--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, June 30th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to the show, Georgia. Let's dive into the news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In another landmark ruling from the conservative majority Supreme Court, this time related to protecting free speech and religious expression, the court ruled 6-3 in favor today of a Christian graphic designer who maintains that her religious beliefs prevent her from working on projects related to same-sex weddings.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, saying, "The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs, speaking messages with which the designer disagrees."
--:-- Georgia Howe: And also in a 6-3 decision today, the court put a stop to President Biden's $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans.
--:-- John Bickley: The justices in the majority said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan and it leaves borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume in the fall.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The court also said that the administration needed Congress's endorsement before undertaking such a costly plan. It also rejected arguments that a 2003 law dealing with student loans, known as the HEROES Act, gave Biden the power he claimed.
--:-- John Bickley: A new Florida law that prohibits some Chinese citizens from purchasing property in the Sunshine State has been deemed unconstitutional by the Justice Department.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The DOJ claims it violates the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The law, signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also restricts land purchases from some citizens of several other countries, including Iran and Russia.
--:-- John Bickley: Republican lawmakers in other states have proposed bills that would ban Chinese citizens from buying or owning property, but Florida's was the first to be signed into law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Parkland deputy who fled during a high school massacre was found not guilty of neglect of a child and culpable negligence on Thursday.
--:-- John Bickley: Jurors spent about three days deliberating the case of former Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Peterson, who remained outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during a gunman's six-minute attack on February 14, 2018.
--:-- [Audio clip of Scott Peterson speaking]
--:-- Scott Peterson: I got my life back. We've got our life back after four and a half years. Five and a half. It's been an emotional roller coaster for so long. Endless nights. Talking to Mark one in the morning, trying to understand and learn this whole case. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, family members of the students who lost their lives that day had this to say.
--:-- [Audio clip of family members speaking]
--:-- Family Member: For our families we still feel he should be haunted every day by his failure to act. I know that he caused he contributed I should say to the deaths of my daughter Gina her schoolmates and their teachers. His inaction contributed to the shock and devastation of students and teachers at that school. His inaction contributed to the pain of our entire community.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we don't understand how this jury looked at the evidence that was presented and found him not guilty.
--:-- John Bickley: A tech industry trade group is challenging a new state law in Arkansas that requires parental permission for minors to create social media accounts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: NetChoice, a group whose members include Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday over the measure signed by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April.
--:-- John Bickley: The requirement is set to go into effect September 1st. The lawsuit argues that the new requirement violates the constitutional rights of users and singles out types of speech that would be restricted.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Former Vice President and 2024 GOP candidate Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
--:-- John Bickley: We need to make sure that we provide the Ukrainian military what they need to push back on and defeat Russian aggression here because it will make it clear to Russia to China and to any other nations in the world that would seek to redraw international lines by force.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Health officials have started tracking infections caused by a rare but potentially deadly germ that sickened babies and triggered a baby formula shortage last year.
--:-- John Bickley: A group that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed Thursday to add infections caused by chronobacter to the list of serious conditions reported to the agency.
--:-- Georgia Howe: States will now be asked but not required to notify the CDC about chronobacter infections, although they usually comply. Such infections are required to be reported only in two states, Minnesota and Michigan.
--:-- John Bickley: Madonna is back at home and on the mend after being rushed to the hospital with a serious bacterial infection.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The 64-year-old pop star was taken to the ICU after she was reportedly found unresponsive in New York last Saturday.
--:-- John Bickley: The news comes after sources revealed that the singer's management team held a crisis Zoom meeting the next morning amid fears that she might not survive the bacterial infection that saw her admitted to intensive care.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for tuning in, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me, John.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be right back after this break.
--:-- [Audio clip of commercial]
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