School Era,” by NYT’s Peter Baker: “[A]fter more than half a century in Washington, he still has the instincts of a backslapping cloakroom pol, eager to make deals and work across the aisle where possible at a time when that rarely seems rewarded anymore. In some ways, it has been a formula for success that upended expectations, resulting in a raft of landmark liberal programs that will mark Mr. Biden in the history books … And yet it has not been a formula for executing the most essential mission that he assigned himself when he took office: healing a broken country.” 3. DEMOCRACY WATCH: Blocking the certification of election results looms as one of the most significant fears for democracy/elections experts this fall, WaPo’s Amy Gardner, Patrick Marley and Colby Itkowitz report. Local officials have already tried to do so in recent years across five battleground states, though none of the attempts were ultimately successful. “But the chaos and confusion that could result from such an effort are themselves a deep concern among voting rights advocates, who believe that unsubstantiated claims of fraud by Trump and his allies are sowing even deeper mistrust in the fall election results than they did four years ago, raising the potential for unrest and even violence on a greater scale too.” Attacks on democracy are the focal point of a new ad from the Biden campaign, which slams Trump for his actions on Jan. 6, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped. But, but, but: These messages are clearly not catching on with the electorate. A new poll finds that Trump is trusted more on issues of democracy among the swing-state voters most likely to decide the election, WaPo’s Colby Itkowitz, Emily Guskin and Scott Clement report. And those voters also believe the country’s institutions could withstand an attempted takeover by a dictator, as Trump has vowed to be on Day One. 4. FOLLOWING THE MONEY: “Schools Got a Record $190 Billion in Pandemic Aid. Did It Work?” by NYT’s Sarah Mervosh: “Altogether, it was the largest one-time federal investment in American education, but it came with a major question: Would it work? Two separate studies, released on Wednesday, suggest that the money helped, but not as much as it could have. … For every $1,000 in federal aid spent, districts saw a small improvement in math and reading scores.”
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | 5. CLIMATE FILES: “Trump’s War on Clean Energy Would Benefit China, Economists Say,” by NYT’s Lisa Friedman: “[E]liminating Mr. Biden’s climate policies would end up helping China, economists say, by jeopardizing hundreds of billions of dollars in manufacturing investments that have already been made in the United States and sending that work back to other countries, including China. … [M]ore than a dozen economists, energy experts and business leaders said weakening or repealing the Inflation Reduction Act could eviscerate American competitiveness in the rapidly growing global race to dominate clean energy.” 6. MUCK READ: “A signature Biden law aimed to boost renewable energy. It also helped a solar company reap billions,” by AP’s Brian Slodysko: “Executives, officials and major investors in First Solar, the largest domestic maker of solar panels, donated at least $2 million to Democrats in 2020, including $1.5 million to Biden’s successful bid for the White House. After he won, the company spent $2.8 million more lobbying his administration and Congress … First Solar became perhaps the biggest beneficiary of an estimated $1 trillion in environmental spending enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act.” 7. PRIVACY LATEST: “GOP leaders deliver private warning to a powerful chair on her privacy bill,” by Olivia Beavers: “House Energy and Commerce Chair CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS got a clear warning Tuesday from the chamber’s top two GOP leaders: If you don’t fix your data privacy bill, it’s on track to die in your committee. McMorris Rodgers followed by announcing that she would advance the bill anyway. The Washington State Republican’s decision to buck the advice of Speaker MIKE JOHNSON and Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) threatens to set up an unusual clash between party leaders and a committee chair.” 8. BY THE NUMBERS: A new study finds that mid-level Senate staffers are way less racially diverse than the country they serve, Katherine Tully-McManus reports. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report finds that just 21.4 percent of this group are people of color, 20 points below the American population. Though Democrats do better than Republicans on diversity, overall, “Black mid-level staffers are less likely than other racial groups to see internal promotions to top positions.” Read it here 9. SERIOUSLY AND LITERALLY: Some Trump advisers are still saying not to worry about his most outlandish foreign-policy comments. But Nahal Toosi writes in her latest column that foreign governments aren’t so sanguine: They expect him to be far less restrained in a second term, and they’re bracing for massive shifts in U.S. positions, from potentially bombing drug cartels in Mexico to pulling back on security commitments to South Korea.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Ehud Barak and other prominent Israelis called on Congress to rescind Benjamin Netanyahu’s invite. Mark Rutte was officially appointed the next NATO secretary-general. Tim Sheehy’s super PAC is going up with a $4 million ad buy. Troy Nehls has stopped wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge. Delia Ramirez, Greg Casar and Sydney Kamlager-Dove launched a progressive global migration caucus. Marjorie Taylor Greene bought a condo in D.C. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a 40th birthday celebration for APCO’s Dan Meyers at the GeorgeTown Club last night: Tammy Haddad, Kent Knutson, Kimberly Fritts, Daniel Lippman, Jay Timmons, Chrys Kefalas, Tommy McFly, Matt Glassman, Brad Staples, Evan Kraus, Kelly Williamson, Brandon Neal, Nina Vergehese, Peter Morris, Patrick Phillippi and James Adams. TRANSITIONS — Keisha Lance Bottoms is joining the Biden campaign as a senior adviser, per Ebony’s Meena Anderson. The former Atlanta mayor previously headed the White House Office of Public Engagement. … Brian Phillips Jr. is now deputy director of the Office of Media Relations at the FCC. He previously was comms director for Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and is a Joe Kennedy alum. … … Jana Nelson is now deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere. She most recently was senior policy adviser at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. … Jessica Harris will join the American Institutes for Research as director of comms for the AIR Equity Initiative. She previously was director of strategic comms at Brookings. … Erin Schmidt is now founder and CEO of public affairs firm Lilypad Strategies. She previously was senior manager at Google and SVP at Schmidt Public Affairs. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Virgilio “Lio” Barrera, SVP at Cassidy & Associates and a Martin Heinrich and Mark Udall alum, and Alexa Barrera, speechwriter at the Inter-American Development Bank and a CISA and Jared Huffman alum, on June 18 welcomed Natalia Chalay Barrera, who came in at 8 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches. Pic … Another pic Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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