June 28

Trump demands FBI prosecutions of officials who leaked Iran intelligence

President Trump publicly demanded the FBI open criminal prosecutions against unnamed government officials he accused of leaking classified intelligence about the US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump announced he had personally cut off congressional intelligence briefings in response to the leaks. The move escalated tensions over executive control of intelligence and Congress's oversight role under the National Security Act.

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Senate advances Trump tax cut bill 51-49 after midnight drama

The Senate advanced the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on a 51-49 vote early June 28 after all-night debate that stretched through multiple procedural challenges. Vice President JD Vance broke a tie vote at one point to keep the bill moving. The bill included $2.1 trillion in net new debt, Medicaid work requirements, SNAP cuts, and extension of 2017 tax cuts. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted against final passage.

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Supreme Court overturns Chevron deference in Loper Bright 40-year precedent empowering agencies

The Supreme Court votes 6-3 in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to overturn Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the 1984 precedent that had required courts to defer to federal agencies' reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Chief Justice Roberts writes that "courts must exercise their own judgment in determining the meaning of statutory provisions." Justice Kagan warns in dissent that the ruling gives courts "exclusive power over every open issue, no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden." The Biden administration had urged the court to leave Chevron intact. The ruling immediately emboldens challenges to environmental, health care, labor, and consumer protection regulations. It comes alongside the Court's immunity ruling in Trump v. United States, making a historic day that sharply curtails federal regulatory and executive power.

Cassidy Hutchinson testifies about Trump's actions on January 6

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies before the January 6 Committee that Trump lunged for the steering wheel of his limo when told he could not go to the Capitol on Jan. 6. She also testifies about Trump's knowledge that supporters were armed and his indifference to violence. Her testimony provides key details about the White House response to the attack.

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Supreme Court strikes down ACA Medicaid expansion mandate as unconstitutionally coercive in NFIB v. Sebelius

The Supreme Court ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that Congress had exceeded its spending power by threatening to strip all existing Medicaid funding from states that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a fractured majority, held that withdrawing existing funding from states that chose not to participate in the expansion held "a gun to the head" of state governments — coercive rather than merely conditional. The ruling was the first time the Court treated the coercion doctrine as an actual constitutional limit rather than a theoretical possibility, giving states a new legal weapon against federal leverage over their policies.

Supreme Court rules in McDonald v. Chicago that the Second Amendment applies to all states

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in McDonald v. City of Chicago on June 28, 2010, that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment''s Due Process Clause. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the plurality opinion, with Justice Clarence Thomas concurring through the Privileges or Immunities Clause, invalidating Chicago''s handgun registration ban. Otis McDonald, a retired African American custodian in a high-crime neighborhood, brought the suit arguing he had a right to keep a handgun for home defense. The ruling meant that no state or local government could impose restrictions that violated Heller's core holding of individual self-defense rights.

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Supreme Court restricts voluntary school integration plans

The Supreme Court rules in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 on June 28, 2007, limiting voluntary school integration plans that use individual racial classifications. Chief Justice John Roberts writes that the districts' plans violate equal protection. Justice Anthony Kennedy agrees with the result but leaves room for race-conscious strategies that do not classify individual students by race. The ruling limits how school districts can voluntarily address racial isolation after decades of desegregation litigation.

Supreme Court rules 7-2 in LULAC v. Perry that Texas CD-23 violates the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 on June 28, 2006, that Texas Congressional District 23 violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting Latino voting power to protect Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla. Justice Kennedy wrote that Texas split the district's Latino majority to keep Bonilla's margin safe, reducing Latino voting-age population while adding Anglo voters. The Court upheld the rest of the 2003 DeLay map 5-4 but required Texas to create a new majority-Latino district, resulting in a special election that flipped CD-23 to Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.

Supreme Court limits indefinite detention of noncitizens in Zadvydas v. Davis

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Zadvydas v. Davis on June 28, 2001, that the government cannot detain a deportable noncitizen indefinitely after a final order of removal when no country will accept them. Justice Breyer wrote that the Due Process Clause requires release after six months if removal is not reasonably foreseeable. The ruling established that detention must bear a reasonable relation to its purpose and cannot be indefinite.

Supreme Court strikes down Nebraska partial-birth abortion ban 5-4 in Stenberg v. Carhart for lacking a health exception

On June 28, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Stenberg v. Carhart that Nebraska's ban on "partial-birth abortion" was unconstitutional because it lacked an exception for the health of the mother and was written so broadly it banned standard dilation and evacuation procedures used after 12 weeks — the safest and most common second-trimester abortion method. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority, applying Planned Parenthood v. Casey's undue burden standard. The ruling invalidated similar laws in approximately 30 states. Congress spent three years crafting a federal version, passing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003 without a health exception, which the Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart (2007).

ICAO finds Cuba violated international aviation law in the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown

The International Civil Aviation Organization concluded its investigation in June 1996 and formally found that Cuba had violated the Convention on International Civil Aviation by firing air-to-air missiles at the Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas without warning and outside Cuban territorial airspace. The ICAO determined the first plane was shot down 9 nautical miles outside Cuban airspace and the second 10 nautical miles outside, and that Cuba had failed to use radio communication or any interception procedure before attacking. The finding established a definitive international legal record that Cuba committed an unlawful act of aerial violence, underpinning subsequent legal and diplomatic actions including the 2026 DOJ indictment.

SCOTUS rules in Shaw v. Reno that bizarrely shaped racial districts trigger strict scrutiny

The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Shaw v. Reno that North Carolina voters can challenge a congressional district whose shape is so bizarre it can only be explained on racial grounds. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor writes for the majority that drawing districts predominantly by race, even to benefit minority voters, violates the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling subjects majority-minority districts to strict judicial scrutiny and sets off a decade of litigation over race-conscious redistricting across the South.

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Supreme Court rejects quotas but preserves affirmative action in Bakke

The Supreme Court decides Regents of the University of California v. Bakke on June 28, 1978. The Court strikes down a medical school admissions program that reserved seats for minority applicants, but Justice Lewis Powell's controlling opinion says universities may consider race as one factor to pursue educational diversity. The fractured ruling rejects rigid racial quotas while preserving a constitutional path for race-conscious admissions. It shapes affirmative action law for decades. The decision becomes the foundation for later debates over whether efforts to address racial exclusion can use race-conscious tools.

Supreme Court Regents of UC v. Bakke limits racial quotas in college admissions but permits diversity rationale

Supreme Court rules 7-2 in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services that the government owns Nixon's records

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (433 U.S. 425) that the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act was constitutional, rejecting Nixon's challenge on five grounds. Justice William Brennan wrote the majority, holding the Act did not violate separation of powers, presidential privilege, privacy rights, First Amendment rights, or the Bill of Attainder Clause. The ruling established that presidential records belong to the public and that Congress may legislate to preserve them.

Stonewall uprising sparks modern LGBTQ rights movement

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Patrons and onlookers fight back against the raid, initiating six nights of protests and confrontations with law enforcement. The uprising draws hundreds then thousands of people demanding gay power and liberation. The Stonewall uprising catalyzes the modern LGBTQ rights movement, leading to formation of the Gay Liberation Front and widespread activism. Organizers commemorate the anniversary with Christopher Street Liberation Day March in June 1970, the first Pride parade, establishing Stonewall as the symbolic turning point for LGBTQ activism.

Clarence Brandenburg leads KKK rally on Hamilton County, Ohio farm before Cincinnati TV cameras, with armed members making speeches about 'revengeance' against Black Americans

Clarence Brandenburg, a Ku Klux Klan leader from the Cincinnati area, organized a rally on a Hamilton County, Ohio farm on June 28, 1964, inviting a Cincinnati television station to film the proceedings. Klansmen in hoods and robes gathered around a burning cross; Brandenburg told the camera that the Klan might be forced to take 'revengeance' if the federal government 'continues to suppress the white, Caucasian race.' The filmed speech was broadcast on local and national television, and Ohio authorities used it as evidence to arrest and prosecute Brandenburg under Ohio's 1919 Criminal Syndicalism Act, which made it a crime to advocate violence as a means of achieving political reform.