5 vital stories to know this week [7/7]
From the Supreme Court granting some immunity to Presidents, to voters in South Carolina removing abortion-supporting state senators, here are five stories to know this week.
Justices rule Trump has some immunity from prosecution
In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions within his constitutional powers as president, in a landmark decision that recognizes the first type of presidential immunity from prosecution. The six conservative justices were in the majority, while its three liberal members dissented. Biden called the ruling "a dangerous precedent" because the law will no longer limit the president’s power.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, countered by saying that if a future president “misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop.”
130,000 March in Tel Aviv to Demand Gaza Ceasefire, Prisoner Swap
Over 130,000 Israelis went to the streets in Tel Aviv to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas, and the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government.
“The one thing standing between us and our loved ones is Netanyahu’s stubborn insistence to not end this war as a part of a deal,” said Snir Daan to Democracy Now, whose cousin is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.” The continuation of this war means the murder of the hostages by Israelis’ government. The blood is on your hands.”
Meanwhile: Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men held protests last weekend after an Israeli court lifted an exemption that prevented the mandatory military service for members of conservative religious groups.
Voters kick out the only three GOP women in the South Carolina Senate, responsible for stopping the state’s total abortion ban.
Last year, the only three Republican women in the South Carolina Senate, Senators Sandy Senn, Penry Gustafson and Katrina Shealy, took on their party and stopped a total abortion ban from passing in their state last year. This past June, voters removed them from contention for their respective seats after sparse primary campaigns, leaving just two democratic women State senators in the male-dominated Senate chamber. Experts fear their loss means that women will not wield power for decades in the fiercely conservative state where they have already long struggled to gain entry into the state government.
White Nebraska man shoots, wounds 7 Guatemalan immigrant neighbors
A white Nebraska man named Billy Booth opened fire with his shotgun on a group of 15 Guatemalan neighbors who were near his house’s yard in Crete, Nebraska. Booth killed himself after shooting a group of Guatemalans, who were also immigrants. The victims, including four children ages 3-10, are expected to survive. The family will not be pressing charges.
Police previously received a complaint from the family that Booth had made an obscene gesture and told them to go back to where they came from and “speak English,” Crete Police Chief Gary Young said. He was also described by neighbors as reclusive and confrontational. Investigators said they are not ruling out racist motives.
CRETE: The incident took place in Crete, Nebraska a diverse community of about 7,000 residents about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Omaha. The population is about 50% Hispanic and almost 25% foreign-born.
Journalists' casualties in the Israel-Gaza war rise as the humanitarian crisis enters its 10th month
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ), as of July 1
108 journalists and media workers were confirmed killed: 103 Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese.
32 journalists were reported injured.
2 journalists were reported missing.
51 journalists were reported arrested
Multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of journalists’ family members.