Biden Hosts Early Juneteenth Celebration Amid Legal and Political Moves

President Biden and Vice President Harris led an early Juneteenth celebration at the White House featuring notable performers. As Supreme Court rulings approach, a legal challenge is weakening the SEC's authority, while various domestic issues, from university protests to congressional races, dominate current U.S. news.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden, in early Juneteenth party, vows to keep fighting for Black Americans' freedoms

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated the Juneteenth holiday early on Monday with a White House concert that included singers Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle and rapper Doug E. Fresh. Biden signed a law in 2021 that made June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. It commemorates the day in 1865 - after the Confederate states surrendered to end the Civil War - when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform a group of enslaved African Americans of their freedom under President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

Analysis-As Supreme Court decisions loom, a legal assault is weakening SEC's power

A legal assault on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is chipping away at its powers to oversee Wall Street and is likely to intensify with two imminent Supreme Court rulings. A U.S. appeals court last week overturned a major SEC rule imposing stricter oversight of private funds, in a fresh blow for Democratic Chair Gary Gensler's ambitious agenda to boost transparency and stamp out conflicts of interest on Wall Street.

California public university academics end pro-Palestinian strike under court order

Thousands of University of California academic workers who went on strike at six campuses protesting administrators' response to pro-Palestinian protests returned to the job on Monday under court order, but their union vowed more protests to come. An Orange County Superior Court judge late on Friday granted a temporary restraining order sought by the university, which asserted that the walkout stemmed from non-labor issues and that it violated the no-strike clause in the union's contract.

Supreme Court's Alito appears to back US return to 'godliness' in secret recording

Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in a secret recording made public on Monday by a liberal activist can be heard agreeing with the sentiment that the U.S. should return "to a place of godliness." Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the recording that activist Lauren Windsor posted on social media and provided to the media outlet Rolling Stone.

Hunter Biden jury deliberations resuming on Tuesday

The jury will resume deliberations on Tuesday in the case of Hunter Biden, the U.S. president's son accused of lying about his drug addiction to illegally buy a gun in 2018. Jurors deliberated for an hour on Monday and were due to resume their discussions at 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT).

James Lawson, US civil rights leader who championed nonviolence, dies at 95

James Lawson, a prominent civil rights leader whose advocacy of nonviolent protest influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and helped shape the 1960s movement to outlaw discrimination in the U.S., died at 95 on Sunday, his family said. Lawson, who King once described as "the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world," died of cardiac arrest en route to a hospital in Los Angeles, according to the Washington Post, which cited his son.

Battle for Congress: Republicans pick favorites in Nevada, South Carolina

Republican Sam Brown will try to walk away with his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday in Nevada, one of four states where voters will make their party picks for the November general election. Brown, a former U.S. Army captain backed by Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, hopes to fend off two rivals, including Donald Trump's former U.S. ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter, in a battle that could impact Republican hopes of winning Senate control.

Baltimore Port key channel reopens following bridge collapse

Federal agencies said on Monday they have restored full access for commercial maritime transit through the Port of Baltimore after the removal of 50,000 tons of debris from the March 26 collapse of the Key Bridge. The cargo ship Dali crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March in Baltimore, killing six people and paralyzing a major transportation artery for the U.S. Northeast. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a survey on Monday certified the riverbed as safe for transit and said the Fort McHenry Federal Channel had been restored to its original operational dimensions of 700 feet wide and 50 feet deep.

Former Trump lawyer Giuliani posts bond in Arizona election case

Former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Monday that he posted a $10,000 bond in Arizona on charges he tried to subvert the 2020 election results in the state. Giuliani, a former New York mayor, said on his America's Mayor Live social media show that he had posted his bond and had been fingerprinted and had a mugshot taken at the Maricopa County sheriff's office.

Planned Parenthood shooting suspect in Colorado loses appeal over forced medication

A man charged with killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2015 can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in the hope of making him competent to stand trial, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a trial judge's finding that involuntarily medicating Robert Dear, 66, who has been diagnosed with delusional disorder, was substantially likely to restore him to competency was "not clearly erroneous."

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