Depoliticize The Court! July 1, 2026 DEPOLITICIZE THE COURT! Even the ruling on birthright citizenship was terrible, when you look into it more deeply (5-4 instead of 9-0, with Brett Kavanaugh opening the door for Congressional action). The worst, as both Paul Krugman and Robert Reich make clear, was in destroying the independence of the independent agencies. Oddly, the one that troubles me least upholds a state’s right to ban trans girls from playing sports in public schools, because many states do not ban that . . . and as more and more of us get to know the wonderful trans women I know, I think they will defer to local legislatures, who may in turn defer to coaches and common sense. (Why not let a trans girl compete in swimming? And perhaps award TWO trophies, one for the trans girl who won and one for the female at birth? Will this ruin any 14-year-old swimmer’s lives?) We need to depoliticize thew court. Not stack it or pack it or “take it back” — depoliticize it. And I believe we can, as long-time readers will recall. (If you have time, take a look!) EPSTEIN Any news? Trump still defying the law Congress passed one vote shy of unanimously? Alleged child rape something MAGA can overlook because prices have come down and he ended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Day One? CORRECTION: Rich G.: “Of course I agree with this generally [hurray for Heather Cox Richardson!]. But saying that Trump’s nine federal investments in private companies have ‘cost’ taxpayers $10B is inaccurate. The Intel investment (done by Trump under Biden’s CHIPS act) is now worth an unrealized gain of $45B. We lost $10B on GM but probably saved an industry. We made >$22B on AIG and probably saved the financial system. My favorite was a nonfinancial investment but government intervention in LTCM as beautifully written about in When Genius Failed.”