Friday morning news: June 30, 2023

SCOTUS Affirmative Action » The Supreme Court has ruled that race-based admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Calvin Yang was denied admissions to Harvard in 2021.

YANG: If we look at the larger picture here, beyond me, where applicants with near perfect standardized test scores and amazing extracurricular activities, who are of Asian descent routinely get rejected to these top schools. It shows that there’s something far beyond me personally.

Yang is a member of SFFA, Students For Fair Admissions, which filed lawsuits in 2014. The suits claimed that colleges’ admissions policies discriminated against white and Asian American students.

Schools have used affirmative action policies since the 1960s. The Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that diversity on campus is a compelling government interest, but schools cannot employ a quota system.

SFFA President Edward Blum:

BLUM: These opinions reestablish the founding principles of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which clearly forbids treating Americans differently by race.

Three justices dissented, saying the decision reversed decades of work to address racism. President Joe Biden also denounced the court’s ruling.

SCOTUS/Groff » The Supreme Court also ordered lower courts to take another look at the case of a Christian postal worker. WORLD legal correspondent Jenny Rough has more.

JENNY ROUGH: When Gerald Groff started working at the post office, it was closed on Sundays.

GROFF: In 2012 when I started there was no such thing as Amazon Sunday delivery. It was, I thought it was a safe job.

But then the U.S. Postal Service contracted with Amazon to deliver packages on the day Groff observed the Sabbath.

He resigned and sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

That law requires an employer to make a religious accommodations unless doing so would constitute undue hardship.

The Supreme Court held that to meet that test, the employer must show the accommodation would result in substantial increased costs to the business.

FOR WORLD, I’m Jenny Rough.

Paris protests » Tens of thousands of police officers are deploying in France as protests continue over the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy by a police officer.

PRACHE: [Speaking French]

A French prosecutor explained that the teen had been pulled over then tried to restart the car and drive away when he was shot.

Officials say the officer in question is being investigated for “voluntary homicide.” French authorities have not released the officer’s name, but have disclosed the name of the teen: “Nahel.”

SOUND: [French Protest]

Protests raged throughout the country during daylight hours yesterday. Police responded with tear gas as rioters burned vehicles and buildings in some areas.

Wagner/missing general updates » Two Russian generals are reportedly missing since an armed uprising led by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last weekend.

No one has reported seeing Valery Gerasimov since Saturday, and Sergei Surovikin was rumored to be arrested on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he knows nothing of their whereabouts.

PESKOV: [Speaking Russian] I recommend you ask the Ministry of Defence. It’s their prerogative.

Ask the Ministry of Defence, he said, “It’s their prerogative.”

Surovikin is a known associate of the mercenary leader. The New York Times reported he might have known about the rebellion before it began.

Prigozhin brokered a clemency deal with President Vladimir Putin and fled to Belarus. Russia says that despite the rebellion, it will continue using Prigozhin’s mercenaries, known as the Wagner Group, in its war in Ukraine.

Pence visits Ukraine » Meanwhile, former Vice President and current presidential candidate Mike Pence met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today in Kyiv.

Pence received an update on the war and assured Zelenskyy the U-S would continue supporting Ukraine.

PENCE: We need to make sure that we provide the Ukrainian military what they need make it clear to Russia, to China and any other nations, that would seek to redraw international lines by force that the free world will not stand for it.

Pence later visited destroyed villages just outside Kyiv and told locals Americans are supporting them and praying with them.

Economic Growth » The Commerce Department on Thursday adjusted its estimate of U.S. growth for the first quarter of this year from 1.3 to 2 percent.

Earlier this week President Biden claimed that the U.S. economy was getting stronger.

But the updated numbers are still lower than the previous quarter when growth was 2.6 percent.

Republican Congressman Dan Meuser.

DAN MEUSER: With higher interest rates higher levels of inflation, lower consumer confidence small businesses are struggling energy prices are staying high, and he's having some sort of some sort of success plan.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that inflation was sitting at roughly four percent in May compared to a year ago.

I’m Kristen Flavin.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, Heroes at the box office.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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