The only job where you can get away with punting your biggest projects until the last possible second and then dip out for a long summer vacation has done it again. The Supreme Court decided a whole mess of cases yesterday before heading out for the next three months—the biggest being a 6–3 ruling that weakened federal district courts’ power against the president’s executive orders.

Some background: Back in January, when President Trump’s term began, he immediately signed a flurry of executive orders, including one that ended birthright citizenship. The order would withhold citizenship from newborns born in the US to parents who aren’t citizens, including green card holders. A group of states sued, arguing that the order violates the 14th Amendment, and federal judges issued nationwide injunctions, halting the order.

• These weren’t the only nationwide injunctions judges issued to temporarily block Trump’s orders after opponents sued, including orders defunding sanctuary cities and ending federal funding for trans youth healthcare. Such injunctions have blocked policies from both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past.
• But yesterday, SCOTUS ruled that lower courts lacked the authority to enact nationwide bans.

A game-changer. Legal scholars say that this decision grants the president significantly more power than the role previously held. While the decision likely allows Trump to move forward in implementing his executive orders for now, most of the cases seeking to ultimately halt them will remain in court. The birthright citizenship case is likely to return to the high court in October.

The other cases decided yesterday

• SCOTUS upheld a Texas law that requires porn sites to verify a user’s age, a move that free speech and privacy experts have warned against.
• The high court also affirmed the authority of the government task force that requires insurers to cover preventative healthcare services under Obamacare, including HIV drugs like PrEP and cancer screenings.
• The justices also upheld Tennessee’s gender-affirming care ban for minors and voted to allow Maryland parents to remove their kids from lessons that involve LGBTQ+ books.—MM

Trump ends trade talks with Canada over tech tax. President Trump posted to Truth Social yesterday that the US would be “terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately” and would set new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week. Trump cut off trade negotiations after feeling that US Big Tech companies weren’t experiencing the famous Canadian friendliness because the country is imposing a new digital services tax similar to the one tech giants loathe in Europe. Canada has long been an ally and one of the US’ largest trading partners, but recent US tariffs have raised tensions.

Consumers spent less in May, but were happier in June. Last month, US consumers pulled back for the first time since January, and personal incomes also fell, data released yesterday by the Commerce Department showed. Meanwhile, the personal consumption expenditures price index—the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge—ticked up slightly. But the economic data wasn’t all a bummer, because as the most recent survey results from the University of Michigan revealed, consumer sentiment rose this month, with Americans feeling rosier about their economic future as the initial fears raised by the president’s aggressive tariffs began to subside.

University of Virginia president resigns amid DEI fight. A day after the New York Times reported that the Department of Justice had urged UVA President James Ryan to step down to resolve an investigation into the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, he did just that. “I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job,” he said in a letter to the university community. Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, drew criticism from conservatives for the school’s DEI practices, and the DOJ claimed that the university had failed to comply with a Trump executive order that banned schools with federal funding from having them. The resignation comes as the Trump administration has also put pressure on other universities, including Harvard and Columbia.—AR

Soon, owning fartcoin could put you on a path to homeownership. This week, the Trump administration ordered mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider loan applicants’ crypto assets.

The two government-controlled firms don’t issue loans directly, but are responsible for guaranteeing over half of US mortgages. Bill Pulte, who oversees the companies as director of the federal housing agency, said his order recognizes crypto as a major source of wealth creation and advances President Trump’s goal of establishing the US as “the crypto capital of the world.”

Boon to crypto-owning homebuyers

• Currently, even a loaded crypto wallet doesn’t boost one’s chances for getting a government-supported home loan—unless applicants sell their crypto for dollars.
• The new policy might allow the growing number of Americans who invest in crypto to secure a mortgage without selling it or relying on startups that offer mortgages with crypto as collateral.

Pulte said that only crypto “evidenced and stored on US-centralized exchanges” will be considered for home loans. He also directed Fannie and Freddie to factor crypto’s volatility into risk assessments.

Big picture: The move lends crypto further credibility as a mainstream financial asset. But critics are concerned that this would link the volatile asset class to the vital housing market. Experts say it’s unclear how the change could impact Fannie and Freddie’s risk profile, which in turn can affect mortgage rates.—SK

More like raking the billion in with the bathwater: Unilever has so much faith in Dr. Squatch and its edgy marketing moves that it’s buying the dude-focused personal care brand from its private equity owners for $1.5 billion, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Unilever’s president applauded the toiletry company’s “clever digital engagement strategies” while announcing the acquisition earlier this week. The direct-to-consumer brand went viral last month after posting a sweepstakes for soaps that were infused with Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater.

• Nearly 1 million people signed up for the giveaway over five days, Dr. Squatch told AdWeek.
• In a flex of its creativity, the brand said the campaign’s concept was created in-house.

Pivot: Unilever sees Dr. Squatch as a digital-native boon for its men’s grooming business, which includes Axe and Dove. It also aligns with new priorities under CEO Fernando Fernandez, who took the reins in March. He’s planning to spend half of the corporation’s advertising budget on social media and wade deeper into the personal care business. The company also plans to sell off some food brands, including spinning off Ben & Jerry’s by year’s end.

Second time’s the charm? Unilever failed to further crack men’s grooming in 2016 with its $1 billion purchase of Dollar Shave Club, another then-hot DTC brand. Unilever unloaded most of it in 2023 for an undisclosed amount.—ML

California Gov. Gavin Newsom hit Fox News with a defamation lawsuit over a segment that he claims made it appear he lied about talking with President Trump before the president deployed the National Guard to quell anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. He’s seeking $787 million in damages, which makes him seem a little like your friend who never stops bringing up that time you bowled a 49. It’s the amount Fox paid to settle the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over falsehoods about their machines in the 2020 election.

Many of Newsom’s moves lately make it seem like he’s trying to show he’s presidential material. And this one certainly echoes steps taken by the current president. President Trump has lodged multiple defamation suits against news outlets, including one that is still pending against CBS and another that ABC settled for $15 million.

Newsom said he’s prepared to drop the case if Fox retracts the original piece and offers an on-air apology. But the network called the suit a “transparent publicity stunt” that’s “designed to chill free speech critical of” Newsom, and vowed to fight it.—AR