Good morning! Boy, that little Elonald feud went nuclear pretty quickly, didn’t it? One minute, Elon’s getting a symbolic key to the White House. The next, Trump is claiming Elon is “CRAZY,” while Elon claims Trump is implicated in the Epstein files. Elon then threatened to screw over NASA (and Trump) by rage quitting SpaceX’s Dragon capsule program … before some random X user with like 150 followers convinced him to cool it. Trump later said of Elon, “I have no intention of speaking to him,” and confirmed their relationship is toast.

Anywayyyyy, the president also declared June to be National Ocean Month, so all is well in the world again. Right? Right?

LAW

🚨 Los Angeles riots in response to immigration raids

The good news is it’s not wildfires this time. The bad news? Los Angeles is burning again, this time in the form of cars set on fire by rioters and flash bangs from police.

The problems began on Friday when federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began raids in L.A. to find and deport illegal migrants. More than 100 people have since been arrested everywhere from Home Depot to Fashion District businesses.

• The White House recently ordered ICE to get those rookie deportation numbers up. Last Tuesday, the agency arrested a record 2,200 people nationwide.

As you might expect, the people of Los Angeles weren’t super thrilled about this. Protests turned into riots, Waymo cars were set ablaze (RIP, robot pals), chunks of concrete were thrown at police, a federal building was surrounded, police shot an Australian reporter with a rubber bullet, yadda, yadda, yadda.

• Local U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters was denied entry into an L.A.-area ICE detention facility, which could be illegal.

Trump’s response: On Saturday, the president took control of the California National Guard and deployed 2,000 guardsmen to Los Angeles to disperse the rioters and “solve the problem” of riots and looting. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said California’s leaders had “completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.”

• Each state’s National Guard is controlled by its governor. Federal law allows the president to take over during emergencies, but doing so without the governor’s approval (as in this case) is rare.

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says active duty Marines are “on high alert” nearby and will respond if the unrest continues.

• That’s also probably legal. But it’s a step further than the National Guard and is likely to be far more controversial.

California’s response: Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump’s troop deployment “purposefully inflammatory” and said it “will erode public trust.” As for the immigration raids, those are “as reckless as they are cruel.” Late Sunday evening, Newsom called the federalization of the California National Guard "unlawful" and a "serious breach of state sovereignty" before requesting that Trump rescind his order.

• Newsom’s office says the White House is misreading the law, and that the required “rebellion” against the U.S. government isn’t taking place.

• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is no fan of the ICE raids. But she also said, “Violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable.”

• The LAPD declared the assembly of protestors unlawful on Friday night, and most violence since has been in the suburb of Paramount, CA.

Future: As of last week, voters approve of Trump’s immigration actions 54% to 46%. Deportations are a key tenet of his domestic agenda, and immigration raids are expected to continue in L.A. for 30 days. If the rioting lasts much longer, expect the feds to drop the hammer. Dan Bongino, the FBI’s No. 2, warned protestors that choosing violence “will not end well for you.”

GOVERNMENT

🏈 The old model of college sports is officially dead. After winning a $2.8 billion lawsuit against the NCAA and the big athletic conferences, college athletes can now be paid directly by their schools. Starting this fall, each school can split up to $20.5 million between its athletes. Players who competed between 2016 and 2024 will receive back payments from a $2.7 billion pot over the next 10 years. Top athletes since 2021 have been allowed to sign paid NIL deals (name, image, and likeness). Those will still exist. But, along with the new payments, they’ll be run through the new College Sports Commission.

⚖️ Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father and illegal immigrant, is back in the United States after being deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order. But it's probably not for the reason he hoped. Per the Department of Justice (DOJ), he's here "to face justice" amid a host of criminal charges. A grand jury found him to be an MS-13 gang member who spent nine years smuggling thousands of people, including children, across the country, along with transporting guns and drugs.

COURT

⚖️ Supreme Court emerges as bastion of unity

Compared to the drama from those other people in Washington, the Supreme Court is a bastion of peace and harmony right now. Justices released decisions in six cases last Thursday. Despite their reputation for raging partisanship, five were unanimous. And three of those were on what are typically hot-button political issues: sexuality, guns, and religion. The real kicker? All three opinions were written by the court’s three liberal justices: Jackson, Kagan, and Sotomayor.

Sexuality: A straight, white Ohio woman claims she was passed over for a promotion and then demoted in favor of two less qualified coworkers. The problem? Her boss and both coworkers are gay. She sued for discrimination, but the case was thrown out because majority groups are often forced to provide more proof than minority groups are. All nine Supreme Court justices agreed that discrimination is discrimination and all claims should be held to the same standard, no matter who brings them. A lower court will now rehear her discrimination case using the new standards.

Guns: Mexico’s government sued American gun manufacturers for $10 billion. The claim? The companies are responsible for the flow of hundreds of thousands of weapons illegally flowing across the border into the hands of drug cartels. A 2005 federal law largely shields gunmakers from lawsuits like this, so Mexico had to prove that they deliberately sell weapons to bad actors. The court wasn’t buying that story, though, and unanimously sided with the gun companies.

Religion: Wisconsin denied the Catholic Charities Bureau a religious tax exemption because the group's operations aren't "primarily" religious. Other religious charities that use their work to spread their views received the exemption. But Catholic doctrine doesn't allow proselytizing via charity work. In another 9-0 case, the Supreme Court called this illegal "denominational discrimination."

TRIVIA

On this day in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson declared a day of mourning following the June 6 death of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot in California while campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Like his brother, RFK grew up in Massachusetts. But, after serving in JFK’s Cabinet as attorney general, Bobby moved to a new state and immediately launched a successful Senate bid. Which state did Robert F. Kennedy represent in the U.S. Senate?

Hint: A certain first lady later pulled the same move in the same state.

BRIEFS

● Israel’s military intercepted a small, Gaza-bound aid ship and detained its crew of activists, including Greta Thunberg. Israel has maintained a naval blockade of Gaza since 2007, which it says is to prevent weapons transfers to Hamas.

● A leading presidential hopeful in Colombia was shot on Saturday. Sen. Miguel Uribe, a Harvard grad and member of the country’s center-right opposition party, is in stable but critical condition. Police arrested a 15-year-old for the shooting.

● Five leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group are suing the federal government for $100 million. They were all found guilty of offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, but now claim their prosecutions were illegal and based on false evidence and other lies.

● Bad eggs from a California company have been linked to a salmonella outbreak. Across seven states, 79 people have been sickened, and 21 have been hospitalized. The USDA has issued a recall notice for 1.7 million dozen brown eggs of various brands.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Robert F. Kennedy led his brother’s Justice Department and stayed on for nearly a year after JFK’s assassination. He bailed on D.C. in September of 1964 to move to New York and run for U.S. Senate. Despite living in the state for just two months, he somehow won that race. Thirty-five years later, Hillary Clinton pulled the same trick while serving as first lady and technically still living in the White House (until the following January).