Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Given the recent pattern with the Republican-appointed justices, the White House probably likes its chances in this appeal: “The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to immediately allow for the deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois, alleging they are needed to protect federal agents conducting immigration enforcement. The move comes in response to lower court rulings that blocked the effort, with the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday again ruling against the administration.”
* A closely watched meeting: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, with long-range Tomahawk missiles and the trajectory of the war with Russia on the agenda as Kyiv intensifies its push for U.S. military aid.”
* That’s a lot of cases: “South Carolina’s measles outbreak has grown to 15 cases, state health officials reported Friday, a small increase from a few days ago. … In Ohio, where five cases in the central part of the state have been reported within the last 2½ weeks, quarantine for 122 people was expected to end Friday. … In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, 118 kids are now back in school after they were exposed to an outbreak of 20 measles cases. Their quarantine ended Wednesday.”
* I’m eager to learn what the administration intends to do, exactly, with these survivors: “The U.S. is providing medical treatment to survivors from the latest attack on a vessel suspected of transporting illegal drugs in the Caribbean, according to two officials familiar with the matter. The two survivors were rescued by the Coast Guard and taken to the USS Iwo Jima, which has a full medical staff. An unspecified number of others aboard the submersible were killed in the strike, the officials said.”
* The expected plea: “John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during Donald Trump’s first term before becoming a critic of the president, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of mishandling classified information.”
* The more this list grows, the better: “The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California on Thursday declined to sign President Trump’s proposal to give funding preferences to schools that agree to concessions, such as capping international enrollment and freezing tuition, and taking steps to protect conservative viewpoints. The rejections raised the number of universities that have said no to the offer to four, reflecting mounting opposition to the deal.”
* The University of Virginia joined the list of schools rejecting the White House’s proposed “compact” on Friday afternoon.
* U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro sure does lose a lot: “There’s already a stunning pattern of grand jurors rejecting indictments sought by the Justice Department in President Donald Trump’s second term — specifically when it comes to allegations of assaulting law enforcement in connection with protests against the administration’s abuses of power. As time goes on, we’ll learn what trial jurors think of the politically motivated cases that make it that far. We got a prime example Thursday in the case of Sidney Reid, who was acquitted in Washington, D.C.” * A lawsuit worth watching: “More than 20 states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, challenging the agency’s decision to cancel a $7 billion program that aimed to make solar power accessible to low-income households.” * Another lawsuit worth watching: “Three labor unions represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Trump administration on Thursday over a program that is searching the social media posts of visa holders, arguing that the practice violates the First Amendment rights of people legally in the United States.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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