June 23, 2026 — the courthouse door, the heat wave, and the deal without a handshake

0:00 Today, the Supreme Court told a prisoner whose dreadlocks were forcibly shaved off by guards that he has no right to sue for damages.

0:09 A federal heat standard that could save lives is still sitting on a desk in Washington. And the administration is selling a nuclear deal with Iran that it won't let Congress read. Let's start with the Supreme Court.

0:23 In Landor v. Louisiana, the justices ruled that a federal law meant to protect religious freedom in prison doesn't allow inmates to sue for money damages.

0:35 The facts are stark: Damon Landor is a Rastafarian who grew dreadlocks for nearly two decades as part of his faith. Prison guards handcuffed him to a chair and shaved his head against his will.

0:50 The Court said he can't get a dime. No jury. No settlement. Just the right to ask for an injunction... which guards can ignore.

1:01 Two years ago, the same Court gave postal workers stronger religious protections in a unanimous decision. Today, that gap is a two-tier system: if you work for the government, you have rights.

1:13 If you're locked up by it, you don't. Meanwhile, the Court took on another case about what happens to people inside. Nielsen v.

1:23 Watanabe asks whether a federal inmate can sue a prison nurse who refused to send him to the hospital after a gang assault left him with a fractured tailbone. The nurse gave him Tylenol.

1:37 He was kept in solitary for two months before anyone found the fracture. The justices will hear arguments next term, and the government is on the nurse's side.

1:48 If the Court closes this door too, there may be no constitutional remedy left for medical neglect in federal lockups. Across the ocean, a different kind of vulnerability.

1:59 France is burning through a heat wave — 44 degrees Celsius, that's 111 Fahrenheit. Fifty-four departments under red alert. At least 40 people drowned trying to cool off in rivers and lakes.

2:15 The French government has a plan: it triggers emergency measures, closes schools, deploys ambulances. The United States has none of that.

2:25 Not a single federal rule that says an employer has to give a farmworker water when it hits 100 degrees. OSHA proposed a heat standard in 2024. It's not final. The agency has a non-binding enforcement program...

2:42 that's like telling a lifeguard he can blow his whistle, but he doesn't have to jump in. An average of 700 Americans die from heat every year. And that number doesn't move until the rule does. Then there's Iran.

2:58 The administration has a 60-day interim deal that would let the IAEA supervise the downblending of enriched uranium... a genuinely good step.

3:09 But the White House has not sent the Memorandum of Understanding to Congress, as the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act requires. President Trump said he would. The deadline passed. So the U.S.

3:22 is asking allies to trust a deal that isn't binding law. That's not a negotiation; it's a handshake with no contract.

3:30 At the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Acting Director Bill Pulte has started firing career staff. Multiple sources say the layoffs began this week. Congress warned him not to do it. He did it anyway.

3:47 These are civil servants protected by law from political firing. The administration is betting no one will stop them.

3:55 The risk is an intelligence community that tells the president what he wants to hear, not what he needs to know.

4:02 Closer to home, a federal judge blocked the administration's attempt to ban soda and candy from SNAP, the food stamp program. The USDA had approved waivers for 22 states to impose the ban.

4:17 Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the agency doesn't have that power. The White House says it's not the final word. Expect an appeal.

4:27 And there is a quiet decision from the Supreme Court today that didn't get much airtime: ExxonMobil can sue Cuba under the Helms-Burton Act for property seized after the 1959 revolution.

4:42 The ruling lets private companies attach Cuban assets abroad. It tightens the embargo, hurts ordinary Cubans, and turns profit into foreign policy.

4:53 Also today, the FCC ordered eight Disney-owned ABC stations to submit early license renewals. The chair, Brendan Carr, cited concerns about DEI policies. The stations' normal renewal cycle is years away.

5:11 The signal to every broadcaster is clear: fall in line, or we'll check your paperwork. A federal judge dismissed the administration's lawsuit against Los Angeles' sanctuary ordinance.

5:24 Judge Dolly Gee said cities can set their own policing priorities without violating federal law. The ruling protects more than a million immigrants in L.A. from deportation through routine traffic stops.

5:38 The administration may appeal. Former IRS and DOJ officials filed a court brief challenging a settlement that would bar future audits of President Trump's past tax returns. They call it unconstitutional.

5:54 A judge has already reopened the case. That fight is far from over.

5:59 And a final note from the culture wars: HUD sent a letter to colleges today, warning that race-conscious housing — cultural houses, affinity floors — violates the Fair Housing Act. The agency calls it neo-segregation.

6:16 These programs were designed to help Black and Indigenous students feel safe in majority-white dorms. Now the government is using a civil rights law to shut them down. This is not just today's news.

6:31 Since the start, this project has read and logged 147 actions from Project 2025 itself, and we now track 877 distinct actions across the whole arc. The watch is constant.

6:45 We document what the plan says and where it lands. That work doesn't stop because the headlines change. In the coming days, the White House is expected to appeal the SNAP ruling in the D.C. Circuit.

6:58 The FCC's ABC license review will move forward with no set deadline. The Supreme Court will hear Nielsen v. Watanabe next term, with oral arguments likely in late 2026.

7:12 And the Iran deal's 60-day clock is ticking — if the MOU isn't submitted, Congress may push back. The ODNI firings will continue, with a House hearing on intelligence oversight tentatively scheduled for next month.

7:29 That's Tuesday, June 23. Tomorrow is another day of the long war. We'll read the fine print. You take a breath. I'll talk to you then.