SCOTUS sides with Biden on border; Republican field narrows

In a dispute over who controls the southern border, the Supreme Court narrowly found in favour of the Justice Department, ruling that federal border agents could cut down razor wire that Texas officials had installed. Two conservative justices joined the liberal minority to overturn a lower court’s decision. Since 2021 Texas has spent billions of dollars on barriers to deter migrants.

“We’re not a country of coronations,” said Nikki Haley, after some Republican lawmakers called Donald Trump the “presumptive nominee” following Ron DeSantis’s exit on Sunday. Mr DeSantis, the popular governor of Florida, immediately endorsed Mr Trump. Most of the other former candidates have done the same, including Tim Scott, a senator of South Carolina, Ms Haley’s home state.

Kamala Harris, the vice president, kicked off a “reproductive-freedoms” tour in Wisconsin on Monday, the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade, the decision recognising the constitutional right to abortion that was overturned in 2022. It coincides with new measures introduced by Joe Biden that increase access to contraception. Democrats are hoping abortion rights will be a winning issue for them in 2024.

E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation case against Donald Trump encountered several hiccups on Monday. The judge delayed the trial by one day after several people felt ill, possibly because of covid-19 exposure. Mr Trump also had to remind his attorney that he could not testify on Tuesday as scheduled because he needs to attend the New Hampshire primary.

Parents in Florida demanded that Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, resign from a school board following revelations that she and her husband, Christian Ziegler, slept with another woman. Earlier this month Florida’s Republican Party ousted Mr Ziegler as chairman after the woman accused him of rape. Last week police cleared him of rape charges, but may charge him with voyeurism.

Thousands of academics began a five-day strike on the first day of the spring semester classes at California State University, the largest staff walkout ever at an American university. The union has been negotiating on behalf of almost 29,000 faculty since May, seeking a 12% pay rise which Cal State says it cannot afford. The strike will affect some 460,000 students across 23 campuses.

What can the results of the Iowa caucuses—a quirky contest that Donald Trump dominated—reveal about Mr Trump’s prospects for a general election? The Economist’s county-level analysis of his vote share shows where he might be vulnerable. College-educated voters represent one weak spot: in Iowa’s ten most educated counties, Mr Trump won 42% of the vote, compared with 66% across the ten least educated ones.

Daily quiz

In 2020, the combined age of the two leading presidential candidates on election day was 151, a record. Which election saw the previous highest combined age for the two leading candidates?

Every weekday we’ll quiz you on one question about American politics. The weekly winner, chosen at random, will be announced here on Fridays. Email your answers to [email protected].

The winner of last week’s quiz was Niharika Mittra.

Figure of the day

60%, the tariff that some members of Donald Trump’s circle have proposed to slap on imports from China. Read our leader about why business should fear a second Trump term.

Heard on the Hill

“The only reason he’s speaker is because our conference is so desperate.”

—Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, casting doubt on Mike Johnson’s fortunes

Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election.

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