Good morning. Yesterday was a big day at the Supreme Court. We explain what to make of the rulings below. But first, Melissa Kirsch writes about the midpoint of the year — an opportune moment to look back at where we’ve been and set our sights for where we want to go.
Better halfOn Wednesday, we will be exactly halfway through the year — 182 days on either side of July 2, the precise midpoint of 2025. I’ve never clocked this date before: the year’s high noon, the moment when the teeter-totter is perfectly parallel to the pavement. There’s something satisfying about having exactly as much road behind you as you have before you. Look over your shoulder. Where have you been? And where on earth are you going? We usually make resolutions for the year on Jan. 1, in the grip of winter. The delirium of the holidays has concluded, it’s cold and likely gray outside, we are quite possibly hungover. Here’s where we traditionally set our goals for the year to come, in this depleted state. I’ve long endorsed the Always Be Resolving approach to change — you don’t need a special day in order to declare a resolution. But it does feel administratively appropriate to do it on the first day of the calendar year, when the months unfurl before us like an unpainted canvas. This year, I propose July 2 for a sunnier moment at which to take stock of the year so far and, if it feels right, to make some achievable resolutions for the second half of the year. The sun is out. We’re in summer mode, a little less coiled up than we might have been in January. Our resolutions might be more self-compassionate, more optimistic than they were in winter. Think of it as a resolution reset. When Dec. 31 arrives, how do you want your life to be a little different? Perhaps there’s something you resolved on Jan. 1 that you’ve fallen behind on and you want to reframe it for the back half of the year. Maybe there’s something you’ve been meaning to do and six months is the perfect window in which to achieve it. I’m skeptical of New Year’s resolutions as they’re usually executed: Here’s a way in which you’re falling short. No more horsing around, now it’s time to straighten up and fly right. The Summer Reset (if I capitalize it, it feels more official) is a different practice. These pronouncements should be summer-tinged, with an emphasis on possibility over punishment. A friend recently told me she’d resolved to ask “Does this make my life bigger?” before she made any decision. I might try this one. You might resolve to spend more time with people around whom you feel like the best version of yourself. Let the resolutions be additive, celebratory, exciting. Make them about increasing joy, about being new and radiant and more enthusiastic about the things and people you love. Happy New Half of the Year. Let’s make it the best half yet.
Yesterday was the final decision day of the Supreme Court’s term. The justices made it count, releasing rulings that will affect presidential power, immigrants, schoolchildren, health care and more. German Lopez explains the highlights: Limits on universal injunctions: At face value, this case was about President Trump’s attempts to end birthright citizenship. But the court didn’t say much on that issue. Instead, it focused on lower courts’ ability to stop the president’s actions through injunctions that halt presidential policies nationwide. Members of both parties have complained that lower-court judges have too much power. The court agreed, in a 6-3 decision. It cited history: When Congress created the lower courts in 1789, it did not give these judges the power to impose their decisions on the rest of the country. Instead, they can grant relief only to the plaintiffs of the case they’re hearing. So a lower court can, for example, stop Trump from imposing his birthright citizenship order on the immigrants or states that file a lawsuit. But everyone who didn’t file the suit remains unprotected from the president’s orders, with some exceptions. In short, the justices limited lower courts’ ability to check the president. Trump celebrated the decision, calling it “brilliantly written.” Democrats criticized it; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was a “terrifying step towards authoritarianism.” In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision prevents judges from blocking blatantly unconstitutional measures, such as a president’s trying to seize Americans’ guns. As for the legality of Trump’s ending birthright citizenship, the Supreme Court delayed the president’s order for 30 days. The issue will likely play out in lower courts before it ends up back with the justices. Opting out of L.G.B.T.Q. lessons: The justices ruled 6 to 3 that Maryland, and therefore other states, must let parents with religious objections opt out of lessons involving books with L.G.B.T.Q. themes. “The decision extended a winning streak for claims of religious freedom at the court, gains that have often come at the expense of other values, notably gay rights,” Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court, wrote. Free health care: The court upheld a provision in the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, that lets a federal task force decide which preventive health measures insurers must cover at no cost. The 6-3 decision preserves some free services, such as medications that stop the spread of H.I.V., for tens of millions of Americans. It also gives Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., more power to set rules for insurers; he appoints the board’s members. Restricting access to porn: The court upheld, 6 to 3, a Texas law that forces porn websites to check users’ ages. Critics argued that the law violated the First Amendment. The justices disagreed. More than 20 other states have similar laws.
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