Ketanji Brown Jackson Gets Put 'In Her Place' by Justices: Scott Jennings
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has been getting "dressed down" and "put in her place" in recent orders from the High Court, former George W. Bush adviser Scott Jennings said Wednesday night.
Newsweek reached out to the Supreme Court via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an 8-1 ruling to which Jackson countered in a blistering dissent, calling out the court for allowing President Donald Trump to take a "wrecking ball" to the federal government after it cleared the way for his administration to implement mass layoffs.
Jackson, nominee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, was recently ripped by fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett in another ruling related to birthright citizenship.
Coney Barrett said Jackson's position on the issue was "difficult to pin down" adding that her opinion "is at odds with more than two centuries' worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself."
What To Know
While speaking with CNN's Abby Phillip on Wednesday night, Jennings argued that Jackson "apparently has a fundamental disagreement with the rest of the court about what the role of a Supreme Court justice is."
"People from the ideological right and the ideological left on the court have had to put her in her place a couple of times here in this term. I would guess internally it's causing internal issues at the Supreme Court," Jennings said.
Phillip then questioned if saying Jackson has been put "in her place" is fair, as a normal function of the Supreme Court is to disagree.
"Liberals disagree with liberals, conservatives disagree with conservatives," Phillip said.
In the 8-1 ruling over federal layoffs presented by Justice Elena Kagan, Jennings argues that her wording in the order is a shot at Jackson's argument for commenting on issues not before the court.
The court's ruling presented by Kagan argued that "We express no view on the legality of any Agency RIF and Reorganization Plan produced or approved pursuant to the Executive Order and Memorandum. The District Court enjoined further implementation or approval of the plans based on its view about the illegality of the Executive Order and Memorandum, not on any assessment of the plans themselves. Those plans are not before this Court."
In her dissent, Jackson argued that the Trump administration rushed to the Supreme Court to get a ruling after a lower court ruled against the White House.
"Instead of directing its attention and resources to fully litigating the merits of the challenge to its authority in the courts below, the Government rushed up the chain of review, seeking an emergency stay of the District Court's preliminary injunction from us," she argued.
Trump has been outspoken on rulings in lower courts, specifically about his administration's immigration policies, and has called for judges to be impeached for decisions against his initiatives.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture on July 5 in New Orleans. (Photo byfor ESSENCE)
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture on July 5 in New Orleans. (Photo byfor ESSENCE)
What People Are Saying
Ana Navarro, CNN senior political commentator, on Wednesday: "And also listen, nobody puts baby in the corner, and nobody puts Ketanji in her place. She is a Supreme Court justice."
She continued, "No, that's not putting her in her place, that's called disagreement, that's called dissenting. It's called a disagreement in the Supreme Court, which is perfectly OK. And if you're expecting a melanated girl from South Florida to shut up and play nice and not ruffle feathers ... you seem to have an issue with it," she said in response to Jennings.
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court's most recent term has ended, and the justices are not expected to make any new rulings in the immediate future.
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San Francisco Chronicle
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- San Francisco Chronicle
A century after a man was convicted of teaching evolution, the debate on religion in schools rages
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — One hundred years ago, a public high school teacher stood trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for teaching human evolution. His nation is still feeling the reverberations today. The law books record it as State of Tennessee v. John T. Scopes. History remembers it as the ' Monkey Trial.' The case ballooned into a national spectacle, complete with a courthouse showdown between a renowned, agnostic defense attorney and a famous fundamentalist Christian politician who defended the Bible on the witness stand. In a sweltering, pre-air conditioning courtroom, the trial became a linchpin for a tense debate that wasn't just a small-town aberration. 'This is a broad-based culture war of which the Scopes trial is just one place lightning struck,' says James Hudnut-Beumler, professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, new state laws requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms are facing legal challenges. As the Supreme Court leans right, there is an ongoing conservative push to infuse more religion — often Christianity — into taxpayer-funded education. Advocates of religious diversity and church-state separation are countering it in capitols, courts and public squares. 'We are fighting on an almost daily basis,' says Robert Tuttle, a religion and law professor at George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. That Tennessee jury found Scopes guilty of violating the state's Butler Act — of teaching 'any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.' A century later, the role of religion in public schools — and whether to keep it out entirely — is still being fiercely debated. 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The American Civil Liberties Union, joined by other legal groups, is representing the families in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas that sued to block new Ten Commandments laws. A much younger ACLU, boosted by the star power of defense attorney Clarence Darrow, represented Scopes, who agreed to be a test case challenging the Butler Act and to bring attention to Dayton. Daniel Mach, who directs the ACLU program on freedom of religion and belief, sees a through line between 1925 and what he describes as a present-day assault on the separation of church and state. 'There are those who want to use the machinery of the state — and in particular, our public schools — to impose their religious beliefs on everyone else,' Mach says. 'The constitutional guarantee of church-state separation has served us as a nation quite well over the years in general. And there's simply no reason to turn back the clock now.' In 1925, the ACLU lost the Scopes case. It would be more than 40 years before the Supreme Court would overrule an anti-evolution teaching ban. But the trial, which took place from July 10-21, dealt a big hit to Bryan's reputation. He died days after it ended. Though a brief legal circus, the trial inflamed social divisions. Conservatives and fundamentalists in the Midwest and South felt mocked by those they considered liberal, East Coast elites. 'They were humiliated,' Tuttle says. 'That's internalized, and it carries through.' In the 1940s, tensions flared with a school funding case before the Supreme Court. They returned in the 1960s when the justices ruled against school-sponsored prayer and Bible readings. It was upsetting, Tuttle says, to conservative Christians who saw schools as a source of morality. 'The link you see with the Scopes case is a sense of alienation and devaluing of what civic experience means to them,' he says. Suzanne Rosenblith, an expert on religion in public education at the University at Buffalo in New York, sees the wave of court cases as primarily First Amendment tensions. 'Your argument for removing something can be seen as ensuring that Congress makes no law respecting the establishment of religion. And my wanting something included, that's my way of exercising my right to religious freedom,' she says. 'And it could be on the same issue.' A lesson to be learned from the last 100 years, Rosenblith says, is that America remains a pluralist democracy and needs to be approached as such. 'All sides are going to win some and lose some,' she says. 'But how can we treat each other, especially those with whom we disagree on these significant issues, how do we treat each other more seriously?' ___
Yahoo
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- Yahoo
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In 2024, miners extracted 23 million metric tons of copper worldwide, and around a third of all copper globally is used for electricity grids, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Copper (HG=F) futures surged Tuesday after President Trump said he would impose a 50% tariff on imports to the US. Copper futures soared over 10% at last check. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. Boeing (BA) announced on Tuesday that it had delivered 60 airplanes in June, a 27% increase versus a year earlier and 8 of those were to Chinese customers. The China deliveries were the first since the trade troubles between Washington and Beijing ended. Reuters reports: Read more here. President Trump said on Tuesday that he will be announcing a new program for pharmaceutical tariffs "very soon." He suggested that there would be a grace period for drug companies to move manufacturing to the United State before they face steep tariffs. "We're going to give people about a year, year and a half to come in, and after that they're going to be tariffed," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. "If they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country, … they're going to be tariffed at a very high rate — like 200%." Pharmaceutical stocks such as Pfizer (PFE), Amgen (AMGN), and AbbVie (ABBV) dipped on Trump's comments, though they remained in the green. Trump also noted that he plans to unveil similar programs for chips and other sectors. President Trump said that his administration is two days away from sending a letter to the European Union outlining a new tariff rate. 'They were among the toughest to deal with," Trump commented, adding: "Actually, in many respects, they were much worse than China. ... We're probably two days off from sending them a letter. We are talking to them." On Monday, Politico reported that the US and EU were nearing a deal that would leave 10% baseline tariffs in place. The EU has also been seeking carve-outs for certain sectors, such as aircraft and spirits. The Trump administration pushed back the deadline to complete negotiations to Aug. 1. As to the other deals currently in the works, Trump stated that he preferred the letters to ongoing parleys. 'We have a lot of them going on, but the deals are mostly my deal to them,' Trump said. 'We could make a lot more deals. … It's just too time-consuming. It makes it more complicated.' "I just want you to know a letter means a deal," Trump added later. "You have to do it in a more general way, but it's a very good way." President Trump reiterated his threat that nations that join BRICS — the intergovernmental organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — and engage in policy to reduce the dollar's dominance will soon face an additional tariff of 10%. "Anybody that's in BRICS is getting a 10% charge … pretty soon,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting. "If they're a member of BRICS, they're going to have to pay a 10% tariff just for that one thing." While the 90 deals in 90 days hasn't materialized, the 14 letters sent out Monday detailing new tariff rates — and additional ones expected today — offer a new jolt to trade talks. And over the next week, the European Union and India will be in particular focus as the Trump administration makes progress on deals. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. Coffee futures (KC=F) rose on Thursday after President Trump threatened to slap a 50% tariff on Brazil, the world's largest producer. The news has shaken the industry and risks US consumers seeing a price surge. The FT reports Read more here. Trouble may be on the horizon for US toymakers as Hasbro (HAS) CEO Chris Cooks said toy prices will likely rise later this year, especially if higher tariffs take effect. CNN reports: Read more here. President Trump made a statement as his first 100 days in office came to a close in late April, he said he had completed trade deals with 200 countries. Two months on and Trump has announced just three of those agreements, which include a trade truce and framework with China and deals with the UK and Vietnam. So what happened? CNN reports: Read more here. President Trump has announced a 50% tariff on all copper imports to the US to come into effect on August 1, following through with statements earlier this week. Posting on Truth Social, the president said: About half of the copper used in the US is imported, with the vast majority coming from Chile, according to Reuters. The other half is domestically mined and processed, with a significant portion coming out of Arizona. At this time, Trump has not indicated plans to increase domestic production, nor shown a road map around how the metal, essential in electronics across a number of industries, will be sourced for usage. President Trump added Brazil to the list of countries receiving tariff letters today, though he diverged from the usual template. Instead of citing the US's trade imbalance, Trump issued the letter in service of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing charges of planning a coup after he lost the 2022 election and potentially prison time if convicted by Brazil's Supreme Court. 'The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,' Trump wrote in the letter. 'This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!' Trump stated that starting Aug. 1, imports from Brazil to the US will face a 50% tariff. In another divergence from recent tariff announcements, which have largely tracked "Liberation Day" tariffs, the 50% rate on Brazilian goods is far higher than the 10% announced in April. Brazil previously had a lower tariff rate because it is one of the few countries with which the United States has a trade surplus. In the first three months of the year, the US exported $650 million more in goods to Brazil than it imported. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that the country could redirect the copper it sends to the US to other markets to avoid potential tariffs from the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Chilean President Gabriel Boric called for "official" communication on the copper tariffs Trump mentioned during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Reuters reports: Read more here. President Trump promised seven letters today. Late this morning, he posted to: Philippines Brunei Moldova Algeria Iraq Libya Sri Lanka Most are roughly in line with duties he announced on "Liberation Day." You can see a full breakdown of the new tariffs Trump has announced here (remember, these are announced, but they take effect Aug. 1): President Trump is hoping to reach a trade deal with India, touting the potential for months since his April tariff pause. But the latest twist in the president's topsy-turvy trade policy, which he himself introduced this week, could complicate things. Bloomberg reports: Some added intrigue: India will assume BRICS chairmanship next year. Read more here. President Trump decided to delay his reciprocal tariffs to Aug. 1 after discussions with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent and others told the president that he could get trade deals with more time, according to an exclusive report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Bessent and other advisers within the Trump administration felt that they were making progress on several deals with trading partners, which included India and the European Union. An initial pause on the reciprocal tariffs was set to lapse at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday until Trump on Monday further postponed the implementation date for three weeks and sent out letters warning countries of the rates they would face on that day. Trump had talked about ending tariff deals and letting the tariffs take effect. But after Bessent told him some deals were nearly done, but needed more time, Trump changed his mind. Bessent was also the one who convinced Trump to pause his April 'Liberation Day' tariffs for 90 days after they shook global markets. As a result, Trump sent out letters along with the delay as a negotiating tactic to salvage last-minute concessions from trading partners, according to the WSJ report. On Tuesday, Trump reinforced his copper tariff threat — which he initially introduced in February, and said that he would impose 50% tariffs on copper and up to 20%% tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Trump went further on Tuesday evening by saying he will be releasing more letters on Wednesday. "We will be releasing a minimum of 7 Countries having to do with trade, tomorrow morning, with an additional number of Countries being released in the afternoon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump also said it would be impossible for every country to get a deal to avoid reciprocal tariffs. 'We got 200 countries. We can't meet with 200 countries,' he said during the meeting. The European Union may be getting closer to securing a trade agreement with the United States, according to the the head of the European Parliament's trade committee. But the trade bloc is struggling to obtain immediate tariff relief and a commitment from the US not to introduce new measures. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said on Wednesday that it is working closely with President Trump's administration to reach a deal. "We stick to our principles, we defend our interests, we continue to work in good faith, and we get ready for all scenarios," von der Leyen told the European Parliament. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. President Trump took to Truth Social again on Tuesday and amped up his trade threats, promising to unveil tariffs on at least seven countries on Wednesday. He posted: "We will be releasing a minimum of 7 Countries having to do with trade, tomorrow morning, with an additional number of Countries being released in the afternoon." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC earlier on Tuesday that 15 to 20 letters are expected to be sent over the next two days. The latest warning came as Trump vowed to put a 10% levy on imports from BRICS nations on Monday. He also revealed plans for a 50% tariff on copper imports and a 200% import tax on pharmaceuticals. The US president posted 14 letters on Truth Social that he had sent to countries on Monday, including South Africa, Malaysia, and Thailand, outlining tariffs ranging from 25% to 40%. This message was reinforced on Tuesday with Trump saying that there will be no extensions and payments will be due on Aug. 1. CNN reports: Read more here. President Trump said he plans to place hefty import tariffs on copper (HG=F) and it has already started to cause a spike in costs for American factories, with New York futures trading 35% up year to date and 25% higher than other global benchmarks on Tuesday. On Wednesday, COMEX copper (HG=F) futures fell 2.7% to $5.49, as traders reacted to Trump's copper tariff threat. Trump announced on Tuesday, that he planned to place a 50% tariff on copper imports, reinforcing his first threat made in February to impose targeted levies on the industrial metal. Over the last few months, the price of copper in New York has risen as buyers have raced to stock up before levies are imposed. Input costs for American manufacturers have also surged above prices that their rivals pay in the rest of the world. The disconnect reached unprecedented levels on Tuesday, as Comex futures spiked to trade at a 25% premium to the global benchmark set in London. 'Any restrictions on US imports of copper cathode would merely redirect copper supply to China,' a representative for top US copper importer Southwire Company LLC said in April in written comments to the US Commerce Department, which at Trump's request had been investigating whether to impose levies. 'At the same time, US copper producers would face significant shortages of supply, particularly in the short- and medium-term, as US copper production cannot increase fast enough to fill the supply gap.' Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. President Trump is expected to announce copper tariffs of 50% — matching those in place for steel and aluminum — on social media on Tuesday afternoon, concluding an investigation into imports of the metal. The move will likely affect the largest copper-producing countries, starting with Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru, and China. Indonesia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Zambia, Canada, and Poland also mine sizable quantities of the metal. Shares of US-based copper miners, such as Freeport McMoRan (FCX) and Ivanhoe Electric (IE), jumped on the mention of new copper tariffs, while those with operations abroad, such as the Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO), fell on the news. Copper mining has ramped up over the past decade as increasing electricity demand has increased the metal's demand. It's used in transmission wires, electric vehicle batteries, and pipes, among other applications. In 2024, miners extracted 23 million metric tons of copper worldwide, and around a third of all copper globally is used for electricity grids, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. Copper (HG=F) futures surged Tuesday after President Trump said he would impose a 50% tariff on imports to the US. Copper futures soared over 10% at last check. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. Boeing (BA) announced on Tuesday that it had delivered 60 airplanes in June, a 27% increase versus a year earlier and 8 of those were to Chinese customers. The China deliveries were the first since the trade troubles between Washington and Beijing ended. Reuters reports: Read more here. President Trump said on Tuesday that he will be announcing a new program for pharmaceutical tariffs "very soon." He suggested that there would be a grace period for drug companies to move manufacturing to the United State before they face steep tariffs. "We're going to give people about a year, year and a half to come in, and after that they're going to be tariffed," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. "If they have to bring the pharmaceuticals into the country, … they're going to be tariffed at a very high rate — like 200%." Pharmaceutical stocks such as Pfizer (PFE), Amgen (AMGN), and AbbVie (ABBV) dipped on Trump's comments, though they remained in the green. Trump also noted that he plans to unveil similar programs for chips and other sectors. President Trump said that his administration is two days away from sending a letter to the European Union outlining a new tariff rate. 'They were among the toughest to deal with," Trump commented, adding: "Actually, in many respects, they were much worse than China. ... We're probably two days off from sending them a letter. We are talking to them." On Monday, Politico reported that the US and EU were nearing a deal that would leave 10% baseline tariffs in place. The EU has also been seeking carve-outs for certain sectors, such as aircraft and spirits. The Trump administration pushed back the deadline to complete negotiations to Aug. 1. As to the other deals currently in the works, Trump stated that he preferred the letters to ongoing parleys. 'We have a lot of them going on, but the deals are mostly my deal to them,' Trump said. 'We could make a lot more deals. … It's just too time-consuming. It makes it more complicated.' "I just want you to know a letter means a deal," Trump added later. "You have to do it in a more general way, but it's a very good way." President Trump reiterated his threat that nations that join BRICS — the intergovernmental organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — and engage in policy to reduce the dollar's dominance will soon face an additional tariff of 10%. "Anybody that's in BRICS is getting a 10% charge … pretty soon,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting. "If they're a member of BRICS, they're going to have to pay a 10% tariff just for that one thing." While the 90 deals in 90 days hasn't materialized, the 14 letters sent out Monday detailing new tariff rates — and additional ones expected today — offer a new jolt to trade talks. And over the next week, the European Union and India will be in particular focus as the Trump administration makes progress on deals. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports: Read more here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Supreme Court tees up perfect chance to fully protect women's sports
In 2019, the University of Montana allowed a runner named June Eastwood, a biological male who had adopted a female identity, to compete against women. Among Eastwood's competitors were two young women attending Idaho State University, Madison Kenyon and Mary Kate Marshall, who were unjustly defeated by Eastwood on multiple occasions. The following year, the Idaho Legislature passed HB 500, making Idaho the first state in the nation to protect women and girls from losing to men in their own sports. The years since have brought both setbacks and breakthroughs. Gender identity activists at the ACLU immediately sued Idaho to block the law, and so far, the courts have agreed. Meanwhile, cases like UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas — who became the first man to win an NCAA women's swimming title — kept the national debate intensifying. By the 2024 election, President Trump made this issue a centerpiece of his campaign, exposing the Democratic Party's radical stance on gender identity issues. His victory paved the way for this February's executive order with a clear message echoing Idaho's law: Men don't belong in women's sports. The mounting cases of men taking medals from women shifted public opinion decisively. A New York Times/Ipsos poll revealed that 79 percent of Americans agree that women's sports should be for women only. This groundswell of support gave Trump's executive order real momentum, prompting even the NCAA to abandon its policy allowing males to compete against women. Yet despite this national shift, Idaho remains unable to enforce its own pioneering law, for now. It's time to end this historic violation of equal opportunity for women and let Idaho guarantee fairness to all of our female athletes. Idaho wasn't alone in this fight. West Virginia passed similar protections, and predictably, the ACLU sued to block its law, too. Recognizing the need for national clarity, both states joined with attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to petition the Supreme Court. On July 3 — the 135th anniversary of Idaho's statehood — the court granted review in both cases, giving us the chance to secure nationwide fairness for women and girls who simply want to compete on a level playing field. This is an important moment for all of us who are fighting to preserve safety, dignity, and fair competition in women's sports. While Trump's executive order pushed the ball forward for branches of the federal government, the Supreme Court's pending review in Little v. Hecox (Idaho's case) and West Virginia v. BPJ leaves open the question of whether states can pass laws that preserve the integrity of women's sports. The Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti offers an encouraging precedent. That ruling upheld Tennessee's law preventing medical professionals from subjecting children to dangerous, experimental transition drugs and surgeries. That decision also allowed Idaho to enforce our own child-protection law. However, Skrmetti left the women's sports question unresolved. Both Idaho and West Virginia urged the court to address this gap by reviewing our cases alongside that precedent. The justices' decision to grant review suggests they recognized the need for comprehensive clarity. If the Supreme Court agrees with our arguments, that means states will be free to ensure female athletes enjoy a level playing field for competition. Girls will once again be free to become champions in their own sports and pursue collegiate and professional opportunities without fear of losing to the opposite sex. We couldn't have gotten here without the brave women who took a stance for their sports, such as the four high school athletes in Connecticut who said enough is enough, or the young women in West Virginia who intervened to preserve their state's law, or the aforementioned Madison and Mary Kate, who intervened to protect Idaho's law. There's still much more work to be done before we can fully guarantee that women's sports are fully protected, but there are many signs of hope for a brighter future. As we've recently seen, UPenn, which had allowed a male to compete and steal medals from women, changed its tune (thanks to pressure by the Trump administration) by apologizing and preventing any more men from competing and restoring the records of female athletes affected by his participation. By granting our cases, the Supreme Court is giving West Virginia, Idaho, and many other states the opportunity to cross the finish line. But more importantly, it's giving every girl in America a fair chance to win. Raul Labrador is Idaho's attorney general.
