Dirty Air Act: The Supreme Court’s six conservatives yesterday issued a decision limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, dealing a blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to dial back climate change.

  Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Clean Air Act does not give the EPA full authority to regulate the energy industry. He said that while steering the industry away from coal to make electricity, “a decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body.”

  The court’s three liberals dissented, saying that the majority had stripped the EPA of “the power to respond to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.” Writing in dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said “Whatever else this court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change.” 

  The court’s decision signals that the conservatives don’t like the idea of administrative agencies, rather than the legislature, confronting problems like pollution and climate change.

Privacy Among Palms: A Florida judge has blocked the state’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy that goes into effect today, saying it violates privacy protections in the State Constitution. Judge John Cooper’s order may not take effect for a few days.

  The state government immediately said it will appeal and even Cooper admitted his order may not survive long in a higher court.

  Also yesterday, a judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked that state’s  near-total abortion ban triggered by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.  Like Florida, lawyers argued that Kentucky’s Constitution protects the right to an abortion. But in November, voters will be considering a law that would say there is no state constitutional right to abortion.

  President Biden yesterday called the Supreme Court decision on Roe “destabilizing” and “challenging the right to privacy.”

Advice to the Wise: CNN reports that Cassidy Hutchinson, the blockbuster witness this week before the House January 6^th Committee, was the subject of attempts to influence her testimony.

  CNN reports that Hutchinson is one of two witnesses who told the committee they had been contacted by people associated with former President Trump who may have been trying to intimidate them. 

  The NY Times reports that Trump’s political organization and his allies have paid for or promised to pay the legal fees of more than a dozen witnesses called by the January 6^th committee, raising still more questions of influencing. Hutchinson had a lawyer paid by Trump until she fired him. 

  Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said in a speech this week in California that Trump’s involvement in a plot to overturn the 2020 election was “even more chilling and more threatening than we could have imagined.”

  “We have to choose. The Republican Party cannot be both loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution,” Cheney said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “We stand at the edge of an abyss and we must pull back. We must pull back.”

The War Zone: Russian missiles hit a residential tower and a recreational center southwest of Odessa, Ukraine killing at least 19 civilians and injuring dozens of people.

  The attack came a day after the Russians abandoned their occupation of Snake Island in the Black Sea. Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “A terrorist country is killing our people. In response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight civilians,” 

The Obit Page: Sonny Barger, the founder of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club and career criminal, has died of cancer at age 83.

  Barger founded what was first known as the Oakland Hells Angels, a motorcycle club he said was inspired by the 1953 Marlon Brando movie “The Wild One,” in which a motorcycle gang takes over a small town.

  His club grew to have members all over the country.

  Barger didn’t just play a bad guy, he was one. In 1972, he and three others were acquitted of murdering a Texas drug dealer and setting a home on fire. In 1973 he was sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of narcotics and a weapon by a convicted felon. His list of arrests and convictions goes on, but you get the idea. He lived the outlaw life. 

  In a message he asked to be posted on his Facebook page after his death, Barger said, “I’ve lived a long and good life filled with adventure. And I’ve had the privilege to be part of an amazing club.” — Arnold Skolnick, who on a short deadline of a few days created the bird on a guitar neck poster for the 1969 Woodstock music festival, has died in Amherst, Massachusetts at age 85. His poster became one of the most famous pop culture images ever. 

The Spin Rack: Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, was sworn in yesterday as the 116th Supreme Court justice. She’s the first black woman to serve and joins the liberal minority in an ideologically divided court  — Professional basketball player Brittney Griner goes on trial today in Russia on charges of bringing cannabis-based vaping cartridges into the country. She has a nearly 100 percent chance of being convicted. 

Crypto Queen: Thinking of putting your money into the ether of crypto currencies to make fast money? Consider this.

  Ruja Ignatova, dubbed the “Cryptoqueen” after founding OneCoin, has the distinction of making the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list after disappearing into the ether with $4 billion of crypto buyers’ money. OneCoin turned out to be a pyramid scheme, not a currency.

  Ignatova was last seen in 2017 getting on a flight from Bulgaria to Greece without any luggage. She had the money to buy what she needed when she got there. 

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