During his Middle East trip, President Donald Trump says he might be close to making a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons, the Supreme Court hears arguments on Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, and football coaching legend Nick Saban has been tapped to bring order to big-money college sports.
It’s Friday, May 16, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal
Topline: President Trump says the United States is close to a nuclear deal with Iran.
After months of tense negotiations, President Trump says America is on the verge of signing a historic nuclear deal with Iran. Iran has been working for decades to build nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders refer to America as “the great Satan,” and its government spends billions of dollars annually sponsoring terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
Over the last four years, President Joe Biden attempted to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, waiving sanctions as a show of goodwill, but the Iranians refused to meet for formal negotiations, and no agreement was ever reached. But now, after four rounds of formal talks between the White House and Iran, President Trump says they’re ready to cut a deal.
The general idea is that Iran will agree to never produce nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions — and peace. A top adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader told NBC they would commit to never making nuclear weapons, hand over their existing stockpiles of enriched uranium, only enrich uranium to low levels consistent with civilian use, and allow third-party inspectors to supervise the entire process. In exchange, they want the United States to lift all economic sanctions, which have hobbled the country’s economy for years. President Trump has said he also wants to see them cut funding to the terror groups they support — it remains to be seen if that part will be included in the final deal.
Critics say there’s no way to ensure Iran will hand over its existing nuclear materials and allow inspectors to see the full scope of their operation. Fifty-two GOP Senators and 178 GOP House members signed a letter to President Trump saying the “scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium.” Many Republicans want a deal, but not one that allows Iran to enrich any uranium, even low levels for civilian use.
SCOTUS Hears Arguments On Birthright Citizenship, National Injunctions
Topline: The Supreme Court hears oral arguments challenging birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case challenging President Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The pivotal case calls into question whether the lower courts have the power to block executive branch actions.
The case hinges on three lower courts issuing nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. Trump’s EO interprets the 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to children who are born in the U.S. if their mother was unlawfully in the country and if the father isn’t a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. That order is currently on hold while the Supreme Court considers it.
“ Since January 20th, district courts have now issued 40 universal injunctions against the federal government, including 35 from the same five judicial districts,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told the court. “This is a bipartisan problem that has now spanned the last five presidential administrations. Universal injunctions exceed the judicial power granted in Article 3, which exists only to address the injury to the complaining party.”
The liberal justices appeared to disagree with the Trump administration’s arguments – they believe Trump’s order is at odds with many years of Supreme Court precedent.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that the Trump administration seemed to turn the justice system into “a kind of catch me if you can regime … where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people’s rights … I don’t understand how that is remotely consistent with the rule of law.”
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that the Trump administration was violating precedent and the “plain meaning of the 14th Amendment.”
- Meanwhile, Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that many lower courts are ruling against Trump’s executive order. “This is not a hypothetical. This is happening. Every court ruled against you.”
Most of the conservative justices also seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s stance, but Justice Clarence Thomas pointed out that the United States “survived until the 1960s” without nationwide injunctions.
Trump Drafts Nick Saban To Save College Sports
Topline: Trump drafts college football coaching legend Nick Saban to bring some order to big-dollar collegiate athletics.
President Trump plans to create a commission to study “ailing issues” in college athletics, with the possibility of signing an executive order. Collegiate sports have been experiencing a bit of turmoil the last few years, with the schools adjusting to a new climate now that student-athletes have name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights and are on the road to receiving direct compensation from their respective universities.
The president announced that he was creating a commission to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX with regards to revenue sharing and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts.”
Trump has named Nick Saban, who won seven national titles as a college football coach, as co-chair of the commission, with the other co-chair being Cody Campbell – the chairman of Texas Tech’s Board of Regents and NIL collective founder. Many people believe Saban is the best person to lead this initiative, given the on-field success, but there have also been accusations of hypocrisy given how much money Saban himself made from college athletics.
Hanging over all of this is the pending settlement of House vs. NCAA, a class-action, antitrust lawsuit that would allow collegiate athletes to participate in revenue sharing from TV rights deals once a settlement is complete. That settlement is expected within the coming weeks, or even days. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Steve Berman, blasted Saban and Trump’s discussions, accusing them of “meddling.”
“College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals,” Berman said. “They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
During his Middle East trip, President Donald Trump says he might be close to making a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons, the Supreme Court hears arguments on Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, and football coaching legend Nick Saban has been tapped to bring order to big-money college sports.
It’s Friday, May 16, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal
Topline: President Trump says the United States is close to a nuclear deal with Iran.
After months of tense negotiations, President Trump says America is on the verge of signing a historic nuclear deal with Iran. Iran has been working for decades to build nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders refer to America as “the great Satan,” and its government spends billions of dollars annually sponsoring terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
Over the last four years, President Joe Biden attempted to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, waiving sanctions as a show of goodwill, but the Iranians refused to meet for formal negotiations, and no agreement was ever reached. But now, after four rounds of formal talks between the White House and Iran, President Trump says they’re ready to cut a deal.
The general idea is that Iran will agree to never produce nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions — and peace. A top adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader told NBC they would commit to never making nuclear weapons, hand over their existing stockpiles of enriched uranium, only enrich uranium to low levels consistent with civilian use, and allow third-party inspectors to supervise the entire process. In exchange, they want the United States to lift all economic sanctions, which have hobbled the country’s economy for years. President Trump has said he also wants to see them cut funding to the terror groups they support — it remains to be seen if that part will be included in the final deal.
Critics say there’s no way to ensure Iran will hand over its existing nuclear materials and allow inspectors to see the full scope of their operation. Fifty-two GOP Senators and 178 GOP House members signed a letter to President Trump saying the “scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium.” Many Republicans want a deal, but not one that allows Iran to enrich any uranium, even low levels for civilian use.
SCOTUS Hears Arguments On Birthright Citizenship, National Injunctions
Topline: The Supreme Court hears oral arguments challenging birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case challenging President Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship. The pivotal case calls into question whether the lower courts have the power to block executive branch actions.
The case hinges on three lower courts issuing nationwide injunctions blocking Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. Trump’s EO interprets the 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to children who are born in the U.S. if their mother was unlawfully in the country and if the father isn’t a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. That order is currently on hold while the Supreme Court considers it.
“ Since January 20th, district courts have now issued 40 universal injunctions against the federal government, including 35 from the same five judicial districts,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told the court. “This is a bipartisan problem that has now spanned the last five presidential administrations. Universal injunctions exceed the judicial power granted in Article 3, which exists only to address the injury to the complaining party.”
The liberal justices appeared to disagree with the Trump administration’s arguments – they believe Trump’s order is at odds with many years of Supreme Court precedent.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that the Trump administration seemed to turn the justice system into “a kind of catch me if you can regime … where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people’s rights … I don’t understand how that is remotely consistent with the rule of law.”
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that the Trump administration was violating precedent and the “plain meaning of the 14th Amendment.”
- Meanwhile, Justice Elena Kagan pointed out that many lower courts are ruling against Trump’s executive order. “This is not a hypothetical. This is happening. Every court ruled against you.”
Most of the conservative justices also seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s stance, but Justice Clarence Thomas pointed out that the United States “survived until the 1960s” without nationwide injunctions.
Trump Drafts Nick Saban To Save College Sports
Topline: Trump drafts college football coaching legend Nick Saban to bring some order to big-dollar collegiate athletics.
President Trump plans to create a commission to study “ailing issues” in college athletics, with the possibility of signing an executive order. Collegiate sports have been experiencing a bit of turmoil the last few years, with the schools adjusting to a new climate now that student-athletes have name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights and are on the road to receiving direct compensation from their respective universities.
The president announced that he was creating a commission to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX with regards to revenue sharing and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts.”
Trump has named Nick Saban, who won seven national titles as a college football coach, as co-chair of the commission, with the other co-chair being Cody Campbell – the chairman of Texas Tech’s Board of Regents and NIL collective founder. Many people believe Saban is the best person to lead this initiative, given the on-field success, but there have also been accusations of hypocrisy given how much money Saban himself made from college athletics.
Hanging over all of this is the pending settlement of House vs. NCAA, a class-action, antitrust lawsuit that would allow collegiate athletes to participate in revenue sharing from TV rights deals once a settlement is complete. That settlement is expected within the coming weeks, or even days. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Steve Berman, blasted Saban and Trump’s discussions, accusing them of “meddling.”
“College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals,” Berman said. “They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”
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