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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
In a stunning 6-3 decision led by a conservative justice, the U.S. supreme court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights act protects gay and transgender people from workplace discrimination.
Meanwhile, new audio obtained by the New York Times shows that Vice President Mike Pence urged state Governors to repeat a B.S. claim about coronavirus infection rates in order to make the White House’s complete failure look a little less bad.
And lastly, a new report by the Intercept shows that Eliott Engel, the dinosaur Congressman from New York’s 16th district, has been taking dark money from a GOP linked group in order to fight off an insurgent primary campaign by a progressive middle school principal.
THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Supreme Court Sides With Trans Rights
The Supreme Court ruled on a historic set of cases on Monday that firing an employee for being gay, lesbian or transgender violates the 1964 civil rights act.
The court took into account two lawsuits over discrimination of gay men and the case of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was fired from her job after she came out to her employer. Stephens died in May, but her estate continued her case.
The decision was shocking, as Trump’s two Supreme Court picks had basically locked in the majority of the court to the conservative side. But both Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch voted with the more liberal members of the court, leaving only Alioto, Clarence Thomas and of course, Bret Kavanaugh, to dissent. Gosuch, who was Trump’s first appointment, wrote the majority’s opinion.
But as we mentioned in yesterday’s quickie, this doesn’t mean trans rights are safe from the Trump administration -- last week, the administration made a rule change that severely endangered trans rights in respect to discrimination suits connected to healthcare.
The Trump administration has made it very clear where it stands on trans issues, and the three conservative judges who dissented also made it clear which side they’re on.
If you want an example, look no further than the court’s other major decision today: to not hear any cases on the doctrine of “qualified immunity,” which has served to protect police officers from facing consequences for mistakes they made on the job. Gorsuch and Roberts sided with liberals on the Equal Rights Act decision, but if their votes are what the greater struggle for progress relies on in the future, we’re still in a shaky place.
Pence Pushed Coronavirus Lies
Meanwhile, the liars in Trump’s inner circle just can’t stop. According to audio obtained by the New York Times, Vice President Mike Pence personally encouraged state governors to spread a debunked claim about the relationship between widespread testing and coronavirus infection rates.
The claim is basically that upticks in infection rates are just a result of us discovering more cases through testing, and don’t represent the virus actually resurging. But experts have found that the rate of cases is increasing faster than the increase in testing. Pence, or whoever writes his talking points, surely knew this, but they pushed it on governors anyway, asking them to QUOTE
“Encourage people with the news that we’re safely reopening the country.”
ENDQUOTE.
Pence minimized all this, of course, because human life clearly doesn’t matter when the big strong president’s optics are concerned. This is what the Administration’s response has always been: claiming that everything was fine, claiming that they were doing great when things were clearly proven to be not fine, and eventually just claiming that the whole crisis is over and we won.
None of these things are true, of course. The virus is rising in 22 states, and we have a long road ahead even in places where the curve has flattened out. But it is helpful to have concrete examples of how far the Trump administration is willing to go to preserve its image.
Engel Takes Dirty Dark Money
New York Rep. Eliott Engel, the current head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is in deep trouble in his primary for re-election. And a new report by the Intercept shows he’s willing to accept pretty much any help he can get to win -- even if it comes from the Republicans.
Engel represents New York’s 16th district, which is safely blue. But his primary opponent is a young, energized middle school principal named Jamaal Bowman. Bowman has recently picked up a number of high profile endorsements including AOC, Bernie Sanders, and the New York Times. Engel, meanwhile, got Hillary Clinton’s endorsement on Monday, and other establishment Democrats figures are circling the wagons around him.
According to a new report by the Intercept, Engel’s campaign is benefitting from a weird dark money chain by a GOP-linked super PAC.
The group, called Americans for Tomorrow’s Future, isn’t spending directly on his campaign, probably because it also funnels money to overwhelmingly Republican causes including Mitch McConnell’s re-election campaign.
Instead, Americans for Tomorrow’s Future gave $100,000 to another Super PAC, Democratic Majority for Israel, which is in turn doing attack ads on Bowman.
Pretty shady stuff if you ask me! If the GOP is this interested in making sure Engel keeps his seat, maybe he’s not the best representative of the so-called opposition party. Just a thought.
AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:
A man shot a protester at a demonstration in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday night, following a confrontation in which protesters attempted to tear down a racist monument to a spanish Conquistador and were opposed by an armed far-right. Police responded to the scene and arrested members of the militia, and then faced off with protesters instead of taking their statements as to the shooting. It’s unclear if the shooter was a member of the militia, but this is sure to be a big story today, keep an eye out for more details as they come out.
The New York Police Department is eliminating the massive force of plain-clothes police officers that make up the force’s anti-crime teams, which have been responsible for numerous shootings and accusations of excessive force over the years. The officers aren’t getting fired of course, just reassigned, so it remains to be seen how much of a real reform this is.
After making a big splashy statement by painting Black Lives Matter on 16th street, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser has decided that well, that’s as far as she’s going to go. In an interview with NPR on Monday, she said she was still committed to her original budget, which proposes a 3.3 percent increase in the DC police’s funding.
North Korea is making a ruckus again, threatening to send troops into the Demilitarized Zone with South Korea if defectors don’t stop sending leaflets over the border. Early on Tuesday morning, South Korean authorities reported that the North had gone a step further, blowing up the joint liaison building where the two countries had previously negotiated.
That’s all for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon.
June 16, 2020 - AM Quickie
HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner
WRITER - Jack Crosbie
PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn