Good morning.
The US supreme court shot down a fringe legal theory that observers said posed a considerable threat to democracy, ruling that state courts have the authority to weigh in on disputes over federal election rules.
“When state legislatures prescribe the rules concerning federal elections, they remain subject to the ordinary exercise of state judicial review,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “Our precedents have long rejected the view that legislative action under the Elections Clause is purely federal in character, governed only by restraints found in the federal constitution.”
The decision was 6-3, with Roberts writing the majority opinion. The Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett also joined the court’s three liberal justices, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson in the ruling.
The ruling is a blow to Republicans in North Carolina, who had asked the court to embrace the so-called independent state legislature theory – the idea that the US constitution does not allow state courts to limit the power of state legislatures when it comes to federal elections. There was deep concern that embracing such an idea would upend US elections, essentially giving legislatures a blank check to write election laws without oversight from state courts. It would have been a major win for Republicans, who control more state legislatures than Democrats do.
What does the court’s decision mean? It means state courts can continue to weigh in on disputes over federal election rules. State courts have become increasingly popular forums for hearing those disputes, especially after the US supreme court said in 2019 that federal courts could not address partisan gerrymandering.
Trump sues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape comments
Donald Trump has sued E Jean Carroll for defamation, alleging she falsely accused him of rape after a jury in a civil trial found that he sexually abused her.
Trump’s counterclaim against Carroll in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday cited Carroll’s statements on CNN after the verdict, and comes after a jury’s finding in May that he sexually abused and defamed Carroll, but the jury did not find that he raped her.
Trump is seeking a retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The filing by Trump signals that his multifront legal fight with Carroll is unlikely to end soon, as both sides trade accusations and denials in the press.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, amended the first of her two lawsuits against Trump and sought an additional $10m in damages in May, citing his denials during a CNN appearance the day after the verdict.
What has Carroll said about being sued? Her lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Ukraine: Death toll rises to 10 after strike on pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk
Three children were among the dead after a Russian strike on a pizzeria in Kramatorsk, according to Ukraine’s regional governor of Donetsk, who predicted the figure may rise.
The number of wounded has increased to more than 60 people.
Earlier, Suspilne, the Ukraine state broadcaster, said: “Rescuers continue to clear the rubble, and have rescued seven people, the state emergency service reported. Dog handlers and psychologists also work on site.”
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP, has shared on social media what purports to be pictures of a baby “wounded by fragments of Russian missiles”. He said: “Propagandists on Russian TV justify the actions of the army and claim that they hit a military facility. It looks like a small Ukrainian child is a military facility.”
What else is happening? Ukraine’s defence minister has raised the stakes before the next Nato summit, saying he expects a “guarantee” that Ukraine will be invited to join the military alliance at the conclusion of the war with Russia, describing membership as non-negotiable.
In other news …
The Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is to stand trial today on charges of sexual assault against four men. He faces 12 charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2013. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the US west through a multibillion-dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth, but efforts to clear wildfire fuel are falling short.
Kanye West has been accused of subjecting a former business partner and friend to antisemitic abuse. Alex Klein, a tech entrepreneur who worked with the rapper – who is now known as Ye – found himself on the receiving end of an angry, racist tirade when he decided to end the collaboration.
All South Koreans have instantly become a year or two younger, as the country ditched its traditional – and increasingly unpopular – system for counting someone’s age and replaced it with the internationally accepted method. 86% of Koreans say they will adopt the international system in their everyday lives.
A body discovered in wilderness near Mount Baldy in California on Saturday was confirmed last night as that of the British actor Julian Sands. The 65-year-old had been missing since January after going hiking in the area.
Stat of the day: destruction of world’s pristine rainforests soared by 10% in 2022 despite Cop26 pledge
An area the size of Switzerland was cleared from Earth’s most pristine rainforests in 2022, despite promises by world leaders to halt their destruction, new figures show. From the Bolivian Amazon to Ghana, the equivalent of 11 football pitches of primary rainforest were destroyed every minute last year as the planet’s most carbon-dense and biodiverse ecosystems were cleared for cattle ranching, agriculture and mining, with Indigenous forest communities forced from their land by extractive industries in some countries. The tropics lost 4.1m hectares of primary rainforest in 2022, an increase of about 10% from 2021, according to the figures. The report’s authors say humans are destroying one of the most effective tools for mitigating global heating and halting biodiversity loss.
Don’t miss this: ‘She brings light’ – Brittney Griner’s triumphant return to the WNBA
When the US negotiated a prisoner swap to secure Brittney Griner’s freedom last December from prison in Russia, she almost immediately announced her intention to return to the WNBA in 2023, signing a one-year deal with the Mercury. No one knew what to expect from Griner, who had spent almost a year under arduous physical and mental conditions but, against all odds, she appeared to be back to her normal self – on and off the court. In her first WNBA game in 579 days, Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks in a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. In her first home game a couple of days later, she hit just the seventh three-pointer of her career, yelling “I’m back!” to the crowd of 14,000 cheering fans. “I appreciate everything a little more,” Griner said about being back in the league.
Climate check: saved by seaweed – nuns and Indigenous women heal polluted New York waters using kelp
In the waters off the shores of Long Island, New York, a group of nuns and a collective of women from the Shinnecock, a local Indigenous tribe, have joined forces on a unique collaboration to start a kelp farm in the hope of cleaning up the pollution in their shared back yard. These two groups are united by proximity and purpose. Together they are working to rescue Shinnecock Bay, on which both communities are situated: the sisters on a bucolic, sprawling 200-acre retreat center on the bay’s west side, and the Shinnecock, a maritime tribe, on a 900-acre peninsula to the east. They hope the growing and planting of kelp will help eliminate the carbon and nitrogen that had been poisoning their waters. It may have once seemed like a long shot, but it’s working.
Last Thing: a load of manure – man gets prison time for years-long cow dung scam
A California man is going to prison for running a cow dung-to-green energy scheme that authorities say was a load of manure. Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville was sentenced on Monday to six years and nine months in federal prison for a years-long scam that bilked investors out of $8.75m, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office. Brewer ran a scheme from 2014 through 2019 in which he claimed to be building anaerobic digesters at dairies in California’s Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties and in Idaho, prosecutors said. Anaerobic digesters “use micro-organisms to break down biodegradable material and turn it into methane” that can be sold and that also provide the producers with renewable energy credits for producing green energy, the statement said.
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