Tuesday, June 30 — the court giveth and taketh

0:00 The Supreme Court ruled on birthright citizenship today, and on transgender athletes — but one case reaffirmed the Constitution; the other closed a door. Let's sort the winners and losers.

0:14 The biggest news today is from the Supreme Court, where two major decisions landed.

0:20 First, a 6-to-3 victory for the 14th Amendment: the Court struck down President Trump's executive order trying to end birthright citizenship.

0:31 That order, issued on Day One of the administration, directly contradicted the Citizenship Clause — and the Court said plainly you cannot undo the Constitution with a pen. The challenge was called Trump v.

0:46 Barbara, and the decision reaffirms a precedent from 1898: if you are born on U.S. soil, you are a citizen, period. That is a clean, clear win for the Constitution over executive power. But then came the other ruling.

1:03 In West Virginia v. B.P.J., the Court held — 6 to 3 — that states can exclude transgender girls from girls' school sports without violating Title IX.

1:16 The majority said Title IX's reference to 'sex' means biological sex, and that this does not prevent states from banning trans athletes.

1:26 Importantly, the ruling does not require all states to adopt bans; it just says they can. But it also shuts the door on using Title IX as a tool for protecting trans students in athletics.

1:41 Justice Thomas wrote separately to argue that transgender status isn't a suspect class — a separate concurrence from his attack on press protections in another case that day.

1:54 So for advocates of trans rights, this is the end of a legal strategy. For supporters of the bans, it's a green light.

2:04 Meanwhile, down in the trial courts: a federal judge ruled against Defense Secretary Hegseth's press credential policy, finding it likely violates the First Amendment.

2:15 The judge sided with the New York Times in a challenge over the Pentagon's ability to revoke credentials from reporters whose coverage it doesn't like.

2:25 The policy remains in effect while the administration appeals — but the ruling underscores the risk when you restrict the press that helps audit an $800 billion budget that has never passed a clean audit.

2:39 And on that point: the heat is rising. Literally. The same heat wave hitting Europe is forecast for the eastern United States, yet the federal government still has no heat standard for workers.

2:52 OSHA's proposed rule from 2024 — requiring water, rest, and shade at a specific heat index — has not been finalized. The delay is political, not scientific.

3:06 And it leaves millions of workers, Black, Brown, and low-income, exposed to a hazard that has already killed at least 999 people on the job since 2011. The science is settled; the politics is not.

3:21 Across the country in Oklahoma, the state Corporation Commission denied Enid's request to create a simple buffer zone around its only drinking water aquifer. The city said it would cost under $50,000 to process.

3:37 The commission, whose members get campaign support from oil and gas, said no.

3:42 Industry groups called the buffer a 'dangerous precedent.' For 50,000 residents in Enid, the precedent is now: the state put industry profits ahead of clean water.

3:55 And then there is the quiet constitutional battle that could reshape all of this.

4:01 Project 2025's blueprint calls for overturning Humphrey's Executor — the 1935 precedent that protects independent agency officials from at-will firing by the president.

4:14 The Brennan Center and Protect Democracy warn this would let the president fire inspectors general, FTC members, and career officials at will.

4:25 The administration has already mass-fired IGs; overturning Humphrey's Executor would retroactively make that legal. This is not a hypothetical. It is a plan being executed.

4:39 Speaking of execution: two executive orders targeting mail voting met different fates this month.

4:46 One — from March 2025 — was permanently blocked by a federal judge who said it violates the Constitution's Elections Clause.

4:55 Another — from March 2026, directing the USPS to cross-check voter lists — was partially blocked but not everywhere, creating a patchwork of enforcement.

5:08 Meanwhile, the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to vote, passed the House but officially failed in the Senate.

5:19 It is dead as a standalone bill, though its provisions could return as budget riders. And finally, a correction from earlier coverage: it wasn't the Trump administration that sued PBS.

5:32 PBS sued the administration after Executive Order 14290 called for defunding public media. PBS CEO Paula Kerger said it was the most sobering moment of her career — signing that lawsuit.

5:48 By July 2025, Congress had rescinded $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, effectively dissolving it. That is Project 2025 in action: starve the system, then reallocate the spectrum.

6:03 All of this is unfolding against a constant watch. We have now read and logged 147 of Project 2025's blueprint actions, and 1,058 distinct actions across the federal landscape are on the record and mapped.

6:20 The work goes on, piece by piece. The goal is not to claim victory — it's to know what is actually happening, and to be able to name it.

6:30 In the next week: the administration will appeal the press credential ruling, and the Fifth Circuit is expected to weigh in on the mail voting executive order that remains in limbo in D.C.

6:42 The House GOP remains paralyzed by the SAVE Act standoff, with Speaker Johnson's proposal to merge it with the defense bill still lacking enough conservative votes.

6:54 And OFAC's 60-day waiver on Iranian oil — General License X — expires August 21, with no verified IAEA commitment from Iran as of today. That's the news for June 30.

7:09 A day of clear wins for the Constitution, clear losses for trans rights, and a steady background drumbeat of executive power being pushed to its limit — and sometimes beyond. I'm Gus Calloway. We'll do it again tomorrow.