The House on Friday passed a ban on assault weapons, 217-213, a largely symbolic step as the measure is all but certain to fail in the Senate.
Why it matters: The legislation comes after a spate of massshootings in the past few months. Friday marks the first House vote on an assault weapons ban in nearly three decades.
A California man charged with attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh also spoke of killing other justices, according to an FBI affidavit filed this week in court.
The big picture: Nicholas John Roske, 26, told police that he traveled to Maryland on June 8 to kill Kavanaugh, following the release of a draft opinion showing that the Supreme Court planned to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Survivors of 9/11 and their family members on Friday blasted former President Donald Trump and pro golfers for participating in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf event at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. this week.
Why it matters: Victims of the September 11 attacks have been protesting the LIV Golf event due to the circuit's ties to Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were citizens of Saudi Arabia.
President Biden is nominating Julie Rikelman, the attorney who represented the abortion clinic in the Supreme Court case that resulted in the overturning Roe v. Wade, to serve as judge in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
The big picture: Rikelman currently works as the senior director of U.S. litigation for the Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights organization that is behind several active lawsuits challenging state abortion bans.
Much of this week has been spent talking about the "r" word. A more precise description of where things stand is the "s" word: stagflation.
Why it matters: The latest data on wages and inflation, combined with last quarter's contraction, point to a mix of flat growth paired with persistently high inflation.
Former President Trump on Thursday displayed the presidential seal on multiple items during an event connected to the LIV Golf tournament, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: The Saudi-backed LIV Golf event has come under intense scrutiny as critics say that Saudi Arabia is looking to boost its global image by funding the tour.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito has mocked world leaders who criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade as he railed against what he called "a growing hostility to religion" in the West.
Why it matters: The Catholic justice's remarks at a religious freedom conference in Rome mark the first time he's publicly commented on last month's majority ruling that effectively ended all federal protections on abortion.
The principal of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school where 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman has been "fully reinstated," effective immediately, three days after being suspended, her attorney said Thursday.
Driving the news: Robb Elementary School principal Mandy Gutierrez was placed on administrative leave with pay on Monday. But this has now been lifted after a review and she "has already reported to work," her San Antonio-based attorney Ricardo Cedillo said in an emailed statement.
A California man was sentenced to six months' home confinement over death threats he made to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a phone message three days after the U.S. Capitol riot.
The big picture: Eugene Huelsman, 59, of Thousand Oaks, pleaded guilty last April to one count of transmission of a threat in interstate commerce after "threatening to kill" Gaetz in a "profanity laced voicemail" message at the congressman's district office in Pensacola, Florida, per a Justice Department statement.
The Biden administration will begin offering updated COVID booster shots in September, Axios confirmed on Thursday.
Why it matters: Though efficacy data is so far limited, the updated boosters are expected to serve stronger protection against the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 —the most transmissible subvariant yet. It has quickly overtaken previous strains to become the dominant version in the U.S. and much of the world.
A teen abortion rights advocate has raised $1 million in less than 72 hours after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted an image of her and linked out to a report in which he mocked activists.
Driving the news: Gaetz said at a student summit the event in Tampa, Florida, "nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb," according to the report.
24 House Republicans voted to send the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act package to President Biden's desk, defying GOP leadership's orders last night to oppose the bill in response to Democrats striking a reconciliation deal with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
Between the lines: Eight of those Republicans represent Ohio, where Intel has plans to spur massive economic development with a new factory that will be subsidized by the new semiconductor funding.
House leaders are preparing to call lawmakers back to Congress the week of Aug. 8 to pass the Senate's $740 billion climate and deficit reduction package, according to lawmakers and aides.
Why it matters: The current timeline speaks to the Democrats' confidence that they can pass a reconciliation package this August and hand President Biden a victory on some — but not all — of his priorities.
New York's hottest club has it all: a former congresswoman who served during the Nixon administration, an incumbent who is actually from another region of the state, and roughly a dozen other Democratic candidates no less colorful.
Why it matters: The newly drawn 10th Congressional District, which covers parts of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, has attracted a crowded primary field that encapsulates the generational, racial and ideological divisions of the modern Democratic Party.
