Supreme Court hands Trump a big win and several defeats

**Janet Jaleel** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel, and in the early hours of Tuesday, the 30th of June, these are our main stories. The US Supreme Court hands President Trump a big win by expanding his powers to fire independent regulators. The number of dead from Venezuela's earthquakes rapidly approaches 2,000 as a desperate search for survivors continues.
Also in this podcast, as Wimbledon begins, tennis stars say prize money needs to be shared more fairly.

**Irina Sabalenka** (0:37)
As the world number one, I feel like I have to stand up and to fight for lower level players, for players who are coming back after injuries, the upcoming generation.

**Janet Jaleel** (0:52)
Monday was a dramatic day at the US Supreme Court with the justices handing President Trump a big win, greatly expanding his powers by allowing him to fire independent regulators.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:06)
That was really a big case because it gave strength to presidents and strength to the presidency, a very important case. It's been going on for almost 100 years, think of that, and this was the ruling that really topped everything by a lot today.

**Janet Jaleel** (1:21)
But the judges said this didn't apply to the US Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, reaffirming its independence from President Trump's much-vaunted goal of lower interest rates. And the court also declined to hear a case in which he was found guilty of sexual abuse and blocked his attempts to stop Americans voting by mail, which he has said without proof, allow fraud.
The judge's decision on mail-in ballots was welcomed by the senior Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, who says it's always been part of the democratic process.

**Hakeem Jeffries** (1:55)
Voting by mail has never been a partisan issue until Donald Trump decided to peddle conspiracy theories related to his own failures to win back in 2020
Donald Trump has decided that they're going to try to cheat to win. And the Supreme Court dealt a big blow to Donald Trump's scheme to rig the midterm elections.

**Janet Jaleel** (2:20)
Our North America correspondent, David Willis, told me more about these latest Supreme Court rulings, starting with that important victory for Mr Trump.

**David Willis** (2:28)
The Supreme Court justices scrapped a ruling by the court dating back nearly a hundred years, Jeanette, that the president of the United States doesn't have unchecked power to replace supposedly independent regulators, that's commissioners on regulatory agencies set up by Congress. And the court's decision amounts to what's been called a dramatic expansion of presidential power. It will give Donald Trump, and indeed all future presidents come to that, the power to remove and replace regulators from dozens of key government agencies with whom those presidents disagree.

**Janet Jaleel** (3:08)
But the Supreme Court has blocked Mr Trump's attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook.

**David Willis** (3:15)
That's right, they drew the line making the US. Federal Reserve an exception, if you like, when it came to President Trump's efforts to remove a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. It was a 5-4 decision by the conservative-leaning court, and this sent a lawsuit over Donald Trump's attempt to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Exchange Board back to a lower court, basically allowing her to remain in position whilst that litigation plays itself out. It's alleged by Donald Trump that Ms Cook committed mortgage fraud, but of course hanging over that whole case was the, were the particulars of the dispute being that Donald Trump had disagreed with recent decisions by the Federal Reserve not to lower US interest rates.

**Janet Jaleel** (4:07)
And the judges also ruled against the Trump administration's attempts to stop mail-in ballots.

**David Willis** (4:14)
Yes, by a majority of five to four, they rejected Donald Trump's attempt to bar state election officials from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day. And this is seen as a crushing defeat for Donald Trump. He's argued incessantly, albeit without evidence, that mail-in voting is susceptible to election fraud.
Responsible, he claims, for rampant election fraud, indeed. That ruling impacts about 30 states, but was especially closely watched here in California, where many Democrats, I think, will be breathing a sigh of relief tonight.

**Janet Jaleel** (4:53)
Finally, another blow for Mr Trump, with the court refusing to hear a case in which he was fined $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll.

**David Willis** (5:02)
Yes, the court declined to consider the president's attempt to overturn that 2023 civil judgment holding Donald Trump liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll. That verdict forced him to pay her a $5 million judgment plus interest. Now, Mr Trump is also planning to appeal its thought against a verdict by a different jury, which awarded nearly $84 million to E. Jean Carroll following a second defamation trial.