SUMMARY:
On this week’s edition of HoosLeft This Week — broadcast despite a cascade of opening technical difficulties — Scott is joined by writer and Hoosier Lemon Substack creator Sierra Martin and Democratic House District 47 nominee Michael Potter for a two-hour blitz through a double-stuffed week in the news. First, a block of stories framed as “the death of neoliberalism in three acts”: the passing of Alan Greenspan, the collapse of Keir Starmer’s government in the UK, and a progressive sweep in New York Democratic primaries that sent the party establishment into a panic. The show then covers the Iran memorandum of understanding already buckling under renewed hostilities, Trump holding the bipartisan housing bill hostage to his voter suppression agenda, favorable federal court rulings on voting and courthouse arrests, and devastating Supreme Court decisions on Temporary Protected Status and asylum rights. The back half opens with the extreme terrorism sentences handed to Prairieland ICE protest defendants and Trump’s lawfare against ABC News, before turning to a dense Indiana block: the DOJ memo gutting disability integration rights, Indiana’s selective approach to Medicaid fraud, the Holcomb-Raimondo AI retraining nonprofit, the latest installment of the “Mr. Clean” corruption investigation into Mayor Joe Hogsett, school funding referendums in Indianapolis and Carmel, the Indiana Republican platform’s push to eliminate property taxes and close primaries, Braun’s firing of his own IURC chair over a utility rate hike, and a rundown of consequential new Indiana laws taking effect July 1st.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00:03 — Intro: Welcome & Guest Introductions
00:03:31 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 1: Alan Greenspan Dies at 100
00:08:50 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 2: Starmer Falls, Burnham Rises
00:15:43 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 3: New York Progressives Rout the Establishment
00:27:37 — Iran MOU: A Ceasefire Already Unraveling
00:34:20 — Trump Holds the Housing Bill Hostage for the SAVE Act
00:43:43 — The War on Voting: Courts Push Back on Trump’s Election Orders
00:44:53 — Supreme Court Drops: TPS Ended for Haitians and Syrians, Asylum Rights Gutted
00:53:08 — Prairieland Sentences and the Weaponization of Domestic Terror Law
01:01:44 — The Reflecting Pool Debacle, ABC, and the Lawfare Playbook
01:07:19 — [Crossroads Commons PSA]
01:08:18 — The Crossroads: DOJ Guts Olmstead, Indiana Targets Small Medicaid Providers While $724M Case Sits Idle
01:16:47 — Holcomb, Raimondo, and the RAISE US AI Retraining Grift
01:21:36 — Mr. Clean, Part 3: Hogsett’s Donor Wish Lists and the Ghost Employment Problem
01:25:55 — IPS and Carmel Clay: The School Funding Referendum Divide
01:32:20 — Indiana GOP Platform: Property Tax Elimination and Closed Primaries
01:41:37 — Braun Fires His Own IURC Chair, Coal Plant Orders Renewed
01:47:07 — New Laws July 1: Camping Ban, SEA 76, Phone Ban, and the National Guard Military Police
01:55:32 — Outro: Guest Plugs, Tuesday Podcast Preview, and Sign-Off
IN DEPTH:
US/World News
Death of Neoliberalism
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan dies at 100 (AP)
Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman from 1987 to 2006, died Monday at 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. His wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, announced his death.
Greenspan was celebrated as “Maestro” for presiding over the longest economic expansion in US history at the time, holding unemployment below 4% and keeping inflation dormant — but his reputation collapsed after the 2008 financial crisis, which investigators tied directly to the deregulation and easy-money policies he championed.
His own postmortem was candid: “I made a mistake in assuming that banks could essentially regulate themselves.” The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded his 30-year push for deregulation “stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe.”
A Juilliard dropout who played clarinet and saxophone alongside Stan Getz, Greenspan became an Ayn Rand disciple in the 1950s — Rand stood beside him when he was sworn in as Ford’s chief economic adviser in 1974, a detail that contextualizes his lifelong faith in self-regulating markets.
As recently as January 2026, at 99, Greenspan co-signed a statement with former Fed chairs and Treasury secretaries condemning Trump’s investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell as “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the Fed’s independence.
Alan Greenspan Was a Faithful Servant of the Ruling Class (Jacobin)
Where the AP obit portrays Greenspan as a well-meaning ideologue who made a mistake about self-regulating markets, Jacobin argues he wasn’t a dogmatist at all — he was ideologically flexible whenever flexibility served the wealthy, consistently abandoning principles when they inconvenienced the powerful.
The piece’s sharpest point: Greenspan’s celebrated “miracle economy” of the late 1990s was built on what he privately called the “traumatized worker” thesis — the Fed explicitly understood that low inflation and low unemployment coexisted because Volcker’s recession had so frightened American workers that they stopped demanding raises, and Greenspan’s policy was premised on keeping that fear intact.
Greenspan backed the Bush tax cuts after spending the Clinton years as a deficit hawk — the deficit apparently mattered less under a Republican president redistributing wealth upward. He later expressed regret; at the time, he was happy to lend his credibility to the effort.
The piece’s closing argument: Greenspan’s rehabilitation as an anti-Trump institutionalist is ironic, since his career was dedicated to the same upward concentration of wealth and power that created the conditions for Trump’s rise. “A young Greenspan imagined gold as the ultimate protector of the wealthy; the policies he enacted delivered us a gilded tyrant.”
International Elections
Andy Burnham prepares for power as emotional Keir Starmer bows out (Guardian)
Keir Starmer resigned as UK prime minister Monday, less than two years after a historic Labour election victory, conceding he was “no longer the right man” to lead the party into the next general election amid mounting pressure from MPs and the threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Andy Burnham — former Greater Manchester mayor, just elected to Parliament that same day in a byelection — is all but certain to become the UK’s next prime minister, potentially as early as July 16-17, after Wes Streeting declined to challenge him and no other Labour MP appears likely to get the 81 nominations needed to force a contest.
Burnham is considering appointing former Labour leader Ed Miliband as chancellor to challenge “Treasury orthodoxy,” while keeping Shabana Mahmood at the Home Office; he’s also in talks with economist Jim O’Neill about becoming chief economic adviser.
Starmer’s resignation speech was notably emotional — voice cracking as he spoke about his wife and children — while insiders describe him as privately furious at Burnham’s ambitions, saying he’ll support his successor “through gritted teeth.”
Nigel Farage was the only opposition leader calling for an immediate general election; Burnham has signaled he won’t call one, and his allies say the next election will be “won or lost in the first 100 days.”
Colombian right-wing candidate De La Espriella wins tight presidential race (Reuters)
Trump-endorsed right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella won Colombia’s presidential runoff by less than one percentage point — 49.66% to Ivan Cepeda’s 48.7% — ending leftist President Gustavo Petro’s four years in office.
De La Espriella, a lawyer with no prior political experience and US, Italian, and Colombian citizenship, has pledged to end peace talks with armed groups, boost oil and gas, cut the state by up to 40%, and crack down on crime — though his thin margin will force compromise with a Congress where Petro’s party holds the most seats.
His background carries baggage: local outlet La Silla Vacia found many of his businesses dissolved or unprofitable, and critics highlight his past legal representation of clients tied to right-wing paramilitaries and money laundering for Maduro’s Venezuela.
The result fits a clear regional pattern — Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Ecuador, and now Colombia have all swung right recently, with Peru’s Keiko Fujimori also poised to win.
Trump openly endorsed De La Espriella, called the race “very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States,” and is building a broader regional military alliance of right-wing governments called the Shield of the Americas.
US Elections
New York
New York primary could forecast future for Democrats. Here’s what you need to know (NPR)
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed three progressive challengers in competitive House primaries — and all three won, including two who unseated sitting Democrats.
The biggest upset: 32-year-old democratic socialist organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier narrowly defeated five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in NY-13. Brad Lander decisively beat two-term Rep. Dan Goldman in NY-10. Claire Valdez won the open NY-7 seat, defeating the hand-picked successor of retiring Nydia Velasquez.
AIPAC money was a central issue in both upset races — Espaillat and Goldman both received AIPAC support, and the role of pro-Israel lobbying money has become an increasingly explicit litmus test in safe Democratic primaries.
AI companies spent tens of millions in NY-12, where super PACs tied to OpenAI spent millions against pro-regulation candidate Alex Bores, while Anthropic-linked groups and a crypto billionaire spent millions for him. Bores still lost — and his concession statement named the dynamic directly: “Some of the richest people on the planet decided to make an example out of this race. They set out to make people afraid to stand up to them.”
The one genuinely competitive general election race: Army veteran Cait Conley won the Democratic primary in NY-17 to face vulnerable Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in what Cook rates a toss-up — a must-win if Democrats want to retake the House.
Establishment Freakout
Hakeem Jeffries says Mamdani has ‘work to do’ to make up with congressional Dems (NY Post)
Jeffries told reporters Mamdani “has got work to do in terms of the conversations that he’s going to have with members of Congress moving forward” — having personally endorsed both incumbents Mamdani just helped oust.
When asked if he feared a similar primary challenge in 2028, Jeffries bristled: “When you ask me a serious question, I’ll give you a serious answer.”
A Jeffries insider downplayed the losses, saying “this isn’t a case of Jeffries-backed candidates losing” and predicting November outcomes won’t change — but Mamdani supporters were already booing Jeffries on TV screens at watch parties and chanting “you’re next.”
Letitia James ‘Disappointed’ in Mamdani After Progressives Sweep NY Primaries: ‘All of Us Are a Little Frustrated’ (Mediaite)
NY Attorney General Letitia James — who backed Mamdani in his mayoral run — went on record calling herself “disappointed” in him, saying his endorsed candidates “do not understand the politics of New York City, the cultural differences from district to district” and are “relatively new to the body politic.”
James acknowledged broader frustration but drew a firm line: “All of us are a little frustrated with the Democratic Party. But you don’t blow it up. That’s what MAGA has done.”
The significance: James is one of the few prominent Democrats willing to criticize Mamdani by name — most party leaders expressing frustration have done so anonymously, making her public statement notable.
Chris Murphy Ratios Jamie Harrison (X)
Harrison’s Original Tweet:
I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination.
Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Don’t ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign.
Focus on building the party you actually support.
Political parties aren’t perfect, but they’re built by millions of people who knock doors, make calls, organize meetings, and fight for the values they believe in. If you don’t believe in the party, then don’t ask its members to carry you across the finish line.
Continuing…
And let me be clear: I don’t care if you’re progressive, moderate, or conservative.
I’ve worked with Democrats across the ideological spectrum. We didn’t always agree, but we understood that building a stronger Democratic Party was part of the job.
If you hate the party, spend your days attacking it, and have contempt for all the people who make it possible, then see above.
Murphy’s Response:
I don’t know man, who is “the Democratic Party” if it’s not the voters?Democratic voters choose candidates, not party leaders. And party leaders need to listen to what voters are telling us - and right now they are demanding our party be bolder.
Centrist Democrats are freaking out about progressives’ winning streak (Politico)
Claude responded: Moderate Democrats are in open panic after the New York sweep, with a centrist PAC co-founder admitting: “Centrist Democrats, normie Democrats, need to realize…
Moderate Democrats are in open panic after the New York sweep, with a centrist PAC co-founder admitting: “Centrist Democrats, normie Democrats, need to realize we’re the insurgents, and they’re the new establishment. It’s a long-term structural problem.”
The progressive winning streak extends well beyond New York — left-flank candidates have already toppled DCCC-preferred picks in California and Maine battlegrounds, and upcoming primaries in Colorado, Michigan, and Wisconsin are the next tests, with democratic socialists mounting strong challenges in all three.
Establishment Democrats are pouring millions into Michigan to prop up Rep. Haley Stevens against Bernie-backed Abdul El-Sayed, and centrists are consolidating in Wisconsin around Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez to stop democratic socialist Francesca Hong — who has prior “defund the police” statements Republicans are already sharpening into attacks.
Schumer tried to spin it as unified energy: “You’re seeing centrist energy in Virginia, Iowa, and New Jersey, progressive energy in New York City — we’re going to harness it all.” Progressives were notably more magnanimous — Brad Lander, who just won by 30 points, said he’d go help frontliners in competitive districts and hoped moderates would return the favor.
South Carolina
Alan Wilson wins South Carolina Republican governor runoff after Trump hedges his bet on race (AP)
South Carolina AG Alan Wilson won the Republican gubernatorial runoff Tuesday, defeating Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette — whom Trump had endorsed in the closing days of the primary — by a wide margin.
Trump had hedged his bets late in the race by saying he supported both candidates, after his preferred gubernatorial picks lost in Iowa and Georgia earlier this month — a pattern suggesting his endorsement power in governor’s races is weaker than in congressional primaries.
Wilson, son of longtime Rep. Joe Wilson and AG since 2011, will face Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson in November.
Utah
All the results for Utah’s 2026 congressional and state primary elections (KUER)
Former Rep. Ben McAdams won the Utah Democratic primary in a redrawn Salt Lake City-area district that Democrats are favored to win this fall — a potential pickup in the fight for House control that Democrats need by only a few seats.
On the Republican side, Reps. Celeste Maloy and Blake Moore both fended off conservative challengers to hold their nominations.
The data center backlash continues to reshape Utah politics: Senate President Stuart Adams — a powerful lawmaker in office since 2010 — lost his primary, with the ongoing Box Elder County data center controversy cited as a factor in his defeat.
Iran War
Vance says talks with Iranian officials set ‘good foundation’ for a deal to end the war (AP)
Vance emerged from two days of talks in Switzerland saying the US and Iran laid “a good foundation” for a final deal, with progress on mechanisms to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and address Lebanon — as of Monday evening, the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was holding, the longest lull since fighting began March 2.
Tanker traffic through the strait is recovering but still far below normal — 71 transits over the weekend versus 100-130 per day before the war; ships are still avoiding the mined central route. Oil prices dropped to around $77/barrel, trending back toward the pre-war $70 level.
The US Treasury issued a 60-day sanction waiver on Iranian oil — notably allowing Iranian oil imports into the US for the first time since the 1990s.
Kushner and Qatar floated an idea to unfreeze Iranian assets specifically for purchases of American soy, corn, and wheat — framed as benefiting the Iranian people; Iran hasn’t responded.
Trump wasn’t in Switzerland but disrupted the talks anyway with comments from the Oval Office that “offended the Iranians,” per the AP — his summary of the US approach: “As long as they respect us — I don’t want to use the word fear because that’s an inappropriate word — we’re not going to have any trouble.”
Senate votes to halt Iran war despite Trump’s push for peace deal (Politico)
The Senate voted 50-48 Tuesday to cut off US military action against Iran without congressional authorization — the 10th attempt to rein in Trump on the war, and the first to succeed, with four Republicans breaking ranks: Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, and Rand Paul. Democrat John Fetterman voted no.
The vote is largely symbolic — it’s a concurrent resolution that doesn’t go to Trump for signature or veto and lacks the force of law — but it’s politically significant as the first time both chambers have gone on record against the war.
The outcome hinged on GOP absences: McCormick and the hospitalized McConnell missing the vote prevented a 50-50 tie that would have killed the measure.
The contradiction at the heart of the Iran deal is sharpening: both Vance and Trump say Iran agreed to allow nuclear inspectors, but Tehran denies making that concession — and Schumer’s critique is pointed: “Trump gave Iran everything — their terrorist proxies, their control over the Strait, their oil revenues — and it’s still unclear what we got in return.”
Trump plans to address skeptical Senate Republicans at their Wednesday lunch, saying critics of the deal “have to be educated, even if they’re friends of mine.”
Trump’s Capitol visit devolves into shouting match with GOP senator he helped oust in primary fight (CNN)
Trump’s closed-door Senate lunch Wednesday devolved into a shouting match with Sen. Bill Cassidy — one of four Republicans who voted to rebuke his Iran war powers — with Trump calling Cassidy a “lunatic,” Cassidy refusing to sit when ordered, and the exchange escalating to matching volume before colleagues intervened.
Hours later, Cassidy flipped his vote on a similar Iran resolution after receiving a White House briefing from Vance and Witkoff — illustrating how the confrontation functioned as both venting and pressure tactic.
Senate Republicans reject war powers resolution after Trump berates them at Capitol meeting (PBS)
Senate Republicans held a late-night vote Wednesday to walk back their Iran war powers rebuke, rejecting a nearly identical resolution 47-50-1 just before midnight — Cassidy flipped after his White House briefing, and Rand Paul voted present “to give the President more space and leverage.”
Thune called Trump after the vote; Trump was “pleased with the outcome” and posted that the vote “puts Iran on notice” — though both the original resolution and Wednesday’s vote are largely symbolic and neither carries full force of law.
The bigger story coming out of the day: Trump torpedoed his own party’s best election-year talking point by refusing to sign the landmark housing affordability bill — the largest in a generation, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — holding it hostage to demand the SAVE America Act, which Thune has repeatedly told him doesn’t have the votes.
Israel to withdraw from two areas in Lebanon under newly signed agreement (CNN)
Israel, Lebanon, and the US signed a framework agreement Friday in Washington under which Israel will withdraw from two specific areas in southern Lebanon — one north and one south of the Litani River — transferring them to the Lebanese military as part of a pilot program.
The withdrawal is narrow and symbolic: Netanyahu explicitly said Israel will remain in most of the territory it occupies in southern Lebanon and will hold it as long as Hezbollah is not disarmed — describing the two sites as areas the IDF “does not need.” His defense minister said just one day earlier that Israel would not withdraw from Lebanon even if the US demanded it.
Netanyahu framed the limited pullback as a win for Israel and “a major blow to Iran,” saying the agreement effectively tells Iran that Lebanon is “none of your business” — while Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc rejected the talks entirely, calling anyone who “shakes hands with the enemy a criminal.”
Rubio called it “the beginning of the beginning” and acknowledged a long road ahead; Lebanon’s president framed it as a step toward full sovereignty, with an implicit dig at Iranian influence through Hezbollah.
The deal is a framework for future negotiations — Israel and Lebanon have never had diplomatic relations — and leaves the core question of Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon largely unresolved.
U.S. Strikes Iran in Retaliation for Attack on Vessel in Strait of Hormuz (NYT)
Iran struck the Ever Lovely, a container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz Thursday — the first known Iranian attack on a commercial vessel since the MOU was signed — because the ship was using a US-backed southern route hugging the Omani coast rather than passing through Iranian waters, which Iran says is the only authorized passage under its interpretation of the deal.
The US launched retaliatory strikes Friday that lasted approximately 90 minutes, hitting Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar installations along the strait and on Qeshm Island. Iran claims it then struck US military positions in the region — the US military had not confirmed that as of publication.
Both sides claim the other violated the ceasefire: Vance said the US “honored” the MOU and warned “violence will be met with violence”; Iran’s IRGC called the US strikes a ceasefire violation and warned its response would be “more extensive” if attacks are repeated.
The core problem remains unresolved: the MOU’s language that Iran would use “best efforts” for safe passage is vague enough that Iran and the US are operating on incompatible interpretations — Iran insists it controls strait access as a coastal state; the US and Gulf Cooperation Council jointly declared navigation must be “free, unconditional and unrestricted.” Iran called that declaration “interventionist and provocative.”
Transit numbers dropped from 73 to 54 ships in a day, the IMO suspended efforts to help stranded vessels leave the Persian Gulf, and at least two tankers turned around after Iran’s warning.
US military says it struck 10 targets in Iran as ceasefire is strained by 2nd day of attacks (AP)
The ceasefire is unraveling fast: a second Iranian drone struck an oil tanker — the Kiku, carrying over 2 million barrels of crude — in the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, prompting the US to strike 10 Iranian military targets including surveillance infrastructure, air defense sites, drone storage, and minelaying capabilities. Iran says it struck US military positions in the region in response.
The core dispute remains unresolved: ships are using a US-backed route hugging the Omani coast, Iran insists all traffic must pass through its waters, and the US Navy is now expanding the Omani route to handle both inbound and outbound traffic — a move likely to provoke further Iranian retaliation.
Iran also launched drones at Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, calling it “a flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted “US terrorist army” positions without specifying locations.
Trump escalated his rhetoric sharply on Truth Social, warning of a point where the US “will be forced to militarily complete the job” and threatening that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist” if that happens.
The IMO has halted evacuation efforts for stranded ships until there are guarantees against attack; about 115 ships have moved through in recent days but the threat level is described as “substantial,” with mines still present and a naval presence required for clearance operations.
Housing
Trump refuses to sign bipartisan housing bill into law. What does that mean for homebuyers, renters? (AP)
Trump is holding the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act hostage, refusing to sign it until Congress passes the SAVE America Act voter ID bill — which his own Senate majority leader has repeatedly said doesn’t have the votes.
The housing bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan margins: 358-32 in the House, 85-5 in the Senate — both veto-proof, meaning Congress could override a veto, though that would require another vote.
What’s actually in the bill: streamlined environmental reviews and construction permits, limits on corporate landlords buying single-family homes, expanded manufactured housing loans, funding to convert abandoned infrastructure into housing, expanded rental assistance, and new renter protections.
The stakes: home prices are up 54% since 2020, the median home now costs nearly five times the median household income, and rents are still 17% above pre-pandemic levels — the housing market is stuck near a 30-year low for sales.
Speaker Johnson told reporters he’d spoken with Trump and was confident he’d ultimately sign it — but every day of delay sets back the construction pipeline that the bill is meant to accelerate.
Trump cancels housing affordability bill signing until SAVE Act is passed (Axios)
Trump hasn’t actually received the bill yet — Republican congressional leaders can withhold it from the White House indefinitely, which means the 10-day constitutional clock for automatic enactment hasn’t started running. Johnson is using that window to give Trump time to come around.
The timing was particularly brutal: Rep. French Hill was literally praising the bipartisan housing bill and Trump’s role in it at a House press conference — “let’s show the American people what legislating looks like” — when Trump’s Truth Social post canceling the signing dropped.
Warren’s summary: “He could be over here trying to claim a victory lap, and instead he’s saying he doesn’t want anything to do with it. It’s because he really doesn’t care about American families.”
Voting
Trump keeps sabotaging legislation over a voting bill. Here’s what’s in it (NPR)
It would also require photo ID for in-person voting AND a copy of photo ID submitted with mail ballots, mandate states turn over complete unredacted voter rolls to DHS, require purging of alleged noncitizens, and create criminal penalties against election officials who register voters without citizenship documents.
The premise is based on a false claim: Trump believes the bill would ensure Republicans never lose another election for 50 years because he believes Democrats only win due to noncitizen voting — which the Bipartisan Policy Center and election experts describe as extremely rare.
Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration was permanently blocked by a federal court Wednesday — the same day he canceled the housing bill signing to demand the SAVE Act.
The Senate filibuster requires 60 votes; the bill doesn’t have them, Republican leaders won’t eliminate the filibuster to pass it, and this same obsession has already derailed FISA reauthorization and nearly wrecked the immigration enforcement spending bill.
Federal judge blocks key pillars of Trump executive order restricting mail voting in 2026 election (Votebeat)
A federal judge Thursday blocked key pillars of Trump’s second elections executive order — ruling the federal government has no constitutional authority to create centralized lists of adult citizens or give the Postal Service power to decide who receives mail ballots.
The order had directed DHS and Social Security to build a nationwide verified citizen list, and USPS to only deliver mail ballots to voters on pre-approved federal lists — the day before the ruling, the Postmaster General had explicitly said the agency would refuse delivery to voters not on those lists.
The injunction covers 23 states and DC — including Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — but only for 2026 elections; the judge dismissed challenges to future elections as not yet ripe.
This is the latest in a string of judicial losses for Trump’s election overhaul push: courts have now blocked his citizenship proof executive order, his SAVE database expansion, and now this mail voting order — making the SAVE America Act the last viable avenue for his election agenda, which is why he’s holding the housing bill hostage for it.
The White House signaled it will appeal, saying it’s “confident we will ultimately prevail.”
Immigration
Judge says Trump administration can’t make immigration arrests at courthouses (PBS)
A federal judge Tuesday issued a nationwide ban on immigration arrests at courthouses — ruling the Trump administration’s reversal of an 80-year policy against such arrests showed “not merely unreasoned decision-making but a complete lack of decision-making.”
The judge found the arrests — which often followed plainclothes agents coordinating with DHS attorneys to detain people in courthouse hallways after hearings — also violated a 12-hour limit on holding detainees in nearby cells.
This is the second such ruling: a New York judge blocked courthouse arrests in May, but only within that state; Tuesday’s decision invalidates the policy nationwide.
DHS general counsel called it “naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda” — the administration’s standard response to judicial losses on immigration enforcement.
Court allows Trump administration to end removal protections for Syrian and Haitian nationals (SCOTUSblog)
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday to allow the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals, holding that the TPS statute’s bar on judicial review is broad enough to block courts from second-guessing the secretary’s termination decisions — effectively removing a legal shield for hundreds of thousands of people.
The majority, written by Alito, also ruled that the Haitian TPS holders would likely lose their equal protection claim — dismissing Trump’s statements about Haitians eating pets, calling Haiti a “shithole country,” and claiming Haitians “probably have AIDS” as “heated language” that was “not overtly racial” and could rest on policy grounds unrelated to race.
Kagan’s dissent, joined by Sotomayor and Jackson, was pointed: those statements “fairly shout, in their racial undertones and overtones alike, that race entered into the President’s resolve to remove Haitians from this country” — and she noted the majority declined to even put Trump’s words in print. She closed: “I dissent from the Court’s decision that they may be put on the next plane.”
Thomas went further in concurrence, arguing noncitizens can’t invoke equal protection against the federal government at all — only against states.
The practical stakes: TPS designations for Haiti dating to the 2010 earthquake and Syria dating to Assad’s 2012 crackdown have been repeatedly extended for over a decade — this ruling clears the path for mass deportations to both countries.
In Blow to Asylum Rights, Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Block Asylum Seekers at Border (AIC)
In a separate Supreme Court ruling Thursday, the Court allowed the Trump administration to turn back asylum seekers at official ports of entry — ruling that physically blocking people from setting foot on US soil to request asylum does not violate federal immigration law.
The case addressed a now-defunct “metering” policy from Trump’s first term, but the ruling has immediate implications: it effectively gives the executive branch authority to override the statutory requirement that officials inspect all people presenting at ports of entry — a requirement in place for over a century.
Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Kagan and Jackson, said the ruling “blesses the Executive Branch’s decision to slam the door shut on all who are fleeing persecution, despite the detailed inspection and asylum system that Congress enacted and commands.”
The practical consequence: people turned back at the border are forced to remain in Mexico or return to the dangers they fled — advocates say the original policy resulted in deaths, and the ruling now validates that approach going forward.
Weaponization
Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison (Guardian)
Nine activists convicted of terrorism charges stemming from a Fourth of July protest last year at the Prairieland ICE immigrant detention center in Texas received sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years — sentences a former federal prosecutor called far outside the normal range, noting judges typically run counts concurrently rather than stacking them consecutively as happened here.
The sentences exceed those handed to January 6 seditious conspiracy convicts: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio got 22 years, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes 18 years. The longest sentence — 100 years — went to Benjamin Song, who fired an AR-15 hitting a police officer in the shoulder after the officer drew his weapon and pointed it at the back of a fleeing protester.
The “material support for terrorism” convictions swept up defendants with vastly different levels of involvement — including one man who wasn’t at the protest at all but was convicted for moving his wife’s books and zines after her arrest, and received 30 years. Legal observers widely criticized the use of reading materials as evidence of terrorist ideology.
These are the first terrorism convictions tied to alleged “antifa” involvement — notable because antifa is not an organization but a loose constellation of left-wing views. Prosecutors used the convictions to further that framing, even though the “material support” statute requires only that defendants supported one of a list of crimes, not any actual terrorist ideology. Legal observers widely criticized the use of political reading materials as evidence of a conspiracy.
The case fits a documented pattern of the administration criminalizing left-wing protest — similar prosecutions have been brought against ICE protesters in Minneapolis, Spokane, and Chicago, where one case collapsed after grand jury misconduct was revealed.
Trump triples down on Reflecting Pool vandalism claims (Forbes)
Seven people have now been arrested in connection with alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism, and Trump said more arrests are coming — but experts say the evidence for vandalism is thin, and a pool coating specialist told PBS the lining material is “extremely strong and puncture resistant” with no evidence it was cut.
Trump’s own words undercut his vandalism claim: on May 4, weeks before the renovation was completed, he said of the new coating “if you had a knife, you can’t even cut it, so strong, so powerful” — he’s now claiming vandals cut a 350-foot gash with a box knife.
FactCheck.org documented that the new lining was already showing problems before the alleged vandalism occurred, Democrats are demanding answers about why renovation contracts were awarded without a bidding process, and the pool won’t be drained until after July 4 — meaning the algae problem will be on full display during America’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Media
Trump threatens to sue ABC News over Reflecting Pool renovations coverage: ‘I like their money’ (Independent)
Trump threatened to sue ABC News over its Reflecting Pool coverage, writing “I like their money, which will be given to the U.S. Treasury” — his second lawsuit threat against ABC, which already paid him $16 million to settle a previous defamation suit.
His Truth Social post falsely claimed Obama and Biden spent over $100 million on the pool; the Independent notes Biden did no major work on it, and Obama’s renovation cost about $35 million over two years, not $100 million-plus.
The pool renovation has been a disaster: algae keeps blooming, the newly resurfaced bottom is cracking and peeling, and Trump is blaming vandals — including a “crazy pro-algae (likely paid) protestor” in a frog costume. At least five people have been arrested, including former US Olympian David Hearn, who says he touched a loose flap out of curiosity and denies any vandalism.
The broader pattern: between May 1 and June 10, Trump talked about his Washington construction projects 70% more than the Iran war — a striking ratio given the scale of what’s happening in the Middle East.
ABC encourages viewers to back network amid FCC investigations (Guardian)
ABC is running on-air ads during The View urging viewers to submit public comments to the FCC in support of the network, as it faces two simultaneous FCC investigations — one into whether The View violated equal-time rules for political candidates, and a broader challenge to its license renewals for eight owned stations.
The ad frames it as a free speech fight: “The FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Viewers, use your voice.” The FCC’s response called it “a campaign of misinformation.”
Context that matters: ABC already settled a Trump lawsuit for $16 million, Trump regularly attacks the network, and critics say Carr’s FCC is running “open season” on ABC — some of the licenses under challenge weren’t scheduled to expire until 2031.
Public comment deadlines: The View investigation closes June 22; license renewal petitions close June 29.
The Crossroads - Disability Rights
DOJ memo stokes fear among disability advocates of a return to institutionalization (NPR)
A DOJ Office of Legal Counsel memo quietly reversed nearly 50 years of bipartisan federal policy by arguing that states have no legal obligation to provide home- or community-based care to people with disabilities — effectively gutting the integration mandate that has kept 8.4 million Americans out of institutions since the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision.
The memo’s own author acknowledges its novelty: “We recognize that this view of Olmstead’s import is out of step with the common understanding of that decision within the federal courts” — yet it is now the official position of the US government.
The timing is not accidental: the memo arrives as Texas and several other states are challenging the integration mandate in court, and the federal government is now aligned with the plaintiffs. It also arrives alongside deep Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill that defund the community-based services the memo says states no longer have to provide — essentially cutting the funding and removing the legal obligation simultaneously.
The broader context: Trump’s July 2025 executive order on homelessness explicitly called for “shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings” through involuntary civil commitment, and a 2023 campaign video has Trump pledging to bring the severely mentally ill “back to mental institutions, where they belong” — the DOJ memo is the legal architecture for that agenda.
Disability advocates call it a return to “a dark and shameful era” of institutionalization, noting that research shows institutional care is actually more expensive for states than community-based services — not less.
Indiana FSSA to use AI to detect Medicaid fraud (ICC)
Indiana FSSA is joining a 90-day federal pilot using Oracle AI software to detect Medicaid fraud before claims are paid — analyzing billing patterns for upcoding and ghost services — in exchange for assessing whether the model can be rolled out to other states.
The context: FSSA is already seeking to recover $200 million in alleged improper payments from attendant care providers after audits found errors in nearly all claims reviewed, and new federal law will reduce Indiana’s Medicaid matching rate based on future error rates — giving the state a financial incentive beyond the anti-fraud rhetoric.
Worth noting: Braun is aggressively pursuing small-scale provider fraud through audits and AI pilots while still declining to intervene in the single largest alleged Medicaid fraud case in state history.
Braun, Rokita sit out Indiana’s biggest Medicaid fraud case | Opinion (IndyStar)
A federal whistleblower lawsuit alleges Indiana’s Medicaid program was defrauded out of up to $724 million by hospitals and insurance companies — already dismissed once because plaintiffs couldn’t prove the state cared, refiled and awaiting a new ruling.
The alleged fraud traces to the Holcomb era, when state officials shifted from clawing back overpayments to searching for underpayments hospitals claimed they were owed — an approach no other state Medicaid program was using at the time.
Holcomb had documented ties to hospital and healthcare lobbyists, received significant industry campaign contributions, and maintained a revolving door of advisers transitioning directly into lobbying roles — ties typical of high-level Indiana Republicans and the industry players who fund them.
The fraud-recovery contractor switch made things worse: IBM’s system netted $5.8 million over two years; Deloitte’s replacement cost $11.8 million while recovering only $6.3 million.
Braun and Rokita have both championed Medicaid fraud recovery in public — Rokita celebrated $100 million recovered, Braun ordered an independent audit — but neither has intervened in the single largest alleged Medicaid fraud case in state history, which risks dismissal again for lack of state interest.
Indiana News
AI/Data Centers
Holcomb launches group to ease workforce transition to AI with $500M backing (ICC)
Former Gov. Eric Holcomb is co-chairing RAISE US, a new national nonprofit aimed at retraining workers for an AI economy, alongside former Biden Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — the bipartisan pairing is the explicit point, with $500 million raised toward a $1 billion goal and backing from Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI, IBM, Cisco, and Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly.
It’s Holcomb’s most prominent public role since leaving office, though the initiative’s workforce development framing sits in some tension with Indiana’s current policy environment — the state is simultaneously cutting school funding, losing teachers, and welcoming data centers that are driving up energy costs for the same workers RAISE US aims to retrain.
[July, 2019] Indiana’s Governor Signs Data Center Incentive Bill, Granting the State a Critical Competitive Edge (Data Center Post)
Indiana’s data center tax incentive — signed by Holcomb in June 2019 — offers up to 50-year sales tax exemptions on equipment, construction, and electricity, the longest such exemption period of any state in the country.
The law was the result of a 13-year lobbying push by the data center industry, with Holcomb and a Republican state legislator credited as the driving force behind its passage.
Corruption
Mr. Clean, Part 3: Hogsett vowed to fight insiders. His campaign advanced their interests behind closed doors (Mirror Indy)
“In previous installments, we’ve detailed how Hogsett ignored Cook’s secret relationship as public dollars flowed to developers he represented. After being forced to resign from the city over a prohibited relationship, Cook negotiated more than $80 million in city incentives for his clients while in a relationship with Scarlett Andrews, who at the time was head of the department that oversaw those incentives.”
“Reporters also found that Hogsett allies routinely benefited from no-bid city contracts, despite the mayor’s campaign pledge to pursue a competitive process wherever feasible. The city and public agencies over which Hogsett has influence have awarded contracts worth up to at least $6.5 million to his former staffers and top campaign contributors.”
The investigation found that Hogsett’s top campaign fundraiser, Emily Gurwitz, arranged for donor “wish lists” of preferred city contracts to be physically delivered to then-Public Works Director Dan Parker. Three of the wished-for contracts were subsequently awarded, worth up to $1 million combined, to companies whose executives have donated nearly $200,000 to Hogsett over a decade.
An ethics expert told the outlets the arrangement “could violate Indiana’s bribery statute” — describing it as “at best questionable and at worst a violation of the law.” The administration denies Gurwitz had any role in contract decisions.
The same fundraiser recommended donors for mayoral board appointments — in at least one case, within days of a donation. A former staffer called it “inappropriate,” saying Gurwitz’s involvement existed “to keep a link alive between campaign and official business.”
Former chief of staff Dan Parker sent emails from his personal account to city employees’ personal accounts asking them to phone-bank for Hogsett’s 2023 reelection campaign. One staffer said he “felt tricked” into attending what he thought was a work meeting that turned out to be a campaign event. Ethics experts say Parker’s conduct likely violated both the Hatch Act and Indiana’s ghost employment statute.
Hogsett — who campaigned as “Mr. Clean” and promised to serve only two terms — is now weighing a fourth term, sitting on a $1.2 million war chest heavily funded by city contractors, some of whom have inked new contracts in the months following fundraisers.
Indy Democrats call for modest ethics change after ‘Mr. Clean’ investigation (Mirror Indy)
In direct response to the Mr. Clean investigation, Indianapolis City-County Council Democrats are proposing a one-year cooling-off period before senior city officials can take jobs with companies they oversaw — notably, the same reform Hogsett himself promised when he ran for mayor over a decade ago and never implemented.
The immediate trigger: former chief of staff Dan Parker joined American Structurepoint — an engineering firm that has landed millions in city contracts — shortly after leaving the administration, a move ethics experts told the outlets raises serious conflict-of-interest concerns.
Council reactions split predictably: Vice President Barth and Republican Paul Annee called for deeper investigation; Democrat Jesse Brown said “donors are treated better than voters”; Hogsett ally Ron Gibson called it people “just capitalizing on relationships.” Mayoral candidate Vop Osili used it to draw contrast, pledging to close ethical loopholes if elected in 2027.
The proposed reform addresses only one element of the investigation — the revolving door — and would not touch the donor wish lists, the campaign-to-government coordination, or the ghost employment concerns raised in the same reporting. Hogsett called the underlying investigation “absurd.”
Education
Indianapolis voters will decide a four-year school tax that still forces $20M in IPS cuts (WFYI)
IPEC voted unanimously to put a 37.2-cent per $100 assessed value property tax rate on the November ballot — generating about $87.8 million annually, split evenly between IPS and roughly 60 charter schools inside the district boundary. For a median-value $150,000 home, that’s about $8.71 more per month.
Even if voters approve it, IPS still faces $20 million in additional cuts on top of $24 million already announced — plus it needs $10 million in efficiencies, $12 million reimbursed by innovation schools, and state help on a $40 million special education gap that IPS argues the state should be covering.
The IPS board president pushed for a higher 42-cent rate and lost; IPS commissioners backed the measure only reluctantly, calling it “still just not enough.”
This is the first time charter schools — which are publicly funded but privately governed and not accountable to elected boards — will share in local property tax revenue. The law change that created IPEC was explicitly designed to make that happen, and IPS students are now subsidizing schools that until recently got nothing from local taxpayers.
The ballot question goes to the state in late July; voters decide November 3.
Carmel school board approves $62M referendum for November ballot (WTHR)
Carmel Clay Schools is putting a $62 million, 8-year operating referendum on the November ballot after Indiana’s property tax law changes are projected to cut district revenue by roughly $120 million over the same period — essentially erasing the value of a referendum Carmel voters already approved in 2023.
The board president put it plainly: without the referendum, the district faces cuts that would mean larger class sizes and eliminated programs — “the only way to cut millions of dollars is in personnel.”
Editor’s note: IPS serves roughly three times as many students as Carmel Clay but is seeking eleven times the annual referendum funding, which suggests IPS’s per-student funding crisis is dramatically deeper — likely driven by the combination of the property tax cuts, the $40 million special education gap, the expiring 2018 referendum, and the structural inequities in how Indiana funds districts serving high concentrations of low-income students and English learners. Carmel’s referendum is essentially a maintenance problem; IPS’s is an emergency.
GOP Platform
State GOP demands end to property taxes, pushes closed primaries in new platform (IndyStar)
The Indiana Republican Party officially added two major planks to its platform at the June 20 convention: eliminating property taxes entirely and closing primaries to registered Republicans only — signaling both issues are likely to come before the legislature next year with a more conservative Senate caucus.
The property tax elimination push would replace the tax with a 7% levy on services like haircuts and landscaping — making Indiana the only state without property taxes if passed. But schools and local governments rely heavily on property tax revenue, and the proposal would eliminate tools like school referendums and TIF districts, compounding the funding crisis already squeezing districts statewide.
The closed primary push gained momentum after Democrats crossed over to support Sen. Spencer Deery against Trump-endorsed Paula Copenhaver in the three-vote SD-23 recount fight — and it’s now a centerpiece of GOP secretary of state nominee Max Engling’s platform.
The timing matters: a new, more conservative Senate caucus is likely in January, with Trump-endorsed newcomers having knocked out powerful incumbents in the primary — creating political conditions more favorable to both proposals than previous sessions where they repeatedly failed.
Utilities
Trump administration renews order keeping Indiana coal plants open for the third time (ICC)
The Trump administration renewed its emergency order keeping two aging Indiana coal plants — NIPSCO’s Schahfer and CenterPoint’s Culley — online through September 19, the third such 90-day renewal since December.
The absurdity is hard to miss: CenterPoint’s own regional president called Culley “inefficient and increasingly unreliable,” and two of Schahfer’s units are currently offline for major turbine and boiler repairs — yet the order mandating their operation stands.
The Sierra Club estimates the cost to consumers at $174,000 a day for Schahfer and $21,000 a day for Culley — all while Hoosiers are already absorbing AES and Duke rate increases and Iran war-driven gas price spikes.
The Sierra Club’s Indiana director went directly after Braun and Rokita: “Gov. Braun and Attorney General Rokita can step in immediately on behalf of Hoosiers struggling to afford their utility bill and block these costs from continuing to fall on them” — a direct challenge to the governor who just fired his own IURC chairman over utility affordability.
Braun replaces chairman of the Utility Regulatory Commission days after AES rate-hike decision (ICC)
Braun removed Andy Zay as IURC chairman Monday — just days after Zay was among three commissioners who approved the $71 million AES rate increase Braun publicly condemned — replacing him with Commissioner Anthony Swinger, who hadn’t voted on the AES case due to a prior conflict.
Zay stays on the commission but loses the chairmanship and its $11,000 salary premium; Braun stopped short of removing him “for cause,” which the law permits.
A fourth commissioner, David Veleta, posted what reads like a resignation announcement on LinkedIn hours after Braun’s announcement — 17 years at the IURC, “ready for what’s next” — though neither Braun’s office nor Veleta confirmed it.
The throughline: Braun appointed Zay in December specifically promising his picks would prioritize affordability, then publicly humiliated him six months later for doing exactly what regulators do — weighing utility requests and approving a reduced version. The “new sheriff in town” is now reshuffling his own posse.
…and Finally This Week
Public camping ban, military police and other laws go into effect July 1 (ICC)
Indiana’s public camping ban takes effect July 1, making it a Class C misdemeanor — up to 60 days jail and a $500 fine — to sleep or shelter on unauthorized public property. Critics note it criminalizes homelessness while Indiana’s affordable housing shortage remains unaddressed; a veterans’ homeless services CEO warned it could harm homeless veterans specifically.
SEA 76 mandates local law enforcement honor ICE detainer requests — turning what was voluntary into a legal obligation — and prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. Monroe County Sheriff Marté’s federal lawsuit challenging the law was denied a preliminary injunction this month.
Schools must implement a full bell-to-bell personal device ban starting July 1 — phones, tablets, and smartwatches must be left home or stored powered-off all day, with narrow exceptions for medical needs.
The Indiana National Guard can now establish a military police force with arrest, search, and seizure powers, deployable statewide at the governor’s direction.
