memeorandum: Militants attack Iraq air base, U.S. advisers arrive (Raheem Salman/Reuters)

6:15 PM ET, June 25, 2014

Top Items:

It Looks Like African-Americans Really Did Help Thad Cochran Win — Tuesday night, Republican Sen. Thad Cochran defied the polls and defeated tea party challenger Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi Senate primary runoff by a 51 percent to 49 percent margin. Cochran couldn't have done …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, American Spectator, BREITBART.COM, National Review, Washington Post, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, The Right Scoop, Daily Kos, The Gateway Pundit, Democratic Strategist, The Huffington Post, Hot Air and ABC News

Patrick Brennan / National Review:

The Flier That Got Thad Cochran Elected? — It's generally agreed that Thad Cochran squeaked out a win in Mississippi last night in part by getting Democrats, especially African Americans, to turn out. Here's a flier that was distributed in heavily black precincts suggesting how he accomplished this:

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers and NationalJournal.com

Erick Erickson / RedState:

The Marionettes Remain Uncut — “At some point there will be more people with knives out to cut the strings than there will be puppeteers with checkbooks.” — Having been an elected Republican and someone who routinely takes the position of supporting conservatives in primaries and Republicans …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Ajc Blogs, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Dish, Booman Tribune and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Anna Palmer / Politico:

Defiant Chris McDaniel declines to concede in speech to supporters — HATTIESBURG, MISS. — A defiant Chris McDaniel walked up to the podium at his election night headquarters here after the Republican runoff was called for his opponent Sen. Thad Cochran — and then he didn't concede.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Raw Story, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, The Hill, Right Wing Watch, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, DownWithTyranny!, Taylor Marsh, BillMoyers.com, Firedoglake, msnbc.com, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast and New York Times

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:

CHRIS MCDANIEL TO CHALLENGE ELECTION RESULTS — HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — State Sen. Chris McDaniel will challenge the results of the Tuesday runoff election where 41-year incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran won by about 6,400 votes, he announced to a room of supporters here at his victory party …

Discussion: alicublog, New York Times, The Clarion-Ledger, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, Washington Post, Hot Air and Patterico's Pontifications

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Sarah Palin hits Thad Cochran ‘shenanigans’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

David Weigel / Slate:
Thad Cochran Defeats the Tea Party — And So Does Everyone Else

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, New York Times, The Dish, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Alexander Burns / Politico:
How Cochran bounced back from disaster

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway and Right Wing Watch

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
Conservative Freakout Blames ‘Uncle Tom’ And Voter Fraud For McDaniel Loss

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Capital New York and Political Insider blog

Domenico Montanaro / PBS:
Establishment order restored in midterm elections

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Politico, Business Insider and CBS DC

Fred Schwarz / National Review:
Democrats Put Cochran Over the Top

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, Power Line, protein wisdom and New York Times

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Says Phones Can't Be Searched Without a Warrant — WASHINGTON — In a major statement on privacy rights in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest.

Discussion: Washington Times, Cato Institute, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, Above the Law, Outside the Beltway, Election Law Blog and Balloon Juice

Orin Kerr / Washington Post:

The significance of Riley — I've been mulling over the Supreme Court's new decision on cell phone searches, Riley v. California. Here are six insta-thoughts on its likely significance. — 1) The Court's opinion offers a major endorsement of treating computer searches differently than physical searches.

Discussion: Mashable, emptywheel and The Moderate Voice

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Opinion analysis: Broad cloak of privacy for cellphones — Analysis — Treating modern cellphones as gaping windows into nearly all aspects of the user's life and private conduct, the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ordered police to get a search warrant before examining the contents …

Discussion: USA Today, Taylor Marsh, National Review, Outside the Beltway and TalkLeft

Politico:
SCOTUS rules warrants needed for cell phone search

Discussion: Daily Kos

Katy Bachman / Politico: Aereo loses copyright fight at Supreme Court

Annalyn Kurtz / CNNMoney.com:

3 reasons not to freak out about -2.9% GDP — Well, this picture keeps getting uglier. — Gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic growth — contracted at a 2.9% annual rate in January through March, according to the latest revision from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, NewsBusters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and AEIdeas

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

The Economy Tanked Last Quarter And It's Everybody's Fault But Obama's — The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 2.9 percent during the first three months of 2014, government bean counters announced this morning. That matches the worst non-recession contraction of the U.S. economy in over 40 years.

Discussion: Twitchy, BizzyBlog, Ed Driscoll and Shot in the Dark

Jeanna Smialek / Bloomberg:
U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Washington Post and Weekly Standard

jaredbernsteinblog.com:
Whoa! Whassup With That Big Negative Q1 GDP Revision?

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Kos and ThinkProgress

Danny Vinik / The New Republic: Today's GDP Number Is Not as Bad as it Sounds. But the Recovery Is Still Weak.

Eric Katz / Government Executive:

EPA Employees Told to Stop Pooping in the Hallway — Environmental Protection Agency workers have done some odd things recently. — Contractors built secret man caves in an EPA warehouse, an employee pretended to work for the CIA to get unlimited vacations and one worker even spent …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze.com, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, The Jawa Report and Gawker

The Indianapolis Star, Indystar:

Judge throws out Indiana ban on same-sex marriage — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Indiana's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, immediately allowing same-sex couples across the state to receive marriage licenses. — U.S. District Judge Richard Young did not issue a stay on his ruling.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, ACS Blog, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Dish and Washington Post

Charles Wilson / Talking Points Memo:

Judge Strikes Down Indiana Ban on Gay Marriage — A federal judge struck down Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage Wednesday in a ruling that immediately allowed gay couples to wed. — The court clerk in Marion County, home to Indianapolis, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couple …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

ThinkProgress:
Anti-LGBT Senator Told President Bush To Nominate Judge Who Just Ruled For Marriage Equality

Discussion: Right Wing Watch and NOM Blog

Salt Lake Tribune:
10th Circuit Court upholds same-sex marriage

Discussion: New York Times and SCOTUSblog

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Federal Appeals Court Says Utah Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press and Hit & Run

Fox News:

Boehner plans to file suit against Obama over alleged abuse of executive power — House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 24, 2014.AP — House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday he plans to file suit against President Obama over his alleged abuse of executive power.

Discussion: Blazing Cat Fur, The Political Insider, Weasel Zippers and Fox News Insider

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
Boehner eyes lawsuit against Obama on executive orders

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and CNN

Lauren French / Politico:
Nancy Pelosi: John Boehner lawsuit is ‘subterfuge’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Washington Post

waysandmeans.house.gov:

REVEALED: GOP Senator Targeted by Lerner Ways and Means investigation uncovers push to audit Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — f t # e — Washington, DC - Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) announced the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) targeting of conservative individuals includes …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Weekly Standard and RedState

Markos Moulitsas / The Hill:

Koch owned and operated — If you want to know who each of our two major parties represent, simply look at their donors. — According to data compiled by OpenSecrets.org, Democratic Party committees, on both the federal and state levels, have dramatically outraised their Republican counterparts …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Prairie Weather

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

US: SYRIA MAY HAVE LAUNCHED AIRSTRIKES IN IRAQ — WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say there are indications that Syria launched airstrikes into western Iraq Tuesday in an attempt to slow the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency fighting both the Syrian and Iraqi governments.

Discussion: Hot Air and The PJ Tatler