memeorandum: Harris v. Quinn ruling: Unions hit, but not fatally, by SCOTUS (Stephanie Simon/Politico)

2:10 PM ET, June 30, 2014

Top Items:

JUSTICES: CAN'T MAKE EMPLOYERS COVER CONTRACEPTION — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that some corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.

Discussion: Biz Beat Blog, his vorpal sword, The Last Refuge, Washington Post, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, BizzyBlog and Weekly Standard

Justin McCarthy / Gallup:

Americans Losing Confidence in All Branches of U.S. Gov't — Confidence hits six-year low for presidency; record lows for Supreme Court, Congress — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows for the Supreme Court …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Firedoglake, OnPolitics, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Real Clear Politics and Daily Kos

ThinkProgress:

Why Today's Hobby Lobby Decision Actually Hurts People Of Faith — In response to today's Supreme Court decision on Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which allowed the the craft store giant and other “closely-held corporations” to be granted religious exemption from the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Brian McLaren EMC

ThinkProgress:

The Bait-And-Switch Behind Today's Hobby Lobby Decision — Protesters hold signs in support of Obamacare's birth control mandate — For many years, the Supreme Court struck a careful balance between protecting religious liberty and maintaining the rule of law in a pluralistic society.

Discussion: BarbWire.com, Wall Street Journal, RH Reality Check and Shakesville

ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Supreme Court Deals Sharp Blow To Public Sector Unions — In a 5-4 decision by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to public sector unions on Monday, although the opinion fell short of the claim made by the anti-union litigation shop that argued that case …

Discussion: Slate

Stephanie Simon / Politico:

Harris v. Quinn ruling: Unions hit, but not fatally, by SCOTUS — The conservative majority on the Supreme Court on Monday signaled its distaste for state laws requiring public-sector workers to pay union dues — but stopped short of sweeping them away, handing organized labor a sweet but potentially short-lived victory.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Sunlight Foundation Blog, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Hullabaloo and Forbes

CNN:

Court rules for companies over Obamacare contraception mandate — Washington (CNN) — Some corporations have religious rights, a deeply divided Supreme Court decided Monday in ruling that certain for-profit companies cannot be required to pay for specific types of contraceptives for their employees.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Fox News, Scared Monkeys and Hinterland Gazette

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Rejects Contraceptives Mandate for Some Corporations

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, National Review, The Hugh Hewitt Show and ACS Blog

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Conservative Supreme Court Majority Prevails In Two Key Cases

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh

Irin Carmon / msnbc.com:
Every way the Supreme Court could rule in Hobby Lobby

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Signal, Balkinization, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Reuters

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
Obamacare Rebuffed by High Court in Contraception Ruling

Discussion: Hot Air, Bloomberg View, Washington Post, The Dish and Althouse

Irin Carmon / msnbc.com:
Hobby Lobby wins in narrow ruling

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Alexander Marquardt / ABC News:

Bodies of Three Missing Israeli Teens Found Near Hebron, Source Says … The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West Bank earlier this month have been found north of the city of Hebron, a source confirmed to ABC News today. — Hamas, the Palestinian militant group accused …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Blazing Cat Fur and The Right Scoop

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:

Three Bodies Found Believed to Be Missing Israelis — JERUSALEM — Israeli military searchers found three bodies believed to be those of the missing Israeli teenagers who disappeared more than two weeks ago in the occupied West Bank, a senior government official said on Monday.

Discussion: Business Insider and Israel Matzav

James Risen / New York Times:

Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater — WASHINGTON — Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor's operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Lawfare, Shakesville, Guardian, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Prairie Weather, susiemadrak.com, Business Insider, emptywheel, The Raw Story, BillMoyers.com, Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, The Verge, Balloon Juice and Marginal REVOLUTION

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas — Two years ago Kansas embarked on a remarkable fiscal experiment: It sharply slashed income taxes without any clear idea of what would replace the lost revenue. Sam Brownback, the governor, proposed the legislation — in percentage terms …

Discussion: Daily Kos

OK so. A lot of people have asked me:

OK so. A lot of people have asked me about my and Jamie and Jeff's recent study published in PNAS, and I wanted to give a brief public explanation. The reason we did this research is because we care about the emotional impact of Facebook and the people that use our product.

Discussion: Guardian, The Hill, Gigaom, PandoDaily, New York Times, CBS New York, The Verge and Mashable

Robert Booth / Guardian:
Facebook reveals news feed experiment to control emotions

Discussion: The Daily Banter, KDVR.com, Concurring Opinions, Wall Street Journal, Gawker, susiemadrak.com, ABC News and The Atlantic Online

Kashmir Hill / Forbes:
Facebook Manipulated 689,003 Users' Emotions For Science

Discussion: TechCrunch, Boing Boing, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Wordyard, Bloomberg View and Mediaite

Neil Munro / The Daily Caller:

McDaniel Unveils Another Strategy Against Thad Cochran — Volunteers working for tea party challenger Chris McDaniel in Mississippi say they have already found 20 percent of the invalid double-votes they need to cancel Sen. Thad Cochran's business-funded runoff victory.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Fox News

Politico:
Blacks to Thad Cochran: You owe us

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weasel Zippers, susiemadrak.com and National Review

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

How Hillary Won Over the Skeptical Left — The surprising source of Clinton's invincibility — Jay Brown is a blunt-talking doctor from Ames, Iowa, the kind of guy who believes the biggest threats to the republic are the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and the corporatization of politics.

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Althouse

Bernie Becker / The Hill:

IRS staredown not going away — A top GOP investigator and former IRS official Lois Lerner's lawyer squared off on Sunday, underscoring that the battle over the agency's improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups isn't going anywhere this election year. — House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa …

Josh Feldman / Mediaite: CNN's Crowley to Lerner Attorney: Don't Missing Emails Seem ‘Suspicious’?

James Hamblin / The Atlantic Online:

Why We Can't Talk About Gun Control — When one writer suggested that guns can be regulated without anyone's rights being infringed, he lost his job. Dick Metcalf told his story this morning to a skeptical crowd. — ASPEN, Colo. — “I pose this question, Mr. Metcalf, as a hunter of birds.