memeorandum: Gov. Greg Abbott says power grid better than ever as Texans asked to cut back electricity use (Mitchell Ferman/The Texas Tribune)

1:10 PM ET, June 17, 2021

Top Items:

Supreme Court sides with Catholic foster agency that excludes same-sex couples in 9-0 ruling — Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion — Fox News Flash top headlines for June 17 — The Supreme Court sided unanimously with a Catholic foster agency in a dispute against the city …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, ABC News and The Daily Caller

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Supreme Court upholds Obamacare again, rejecting GOP challenge from Texas — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Obamacare for the third time and rejected a sweeping challenge backed by former President Trump and Republican state attorneys. — The 7-2 majority found the state of Texas …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, Kaiser Health News and New York Post

Washington Post:

Federal employees to get Friday off as Biden signs legislation making Juneteenth a national holiday — President Biden, having returned to the White House from his first trip abroad as president, plans Thursday to sign into law a bill creating a federal holiday to commemorate Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in Texas.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, UPI, Fox News, ARLnow.com, Raw Story, National Review and Political Wire

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Affordable Care Act survives third Supreme Court challenge, as case from Trump administration and GOP-led states is rejected — The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, saying Republican-led states do not have the legal standing to try to upend the law.

Discussion: CNN, Marketplace and Kevin Drum

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:
Supreme Court rules on fate of Obamacare health care law

Discussion: HotAir, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, Talking Points Memo, Politico, National Review, Balloon Juice and Mother Jones

Ed Morrissey / HotAir: BREAKING: ObamaCare wins the SCOTUS hat trick 7-2 ... on standing

Nina Totenberg / NPR:
Obamacare Wins For The 3rd Time At The Supreme Court

Discussion: Raw Story, Ordinary Times and CBS San Francisco

Nicholas Rowan / Washington Examiner:
Supreme Court sides with Nestle and Cargill in child labor case

Discussion: Washington Post

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Affordable Care Act Survives Latest Supreme Court Challenge

Discussion: USA Today and CBS San Francisco

Sam Baker / Axios:
Supreme Court rejects Republican challenge to Affordable Care Act

Discussion: National Review and Forbes

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

Biden politely reads riot act to Putin — Modest goal of stabilising US relations with Russia conveys realism that eluded earlier presidents — Summitry, contrary to a former British prime minister, is nothing like tennis. The outcome is rarely “game, set and match”.

William Saletan / Slate:

Trump Made the GOP More Friendly to Putin. It's Sabotaging Biden. — President Joe Biden wants to send Russian President Vladimir Putin a message: that the era of Donald Trump is over, that the United States won't ignore Putin's crimes anymore, and that the world's democracies are united against Russian aggression.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, Daily Kos and One America News Network

Washington Examiner:
Joe Biden's silly Russia summit

Discussion: Insider, The Guardian, spiked and CNN

CNN:
Biden finds his comfort zone on the world stage in first international trip as president

Discussion: Fox News, Wall Street Journal, RedState, Twitchy, Ace of Spades HQ, The US Sun, One America News Network, justoneminute.typepad.com and KVIA-TV

USA Today:
Joe Biden, the U.S. president who in Geneva didn't shame America like Trump in Helsinki

Discussion: New York Post, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Gizmodo, The Western Journal, New York Times, Mediaite, The US Sun and Lucianne, more at Techmeme »

Alexander Vindman / New York Times:
The Biden-Putin Meeting Was Progress, But Not Enough

Discussion: CNN, Defense One, NOQ Report, The Register, Breitbart, Forbes and WTOP

Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
Biden-Putin summit: Who won and who lost? Experts offer key takeaways

Discussion: CBS News, One America News Network, Crooks and Liars, WTOP and MyStateline.com

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The absurdity of Putin's lies should be obvious. Thanks to Trump, it isn't.

Discussion: Salon, National Review, Defense One, First Draft, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Jacobin, The Western Journal, Morning Shots and Blue Virginia

Marc Caputo / Politico:

In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival — MIAMI — A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida's most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” to a fellow Republican opponent to make her “disappear.”

Discussion: New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, The US Sun, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, Mediaite, Florida Politics, Raw Story and Political Wire

Washington Post:

GOP congressman refuses to shake hands with D.C. police officer who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6 — Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), who voted against awarding police officers the Congressional Gold Medal for their bravery in protecting the U.S. Capitol against violent, pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6 …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo, HuffPost, Digby's Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars, IJR, Insider, Forbes, Occupy Democrats, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Times, Raw Story and Mediaite

Melanie Zanona / Politico:
GOP hands Dems a new line of attack: They're for ‘Trump over the cops’

Discussion: NBC News, Forbes, HuffPost and The Atlantic

Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
Officer injured in Capitol riot blasts GOP lawmaker's behavior as ‘disgusting’ after tense exchange

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Daily Kos, Digby's Hullabaloo, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, IJR, Patterico's Pontifications and East Bay Times

Matt Ford / New Republic:
Republicans Are on the Brink of Embracing the Capitol Rioters

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, IJR and CNN

Politico:

House repeals 2002 Iraq War authorization — The House voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force in Iraq on Thursday, a rare and historic effort by lawmakers to rein in presidential war powers. — Thursday's vote brings the U.S. one step closer to ending …

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, USA Today, HotAir, Wall Street Journal and The American Independent

Karoun Demirjian / Washington Post:

House votes to repeal 2002 authorization for military force with strong bipartisan support and a White House endorsement — The House voted Thursday to repeal a 19-year-old military authorization Congress passed to give legal backing to the Iraq War with the support of Democrats …

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, CBS San Francisco and Inside Elections

Claudia Grisales / NPR:
In Historic, Bipartisan Move, House Votes To Repeal 2002 Iraq War Powers Resolution

Discussion: Insider, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, POLITICUSUSA and WTOP

Associated Press:

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti deserves ‘very substantial’ prison time, prosecutors say — Prosecutors urged a judge Wednesday to impose a “very substantial” prison sentence on Michael Avenatti for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike. — Prosecutors noted in a Manhattan …

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

MSNBC employees are forming a union. — Employees at MSNBC, the 24-hour cable news channel with a slate of prominent liberal anchors, said on Thursday that they planned to form a union representing about 315 workers including producers, bookers, writers, and fact checkers.

more at Mediagazer »

Amanda Carpenter / The Bulwark:

Pennsylvania's Conspiracy Kiss-Up Contest — To win Donald Trump's endorsement, candidates for the state's two major 2022 races embrace his big election lie. — Former President Donald Trump is watching Pennsylvania. — Like every other campaign observer, Trump knows …

Discussion: Raw Story and Politico

Carl Zimmer / New York Times:

A Pill to Treat Covid-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It. — A new $3.2 billion program will support the development of antiviral pills, which could start arriving by the end of this year. — The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year funding drugmakers to make a Covid vaccine …

Discussion: Associated Press, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Newsy

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

On the Campaign Trail With Andrew Giuliani The Son of Rudy is working out his father issues on the road to Albany. — Andrew Giuliani was holding a silver spoon. He just was. There's no getting around it. Sitting in a booth at Mansion Diner on 86th and York — about a thousand feet …

Discussion: Insider, Politico and Mediaite

Chelsey Cox / USA Today:

Who are the 14 House Republicans who voted against a Juneteenth holiday? And why? … WASHINGTON — Legislation to recognize June 19, or “Juneteenth,” as a federal holiday passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives Wednesday. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on Tuesday.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, HuffPost, The American Independent, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and U.S. Representative …

NBC News:
House passes bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday

Discussion: ABC News, Mediaite, Forbes, CNN, New York Post, The US Sun, HuffPost, WBBH-TV, TheGrio, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, New York Magazine, Insider, NPR, Bangor Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, Townhall, UPI and Associated Press

Ian Millhiser / Vox:

Joe Manchin's sweeping new voting rights proposal, explained — The pivotal senator has released a potentially transformative plan to promote fair elections. — No voting rights bill will become law without Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-WV) approval, at least in the current Congress.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, NBC News, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Backs Catholic Agency in Case on Gay Rights and Foster Care — The unanimous ruling was further evidence that claims of religious liberty almost always prevail in the current court. — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that Philadelphia may not bar …

Discussion: HotAir

Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:

Fox's anti-"critical race theory" parents are also GOP activists — One '"everyday American" '"parent" is a GOP consultant who worked for the RNC in 2020 — Nearly a dozen of the Fox News guests the network has presented as concerned parents or educators who oppose the teaching of so-called …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Wrap, Crooks and Liars, WFXRtv, Breitbart, BuzzFeed News, Daily Kos, Twitchy and Townhall

Politico:

Senate Democrats weigh $6T infrastructure bill, without GOP — Senate Democrats are weighing spending as much as $6 trillion on their own infrastructure package if the chamber's bipartisan talks fail, according to two sources familiar with the matter. — Majority Leader Chuck Schumer …

Discussion: New York Times, Insider, Common Dreams, HotAir, Forbes and Political Wire

Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:

The Trump Administration's Extraordinary Leak Investigations — A Times reporter on the news that Democrats' and reporters' phone data were seized by the Justice Department. — Last week, the Times reported that, during Donald Trump's Presidency, the Justice Department subpoenaed Apple …

Discussion: The Atlantic and Washington Post

Zen Soo / Associated Press:

Editors of Hong Kong newspaper arrested under security law — HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police used a sweeping national security law Thursday to arrest five editors and executives of a pro-democracy newspaper on charges of colluding with foreign powers — the first time the legislation …