Source: EconLog
by Constanza Mazzina

“We are approaching the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. However, that same year carries a different meaning in Latin America. Rather than the beginning of a system based on limits to power and individual freedom in the United States, 1776 represented a major turning point in the opposite direction for Latin America.” (06/30/26)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/1776-in-the-us-and-latin-america

Source: Antiwar.com
by Timothy Hopper

“Almost every war produces the same immediate question: who won? Yet the more consequential question is whether either side can convert battlefield pressure into a political order it can sustain. The Islamabad Memorandum, signed by the United States and Iran on June 17, brings that distinction into sharp relief. It is a 60-day framework linking an end to military operations and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz to negotiations over sanctions, Iran’s nuclear program, and a broader political settlement. Its importance lies less in the document’s promises than in the reality that produced it: neither Washington nor Tehran could credibly claim that continuing the war would deliver the political outcome each sought.” (06/30/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/timothy_hopper/2026/06/29/the-islamabad-memorandum-and-the-decline-of-the-paradigm-of-absolute-victory/

Source: Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky

“In a stunning expansion of presidential powers, the Supreme Court on Monday overruled a 90-year-old precedent and held that Congress cannot limit the president’s removal of federal agency heads. The ruling in Trump vs. Slaughter is a major diminishing of checks and balances and again shows the six conservative justices’ disregard for even long-standing precedents.” (06/30/26)

https://archive.is/Q8Dg5

Source: Independent Institute
by Samuel R Staley

“The U.S. Senate version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, now going the U.S. House of Representatives for approval, is a mixed brew of a few good ideas and a potentially dangerous regulatory drag for local governments. Sprawling through 100 sections and 9 major titles over 381 pages of legislation, the legislation’s core intent is laudable: Fix America’s housing affordability crisis by increasing supply. But, like most federal (and state-level) initiatives, the legislation fails to grasp the localized and fundamentally decentralized nature of the solution. Policymakers have created square pegs for a playbook full of round holes.” (06/29/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/29/federal-road-to-housing-act-wont-solve-the-housing-affordability-crisis/

Source: New York Post
by Jonathan Turley

“On Monday, Donald Trump sealed one of the most lasting parts of his legacy. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court reaffirmed and reinforced the authority of presidents to determine who will carry out the functions of the Executive Branch. In so doing, the Court overruled one of the long-standing limits of presidential power in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. Humphrey’s Executor is hardly a household name. Yet the demise of the 1935 case represents a seismic shift in the balance of power within our constitutional system. In this case, the court decided that President Trump had the right to fire Rebecca Slaughter, a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. For decades, scholars and jurists have questioned where the Court found the authority for Congress to create a hybrid creature like the FTC — part legislative and part executive, with officials protected from removal by a president.” (06/29/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/06/29/opinion/supreme-court-allows-trump-to-say-youre-fired-to-meddling-bureaucrats/