News of the World

[kyonides]

Supreme Court Rules States Can’t Challenge Biden Deportation Policy

The Supreme Court ruled 8–1 on June 23 that Texas and Louisiana may not challenge the Biden administration’s 2021 decision to focus its deportation efforts on individuals deemed to be a threat to public safety.

The new, complex decision allows the government’s selective immigration enforcement policy, which had been blocked by a lower court, to take effect.

Texas and Louisiana sued the Biden administration over a policy announced in a Sept. 30, 2021, memorandum by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that claims it is impossible to remove the estimated 11 million illegal aliens present in the United States.
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The document prioritizes the arrest and deportation of suspected terrorists, people who have committed crimes, and illegal aliens recently apprehended at the border.
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But the states argued that the federal government is illegally refusing to enforce the nation’s immigration laws by prioritizing only certain enforcement categories at the expense of others.
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The states argued that the immigration statute requires authorities to detain and deport even those deemed to pose little or no risk to the public.
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The sole dissenting opinion was filed by Justice Samuel Alito.

The states here “have brought an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit,” Kavanaugh wrote for the majority.

...And because the States lack Article III standing, the District Court did not have jurisdiction,” [Kavanaugh] wrote.

Article III of the U.S. Constitution lays out the powers of the judicial branch.

Missing Titanic Submarine Crew Likely Died
in ‘Catastrophic Implosion’: Coast Guard

The operator of a submersible vehicle that went missing while trying to view the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean said it’s likely all five people on board have died, while U.S. Coast Guard officials said a “catastrophic implosion” likely occurred.

“We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a June 22 statement, coming hours after the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that it had found a “debris field” near the Titanic.
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In a 3 p.m. press conference, Coast Guard Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said officials found five objects in a debris field near the Titanic wreckage that appeared to belong to the missing submarine, indicating that there was a “catastrophic event.” They also found a second, smaller debris field that included other pieces of the submersible.

Mauger later described the event as a “catastrophic implosion” as debris was found on the ocean floor about 1,600 feet away from the bow of the Titanic. It was “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible, according to Mauger.

DOJ Files First-Ever Criminal Charges Against Chinese Fentanyl Makers

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturers and eight Chinese nationals, accusing them of crimes related to the production, distribution, and sales of the deadly drug fentanyl.

The Justice Department said in a release that it had arrested two individuals and unsealed three indictments in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, charging the Chinese companies and their employees with a number of crimes.

The indictments allege that the defendants violated U.S. federal laws by knowingly manufacturing, marketing, selling, and supplying precursor chemicals for fentanyl production in the United States.

“The Justice Department will not rest or relent in investigating and prosecuting every link of the fentanyl supply chain, including the PRC companies and executives who produce and export vast quantities of the precursor chemicals the drug cartels need to peddle their poison,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “There can be no safe haven.”

Fentanyl and its analogs are fueling the opioid epidemic in the United States, devastating communities. The highly addictive synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

As part of the investigations, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized over 440 pounds of fentanyl-related precursors, which is enough to kill roughly 25 million Americans.

Garland Denies Whistleblower Claims
of Interference in Hunter Biden Case

Attorney General Merrick Garland on June 23 denied claims from a whistleblower alleging the Department of Justice (DOJ) had interfered with an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation into unreported income Hunter Biden had received from multiple foreign sources.

The denial came in response to the House Ways and Means Committee’s unveiling on June 22 of stunning revelations from whistleblower IRS Supervisor and Special Agent Gary Shapley, who alleged that the IRS and Department of Justice (DOJ) had given Hunter Biden “preferential treatment,” interfering in the investigation to shield the president’s son from having search warrants or charges pressed against him.

The IRS ultimately recommended three charges against Hunter Biden: a felony attempt to defeat or evade tax charges; making felony fraudulent or false statements, and willful failure to file returns, supply information, or pay tax—serious charges that could land an American, if convicted, in prison for years.

But in the report, Shapley claimed he was told by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, that Weiss, despite leading the investigation against Hunter Biden on the DOJ side, was “not the deciding official on whether charges are filed.”

The claim suggests that Weiss may have received orders from higher-ups at President Joe Biden’s DOJ not to pursue charges against his son.

Garland responded to the allegations the next day, refuting the substance of the charges.

Russian Diplomats Squatting
At Revoked Embassy Site Amidst Legal Challenge

Russia has launched legal action against the Australian government to stop it from revoking its right to a new embassy site deemed a security risk to the country.

The legal bid, launched on June 23, will seek to overturn laws passed on June 15 that allow the Australian government to seize a parcel of land in the capital, Canberra, which had been reserved for Russia’s new embassy.

Currently, a Russian diplomat has begun squatting on the disputed land in a demountable building, with Australian Federal Police unable to arrest the individual because he has diplomatic immunity. The government has also not indicated that it has asked the Russian diplomat to leave the site.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed the legal challenge telling journalists on June 23 that the government had expected some response from the Russian Federation following the decision to terminate the lease. He also said he did not consider the Russian diplomat squatting at the site a national security risk.
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On June 15, the prime minister announced the government would seek to remove Russia from the site following  “very clear” security advice about the risks posed by Russia setting up a new facility near the Parliament House.
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Originally leased in 2008 from the National Capital Authority (NCA), which manages the diplomatic precinct in Australia’s capital of Canberra, the Russian government had initially agreed to complete construction three years after its building approvals were granted.

In August 2022, the NCA told the Russian government, which operates another embassy at an alternative location, it had 20 days to vacate the site.

NASA Opposes Lithium Mining at Ancient Nevada Lakebed
Says Land Is Vital to Calibrate Satellites

NASA opposes lithium mining at an ancient Nevada lakebed site used to calibrate satellites, as federal officials have blocked mining in the heart of Nevada’s Railroad Valley.

The agency says the site is indispensable for calibrating the razor-sharp measurements of hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead.

At NASA’s request, the Bureau of Land Management has declared that 36 square miles of the roughly 90-square-mile lakebed are no longer available for exploration and mining.

Railroad Valley is large, flat, barren, uniform in color, generally free of clouds, and has remained unchanged over the past three decades, making it the best site in the United States for satellite calibration, according to NASA.

“No other location in the United States is suitable for this purpose,” the Bureau of Land Management concluded in April after receiving NASA’s input on the tract 250 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
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Lithium is the main component in batteries for electric vehicles.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) introduced legislation to reverse BLM’s withdrawal of the mining area from the Railroad Valley area and told a House subcommittee that the decision underscores the “hypocrisy” of President Joe Biden’s administration.

“Railroad Valley is home to an abundance of critical minerals that can help boost the American economy, strengthen domestic supply chains, and reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries,” Amodei said in a statement. “That’s why it was especially disappointing that the Administration opted to close the door on this mineral development by approving NASA’s unreasonable demand for exclusive control over the playa in Railroad Valley—even though these proposed mining projects would not impact NASA’s mission in the area.”

In another project near the Fort McDermitt Reservation along the border of Nevada and Oregon, the Biden administration plans to build Thacker Pass mine, which will be one of the largest lithium mines in the world, near the tribal land of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe.