This Supreme Court Is Not Normal

Putin’s Power • RFK Jr. Quandary • The State of California [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( This Supreme Court Is Not Normal The conservative-majority Supreme Court wrapped up its term Friday by ruling that a web designer could refuse LGBTQ+ customers and [struck down]( Joe Biden’s student-debt forgiveness plan, major decisions coming just a day after setting fire to affirmative action, as Cristian Farias [put it](. Even as Democrats call for court reform, Eric Lutz [explores]( the divide between Biden and some Democrats on reforming the court. Also this week, Simon Sebag Montefiore [put]( the chaotic events in Russia in perspective; Charlotte Klein [found]( news outlets wrestling with how to cover Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s conspiratorial candidacy; and on Inside the Hive, Brian Stelter [checked in]( with Joe Hagan to discuss his feature on the state of California, alongside Marisa Lagos of San Francisco’s KQED. Have a great weekend, and see you again Monday. —Michael Calderone, editor [This Supreme Court Is Not Normal]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The conservative majority just effectively gave businesses the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans under the First Amendment, and struck down Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plans. Yet the president remains reluctant to entertain major court reforms.]( [Read more button](   [The Supreme Court Sets Fire to Affirmative Action. John Roberts Won’t Own Up to It]( By [Cristian Farias]( [As the Supreme Court did with abortion rights just last year, conservative justices have once again scrapped decades of precedent—a decision Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes is “unmoored from critical real-life circumstances.”]( [Read more button](   [Putin, Prigozhin, and Russia’s Long, Bloody History of Fallen Favorites]( By [Simon Sebag Montefiore]( [Like his predecessors from Peter the Great to Stalin, Vladimir Putin has flaunted his unchecked power by elevating ruthless outsiders into positions of prestige and influence. When such relationships sour, things get very ugly, very fast.]( [Read more button](   [The Media Is Reckoning With How to Cover RFK Jr.’s Presidential Run]( By [Charlotte Klein]( [Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got his first national town hall with NewsNation, as the media grapples with another conspiratorial candidate. “There’s a difference between giving him a town hall and just covering his candidacy,” one network executive says.]( [Read more button](   [Image may contain: Tie, Accessories, Accessory, Electrical Device, Microphone, Human, Person, Suit, Coat, and Clothing]( [Is Everything More Extreme in California?]( By [Brian Stelter]( [On the newest episode of Inside the Hive, KQED correspondent Marisa Lagos joins Vanity Fair’s Brian Stelter and Joe Hagan to discuss the Golden State. “We are microcosm of this nation,” she argues. “You can really find everything you want to talk about in America here.”]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2023 Condé Nast