Friday morning news - July 1, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson joins Supreme Court » The United States Supreme Court has a new justice.

AUDIO: I Ketanji Brown Jackson - do solemnly swear - do solemnly swear - that I will administer justice - that I will administer justice …

The 51-year-old Jackson with her left hand on a Bible, her right hand raised, swore to defend the Constitution.

And with that, she became the nation’s 116th high court justice, replacing the now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer.

ROBERTS: And now, on behalf of all of the members of the court, I am pleased to welcome Justice Jackson to the court and to our common calling.

Chief Justice John Roberts heard there.

The addition of Jackson to the high court will not change its makeup. She takes Breyer’s place as one of three liberal justices.

Supreme Court checks EPA authority » Hours earlier, the Supreme Court handed down another pair of major decisions.

In one of those rulings, the court reined in the power of the EPA. The 6-3 majority found that the Clean Air Act does not give the agency broad authority to regulate emissions from power plants.

West Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, led the legal challenge to the EPA’s authority.

MORRISEY: We’ve said one simple thing, that if you have a major issue of the day, Congress needs to be the decider, not an unelected bureaucracy.

And the court agreed, though its three liberal justices dissented.

High court says Biden amin can end Trump-era border policy » In the other major ruling of the day, the court handed President Biden a victory on an immigration measure.

The Trump-era rule known as the “remain in Mexico” policy forced asylum-seekers to wait south of the border until courts decided their claims.

In a 5-to-4 decision, the justices said the Biden administration can scrap that policy.

Republicans were not happy about it. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick …

PATRICK: This is a terrible decision for Texas. And we alone—we alone in Texas are spending $4 billion dollars this year in border security. That’s more than some states have [in] a total budget.

Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joined their three liberal colleagues in siding with the White House.

President Joe Biden suspended the program on his first day in office, but lower courts reinstated it.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded last year that border officials were encountering an “unprecedented number of migrants.” And that has not changed. In the month of May alone, border authorities made nearly a quarter-of-a-million arrests.

Migrant deaths » Republicans say the high court’s ruling will only make the border crisis worse. And further fueling their complaints is a series of deadly human smuggling incidents. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Four people died after their car crashed into a commercial semi-truck Thursday during a high-speed police chase in Texas.

Three more suffered severe injuries.

Police said the vehicle in question was part of a smuggling operation.

That came just days after 53 migrants died after being trapped inside a tractor-trailer as it baked in the sun near San Antonio.

And weeks earlier, another migrant died after police pulled over a vehicle suspected of human smuggling.

One of the people in that vehicle fled police, running across a highway where he was struck by a passing car.

The driver is charged with human smuggling causing death.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

KY, FL abortion laws blocked » Judges have blocked pro-life laws in Florida and Kentucky.

A Florida court temporarily halted a law that stops abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy in most cases. The judge said the law violates a woman’s right to privacy under the state constitution.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican said the law provides important protections for the unborn, and his office was prepared for the fight.

DESANTIS: We knew that we were going to have to move forward and continue the legal battle on that.

In Kentucky, abortion centers filed suit to temporarily halt a pro-life law that blocks abortion in every case except to save the mother.

NATO wraps up » Ukrainian troops are about to get more rockets—and rocket launchers. President Biden announced another $800 million worth of military aid to Ukraine on the final day of NATO’s Madrid summit Thursday.

BIDEN: We’ve provided Ukraine with nearly $7 billion in security systems since I took office. In the next few days, we intend to announce nearly 800 million more.

Other member nations agreed to spend more money on defense and move more troops to Eastern Europe to deter Russian threats.

Snake Island » In Ukraine, columns of smoke billowed from Snake Island on Thursday as Russian troops sailed away in a victory for Ukrainian forces. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Snake Island was the scene of a dramatic standoff in February when Ukrainian soldiers on the island refused the calls by a Russian warship to surrender.

Russia took control of it, apparently hoping to use Snake Island as a staging ground.

The Kremlin portrayed the pullout as a “goodwill gesture.” But Ukraine’s military says it drove the Russians from the island with a barrage of artillery and missile strikes.

Ukraine’s government says the pullout does not guarantee the Black Sea region’s safety, but it does “significantly limit” Russian activities there.

The island sits along a busy shipping lane in and out of the port city of Odesa.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.