Exclusive: How the White House defied a judge's order to turn back deportation flights  —  The Trump administration says it ignored a Saturday court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn't apply …

Doctor and Professor Is Deported Despite a Judge's Order  —  Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and Brown University professor who had a valid visa, was expelled in apparent defiance of a court order.  —  A kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University's medical school …

Democratic Party hits new polling low, while its voters want to fight Trump harder  —  Unlike in Trump's first term, Democratic voters say 2-to-1 they want party leaders to fight rather than compromise, even at the risk of not getting things done, per the NBC News poll.

Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants  —  National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA vaccine technology from their grant applications, two researchers said, in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical research.

Trump tapped Kari Lake to run VOA.  Then he dismantled it.  —  Lake had big plans to transform the outlet into a powerful “weapon” to fight an “information war.”  Instead, the president has essentially shut it down.  —  Just now  —  During his first term, Donald Trump accused Voice …

Nervous about Trump, international tourists scrap their U.S. travel plans  —  The Trump administration's hard stance on tariffs and other international policies has some travelers rethinking where they vacation.  —  International travelers concerned about President Donald Trump's trade policies …

Another Columbia student targeted by ICE says she wasn't involved in protests on the night of her arrest  —  Days after federal immigration agents showed up to Ranjani Srinivasan's apartment - prompting her to leave the country out of fear she would be taken into custody …

He voted for Trump.  Now his wife sits in an ICE detention center.  —  Bradley Bartell and Camila Muñoz had a familiar small-town love story, before they collided with immigration politics.  —  They met through mutual friends, had a first date at the local steakhouse …

Top broadband official exits Commerce Department with sharp Musk warning  —  “Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world's richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman warned.

Featured Comment  —  Bill Clinton enacted his Reinventing Government package of streamlining restructuring (REIGO) in 1993, when he still held legislative majorities.  It was passed by a margin of ONE VOTE.  Al Gore was the one who actually drafted the plan in writing …

Black Medal of Honor recipient removed from US Department of Defense website  —  Page honoring Charles C Rogers for his Vietnam war service is now defunct with letters ‘DEI’ added to website address  —  The US defense department webpage celebrating an army general who served in the Vietnam war …

Nita M. Lowey, Tenacious New York Representative, Dies at 87  —  A Democrat, she represented Westchester County for three decades and became the first woman to lead the powerful House Appropriations Committee.  —  Nita M. Lowey, who represented a congressional district based in Westchester County …

Trade War Retaliation Will Hit Trump Voters Hardest  —  The counties where tariffs could hit jobs, by presidential vote winner  —  Source: New York Times analysis of data from Lightcast and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.  Note: Vote results are for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

132. Five Questions About Trump's Alien Enemy Act Proclamation  —  [An edited version of this post also appears at Just Security.]  —  Welcome back to “One First,” an (increasingly frequent) newsletter that aims to make the U.S. Supreme Court more accessible to all of us.

Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts  —  As an infant, Connor Phillips was born three months premature with cerebral palsy.  The science that saved his life was the inspiration that led to his role studying brain processes as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health.