A big week for SCOTUS

SCOTUS says SDNY can subpoena Trump's financial records; a Biden-Sanders unity task force unveils its report. Tonight's Sentences was written by Cameron Peters. TOP NEWS SCOTUS tackles Trump taxes in week of big cases Mark Wilson/Getty Images - On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump cannot block a subpoena by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York seeking information about the president’s finances from before he took office. [[NYT / Adam Liptak](] - In a separate decision, however, justices did not come to the same conclusion regarding Congress. The Court remanded a case brought by three House committees — also seeking financial information — back to a lower court over separation of powers issues. [[Washington Post / Robert Barnes](] - The decision in Trump v. Vance — the SDNY case — was a loss for Trump. But while the way seems clearer for New York prosecutors to obtain his tax returns, litigation is likely to continue. This could delay the revelation of any new information about Trump’s tax returns until after the election. [[Politico / Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney](] - Trump got better news in the second case, Trump v. Mazars: As Vox’s Ian Millhiser writes, “Mazars is a victory for Trump because it holds that the president enjoys special immunity from congressional investigation enjoyed by no other citizen.” [[Vox / Ian Millhiser](] - Nonetheless, Trump didn’t take either decision especially well: Among other tweets, he declared Thursday morning that “Courts in the past have given 'broad deference'. BUT NOT ME!” [[Twitter / Donald J. Trump](] - Both decisions — as well as an important case about an Indian reservation in Oklahoma — fell on the last day of the Court’s term. On Wednesday, the Court also handed down two landmark cases centered on religious liberty questions. [[SCOTUSblog / Edith Roberts](] - In the Oklahoma decision — McGirt v. Oklahoma — the Court concluded that a substantial swath of Oklahoma rightfully belongs to the Creek Nation. The decision has implications for criminal cases against Native American residents of the reservation, which should fall under federal, rather than state, jurisdiction in accordance with Thursday’s decision. [[AP / Jessica Gresko](] - And in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, one of the Wednesday decisions, the Court allowed religious exemptions to the Affordable Care Act’s birth control access mandate to stand. The ruling could see as many as 125,000 women lose access to contraceptive coverage. [[Slate / Dahlia Lithwick](] - Finally, the decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru extends “ministerial protections” to religious schools — effectively stripping civil rights protections from teachers at those same institutions, who can now be fired for what would usually be protected characteristics. [[Vox / Ian Millhiser](] Dems in array - On Wednesday, a Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders “unity” task force released a 110-page report with a slate of detailed policy proposals should Biden win the White House this November. The report covers a range of topics, including health care, immigration, and the economy. [[Vox / Ella Nilsen](] - According to Sanders, the recommendations, which were produced by six joint task forces created earlier this year, reflect a substantive progressive shift by the Biden team on “issue after issue.” [[NPR / Scott Detrow](] - Among other plans, the report endorses free pre-K and tuition-free college for families earning less than $125,000. It also condemns President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus while adhering closely to Biden’s previous proposal of a public option on top of the ACA. [[CNN / Eric Bradner, Arlette Saenz, Sarah Mucha, Kate Sullivan, and Jeff Simon](] - On criminal justice issues, the document backs an end to private prisons and cash bail, as well as a national use-of-force standard and national misconduct database for police officers. [[NYT / Maggie Astor, Lisa Friedman, Dana Goldstein, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Margot Sanger-Katz, and Jim Tankersley](] - Though the recommendations aren’t a binding document, they will have weight: According to the Biden campaign, the report will be submitted to the Democratic National Committee as a “starting point” for the party platform. [[NBC News / Marianna Sotomayor and Mike Memoli](] - The two factions don’t agree on many points — Medicare-for-all and a Green New Deal, for example, don’t make the report, despite leftward movement from Biden's camp on health care and climate goals. It's an important reconciliation between the progressive and establishment wings of the Democratic Party as the general election approaches. [[AP / Will Weissert and Bill Barrow](] MISCELLANEOUS Michael Cohen, previously President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, was taken back into federal custody Thursday [[CNN / Mark Morales and Paul LeBlanc](] - In New York City Thursday, “Black Lives Matter” was painted on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower [[NPR / Laurel Wamsley](] - The story of the coronavirus pandemic, told through six families from around the world [[Washington Post / Steve Hendrix](] - The school reopening debate, explained by a parent who’s also an epidemiologist [[Vox / Benjamin P. Linas](] - How to run an Olympic 5K in the middle of a pandemic [[Washington City Paper / Kelyn Soong](] VERBATIM "Automobiles are not just dangerous and bad for the environment, they are also profoundly wasteful of the land around us: Cars take up way too much physical space to transport too few people. It’s geometry." [[New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo on the case against cars / NYT](] LISTEN TO THIS [A conversation about God and how to make sense of suffering in human life]( A conversation about God and how to make sense of suffering in human life [[Spotify / Sean Illing](] [Read more from Vox](#) [The story behind this iconic Olympics protest]( [Who gets to be reckless on Wall Street?]( [How “abolish ICE” helped bring abolitionist ideas into the mainstream]( [The appeal and futility of mask meltdown videos]( [Don’t look now, but the left agrees on climate policy]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. 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