Trump just suffered his most humiliating court defeat so far

Donald Trump has had plenty of opportunities to learn that when you get to appoint judges, it can help legal rulings go your way. The US Supreme Court has nine justices, six of whom were appointed by Republicans – and three of those by Trump himself.

Those appointments have arguably been the most consequential achievement in Trump’s two terms. Still, as this week has shown, this doesn’t mean that Trump will always get his way.

Three Supreme Court rulings went against the US President on Monday, including one on his alleged sexual misconduct and one on his attempts to reshape the Federal Reserve, the US’s central bank. One went in his favour.

Caroline’s mother Christine has called for an apology from the press and police over how she was treated before she died.

She made a documentary called Search for the Truth for Disney+ last year

Caroline Flack’s death has become a tragic parable about cancel culture, responsible use of social media, the intrusion of the tabloid press, the sensation of reality TV and the misunderstandings and stigmas about mental ill health, from which we were all supposed to learn and in which each of us who watched on as voyeurs was complicit. 

The summer’s first full Moon is lighting up skies across the country this week.

To see the Stawberry Moon, look towards the south-east after sunset. That will be after around 9.20pm on Tuesday, 30 June. The moon will track southwards through the night, setting in the south-west before sunrise on Wednesday.

Angry people on social media claim the current high temperatures are nothing special but they ignore the long-term trends

Millions of Britons could pay higher energy bills than they need to if they do not submit a meter reading before the price cap rises on Wednesday.

The price cap, set by the regulator Ofcom, is set to rise, affecting 5.3 million households on a standard tariff.

How much the price cap will increase from Wednesday, 1 July.

The average gas and electricity bill will jump to £1,862 a year.

There are currently 27 fixed deals available that are cheaper than July’s price cap, with average savings of £285, so act now to save yourself money.  The price cap is going up, but your bills don’t have to.

People are future-proofing their homes for sustainability and to protect themselves against unpredictable energy costs

People who have a strong chest and back may be less likely to have a heart attack, according to a new study.

Researchers said that people with strong pecs, back muscles and torso are also less likely to die within the next decade.

Experts from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said that it is “not just about being muscly”, as the size of people’s muscles was not linked to their risk of a heart attack or early death.

It said that all kinds of exercise, and not just strength training, can improve muscle density.

It is fascinating that people’s skeletal muscle could be linked to their risk of having a heart attack. I am now personally interested in exercises like cycling, planks and pilates, which I enjoy and may have an effect on these muscles.

What are the things that you do to keep yourself healthy? Your mind might jump straight to the run you do a couple of times a week, or the choices you make about what to eat, the amount of sleep you manage to get each night or the friends who make you feel seen and heard. And you’d be right. These are all things that keep us healthy.

But staff say many people treat their shops like a tip.

Here they share the most useful donations they get, and the
ones that drive them mad.

The quality of donations over the last year has diminished.

Claire Stockman, head of retail for St
Luke’s Hospice [pictured], says many donations include used items from fast fashion like Boohoo and Primark, which they cannot sell for more than £2, if at all.

of what comes into St Luke’s Hospice is unsellable, Stockman says.

She adds its soiled, damaged beyond
repair or smelly.

Harriet, a volunteer at Crisis in Dalston,
says people bring in clothes that are dirty and stained – things that they cannot sell
on Vinted.

She also sees dirty kitchenware and technology that no longer works.

There was a box donated after someone’s family had passed and in it were all these medals. I researched them and the whole collection ended up going for £2,340…

A good donation is anything new with tags on, anything that hasn’t been opened, or higher quality items.

Items that have been well looked after are more likely to sell and generate a better price for charity too.

Harriet adds that knick-knacks and wine glasses are surprise hits in her branch.

Here, psychologists, career consultants and sleep experts give their best advice on how
to beat the gloom that the
work week is looming…

Pave the way on Friday

Psychologist Maria-Teresa Daher-Cusack says to wrap up tasks and not to leave big or difficult things for Monday. And write a to-do list for the next week so you know what to expect when you return after the weekend.

Get outside early

Doctor Naheed Ali says getting out on a Sunday morning – not sleeping late – helps regulate the circadian rhythm that can become skewed over the weekend.

On Sunday spend time away from technology to allow yourself a personal reset away from doom scrolling.

Put yourself in the best position to rest by avoiding large meals, screens and caffeine.

If possible don’t stack your Mondays with high-pressure tasks.

Don’t just save joyful things for the weekend. On lunch breaks, try to do something you enjoy.

If the Sunday scaries are constant, listen to them. If every Sunday fills you with dread and nothing seems to quell it it’s worth asking if it’s the job, the culture or the career itself. No one should spend half their weekend bracing for impact… ” says Victoria McLean

But no country’s energy system is 100 per cent secure and large-scale blackouts, although rare, are possible.

Here’s how to prepare, and what could happen, if we do have a blackout.

If the UK’s power went down tomorrow, these are the ways it is likely to impact you first.

For EV owners that are already on the road, Professor Keith Bell, who works in electricity planning, recommends that those with an EV with reasonable charge use it as a generator, like your own store of electricity.

In the case of the power system going down, petrol isn’t a totally safe option as queues at petrol stations could be huge and places are likely to run out of fuel.

The longer the power takes to return the worse things are likely to get. In 2021 Storm Arwen physically damaged power lines across the UK.

During the 1977 New York blackout, which lasted 25 hours, there was civil unrest, resulting in widespread looting and arson, although intense heatwaves are thought to have exacerbated the situation.

To get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, but in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.

A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended.

The Government recommends opting for torches over candles, for safety reasons.

Using screens in a way that benefits your child’s development is key and balancing educational content and entertainment with offline activities ensures a well-rounded routine.

For younger children, try scavenger hunts, garden games and nature walks. For older ones, hikes
and biking trips.

Designated screen-free times helps children develop a routine that balances screen use with other activities.

It’s an excellent way
to bond and develop critical thinking skills.

Getting creative, through drawing, painting or model construction, enhances cognitive skills and offers an alternative to screens.

Arrange playdates or group activities with friends, or for older kids try an overnight camping trip in the garden.

Showing that you value offline time encourages your children to do the same.

Implement a reward system where screen time is earned through positive behaviour. 

Discuss the importance of balancing screen time with your children so they understand the reasons behind the rules.

Trump has proven largely ineffective at passing bills through Congress, despite having a majority in both chambers. He seems to have little patience for the wrangling or for the details, and so appears to have largely given up on that route, preferring Executive Orders which risk being overturned easily by a future president.

That has left him and his Republican Party colleagues looking to the Supreme Court for any kind of long-term legacy. It has delivered in spades. It was the Supreme Court that struck down the landmark Roe v Wade ruling on abortion, allowing red states to reintroduce abortion bans. It was the Supreme Court that granted Trump near-total immunity from criminal prosecution. And it was the Supreme Court that threw out most of the civil rights protections for Black voters earlier this year, allowing their political power to be gerrymandered away.

Trump has appointed plenty of other judges while in office, but it is the Supreme Court he seems to take the most pride in.

But even Trump’s Supreme Court seems to have its limits. On Monday, the Court handed Trump one major victory, granting him power to fire officials at almost every regulatory agency – throwing out key protections Congress had introduced against just that.

But, using somewhat tortured reasoning, it drew the line at firing officials at the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates. Given Trump’s almost obsessive focus on the Fed, and his burning desire for lower interest rates, that was a ruling sure to infuriate the notoriously thin-skinned President.

The worst news out of the Court, however, regarded Trump’s personal affairs. In 2022, the writer E Jean Carroll sued Trump for defamation and battery, alleging he had sexually assaulted her in a department store in the 1990s, and then had defamed her by claiming she made up the attack to promote her book.

A New York jury found in her favour, deciding on the balance of probabilities that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and had then defamed her by claiming otherwise. She was awarded $5m (£3.8m) in a civil judgement, with a separate defamation case awarding her a further $83m (£63m). Trump has denied sexually assaulting her.

Trump is an immensely wealthy man who has enriched himself and his family further over the course of his two presidencies. Forbes estimates his net worth today at north of $6bn (£4.5bn). He could easily pay Carroll and make the case go away – but to date, she hasn’t received a penny.

Instead, Trump has tried to use the courts to make the rulings against him disappear. Trump took the $5m judgment against him to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, and lost. He tried to get a larger panel of appeals judges to consider his case, and they refused.

His last resort was the Supreme Court – which had given him so much already – but now they have also refused him. The $5m judgment stands, as does the adjudication.

Trump has no legal avenues left, and has no further ways of wriggling out of handing over the cash (he still has appeals outstanding related to the $83m judgement).

Trump is famously self-interested, often to the point of narcissism. He has claimed that “I alone can fix it”, that he is among the greatest presidents of American history, and that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and other top international honours.

There’s no way Trump will take this ruling as anything other than deeply personally. Other presidents might try to pretend they don’t care, or that it doesn’t matter. Trump can’t play that game. Everyone knows this matters to him a great deal.

“This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for, and should never be allowed to happen to another President, or Candidate to be!” the President wrote on Truth Social. “It was tailormade, and this Injustice cannot be allowed to stand!”

For Carroll, the biggest part of her win might be how much the President cares, and will continue to care, about her victory over him in the courts he helped appoint.