Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A brief, unsigned opinion on Section 230: “The Supreme Court on Thursday sidestepped a ruling on the legal shield that protects internet companies from lawsuits relating to content posted by users in a case concerning allegations that YouTube was liable for suggesting videos promoting violent militant Islam.”
* Last summer, the Biden administration had to sell allies on capping the price that Russia could command for every barrel of oil it sold on the global market. It worked: “As the Group of 7 prepares to meet again in this week in Hiroshima, Japan, official and market data suggest the untried idea has helped achieve its twin initial goals since the price cap took effect in December. The cap appears to be forcing Russia to sell its oil for less than other major producers, when crude prices are down significantly from their levels immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
* Judicial nominees, Part I: “Civil rights lawyer Nancy Abudu has been confirmed to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where she will be the first Black woman to sit on the Atlanta-based court.” (She’s the first Biden judicial nominee Sen. Joe Manchin voted against.)
* Judicial nominees, Part II: “In a rare defeat for President Joe Biden on judicial nominations, Michael Delaney has formally withdrawn from consideration to be a 1st Circuit Court of Appeals judge. … Delaney’s withdrawal comes as he lacks the votes in the Democratic-led Senate to be confirmed, facing criticism about his handling of a years-old legal case involving a New Hampshire school that was sued by the family of a girl who said she was sexually assaulted.”
* Jack Teixeira: “The Air National Guard member accused in a high-profile classified leaks case appears to have shared sensitive secrets with foreign nationals and had raised concern among his co-workers in the months before he was charged with mishandling and disseminating national security information, prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday.”
* We could do this, and it wouldn’t take long for the project to pay for itself: “French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage on Tuesday requiring canopies of solar panels to be built atop all substantial lots in the country.”
* All is not well at Twitter: “In an interview this week, Twitter owner Elon Musk said users making false claims of stolen elections ‘will be corrected’ on the platform. … Yet many such claims have thrived on Twitter in the week since former President Donald Trump spent much of a CNN town hall digging in on his lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him. Twitter posts that amplified those false claims have thousands of shares with no visible enforcement, a review of posts on the platform shows.” * Montana vs. TikTok: “Montana officially became the first state to ban TikTok on Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill restricting downloads of the immensely popular social media app into law. The legislation, which was passed last month, makes it illegal for app stores to give users the option to download TikTok and illegal for the company to operate within the state.” * This story keeps getting worse: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., experienced more complications than were publicly disclosed from a recent case of shingles that left her absent from Washington for nearly three months. Feinstein, 89, had also suffered from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which occurred when shingles spread to her head and neck, and a case of encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain, a person familiar with her situation confirmed to NBC News on Thursday.” See you tomorrow.
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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