The Full Belmonte, 1/18/2024
A tree smashed into a Lake Oswego, Oregon, home after a storm moved through the area on Tuesday.
Winter storms
“As a brutal Arctic blast wraps up in the eastern US, a new winter storm system is bringing freezing rain and precarious conditions to the Pacific Northwest. At least 40 people have died in the dangerous winter weather across nine states since January 12. Fatalities have been reported in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Back-to-back storms are now delivering a deadly ‘one-two punch’ to the Northwest with freezing rain and ice in Oregon and Washington and heavy snow through the region's interior through the end of the week, the National Weather Service said. Meteorologists warn that the icy roadways and downed power lines are triggering road closures and power outages impacting tens of thousands of people.” [CNN]
The Supreme Court held oral arguments yesterday on one of the biggest cases of the current term, and my colleague Adam Liptak explains the stakes in today’s newsletter. — David Leonhardt
By Adam Liptak
Supreme Court Correspondent
The Supreme Court. Kenny Holston/The New York Times
The power of experts
“Now that abortion is restricted and affirmative action is hobbled, the conservative legal movement has set its sights on a third precedent: Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
The 1984 decision, one of the most cited in American law but largely unknown to the public, bolstered the power of executive agencies that regulate the environment, the marketplace, the work force, the airwaves and countless other aspects of modern life. Overturning it has been a key goal of the right and is part of a project to demolish the ‘administrative state.’
A decision rejecting Chevron would threaten regulations covering — just for starters — health care, consumer safety, government benefit programs and climate change. (My colleague Charlie Savage has written more on the possible implications.)
After three and a half hours of lively arguments on Wednesday that appeared to divide the justices along the usual lines, it seemed that the court’s conservative majority was prepared to limit or even eliminate the precedent.
Chevron — and bear with me here, this will hurt only for a minute — established the principle that courts must defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes. The theory is that agencies have more expertise than judges, are more accountable to voters and are better able to establish uniform national policies. ‘Judges are not experts in the field, and are not part of either political branch of the government,’ Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in 1984 for a unanimous court (though three of its justices recused for reasons of health or financial conflict). Stevens later said of the opinion, which was easily his most influential, that it was ‘simply a restatement of existing law.’
The decision was not much noted when it was issued. ‘If Chevron amounted to a revolution, it seems almost everyone missed it,’ Justice Neil Gorsuch, the harshest critic of the doctrine on the current court, wrote in 2022, saying that courts had read it too broadly.
At first, conservatives believed that empowering agencies would constrain liberal judges. So the Reagan administration, which had interpreted the Clean Air Act to allow looser regulations of emissions, celebrated the decision.
Justice Stevens, rejecting a challenge from environmental groups, wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency’s reading of the statute was ‘a reasonable construction’ that was ‘entitled to deference.’
The head of the E.P.A. when the regulation was issued? Anne Gorsuch, Justice Gorsuch’s mother.
Most surprisingly, given its current bad odor with the right, Chevron was at least initially championed, celebrated and elevated by Justice Antonin Scalia, a revered conservative figure who died in 2016. ‘In the long run Chevron will endure and be given its full scope,’ he wrote in a law review article in 1989, adding that this was so ‘because it more accurately reflects the reality of government.’
What, then, accounts for the decision’s place on the conservative hit list? After all, as the case itself demonstrates, it requires deference to agency interpretations under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The answers are practical, cultural and philosophical. Business groups on the whole remain hostile to regulation. Many conservatives have come to believe that executive agencies are dominated by liberals under both parties’ administrations — the shorthand for this critique is ‘the deep state.’ Some on the right have become hostile to the very idea of expertise.
But the attack on Chevron on Wednesday was mostly fought on the terrain of the separation of powers, with conservative justices insisting that courts rather than agencies must determine the meaning of ambiguous statutes.
Still, Justice Samuel Alito, who is likely to vote to overrule the decision, expressed puzzlement on Wednesday about its history.
‘Chevron was initially popular,’ he said. It was seen as ‘an improvement because it would take judges out of the business of making what were essentially policy decisions. Now, were they wrong then?’” [New York Times]
Middle East
“The US military carried out another round of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, marking the fourth time the US has struck the Iran-backed rebel group in less than a week. Hours earlier, the Houthis struck a US-owned and operated cargo vessel for the second time this week. The attacks have had consequences for the global economy as they have effectively closed off the Red Sea — one of the main trade routes for container ships. Meanwhile, Iran is embroiled in an escalating spat with its southeastern neighbor Pakistan, which targeted locations inside Iran a day after deadly Iranian strikes on separatists in Pakistani territory. The new strikes mean both countries have now taken the extraordinary step of attacking militants on each other's soil at a time of expanding conflict in the Middle East and the wider region.” [CNN]
School safety
“The Justice Department is expected to release a review today of the failed law enforcement response to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. More than a year after the tragedy — which left 19 children and two teachers dead — the Texas community is still grappling with why it took 77 minutes for law enforcement to stop the gunman. Surveillance video shows more than 370 officers gathered at the scene as the shooter roamed two adjoining classrooms, raising questions about whether lives could have been saved if authorities had acted sooner. The victims' families met with Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday to be briefed on the report ahead of its release today, although some told CNN that many questions remain about what is being done to bolster security in schools across the US.” [CNN]
Border battle
“The Biden administration gave Texas until the end of Wednesday to stop blocking the US Border Patrol's access to several miles along the US-Mexico border following the drowning deaths of a woman and two children last week. State authorities had barred federal agents from the zone — according to a Department of Homeland Security letter exclusively obtained by CNN— preventing Border Patrol from attempting an emergency rescue. The Department of Homeland Security warned it will ‘refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate action and consider all other options available to restore Border Patrol's access to the border.’ Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton doubled down on the state's actions, saying, ‘Texas will not surrender,’ in a statement issued by his office.” [CNN]
© The Associated Press / Susan Walsh | Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), flanked by Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Mike McCaul (R-Texas.), outside the White House West Wing lobby on Wednesday.
Johnson digs in his heels over border deal
“All eyes are on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Following a Wednesday meeting at the White House with President Biden and other congressional leaders, pressure is mounting on Johnson to accept an expected deal on Ukraine funding and border security. Security experts briefed Johnson and other leaders about the dire situation faced by Ukraine, warning national security is at risk without action by Congress. But Johnson said after the Wednesday meeting that his position on a border deal has not changed.
‘We must have change at the border,’ Johnson said, adding that House Republicans ‘understand the necessity about Ukraine funding’ but that the ‘status quo is unacceptable.’
The New York Times: Johnson suggested Wednesday that a border deal, even one that met all the Republicans’ demands, might not be enough to win their support for funding Ukraine’s war effort against Russia. He insisted that the administration provide other guarantees and accountability measures.
While Senate leaders are feeling increasingly confident about finalizing their own Ukraine funding and border security package in the next few days, they acknowledge they don’t know whether it can pass the House. Still, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday he thinks the chances are more than 50 percent that there will be a deal for supplemental funding that covers border security, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian aid to Gaza (CNBC and Roll Call).
‘The only way we will do border and Ukraine, or even either of them, is bipartisan,’ Schumer said. ‘Any party that says do it my way or no way, we’re not going to get anything done.’
THE SENATE’S PRIORITY today is a vote on a government funding stopgap bill, and Schumer said he hopes to move supplemental funding ‘soon’ after that if there’s a bipartisan agreement. With snow forecasted in Washington on Friday, senators will be feeling a sense of urgency to get the votes done ahead of their weekend — and travel plans (The Hill).
The Hill: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is urging Congress to quickly pass legislation to keep the government funded beyond a looming Friday shutdown deadline.
Republican critics of the expected deal argue that it doesn’t go far enough to stop the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, but administration officials warn waiting longer to pass military aid for Ukraine and Israel will have serious consequences. The White House and Democrats are getting backup from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who says the United States faces the most serious international situation since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
TBD: McConnell told reporters he expects the emergency spending package, which would include border security reforms, to reach the Senate floor next week.
‘I don’t know what the House will do, but what we’re working on is trying to get a package out of the Senate that deals with national security and border security in a credible way,’ McConnell said Wednesday.
THE HOUSE APPROVED a resolution condemning Biden’s border and immigration policies Wednesday, a move by GOP lawmakers to maintain pressure on the politically polarizing issue in the weeks ahead. The legislation pins singular blame on Biden’s ‘open-border policies’ for conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border, highlighting the stark partisanship behind immigration and border policy. It passed 225-187, with 14 Democrats voting in favor (The Hill).
The Hill: These 14 Democrats voted for a GOP resolution denouncing Biden’s open-border policies.” [The Hill]
Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Institute of Pathogen Biology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing in 2020.
PHOTO: CHINA NEWS SERVICE/REUTERS
Chinese researchers isolated and mapped the virus that causes Covid-19 at least two weeks before Beijing revealed details of the virus to the world, congressional investigators said.
“Chinese officials in December 2019 were still publicly calling the outbreak in Wuhan a viral pneumonia ‘of unknown cause’ and had yet to close a market that was the site of an initial outbreak. The extra weeks could have proved crucial in helping the international medical community pinpoint how Covid spread, develop medical defenses and start on a vaccine, specialists have said. ‘China has kept refining our COVID response based on science to make it more targeted,’ a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said. ‘China’s COVID response policies are science-based, effective, and consistent with China’s national realities. They can stand the test of history.’ The new information doesn’t shed light on whether Covid came from an infected animal or a lab leak.” [Wall Street Journal]
Johnson maintains hardline border position following White House meeting
“Speaker Mike Johnson's indicated that his position on a border deal has not changed after a Wednesday meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders about Ukraine and a national security supplemental bill.
‘We must have change at the border,’ Johnson said. He added that House Republicans ‘understand the necessity about Ukraine funding’ but that the ‘status quo is unacceptable.’”
Read the latest at POLITICO
Donald Trump is racking up endorsements after his historic Iowa victory, as the Republicans close ranks behind the party’s front-runner.
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is the latest to back the former president, joining fellow 2016 rival Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and former 2024 aspirants Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech founder, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Few leading Republicans have lately endorsed Trump’s remaining main rivals, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. If he continues winning by Iowa-esque margins, Trump could secure the delegates needed to clinch the nomination in weeks. More immediately: The judge overseeing columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against the former president threatened to remove him from the New York courtroom for making comments while she testified.” [Wall Street Journal]
Judge threatens to eject Trump, while Republican rivals campaign in New Hampshire
“The judge presiding over Donald Trump's second civil defamation trial, brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, threatened to eject the former president from a New York courtroom for making loud comments.
‘I would love it. I would love it,’ Trump responded, after the judge's warning.
While Trump is in court, his two remaining rivals in the Republican presidential race, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, are campaigning in New Hampshire, with the state’s first-in-the-nation primary just six days away.
Trump holds a 16-point lead over Haley in New Hampshire, according to the new Suffolk University/Boston Globe/NBC-10 poll.
According to the poll, 50 percent of New Hampshire Republican voters said they would support Trump, and 34 percent backed Haley.
DeSantis, who finished a distant second in Iowa, got only 5 percent support in the latest New Hampshire poll.
After today’s testimony wraps, Trump is expected to travel to New Hampshire for a campaign event in Portsmouth.
ABC and CNN have now canceled their debates scheduled for Thursday and Sunday, after Haley said she would not debate again unless it’s against Trump or President Joe Biden.” [NBC News]
New winter storm threats with millions under deep freeze
“Back-to-back winter storms are slamming the Pacific Northwest, and parts of the Great Lakes could see up to three feet of snow through tomorrow night, as dangerous cold continues to grip much of the nation.
Nearly 100 million people began the day under wind chill alerts, and we’re monitoring another shot of arctic air expected to blast areas east of the Rockies beginning Friday.
At least 13 deaths have been linked to the extreme winter weather since last Friday, in Oregon, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
In Chicago, the bone-chilling temperatures have dropped so low that many electric car owners have struggled to charge their vehicles.
We’re also tracking a new winter storm system developing in the Southeast that’s expected to move up the East Coast and bring more snow to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Friday.” [NBC News]
Ohio police raid on home injures toddler, mother says
“Police in Ohio used a flash-bang device outside a bedroom window during a raid on a home in Elyria while a toddler on a ventilator was inside, newly released body cam video shows.
Courtney Price, the mother of the 17-month-old boy, says police had the wrong house, and that the following day, she brought her baby to the hospital due to eye and lung irritation.
Price said the doctor told her the smoke likely irritated his pre-existing condition.
Elyria police said in a statement that they executed the warrant at the correct address, and that the child did not ‘sustain any apparent, visible injuries.’
‘Any allegation suggesting the child was exposed to chemical agents, lack of medical attention or negligence is not true,’ the statement said.” [NBC News]
Israel pulled thousands of troops from Gaza following U.S. pressure to be more surgical against Hamas.
“Some Israeli officials worry that the withdrawal could leave the country vulnerable to another surge in militant activity. It could now deploy forces to other flashpoints, such as West Bank unrest. Israel risks undermining its strategic goal of eradicating Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel is trying to take control of a vast maze of tunnels under the Gazan city of Khan Younis as refugees crowd into the south and international outcry grows over the death toll. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraq’s prime minister said the U.S.-led military coalition helping his country fight Islamic State militants is no longer needed, though he still wants strong ties with Washington.” [Wall Street Journal]
Hamas' astonishing tunnel network
An Israeli soldier secures a Hamas tunnel in northern Gaza on Jan. 7. Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images
“Stunning stat: There are between 350 and 450 miles of tunnels in Hamas' network beneath Gaza, The New York Times reports, citing senior Israeli defense officials' estimates.
Why it matters: That's an enormous network to sit under an enclave that is only 25 miles at its longest point.
‘One tunnel was wide enough for a top Hamas official to drive a car inside,’ The Times reports.
‘Another stretched nearly three football fields long and was hidden beneath a hospital.’
‘Under the house of a senior Hamas commander, the Israeli military found a spiral staircase leading to a tunnel approximately seven stories deep.’
Go deeper: What we know about the tunnel network.” [Axios]
Biden’s About-Face
People wave Palestinian and Yemeni flags as they chant anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Sanaa, Yemen, on Jan. 17.Mohammed Huwais/AFP
“The United States announced plans to reclassify Yemen’s Houthis as a ‘specially designated terrorist group’ (SDGT) on Wednesday. Under the classification, U.S. financial institutions will be required to freeze all funds to the militant organization. The designation will take effect in 30 days. However, the Biden administration has so far opted not to add the group to the separate but related list of U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), which would have brought additional restrictions, including some that could more directly impact the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen.
The decision follows dozens of Houthi-launched strikes in recent months against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, including ships under U.S. command. The Iranian-backed group said the strikes are intended to prevent the ‘transit of Israeli ships or those carrying goods to the occupied Palestinian ports’ and that it would only cease the attacks once Israel ends its war in the Gaza Strip. Following joint U.S. and U.K. strikes on Houthi targets last week, the group said that ‘all American-British interests’ had also become ‘legitimate targets.’ Washington said it would only reevaluate the Houthis’ terrorist designation if they halt their assaults in the Red Sea and nearby waters.
The Trump administration first classified the Houthis as both an SDGT and an FTO in January 2021 despite warnings by the United Nations and rights groups that the move could catalyze a large-scale famine. Yemen faces one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world. According to the World Food Program, 21.6 million people, or more than two-thirds of Yemen’s population, were in need of critical aid last year, with 17 million people facing food insecurity.
U.S. President Joe Biden reversed former President Donald Trump’s decision in 2021, delisting the group from both the SDGT and FTO lists to help assuage Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and encourage a diplomatic solution to the underlying war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia that caused it. But recent Houthi strikes on commercial vessels forced Biden to make an about-face.
‘We’re not looking for a war. We’re not looking to expand this,’ U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. ‘If they choose to keep conducting these attacks, we will continue to defend against them and counter them as appropriate.’
The White House is also preparing ‘unprecedented carve-outs and licenses’ to the SDGT designation to ensure critical commodities are not barred from Yemen, according to a U.S. official. These include avenues to ensure food, medicine, and fuel provisions enter the nation and telecommunications and transportation infrastructure are not hindered.
In response to the announcement, a Houthi spokesperson said the designation would not impact the group’s attacks against ships in the Red Sea, telling Al Jazeera that the group will ‘not back down in its position in support of the Palestinian people.’” [Foreign Policy]
“‘Giving in to blackmail.’ European Union lawmakers on Wednesday discussed taking legal action against Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s decision last December to unfreeze part of Hungary’s EU funding. The European Parliament’s four largest political parties accused von der Leyen of restoring Hungary’s access to nearly $11 billion in EU funding too early in order to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to support Ukraine’s EU membership bid.
‘The fact that [those] who are supposed to protect the EU’s financial interests are now giving in to blackmail is unbelievable,’ said Malik Azmani, the leader of the liberal Renew Europe political group.
Von der Leyen defended her decision at a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, saying she was solely following previously agreed-upon rules that granted Hungary funding for making democratic progress. However, von der Leyen left the parliamentary session less than one hour into the two-and-a-half-hour debate, angering some of her colleagues. Von der Leyen is expected to declare her candidacy next month to seek a second term as the commission’s president.” [Foreign Policy]
“Rwanda bill. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continued to struggle on Wednesday to get his Rwanda asylum bill through Parliament, narrowly avoiding a revolt by 60 members of his own Conservative Party who had threatened to vote against it. The bill would send asylum-seekers who arrive in the United Kingdom by boat to Rwanda to be processed in order to discourage illegal migration. This is the second time Sunak has attempted to pass such a measure, with the nation’s top court ruling against a previous version in November 2023 over concerns that migrants would be wrongly returned to their countries of origin.
Sunak still expects the bill, which was scheduled to be voted on late Wednesday evening local time, to pass, but the messy fight over it has weakened his political standing. Already, two Conservative deputy chairs have resigned over the tense proceedings, and even Rwanda’s president has complained about the lengthy process, saying, ‘There are limits to how long this can drag on.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Deadly blast in Thailand. At least 19 people were killed in a major fireworks factory explosion in rural Thailand on Wednesday. Local rescue workers said there were no survivors, and the damage’s severity is making it difficult to determine an exact death toll. It is unclear what caused the blast, but local authorities are investigating.
Last July, Thailand experienced another fireworks factory explosion. At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in the warehouse blast. Fireworks are commonly used in Thai festivals, including in next month’s Chinese New Year activities.” [Foreign Policy]
The U.S. is getting better at treating cancer but falling behind on preventing it.
“Rates are rising for many of the most common cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma, a new report found. Colorectal cancer is increasing for patients under age 55. These increases and persistent disparities threaten the progress made over the past three decades in reducing cancer deaths. According to other research, Americans are living longer, but spending less time in good health. That’s due to medical advances catching and treating once-fatal diseases and the rising prevalence, often among younger people, of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and substance-use disorders.” [Wall Street Journal]
Sheryl Sandberg to Leave Meta Platforms Board After 12 Years
“Sheryl Sandberg said she will serve as an adviser to the company. She had stepped down as its chief operating officer in 2022.”
READ MORE at Wall Street Journal
“Apple will remove a feature from its watches that detects blood-oxygen levels. It lost a patent case over the technology last year.” [New York Times]
“Condé Nast announced it would fold the online music publication Pitchfork into GQ, leading to layoffs of employees including Pitchfork’s editor in chief.” [New York Times]
“Google will cut 100 jobs at YouTube, which has struggled to contend with an advertising slowdown and competition from TikTok.” [New York Times]
SPORTS
“N.F.L.: The Dallas Cowboys will retain Mike McCarthy as head coach, the team announced.” [New York Times]
“Health emergency: Police officers found the Colts owner Jim Irsay unresponsive during a December incident at Irsay’s house and treated him for a suspected overdose.” [New York Times]
“N.B.A.: Dejan Milojević, the Golden State Warriors’ assistant coach, died yesterday at 46 after suffering a heart attack at a team dinner this week.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Claire Fagin transformed the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing as its dean, tripling enrollment, establishing a doctoral program and building the school into a world leader in nursing research. She died at 97.” [New York Times]