Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats' redistricting plan, dimming party's midterm hopes  —  The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans …

ABC Accuses Government of Violating First Amendment  —  The network's argument, made to the F.C.C., is the most aggressive posture taken yet by a television network toward the Trump administration.  —  ABC has accused the Federal Communications Commission of violating its free speech rights …

The No-Bid Contract That Is Turning Washington's Reflecting Pool Blue … For a century, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has captured Washington's history, a vast mirror for moments great and small.  —  Then, this spring, President Trump said he decided to paint it blue …

Trump Planning to Fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary  —  The doctor, a MAHA advocate, has had a tumultuous tenure that has included clashes over vaping, abortion and vaccine policy.

Exclusive: Kennedy's health officials explored US ban of some widely used antidepressants, sources say  —  U.S. health department officials last week explored whether they could ban certain drugs in a widely prescribed class of antidepressants as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prepared …

Pentagon releases dozens of UFO files offering transparency on ‘alien and extraterrestrial life’  —  The War Department released more than 160 files Friday related to sightings of UFOs dating back nearly 80 years, two days after President Trump predicted, “I think some of it's going to be very interesting to people.”

The simple statistical error Republican Supreme Court justices used to gut the VRA  —  The Court says vote dilution can be proven only after “controlling” racial polarization for partisan polarization.  This is a nonsensical and impossible test … The six Republican-appointed justices …

Mark Zuckerberg Is Running Meta Into the Ground  —  There is a moment when internet companies get the stink of death on them.  For AOL, it was 2003, when it became clear that its users were abandoning its clunky dial-up internet service for far-faster broadband.

Supreme court's Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ  —  Exclusive: Data in justice department filing quoted by Samuel Alito in his opinion relied on questionable methodology, a Guardian analysis has found  —  The claims Samuel Alito, a supreme court justice …

Wiles cracks down on leaks  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.

Trump gets his chance to upend FEMA … That would help the agency meet one of Trump's biggest complaints about FEMA — that it's too slow to deliver money.  The report says payments to states would occur within 30 days of a flood, storm, wildfire or other disaster.

US intel community agreed before war 'Iran wasn't developing a nuclear weapon': ex-counterterrorism chief  —  Joe Kent declared ‘the narrative & agenda spun by a foreign government- Israel, won the argument & forced us into this war’  —  Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent asserted …

Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started  —  He wants out, but Iran could likely keep going for months.  —  President trump really, really wants the war with Iran to end.  He has declared victory many times, including about three weeks ago, when Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

Mothers are America's strength … Melania Trump is the first lady of the United States.  —  A mother's devotion to her child is unmatched.  This love takes many forms: strength, compassion, wisdom, grace, joy, labor, humor and even grief, to name a few.  The love between mother and child …

Secret document reveals Russia's plans to aid Iran  —  Unjammable drones would be used against American forces, according to proposals seen by The Economist  —  There are many reasons why America's war on Iran has been failing.  One of them is the effectiveness of Iranian drones.

Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen resigns amid Utah Legislature's investigation  —  Under intense pressure from Republican leaders, including Gov. Spencer Cox, Justice Diana Hagen resigned from the Utah Supreme Court on Friday.  —  Cox, along with House Speaker Mike Schultz …

Ted Cruz: Trump accounts are personal Social Security accounts  —  At a conference earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that the new Trump accounts, the “401(k)s for babies” that launched this year, could be a way to push forward the Social Security privatization effort that failed during the Bush administration.

Compare the Purported Epstein Suicide Note to His Writings  —  The New York Times has not authenticated the note.  But some of its phrases are similar or identical to ones Jeffrey Epstein used in emails and another handwritten letter.  —  A suicide note purported to be written …

Judge schedules criminal trial for James Comey for July 15  —  A federal judge on Friday set a July 15 trial date for former FBI Director James Comey on his new criminal charges of threatening President Trump.  —  U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, who will oversee the trial …