Supreme Court Rulings on Election Integrity

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And that means you'll find more peace of mind with them. Relieve your insurania with NjM insurance by visiting njM. com for a quote today Okay A New York City cououncil employee who was detained by IC and ordered to be deported to Venezuela has been released. after spending more than five months in custody Raphael Rubio Boorquez is a data analyst for the New York City Council. He was detained on january twelfth during a routine asylum interview Immigration officials said he overstayed his tourist visa and had a prior arrest for assault and had no legal right to be in the US But city cououncil Speaker Julie Mennon disputed that characterization, saying Rubo Borquez. Temporary protected status as a Venezuelan national valid through October of this year. thenen earlier this month An immigration judge granted Rubio Boor's asylum, releasing him from detention and allowing him to live and work in the U. S indefinitely. And joining us now New York City Council employee Raphael Rubio Borquez and New York City Council speaker, Julie Menn and. it's good to have you both with us U here. Raphael I want to hear first the story about what it was like to be in detention, but back up to the day you were detained You were, if I understand correctly. at a routine asylum interview in Beth Page, Long Island. Why were you at that asylum interview? Why were you there I had applied for my asylum for my affirmative asylum right after I the purported termination of the Venezelan TPS. So as per my legal advisors adice I apply for asylum in an affirmative way. So they schedued my appointment So you were showing up at your appointment in order to continue with the process of being able be here. You were paying an attorney. You were doing all the things that you could do to follow the rules That is exactly the case. I showed up for the asylum interview, they started to we started to do the interview Once we wrapped it up, the officer told me that I needed to turn up my cell phone, put it in my backpack, and proceed to the next room in which there was an Iice agent waiting for me. He identified himself as an IC agent and he told me that he was there to take me into custody. My God And I'm going to be reading this quote from the Department of Homeland Security, but tell us about your time in Detention, whereere did you go? What did you do? What was it like Awful. I was first taken to OZJ, Orange County, Yale in Gazen, I believe it's Goson, New York, upstate in New York. The contingious over there were like Awful U More than a detention facility, it looks like an asylum mental asylum facility. Staff were very rude They don't have manders at all. They treat people like I don't know, like garbage in general. And then I was taken or transferred to MDC, Brooklyn, which I believe is, I don't know which one is worst, but It's not a pleasant place to be, neither one of them. And then after Brooklyn, I was transferred to Newark, to the Laney Hall, to the famamous Delaney Hall I cannot say anything positive about those places U In general, they treat people like garbage. They don't have any empathy and they don't they don't don't they don't try people like humans if is to say that, it's totally fair to say that. But well, my time in detention was aw, as I pre mentioned and described You got to make limes in order to get like water. They they don't have microwaves. A lot of people doesn't like the doesn't enjoy the food. Of course, you're in attention because really you're not in a four star a five star hotel, but at least the food has to be It was just edible. And a lot of people just don't want to eat that food and they relyied on the Kamissari, which is a small market that they have in where you can get stuff from. But in order to cook and whatnot, you got to have access to the water, which they will just Um they were just administrating managing the water access like in a way that was inhuman. People only had access to water like three or four hours a day. So for example, were if you wanted to cook anything or to just drink water over the night in the night, then you couldn't because it was restricted the access to it It didn't make sense to me, it didn't make sense to anyone there. So I really appreciate your description of what happened in there and what it was like in there and what it is like in there for people being held now Um The Department of Homeland Security released a statement about this nightmare yourour case, Rapfael. And it says, quote on january twelfth, twenty twenty six Ice arrested Rapfael Andres Rubio Boorez, a criminal, illegal alien from Venezuela and an employee of New York City Council His criminal history includes an arrest for assault He had no work authorization. and his TPS had been terminated Rubio entered the U.S on a B two tourist viae and twenty visa in twenty seventeen that required him to depart the U. S. By october twenty second, twenty seventeen, he overstayed his visa in violation of our laws He was ordered release by an Obama appointed activist judge on june nineteenth, twenty twenty six on bond He's additionally been enrolled in a TD For check ins, we will do everything in our power to fight for the removal of this criminal, illegal Alien He will receive full due process. Julie, why don't I go to you on this one Sure. Is this a criminal illegal alien sitting next to you? Wh should be immediately deported Aolutely. Absolutely not. and that's why this case was truly outrageous. When Rafael was first detained on january twelfth, I immediately brought in NILAag to represent him, to file habeas. That is what kept him in New York State. That is what gave him access to the courts. We were intimately involved in Rafael's legal case throughout this whole process. He is did not commit a crime They kept using that falsely. He had been arrested for a fight with his roommate that his roommate punched him and initiated. There was no conviction. And so the statement from the Department of Homeland Security was patently I also want to mention that Raphael was put into solitary confinement for over two weeks while he was in detention. He was in horrific circumstances within his detention We kept in touch with him throughout about midway through the process. he brought in a private attorney. I became concerned that that attorney had missed vital paperwork. and I asked Rafael to remove that attorney and to bring in Bronx defenders I couldn't be more thrilled that he is back home where he belongs. He's been a wonderful employee of the New York City Council. We're so excited to have him back home and for him to have permanent asylum Rapfael, I saw you shaking your head as Mika read most of that statements. want to give you a chance to respond DHS says you came in a B two tourist visa twenty seventeen that required you to leave by October of that year You overstay your visa in violation of our laws. Is that true? That's not accident at all. Technically speaking, every asylum area Slen seeker that has applied for a silent whether before their I ninety four has expired or not, cururrently is currently Uh independent status and is currently without a status Then speaking is currently without a status the IS officers that detained me even mentioned that, he referenced that He told me will U you know that every assertain secret is already out of a status because of the backlog So they are conscious that this is like this is all by the sign regardless of people filing for their asylum before the deadline, which is one the one year deadline For the backloging and the processing of those asylum cases, everybody falls out of a status at a certain point once the I ninety four is terminated or expired. One of the things we've heard during the presidential campaign throughout from President Trump is we're going to get the worst of the worst out. We're going to get rapists and murderers and all these people out, to which most Americans say, yes, please do Those are very serious crimes. who don't want them here What they cite for you is an arrest for assault, which doesn't fall under that category. Were you arrested for assault My impression at the moment when I was taken into custody that night is that wasn' I wasn't being arrested For my lawyer's advice I canot go into the specifics without her input or her take In this I was pretty much told that night, We need you to come with us to the prisons so you can provide further detail on what happened That was it And then all of a sudden, they put the handguns off me and I asked them, I had footage on me I was able to capture the whole interaction with this person, it wasn' in a fight. I was assaulted by this person And I show that footage to the police officer that showed up that night And regardless of it, he decided to take me, he never told me that I was being arrested They told me we need you to come with us to the presence so you can provide further detail. I went over there and all of a sudden, when they started to put them with the handcuffs of me and I asked them, Why am being am I being arrested? And they told me, no, this is just prical. And again, a fight with a roommate does not meet the bar of the worst of the worst. Absolutely. The roommate assaulted him. They had a third roommate who provided a letter to report who indicated that that roommate had assaulted Rapahael and he acted in self defense. But the main point is he was never con And it does not fall into one of the crimes that would constitute, but he was never convicted of the crime. And So it's a patently false statement for DHS touse about that nara. So we've heard some of these through observers and the few people who have been allowed to get inside Delaney Hall of the conditions. It's rare to have a firsth account like Rahael's here What else are you hearing about Brooklyn, but also Newark and all these other places where they're being These facilities are terrible and we have a situation where immigrant communities in our city are being terrorized by ice. We are a proud city of immigrants and as we are about to celebrate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of our country We cannot have this conduct continue to go on. It's unconscionable, it's unacceptable. And here's a situation where Rapfael Rubio did everything right. He went to a routine immigration court appearance and he was taken How can this happen? What kind of country are we living in when this is accepted? And so his story is really powerful. He remains so strong throughout even being put in solitary confinement. He was held for one hundred fifty eight days. That's one hundred fifty eight days of his life that he cannot get back Now we're welcoming him with open arms back to the city council, but the still, it's one hundred and fifty eight days of his life that was taken. So Rapfael, you have a legitimate job working with the New York City Cncil. You get a paycheck, they take out taxes Right? Yes, they take out a lot of attack. Yeahes So how does it feel on the eve of America's two hundred fiftieth anniversary, America? Land of the free, homeome of the Brave to be called an illegal criminal alien I really donum pee attention to those comments. I know what I am I know what I am. I come from a very distant family My father is a petrole engineer My mother was an educator a rural school teacher And my sister is a She's a very important piece within the UAE oil industry. She's a petrollian engineer as well And she's up Very so successful, professional We were we were all suuccessful when we were living back in Venezuela. Fortunately, life happens Pitics happens unch you fell apart And we have to sadly left the country. but byy any means of'm a criminal I'm a laoy Biden. I'm not a citizen yet Well I'm a la abiding taxpayer And I'm a person that is very grateful to be here to have given the chance and the opportunity to fight my case throughout the rest of the proceeding, the remaining proceedings in freedom And of course, and I got to acknowledge Mrs. Menning fight what she did for me and the way that she advocated for my situation for my case. I cannot thank her enough. and of course the city of New York, the city Council and everyone involved that made this possible. And thank you guys for having us, or for having me today, at least. N New York City Council employee, Rapfael Rubio Borez and New York City Council spepeaker, Julie Mennon Thank you both very much for coming in and telling your story. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Please take care. Thank you Coming up, we're going to take a quick break from politics and turn to sports with highlights from an incredible day at the World Cup as one of the top teamsays headed home after a dramatic finish. You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft. I thought it was safe. If that happens, Life Lock gives you a US based restoration agent who will stick by your side from start to finish phone calls, violent documentation, preparing insurance claims, your agent handles it all. In fact, we're so confident restoration is guaranteed, orour your money back. Isn't it nice to have someone like that on your side, saave up to thirty percent your first year at lifeifelock d. com slash special offer. Terms apply. In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds, but when intruders step near Simply safe homeome seecurity steps up. Stop. This is simply safe. Police are on the way Using AI alerts, US. based live agents help deter break inss. Simply saafe, no long term contracts. Save fifty percent on your new system with professional monitoring at simppllysfe d. com slash SXM or with promo code SXM. Outdor deterce requires simplyfe active guuard outdoor protion plan starting for nine nine nine month. Visit simpllyafeot com slash licens for alarm license information. Tennese two zero one two Monday. com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday d. com. in the knockout round. Morning Joe is coming right back. Exciting dayate at the World Cup yesterday. first Brazil scored twice in the second half against Japan, including the go ahead goal five minutes into extra time to secure a dramatic two to one win avoiding a big upset seending the five time champs along to the round of sixteen The next two games of the night Both ending in penalty kicks four time World Cup winner. Germany became the first tournament powerhouse eliminated in the round of thirty two after having a goal called back after review an extra time and then losing in the shootout to Paraguay who moves on to the round of sixteen Then late night, Morocco now will face Canada in the round of sixteen on Saturday after sending the Netherlands, another European power to its earliest World Cup exit in the country's history. This knockout round continues today with matches featuring some of the biggest stars in the tournament, Ivory Coast, taking on Erling Holland and Norway And killing Imbape and France face Sweden host country Mexico plays Ecuador, Team USA gets Bosnia, Herzegovina tomorrow night in the Bay Area. Coming up next. We'll get an update on the action at Wimbledon two ahead of the return of Serena Williams to the All England Club. for her first singles match in nearly four years. Morning Joe, coming right back Welcome back. The first round of the Wimbledon tenennis tournament is underway this morning at the All England Cub. O month after his French open meltdown, defending Wimbledon champ, Jonk Sinner came back from a set downown twice yesterday, regaining his composure following a stumble to the grass on center court in a five set victory over his fiftieth ranked opponent On the women's side seventh rank American Coco Gf turned in her fastest win at the grass courourt major and first in two years taking less than an hour to wrap up a straight sets victory to reach round two Fourth seated Jessica Pagula, the top ranked American woman in the tournament also advanced in straight sets tenen more US women are featured in first round contests at the All England Club today, including the highly anticipated return of Serena Williams. for her first singles match in nearly four years, the forty four year old twenty three time Grand slam singles champ is set to play an opponent, less than half her age, twenty year old Maya joint of Australia at noon on Centercourt And as this year's action plays out on the court, a new documentary is taking a step back in time with a look at the legendary rivalry between tennis Titans, Chris Evet and Martina Navratilova. Both grand Slam champs started from a young age back in the nineteen seventies and battled each other on the circuit Time after time. But they were also great friends. And years later, they faced a challenge that brought them back together That challenge. cancer The film, Chris and Martina, the final set on Netflix follows the tennis players through their diagnoses and treatments as well as their connection with one another as they looked back at some of their toughest matches Joining us now, the film's two time Emmy Award winning director, Rebecca Gitlitz. what an amazing narrative and storyline and two amazing people to follow. What was it like firstirst of all, to carry this out. Well, thank you so much for having me Being able to follow Kristin Martino was such a joy. I look up to both of them so much. They are just legends both on the court and off and it was just u It was such a pleasure to be able to tell the story of legends Yeah, yeah, totally. You know, what's unique about this documentary was your ability to see these tennis titans behind the scenes, especially at times When they were getting treated for cancer, here's I'll look at some of that footage Once I'm done placing this IV, I'm gonna to step out. I'm gonna let one of the texts know that you are ready They'll come and do the injection. They'll sit in here for about an hour. I' gonna go out there or do because you're radioactive. Oh ince scancer I just kind of cut the rifff out I'd rather be alone than with people that I don't want to be with You pick your spots much more carefully because you realize how precious time is. You know, Rebecca what strikes me about this documentary and the clips that we just saw right there Every major sport seems through the years to have a couple of iconic matchups within that sport Two figures playing the same sport On different teams or whatever, they become rivals in a sense. This one Chrisin Martina, I mean, it's an incredible story brought forward now by you What was your impression of these two icons at this stage of their lives going through what they're both enduring in terms of what they were and what they are now I think so What was so important about them is that It is so hard to be rivals, right? And especially between the two of them They had to deal with things that other rivals might not have. McNroe and Connors, when they were coming up, Agassy and Sampras, even Rafa and Nadal They had U rivalries that were intense, but not what Martina and Chrissie had. They are dealing with The media, they are dealing with women's sports at the time. They are dealing with things that Male rivals don't necessarily have to deal with. The media had pitted them against each other. Sponsors generally only allow one woman a seat at a table, right? And so there are so many things that are pulling Kristin Martina apart. And so for the two of them to find a way Be together is just It is a level of sportsmanship that we don't see Fship. It is a level of friendship that is unheard of to be able to Put aside their differences and understand that they are the only two people in the world that can understand each other on a level that is just unheard of is something that is so iconic and is so deep and You see it in them. you see the understanding and these looks that these two give each other. It's sort of, I always say friendship is not a deep enough word for them. It's sort of a sisterhood. It is this deep parallel bond that goes so deep between them. Tw time Emmy Award winning director of the documentary Chrisin Martina, The Final setet. Rebecca Gitl, congratulations. The film is available to watch now on Netflix. and we appreciate your coming on the show this morning. Up next as we get set to mark the country's two hundred fiftieth anniversary A new survey finds Americans still believe in strong U. S global leadership But there are also ome warning signs will run through the result. In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds, but when intruders step near, simply safe home security steps up. Stop. This is simply safe. Police are on the way Using AI alerts, U.S. based live agents help deter break ins. Simplyafe, no long term contracts. Save fifty percent on your new system with professional monitoring at simppllysafe d. com slash SXM or with promo code SXM. Outdoor deterrence requires a simply safe, active guuard outdoor protection plan starting at for nine a month.isit simlyafe com slash licens for alar license information Tennsee two zero one two Some say Odu business management software is like fertilizer because of the way it promotes growth. Some say Odu is like a magic beanstock, scaling with you while being magically affordable. And some say Odu's programs for manufacturing, accounting, and more are like building blocks for creating a custom software suite. But I say Odu is all of it, Fertilizer magic beanstock buildilding blocks For business. Yeah. Odu. exactly what every business needs. Sign up at odoo dot com That's odoo dot com How does America stay so beautiful at two hundred fifty by getting its beautyrest? This july fourth save up to one thousand dollars on beautyrest black mattresses and adjustable base setets, featuring pocketed coil technology for our most advanced motion separation. Visit a beautyrest retailer today Sultts from the Reagan Institute, straight ahead on Morning Je Welcome back, ahead of America's two hundred fiftieth anniversary, a new survey from the Reagan Institute Fs that many Americans still hold on to the conviction from President Ronald Reagan, that U. S. leadership in the world backed by American strength is the surest guarantor of peace But the survey also sounds several alarms on the growing polarization Among Americans over foreign policy issues from Iran to Israel, to NATal For more, let's bring in director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, Roger Zachheim. It's great to have you on the show Um Let take us through the survey and especially the warning signs that you found Yeah, thanks for having me on. The survey shows the views of the American people on foreign policy, n secure and defense. questions We've been doing this in twenty eighteen And what we see broadly speaking, America Americans want to be engaged in the world tos the tune of super majorities sixty one percent want America to lead. And that's based on this very strong foundation quite reagan esque principles, as you pointed out at the outset strong military, peace through strength, advancing human rights and democracy. And they want America to trade and engage with the world to advance our economy. And all those numbers are tune out of eight out of ten So broadly speaking, it's a very strong foundation and highly bipartisan on those fronts Interesting. Let's go through some of the warning signs. I'm especially interested in what you found as it pertains to Americans' views and opinions toward NATO Yeah, so on NATO, we see again, broadly speaking support for NATO North of sixty percent Republicans are down on those numbers, and that is to be explained by President Trump and the Trump administration's confrontational approach to NATO, really driving more NATO investment in their own defense, you know, addressing the so called free rider problem And then Democrats bring that up. Overall, Americans believe that NATO is important and matters to U. S. security and prosperity. One footnote on that, if you look at young MAGA, because we also look at that demographic, the the thirty demographic of those who identify as MAGA supporters, they support NATO up to seventy percent. So one of the interesting elements of this survey is that's counter the popular narrative in a number of directions. MAGA supporters are generally very engaged and want the United States to engage in the world overall. actuallyctually, Democrats are bringing down that number And young MAGa is not isolationist either And they take great support and confidence in One of the most successful security alliances the world's ever seen, that's NATO Roger, did you get any sense taking this poll and looking at the results and analyzing the results of the impact of the very mercurial presidency of Donald Trump and its impact, perhaps, on these numbers. Well, we did the survey the end of May early June. So before the memorandum undernderstanding that was signed by President Trump with Iran And at that point we saw we ask a question about what preferred outcome do Americans want with the conflict with Iran? We giveave him a few options. One Do you want to have regime change? twow, do you want to have a weakened regime? or three, would you prefer a negotiated settlement, which ultimately was what President signed with that MOU? And what you see is that the president's base of support that his MAGA voters overwhelmingly would prefer regime change or a weakened regime, a smaller slice would be supportive and negotiated settlement. Democrats are quite the opposite. They would like to see a negotiated settlement. majority of Democrats, that is, and are less enthusiastic about regime change or a weakened regime. And I think part of what the president is trying to do right now is bring his base along to support this memorandum of understanding because they've been condition for quite some time. it's a traditional Republican approach to support either regime change or a weakened regime Director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, Roger Zackheim, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning and going over the survey. We appreciate it We turn now to a divided day at the Supreme Court with big decisions impacting President Trump's push for ever expanding power That as he weighed in on the major case that's expected to come down today birthright citizenship, What are your thoughts? and will you accept it if it rules against you? Well, I guess you I have to accept it's theupreme Court. I'll accept. I think it's very bad for our nation. We're the only nation that does it No other nation does that birthright citizenship? No, not even close. Some did it in the end It's tremendously destructive It's extremely costly I don't know it's up to them, but in terms of for the good of the country, it'd be great if They did the they didn't allow it President Trump yesterday when asked about the big case expected to be decided today by the Supreme Court. As for yesterday, the High Court handed down a number of split decisions for the administration. The justustices expanded executive power that would allow the president to fire one federal employee But rejected his bid to fire another. In a decision that could impact the midterms, the justices ruled in favor of a Mississippi law that allows elections officials to accept mail and ballots that arrive after election day as long as they are postmarked by election day. and the court refused to hear the president's bid to overturn A jury's finding that he sexually abused and later defamed writer Egene Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Tuesday, june thirtieth. With us. we have MS Now contributor, Mike Barnacle, MS Now senior legal reporter, Lisa Rubin and more to come and Willie, a fascinating set of rulings came down yesterday of course we're still Welcome back, ahead of America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, a new survey from the Reagan Institute. Fs. that many Americans still hold on to the conviction from President Ronald Reagan, that U. S. leadership in the world backed by American strength is the surest guarantor of peace But the survey also sounds several alarms on the growing polarization among Americans over foreign policy issues from Iran to Israel to NATal For more, let's bring in director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, Roger Zackheim. It's great to have you on the show L take us through the survey and especially the warning signs that you found Yeah, thanks for having me on. The survey shows the views of the American people on foreign policy, n secure and defense. Qions. We've been doing this since twenty eighteen And what we see broadly speaking, America and Americans want to be engaged in the world to the tune of super majorities. sixty one percent want America to lead. And that's based on this very strong foundation of quite Reagan esque principles, as you pointed out at the outset strong military, peace through strength, advancing human rights and democracy. And they want America to trade and engage with the world to advance our economy. And all those numbers are tune out of eight out of ten. So broadly speaking, it's a very strong foundation and highly bipartisan on those fronts Interesting. Let's go through some of the warning signs. I'm especially interested in what you found as it pertains to Americans' views and opinions toward NATO Yeah, so on NATO, we see again, broadly speaking, support for NATO North of sixty percent Republicans are down on those numbers, and that is to be explained by President Trump and the Trump administration's confrontational approach to NATO, really driving more NATO investment in their own defense, you know, addressing the so called free rider problem And then Democrats bring that up. Overall, Americans believe that NATO is important and matters to U. S. security and prosperity. One footnote on that. If you look at young MAGA, because we also look at that demographic, the under thirty demographic of those who identify as MAGA supporters, they support NATO up to seventy percent. So one of the interesting elements of this survey is that it's counter the popular narrative. in a number of directions. MAGA supporters are generally very engaged and want the United States to engage in the world overall. actually, Democrats are bringing down that number. And young MAGA is not isolationist either. and they take great support and confidence in One of the most successful security alliances the world's ever seen, that's NATO Roger, did you get any sense taking this poll and looking at the results and analyzing the results of the impact of the very mercurial presidency of Donald Trump and its impact, perhaps on these numbers Well, we did the survey the end of May early June. So before the memorandum of undernderstanding that was signed by President Trump with Iran And at that point we saw, we asked a question about what preferred outcome do Americans want with the conflict with Iran We gave him a few options. One Do you want to have regime change? Tw, do you want to have a weakened regime? or three, would you prefer a negotiated settlement, which ultimately was what presresident signed with that MOU? And what you see is that the president's base of support that his MAGA voters overwhelmingly would prefer regime change or a weakened regime, a smaller slice would be supportive and negotiated settlement. Democrats are quite the opposite. They would like to see a negotiated settlement. majority of Democrats that is, and are less enthusiastic about regime change or a weakened regime. And I think part of what the president is trying to do right now is bring his base along to support this memorandum of understanding because they've been condition for quite some time. and it's a traditional Republican approach to support either regime change or a weakened regime Director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, Roger Zachheim, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning and going over the survey. We appreciate it We turn now to a divided day at the Supreme Court with big decisions impacting President Trump's push for ever expanding power That as he weighed in on the major case that's expected to come down today birthright citizenship, What are your thoughts? and will you accept it if it rules against you? Well, I guess I have to accept it's the Supreme Court. So I'll accept. I think it's very bad for our nation. We're the only nation that does it No other nation does that birthright citizenship? No notot even close Some did it and the ended it. It's tremendously destructive It's extremely costly I don't know, it's up to them, but in terms of for the good of the country, it wouldd be great if They did the they didn't allow it. President Trump yesterday when asked about the big case expected to be decided today by the Supreme Court. As for yesterday, the High Court handed down a number of split decisions for the administration. The justices expanded executive power that would allow the president to fire one federal employee But rejected his bid to fire another. In a decision that could impact the midterms, the justices ruled in favor of a Mississippi law that allows elections officials to accept mail and ballots that arrive after election day as long as they are postmarked by election day. and the court refused to hear the president's bid to overturn A jury's finding that he sexually abused and later defamed writer Eegene Carol Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Tuesday, june thirtieth. With us. we have MS Now contributor, Mike Barnacle, MS Now senior legal reporter, Lisa Rubin, and M to comeome and Willie, a fascinating set of rulings came down yesterday. Of course, we're still waiting for one anytime today, but some of these quite consequential Yeah, we'll get a couple more today on the last day of the corp, but yesterday, as you say, was a big day. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld that Mississippi law that allows mail in ballots to be received up to five days after election day. That's a loss for President Trump, who repeatedly has pushed unfounded claims of voter fraud when it comes to mail in voting, despite the fact that he used it himself Supreme Court' decision emphasized the cononstitution gives election authority to state legislatures and to Congress, not to the president. It was a five, four opinion with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett Joining the court's three liberal justices in the majority. So let's take a pause here quickly. The significance of this first, Lisa is That the president has been pushing and continues to push this idea that we got to get rid of mail and voting. He just said there no other country uses it. That's not true. Many, many other countries of course use mail in voting. And we should point out again, as we do every time he brings up this point, there is very, very, very little fraud that is found in mail and voting, A couple examples here and there that he uses as a larger example What is the significance to you legally here When the significance is that The integrity of the election has been shore up by the Supreme Court yesterday and what was a surprise decision. Many people who listened to the oral argument, me included, believe that the Supreme Court was poised to make the other decision and decide that under federal law, the term election day means that all votes not only must be cast by then, but they must be counted by then as well. And the court's decision to go in the opposite direction honoring the laws of eighteen states and territories means that m mail and balloting will remain secure for November unless or until the president is able to legislate otherwise. And Willie, I think that's the big open question because you and I both know the president has had a series of executive orders that are aimed at elections, which right now have been stopped by courts Some of those executive orders also aimed at mail and balloting. For example, one of them said that the attorney general should prosecute state and local officials that will allow these grace periods for counting ballots. Now theident As he continues to push the Save America Act, will he try to insert provisions in that that make it harder for these states to allow these grace periods? That's one possibility. But you can count on him to sort of double down on the risks of fraud associated with mail and balloting helpeled along, by the way, by some of the dissenting justices Justice Alito and his dissent in that decision, basically saying that the fact that these states allow this lends itself to the narrative of mail and ballots leading to fraud. That's not a helpful comment from a justice of the Supreme Court, particularly given what you said, There is little to no proof that mail and ballots lead to any substantial fraud, let alone outcome determinative fraud in the twenty twenty election, despite the fact that the president continues to advance that narrative. And we should point out, this was not a slam dunk. It was a five four decision. Chief Justice Robertts writing the deciding opinion here. But when you say, you know Donald Trump is holding up legislation, which he is. He's holding up thisousing a bipartisan housing bill to get the SAV Act through, which again, would do great damage to mail in voting What are your concerns legally about kind of end around runs that the president and his aides can make around even this Supreme Court decision? Well, I think there are sort of two of them. One of them is just about certainty, right? Administering elections is difficult enough for people in states without last minute changes. And you can rest assured that the White House in advancing the Save of America Act They don't care about the havoc that it wreaks for local and state election administrators. They want to get their way. And so that will introduce a whole bunch of uncertainty if they in fact pass this law and it has impact not only on proof of citizenship, but how the voter rolls are certified, who gets to vote and when That big raises just huge question marks over the heads of voters all throughout the country. But the other problem is that constitutionally, the time place and manner of how elections are administered in this country belong to the states and not to the federal government. So while there is some language in the majority decision here saying, hey, we're not foreclosing the right of Congress to legislate otherwise There is a big open question about whether Congress can make a different decision about these grace periods. You know, there's going to be an extended issue on this and you just referred to it as poll workers themselves. Who wants to do that job given the ify nature of what's going on? But right now, as it stands, off the ruling If you cast a mail in ballot the day before election So long as it's counted within five days after the election, that ballot is legitimate. Is that the way it's gonna to work? Well, look, you have to live in a state that has a law that provides for this already. And there are only eighteen states and territories, fourteen states, the District of Columbia, three territories that allow for this. But yesterday's ruling, in fact, Mike means exactly what you just said. If you live in one of those states with a grace period that allows for counting after election day, your vote should be secured under this ruling. Just to put a fine point on this. Justice Amy Cononey Barret who wrote the majority opinion, said of this potential end aroundound, If v deadlines for ballot receipts similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives. In other words, go through Congress if you want to change these laws, not through us. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also cleared the way for President Trump to fire the heads of most independent federal agencies at will. It was a six three decision this time. The justustice' ruling Trump can fire Rebecca sllaughter from the Federal Trade Commission overturning a unanimous decision from the court in nineteen thirty five protected the independence of government agencies. The ruling effectively makes FTC commissioners and those who staff independent federal agencies serve at the president's discretion and eliminates Congress's bipartisan requirement for the agency. In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote,Qote, indndependent agencies are not so independent after all Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read her dissent from the bench firing back, writing, This court undoes centuries of political practice and concludes that all three branches of government have been acting in open defiance of the Constitution all this time The courourt is making an exception for the independence at the Federal Reserve, at least for now. In a separate five four decision, the court ruled Federal Reserve goovernor, Lisa Cook can keep her job as she fights dubious mortgage fraud claims from President Trump and his allies Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanagh joined the three liberal justices in the majority ruling there. So Lisa, this basically sets the precedent now that you can fire an independent regulator at will. If they're not doing your bidding effectively as president of the United States, you can just get rid of them. That overturns ninety years or so of precedent there But they do make this carve out for now for the Federal Reserve. What's the distinction between the two I can tell you what the justices say the distinction is, and then we can talk about what the real distinction is, if any. You know One of the things that happened here is that Donald Trump did not contest the constitutionality of the statute that binds him to only fire members of the Federal Reserve for costs. He seemed to accept that that was a given. And then the only question for the court was What does it mean to fire a member of the Federal Reserve for cause and had he done it here But really, there is no distinction, Willie. Justice Barrett points that out in a dissent in the cook case. She says, like how can the court, on one hand announce a new categorical rule And on the other breath say, here's the exception to that rule. And if you look at the various opinions here, one thing that I think is striking is there are only two justices who are in the majority in both cases. Chief Justice Roberts, who is fighting for the court's institutional life, basically in every decision, and Justice Kavanaugh who has gone out of his way time and again to say, in so many words, the Fed is different. That's not an explanation that carried weight with Seven of the justices who in a variety of ways have said square this circle. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And the other thing that I want to point out about the slaughter opinion, that's the opinion through which they have said the president now has the power to fire members of independent agencies or these multim meber commissions If you read Chief Justice Roberts's opinion in that case, one of the things that is really scary about it is it's not just about independent agencies, it suggests that the president has the constitutional authority to fire any subordinate. Meaning he doesn't just haveire the power to fire Rebecca Slaughter. He might have the power to fire somebody like Maureen Comey, a career prosecutor here in the southern District of New York, who was fired basically by a letter that says pursuant to Article two