Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A big ruling: “A federal appeals court refused Wednesday to lift an order barring the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law. A split three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a March 15 order temporarily prohibiting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.”
* The video of this is terrifying: “Federal authorities on Tuesday detained a Tufts University graduate student while she was on her way to break her Ramadan fast with friends, her lawyer said, and the moment was caught on video. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national who was maintaining a valid F-1 student visa as a doctoral student, was apprehended near her home by Department of Homeland Security agents, according to a statement from her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai.”
* A story worth watching: “Four U.S. soldiers went missing during tactical training in Lithuania, not far from its border with Belarus, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The soldiers were in a training area near the town of Pabradė, which is about 30 miles south of the capital, Vilnius, and 6 miles from Lithuania’s border with Belarus, officials said.”
* A 7-2 ruling: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Biden administration effort to regulate ‘ghost gun’ kits that allow people to easily obtain parts needed to assemble firearms from online sellers. The decision by a court that often backs gun rights resolves the legal dispute over whether the kits can be regulated the same way as other firearms.”
* There’s reason to worry about the NIH’s near future: “The Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as the next director of the National Institutes of Health. The vote was 53-47. As director, Bhattacharya would oversee the $48.6 billion agency, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research.”
* In case you were wondering what prompted the latest Wall Street slide: “President Donald Trump is expected to announce new measures imposing tariffs on automobiles Wednesday afternoon. It was not immediately clear what the scope of the new duties would be.”
* A rare display dissent against Hamas: “Palestinians in Gaza protested against the war for a second straight day on Wednesday and chanted slogans against Hamas, frustrated and angry over the collapse of a cease-fire with Israel that many had hoped would become permanent.”
* A dangerous step backwards: “The United States is planning to terminate more than $1 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international organization that offers lifesaving vaccinations for millions of people each year in some of the world’s poorest countries, according to information in a document the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, sent to Congress this week.”
See you tomorrow.