If it’s FRIDAY… U.S. Supreme Court wraps up term with expected decision on President Biden’s action on student loans… Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump address the Moms for Liberty conference in Philadelphia… Tim Scott stumps in Charleston, S.C… It’s the final day of the second fundraising quarter for federal candidates… And a heads up: Our morning newsletter will be off all next week, returning on Monday, July 10. Have a great July 4th.
But FIRST… The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision ending race-based admission policies at colleges and universities reminds us again how consequential the outcome of the 2016 presidential election turned out to be.
All election cycles are consequential, of course, but 2016’s gave Republicans the opportunity to fill three Supreme Court vacancies, which resulted in the overturning of decades-long precedents on abortion and affirmative action.
The outcome of 2016 led to the winner, Donald Trump, withdrawing from the Paris climate accord (which President Biden rejoined after his win in 2020), nixing the United States’ participation in the Iran nuclear deal (which Biden hasn’t been able to reconstruct) and ending normalized relations with Cuba (where China now has an electronic eavesdropping facility).
The result of 2016 transformed a Republican Party that still has Trump’s imprint as he seeks another presidential term.
And it changed the Democratic Party, too, as the party has become more progressive than it was heading into that election.
Bottom line: 2016 reshaped American politics and life for a generation — in a way that 2020, 2012, 2008, 2004 and even 2000 didn’t, although 2000 comes closest (with George W. Bush’s response to 9/11 and the Iraq war upending politics for a decade).
And today, that conservative 6-3 majority Supreme Court issues its final decisions of the year.
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 53%
That’s the portion of adults in April’s NBC News poll who said affirmative action programs are still needed, while 42% of respondents agreed that affirmative action programs have gone too far.
Along racial lines, white Americans were split almost evenly on the issue, while a majority of Latinos and Black Americans were supportive of affirmative action.
Polling on this issue also varies depending on how the question is asked, however. For example, a Pew Research Center survey from earlier this year that found 50% of American adults disapproving of “selective colleges and universities taking prospective students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds into account when making admissions decisions.”
Other numbers to know
58: The number of pages in Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurrence of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action at universities, which was longer than the majority opinion itself.
$20 million: The amount that New York Democrats are planning to spend to push a 2024 ballot measure that would codify disability rights, abortion protections and racial and LGBTQ equality, Axios reports.
3: The number of people charged with insider trading related to the public acquisition of former President Donald Trump’s media company.
20 years: How many years former Ohio state House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to prison for his role in an illegal bribery scheme, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
More than 100,000: The number of people living in New York City’s homeless shelters.
13: The number of deaths in Texas and Louisiana that have been attributed to this week’s heat wave.
9,800: The number of extra live births in Texas in the year after the state’s abortion ban went into effect, according to a Johns Hopkins analysis.
Eyes on 2024: Pence makes his case for Ukraine
Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine this week, the first GOP presidential contender to visit the country, NBC News’ Dasha Burns and Abigail Brooks report from Kyiv.
“I believe America’s the leader of the free world,” Pence told Burns and Brooks. He added that seeing the “heroism” of the Ukrainian soldiers and people “just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies.”
But his vocal defense of Ukraine and call to get the country aid faster puts Pence out of step with the rest of his party. A majority of GOP primary voters — 52% — said in the latest NBC News poll, said they would be less likely to back a candidate who supports sending more funding and weapons to Ukraine, while 28% said they would be more likely to support that candidate.
Asked about those poll numbers, Pence said, “I’m here because it’s important that the American people understand the progress that we’ve made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest. I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world.”
In other campaign news …
Applauding SCOTUS: Republican presidential candidates cheered the Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling on affirmative action, per the New York Times.
Republican worries: NBC News’ Peter Nicholas and Katherine Doyle check in with some of the Republicans who endorsed Biden in 2020, and they find that some are “disillusioned with Biden and mulling whether to endorse him or latch onto someone else.”
Taking on Trump: Americans for Prosperity Action, the group founded by conservatives Charles and David Koch, has raised more than $70 million, per the New York Times, as it gears up to take on Trump in the GOP primary.
States of play: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis only has a few congressional endorsements, and his campaign has been focused on capturing endorsements from state lawmakers as part of a deliberate strategy to build his grassroots support, the Miami Herald reports.
Ron vs. DOJ: The Justice Department is taking aim at a law DeSantis signed last month that bars some Chinese citizens from buying property in Florida, calling the law unconstitutional in a recent court filing, per NBC News’ Michael Mitsanas.
Impeach? NBC News’ Greg Hyatt reports that former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley agreed with Fox News host Greg Gutfeld about the idea of the House starting impeachment proceedings against President Biden over his son’s business dealings, telling the host “they absolutely should,” and calling on the media to hold the president accountable.
I’m on fire: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized DeSantis for brushing aside a question about the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying he gave “one of the most ridiculous answers I’ve heard in this race so far.”
Hail to the victor: Time Magazine reports that a handful of Republicans, including New York Stock Exchange Vice Chair John Tuttle and former Rep. Peter Meijer, are seriously considering jumping into the Michigan Senate race.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
Courts in Kentucky and Tennessee blocked portions of bans on gender-affirming care on Wednesday.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the country earlier this year used commercially available American technology, NBC News’ Jennifer Jett reports.
The Supreme Court justices, in a unanimous decision, ruled in favor of a Christian postal worker who did not want to work on Sundays.
