Supreme Court rules Oklahoma can prosecute more tribal crimes
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court expanded Oklahoma’s authority to prosecute crimes against Native Americans in much of the state Wednesday, potentially reducing the need for Congress to spend millions of dollars more in the state for the Justice Department and federal courts.
The 5-4 decision in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta means the state, along with the federal government and tribes, can prosecute crimes committed by non-Native Americans against Native Americans.
That will limit the effect of a 2020 opinion in McGirt v. Oklahoma, which found that Congress never dissolved the Muscogee Nation’s reservation that stretches over much of the state, including the city of Tulsa.
The McGirt decision appeared in multiple places in the Biden administration’s fiscal 2023 budget requests, attached to more than $100 million in additional spending, since it meant the federal government and tribes needed to handle all the criminal cases on that reservation area.
—CQ-Roll Call
As battle for Illinois governor shapes up, it is class warfare versus culture war
With Darren Bailey’s nomination as the Republican candidate for governor to challenge Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois voters will have a choice for state chief executive this fall between candidates representing the opposites of a chasmic political ideological divide.
For Bailey, the fall campaign comes down to trying to wage class warfare on Pritzker, labeling him as an “out of touch, trust fund, elitist billionaire” unable to relate to the problems of common citizens.
At the same time, Pritzker’s campaign will be fighting a culture war against Bailey’s social conservatism while attacking the state lawmaker for his endorsement from former President Donald Trump — a two time loser by 17 percentage points in Illinois.
“Darren Bailey cannot side with the insurrectionists at the Capitol, assert that the 2020 election was stolen and say that women and their doctors should be jailed for having an abortion even in cases of rape and incest and expect to be handed the keys to the governor’s office,” Pritzker said Tuesday night at what he billed as a general election “kickoff event” at a South Loop hotel.
—Chicago Tribune
Pa. school district fires teacher who put tape reading ‘I have nothing nice to say’ on a student’s face
PHILADELPHIA — The Coatesville Area School District has fired a middle school teacher who put a piece of tape reading “I have nothing nice to say” on a student’s face last month — an action the district described as humiliating to the child, but that the teacher defended as an ill-conceived joke.
At a meeting Tuesday night, the district’s school board voted 7-1 to dismiss Audra Ritter, a special education and English language arts teacher at North Brandywine Middle School. Board members did not discuss the dismissal.
According to the district, Ritter — who is also president of the district’s teachers union — placed a piece of duct tape on the nose of an agitated student on May 4 with the message: “I have nothing nice to say.”
The student was “humiliated and offended,” according to a statement of charges prepared by the district, and asked the principal to be excused from Ritter’s class — but was later tracked down by Ritter, who “began threatening retaliation” against the student.
The district accused Ritter of racially discriminating against the student, who is Black; Ritter is white. Ritter also violated the student’s individualized education program for disabilities, the district’s code of employee conduct, and state law around schools’ use of behavioral interventions, according to the district, about 40 miles west of Philadelphia.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Speaker Nancy Pelosi receives Communion at Vatican amid abortion rights debate
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi received Holy Communion Wednesday at the Vatican and met with Pope Francis despite her support for abortion rights.
Pelosi, D-Calif., attended the pope's morning Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral and received Communion along with the rest of the congregants, according to two people who witnessed the moment.
Pelosi also met with Pope Francis and received his blessing.
She was seated in a VIP section of the venerable church as a sign of the respect she holds for the Vatican despite the Catholic Church’s staunch opposition to abortion.
The move by the Vatican signaled a rebuke to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who has barred Pelosi from receiving the sacrament in her home diocese.
—New York Daily News
