The Supreme Court is stuck with Donald Trump, whether the justices like it or not, Axios SCOTUS expert Sam Baker writes.

• Why it matters: The court may have no real way to avoid a starring role in the 2024 campaign — or to shield itself from the constant firestorm that swirls around Trump.

Almost no one in politics has managed to escape that maelstrom undamaged.

• That's bad news for the high court at a time when its seams are more visible than they've been in decades. The court was already under fire from the left, divided internally on the right and losing its luster with the public.
• "There's no winning," Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller told Axios. "There's a sense in which the cases are bigger than Trump ... In the past, any one of these cases probably would have been fatal to a candidate."

What's happening: Legal experts from all over the ideological spectrum expect that the court will soon agree to hear the dispute over whether Trump can be on the ballot when Colorado holds its GOP primary.

• The justices have already agreed to hear a separate case challenging some of the charges against Jan. 6 rioters, which has indirect implications for Trump's Jan. 6 prosecution.
• And special counsel Jack Smith has asked them to rule quickly on Trump's claims that he's immune from prosecution because he was president.

🔎 Between the lines: Experts say the court will have a hard time finding escape hatches that would let it resolve these cases while ducking the biggest questions.

• In Smith's case, agreeing to move quickly means the court's work will be under the microscope in the heat of campaign season. Trump is sure to latch onto even the most incremental decisions against him.
• But moving slowly would be a de facto win for Trump: His goal is to delay this prosecution until after the election, hope he wins, and then get the Justice Department to simply drop the case.
• Democrats are already livid with the court's conservative majority over Roe v. Wade and recent ethics controversies.

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Some conservative activists have begun calling former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley — whose parents were Indian immigrants — "Nimarata," her first name, rather than Nikki, the middle name she has used most of her life.

• It's reminiscent of the way Trump made a point of using then-President Obama's middle name, "Hussein," Axios' Sophia Cai reports.

At the Turning Point Action booth at Turning Point USA's "AmericaFest" for MAGA youths in Phoenix last weekend, a tally board for a V.P. straw poll showed the choices as:

• KARI [Lake] ... TUCKER ... [Kristi] NOEM ... DESANTIS ... or NIMARATA NIKKI RANDHAWA HALEY. (Photo)

🖼️ The big picture: Even as the GOP recruits more minority candidates — this year's initial field for the presidential race was historically diverse — more Republicans are latching onto Trump's racially divisive rhetoric.

• Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, has won fans among white nationalists for promoting the Great Replacement Theory.
• Ramaswamy has called Haley "lying Nimarata Randhawa," referencing her family name before marriage.

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The "misery index" — the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate — is at its lowest point since the pandemic hit in March 2020, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.

• The index is ending 2023 at 6.8% — well below the 8.3% average for the century to date.

Why it matters: The double whammy wrought by COVID — first a huge spike in unemployment, then a big rise in inflation — now seems to be over.

• Both indicators are reverting to low levels indicative of a healthy economy.

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The giant "2024" numbers that'll light up once the ball drops on New Year's Eve were delivered to Times Square yesterday.

• The digits are 7 feet high, with 602 LED bulbs.

Harvard President Claudine Gay "will update her dissertation correcting ... instances of inadequate citation," the university announced last night.

• Harvard said a review discovered "examples of duplicative language without appropriate attribution" in Gay's 1997 Ph.D. dissertation, The Boston Globe reports.
• In reaffirming support for Gay on Dec. 12 despite criticism of her House testimony about antisemitism, Harvard said she was "proactively requesting four corrections in two [journal] articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications."

Why it matters: The updates to her dissertation mean scrutiny of Gay will continue.

Between the lines: Gay, "is accused of lifting words, phrases and sentences from other sources without proper attribution. Most ... are written in technical and academic jargon, not meant to convey sweeping or original ideas," the N.Y. Times explains.

• "But her papers sometimes lift passages verbatim from other scholars and at other times make minor adjustments, like changing the word 'adage' to 'popular saying' or 'Black male children' to 'young black athletes.'"

🏛️ Also yesterday, the House education committee expanded its investigation of Harvard to include plagiarism allegations against Gay.

• "An allegation of plagiarism by a top school official at any university would be reason for concern, but Harvard is not just any university," the committee's chair, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), wrote.
• "Our concern is that standards are not being applied consistently, resulting in different rules for different members of the academic community."

Keep reading ... See the committee's letter.

• Go deeper: See her C.V.

The minimum wage is set to increase in 22 states on Jan. 1, Axios Markets co-author Emily Peck writes.

• Why it matters: For Americans making minimum wage, it's an automatic raise — but it also ripples out. Typically, increasing the wage floor for the lowest earners pushes up pay for those who make a bit more than the minimum, as employers have to adjust pay scales upwards.

🔎 Zoom in: In 13 states (including California, Ohio and South Dakota), wages are going up because they're indexed to inflation.

• Three more states and D.C. are set to raise the wage later in the year.

The last time the federal minimum wage ($7.25) was increased was in 2009.

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Getting over the river and through the woods might be challenging this holiday season if the sleigh you're driving is an electric vehicle, Axios transportation guru Joann Muller writes from Detroit.

• Why it matters: EV road trips require advance planning — especially in colder weather, which can significantly diminish battery range.

Joann's tips:

1. When calculating your departure, factor in charging time so you don't miss any holiday festivities.
2. Know how many miles it'll take to get to your destination and where you're going to charge.
3. Err on the side of caution when estimating how far a charge will take you: An EV can lose battery range just sitting out in the cold.
4. Save time by setting up billing accounts on the major charging network apps before you go.

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The word "penthouse" connotes something more than just the top floor of a building. But real estate listings in the ultra-competitive New York City market are getting awfully liberal with their "penthouses."

• Curbed, which spotted this trend, found a quote-unquote penthouse that was simply the third floor of a three-floor building — advertised with luxury amenities that include "four ceiling fans."
• Another unit, marketed as a "spacious penthouse," was an 850-square-foot apartment on the fourth floor.