Supreme Court Allowed Trump to Slash the Education Dept.

The Supreme Court issued an order this afternoon that cleared the way for the Trump administration to fire thousands of employees from the Department of Education and effectively dismantle the agency.

The decision was a significant victory for President Trump, who has set out to sharply curtail the federal government’s role in the nation’s schools. His administration has announced plans to fire more than 1,300 education workers, which would largely gut a department that manages student loans, tracks student achievement and enforces civil rights laws in schools.

The court’s order is technically temporary. It is in effect until appeals proceed through the courts. But in practice, the decision represents an expansion of presidential power, allowing Trump to dismantle a government department created by Congress, without legislators’ input.

The justices offered no reasoning or vote count, which is typical with such emergency applications. But the court’s three liberal justices signed on to a dissent that argued that Trump had overstepped his authority.

Trump promised to help secure weapons for Ukraine

During a White House meeting today with NATO’s secretary general, Trump said that he would help Europe send weapons to Ukraine, and threatened new sanctions on Russia if Vladimir Putin did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days.

“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said. “I thought we would have had a deal two months ago.”

His repeated criticism of the Russian leader is a significant about-face after suggesting for months that Ukrainians had started the war. However, our White House correspondents David Sanger and Maggie Haberman wrote, Trump could change his mind again.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he would seek to replace the country’s prime minister, a major shake-up that comes as the country faces battlefield setbacks.

The economy’s resilience has emboldened Trump

So far, Trump has had little reason to scale back his global trade war. Inflation has cooled, unemployment is stable and the U.S. stock markets are back to record highs. But many economists believe that it is just a matter of time before tariffs start to make a dent, if they take effect at the levels Trump has threatened.

The president’s latest escalation includes a 30 percent tariff against imports from the E.U., a significant tax on the U.S.’s top trading partner. Some businesses and foreign leaders are hoping that Trump will ultimately back down, but there’s a growing sense that he actually wants tariffs, rather than deals that could boost trade.

Guthrie recorded the music in the early 1950s, using a primitive tape recorder. The audio’s poor quality had rendered the tapes unsuitable for public release, but modern software allowed it to be remastered.

Make the most of the season

If anything tastes like summer, it’s the sweet and sticky flesh of a juicy peach. Luckily, peaches are also full of health benefits, including potassium to help you replace electrolytes that you sweat out.

The Bill Nye of internet slang

Adam Aleksic is a Harvard-educated linguist who spends his time breaking down the language of middle schoolers. On short videos that take four to five hours to compose, he dissects Gen Z slang like “delulu,” “skibidi” and “seggs” — all of which probably sound like nonsense to anybody who didn’t grow up with the internet.

In the process, Aleksic came to realize how significantly algorithms are reshaping the English language. He has changed the way he talks to optimize himself for internet audiences; the faster he talks, he learned, the more views he gets.

Have an informed evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

Philip Pacheco was our photo editor.

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