Supreme court ‘creeping dangerously towards authoritarianism’, AOC says | First Thing

Congresswoman’s comments come days after nation’s highest court released batch of incendiary and far-reaching rulings. Plus, what’s causing the shortage of sriracha?

Good morning.

The conservative supreme court is “creeping dangerously towards authoritarianism”, the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday, raising again the unlikely scenario of impeaching justices for recent actions.

What has been said abut the student loan decision? The US supreme court’s decision to strike down President Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan late last week “usurped the authority of congress”, Democratic House representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday . Khanna, of California, argued that if anyone thought Biden was unduly empowered by the legislation which the president used to issue the debt relief program, “then the solution is Congress can repeal the … act”.

The supreme court backed voting rights this term – is it enough to protect the 2024 election? “It might be now that this will open the door to more litigation over state legislative maps and there might be changes required because of section 2 for some state legislatures,” said Richard Pildes, an election law professor at New York University.

What has the reaction been on the ground? The Jenin operation led to protests overnight across the West Bank, including at a checkpoint near the city of Ramallah, in which a Palestinian man died after being shot in the head by the army. Israel’s air defence systems were put on alert for potential retaliatory rocket fire from the blockaded Gaza Strip after several Palestinian factions vowed revenge.

How many people have died this year because of the conflict? More than 180 Palestinians and 24 Israelis have been killed this year in the escalating violence, inflaming fears that the region is moving closer towards a new chapter of full-scale conflict.

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Source: The Guardian