TAXING DECISION: A federal appeals court temporarily agreed to keep President Trump’s steep tariffs on foreign imports, belaying a decision against the tariffs by the US International Court of Trade. The appeals court is taking a little more time to consider the government’s appeal for a longer stay of the Trade Court’s decision.

  The Trade Court had ruled that Trump overstepped his authority declaring an economic emergency in order to invoke the tariffs. They ruled that the law did not grant Trump “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs on nearly every country.

  As always, the administration  attacked the judges, not their decision. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the trade judges “brazenly abused their judicial power.”

  Trump himself posted on his Truth Social asking, “Where do these initial three Judges come from? How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of “TRUMP?”  

  This all leaves in place, for now, 30 percent tariffs on all goods from China, and 25 percent for most goods from Mexico and Canada.

   The Justice Department warned in a filing that hampering Trump’s tariffs would harm his efforts “to eliminate our exploding trade deficit and reorient the global economy on an equal footing.”

A HARVARD DEGREE: Harvard yesterday on graduation day won a temporary block against  President Trump’s order prohibiting the university from enrolling international students. 

  The decision sparked the usual Trump administration condemnation of judges who rule against them. Again, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “If these judges want to be secretary of state or the president, they can run for office themselves.” 

  The administration has claimed they are punishing Harvard by taking away funding and international students for the university’s failure to deal with antisemitism on campus. But the administration has gone beyond that, demanding to be informed of the course work and conduct record of the foreign students.

  President Trump appears to believe he has absolute power, as evidenced by what he told the graduates at West Point: “We had a great mandate and it gives us the right to do what we wanna do to make our country great again.”

  Trump’s actions in regard to Harvard and other universities appears to step on the constitutional prohibition against bills of attainder, punishing a person or group of persons without due process. 

  Harvard’s president, who has stood up to Trump at great risk, was given a standing ovation at commencement.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

— President Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host and supporter of the January 6^th insurrectionists, to head the Office of Special Counsel, the independent anti-corruption agency that protects federal whistle-blowers and enforces ethics laws.

— The White House last week released a report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission that cited nonexistent  scientific papers on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, mental illness, and medications prescribed for children with asthma.

  The administration had billed the report as “clear, evidence-based foundation” for action on a range of children’s health issues but it may have been produced in part by the use of artificial intelligence.

  A representative of the Department of Health and Human Services told The NY Times that despite the errors “the substance of the MAHA report remains the same — a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic-disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children.”

SPELL THAT: Faizan Zaki, 13, of Plano, Texas, who was last year’s runner-up, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last night with the word “éclaircissement,” which means  “a clearing up of something obscure.” He addressed the official pronouncer as, “Bro,” spelled “b-r-o.”

ON ICE: The Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars to face the Florida Panthers in a replay of last year’s Stanley Cup finals of the National Hockey League. The Panthers won it last year. Game one is next Wednesday.

 THE OBIT PAGE: Bernard Kerik, who was the New York City Police Commissioner on the day of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and later went to prison for federal corruption and tax convictions, died at age 69. No cause was given.

  Once a street cop without a college degree, Kerik rose from being a member  of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s security detail to corrections commissioner in 1998 and then police commissioner in 2000. Kerik was considered a hero, along with Giuliani, for their response to the 9/11 attack, responding to the scene while debris was still in the air. 

— Dr. Robert Jarvik, the primary designer of the first permanent artificial heart for humans  died on Monday at his home in Manhattan at age 79. Made of aluminum and plastic, his heart was used as a temporary device until a donated heart could be  found.

  The first recipient lived for 112 days, never leaving the hospital. The second lived for 620 days.

 THE SPIN RACK:  Smoke from massive wildfires burning in western and central Canada is expected to drift down into the US as the northern fire season gets an early start. The premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency, and much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Ontario, are said to be at “extreme” risk of wildfire. — Hamas militants in Gaza have been sent a ceasefire proposal approved by Israel in a bid to open the flow of humanitarian aid and release remaining hostages. — A former assistant  to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s who went only by the name “Mia” to protect her privacy testified yesterday that Combs was an abusive, controlling boss who repeatedly assaulted her, even climbing into her bed and raping her on one occasion.  

BELOW THE FOLD: President Trump on his Truth Social posted a picture of himself walking down a rainy urban street with the message, “HE’S ON A MISSION FROM GOD & NOTHING CAN STOP WHAT IS COMING.”

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