50501 FRIDAY BRIEFING | JUNE 5, 2026
A week of pushback in Congress and the courts, and a reminder that pushback is not the same as victory.
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Before we get into this week’s briefing, we want to check in with you. We slowed down our posting schedule after hearing from some readers that Monday-through-Friday emails were starting to feel like too much. We never want this newsletter to feel like noise in your inbox, but we also know a lot is happening and some of you may want more frequent updates again. So I’d rather ask directly than guess: is the current pace working for you, or would you like to hear from us more often?
Monday, June 1
In Denver, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from taking the first major step toward dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Boulder-based climate and weather lab that employs roughly 830 people. Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson issued a preliminary injunction stopping the transfer of NCAR’s supercomputing center to the University of Wyoming, and his opinion found the move was likely retaliation against Colorado tied to the president’s public dispute with Governor Jared Polis. The injunction holds while the broader case proceeds, and the judge signaled the administration is likely to lose it.
Separately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2 to 1 that the Pentagon’s policy barring transgender people from military service is likely unconstitutional and, in the majority’s words, appears driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group. As ABC News reported, the ruling blocks the expulsion of the current service members who sued, though it leaves the administration free to keep barring new transgender recruits while the case continues, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled an appeal to the Supreme Court. The protection is real but narrow, and the fight is not over.
Tuesday, June 2
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the Justice Department would not move forward with its proposed anti-weaponization fund, the roughly $1.8 billion pool (officially $1.776 billion) that grew out of the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS and that critics in both parties had described as a slush fund to compensate Trump allies, potentially including January 6 defendants. Pressed on whether the department would ever revive it, Blanche answered “Correct,” and said plainly that the department was not moving forward. The reversal followed weeks of bipartisan backlash that had stalled unrelated immigration funding, and it stands as one of the clearer examples this year of sustained public and congressional pressure changing an administration decision.
Wednesday, June 3
For the first time, the House passed a war powers resolution aimed at the Iran war. The vote was 215 to 208, with four Republicans, Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tom Barrett, and Warren Davidson, joining every Democrat. The measure directs the president to end U.S. hostilities with Iran absent congressional authorization. It is a concurrent resolution, so its legal force is disputed and it now moves to the Senate, but it puts the chamber on record after months in which similar efforts had been blocked or had failed on tie votes. The constitutional point underneath it is straightforward: the power to take the country into sustained war belongs to Congress, not to a single office.
The same evening, at a White House Rose Garden dinner, the president said he would nominate Blanche to be permanent attorney general, with the formal nomination to follow Thursday. Blanche, the president’s former personal defense lawyer, has led the department in an acting capacity since Pam Bondi’s firing in April, and during that time he secured an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and rolled out the anti-weaponization fund. The nomination requires Senate confirmation, and the same Republicans whose support he now needs were among those most angered by the fund. The concern raised by critics is less about his past clients and more about whether the department’s priorities now track the president’s personal interests.
On the same day Blanche’s department was retreating from the fund, the president undercut that retreat. Asked whether he might revive it later, he told reporters he would have to ask the lawyers and called the fund a beautiful thing, according to The Hill’s account of the week. That is why the fund is best described as wounded rather than buried.
A federal court also let a major LGBTQ case move forward. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston rejected the Justice Department’s argument that 16 states and the District of Columbia lacked standing to challenge its directives on gender-affirming care, finding instead that the orders amounted to an effort to reinterpret federal law in order to intimidate and harass providers. The lawsuit, which targets executive and DOJ directives that have prompted subpoenas to hospitals and clinics, can now proceed.
Abroad, Israel and Lebanon announced a U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework after a fourth round of direct talks in Washington, contingent on a complete halt to Hezbollah fire and the creation of pilot zones controlled by the Lebanese armed forces. The framework was announced even as cross-border strikes continued, and Israel’s defense minister said his military would keep operating in southern Lebanon for now. This is an attempt at de-escalation, not a settled peace.
Thursday, June 4
The House broke with the president on foreign policy a second time. Members passed a Ukraine aid and Russia sanctions package 226 to 195, forcing it to the floor over Republican leaders’ objections through a discharge petition. Eighteen Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in support. The bill provides more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid, makes up to $8 billion available in defense loans, and imposes new sanctions on Russia’s energy and financial sectors. PBS NewsHour described it as the House’s second major foreign policy break with the president in a single week. Its odds in the Senate are steep, and its sponsors acknowledge it is partly intended to pressure that chamber to act.
Hezbollah rejected the ceasefire framework announced the day before, with its leader insisting that any truce begin with a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, and fighting continued. Diplomats are scheduled to meet again the week of June 22.
Trump announced nearly $700 million in support for the coal industry, invoking the Defense Production Act. The package directs about $425 million to upgrade 13 existing coal plants across ten states, nearly $200 million in Energy Department grants toward two new plants in Alaska and West Virginia and a restart in Maryland, and $75 million toward a coal export terminal in Oakland, California. The administration framed it as energy security and lower costs. It lands the same week a court had to intervene to protect one of the country’s leading climate research institutions, a contrast worth keeping in view.
The Kennedy Center began complying with last week’s court ruling. Its general counsel directed staff to remove the president’s name from signage, letterhead, and materials by June 12, after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on May 29 that the board lacked authority to rename the institution and also blocked its planned two-year closure. The center said it is evaluating its legal options. Public institutions are governed by rules that don’t bend to a single person, which is the principle the ruling restored.
Thursday also brought a marathon Senate session on the immigration-enforcement bill. Senators rejected multiple attempts to permanently bar the anti-weaponization fund. The amendment from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer failed 49 to 50, with three Republicans, Susan Collins, Dan Sullivan, and Jon Husted, crossing to support it. A separate effort to redirect the fund toward Capitol officers injured on January 6 also failed, as did an amendment to block construction of the White House ballroom, though nearly half a dozen Republicans voted with Democrats on the ballroom question.
Friday, June 5
Shortly before 5 a.m., the Senate passed the roughly $70 billion immigration-enforcement package 52 to 47, funding ICE and Border Patrol through the end of the president’s term. Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to bypass a filibuster, and Senator Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote no. The bill carries no guardrails on the anti-weaponization fund and no money for the White House ballroom, the security funding for which Republicans had earlier scrapped. It now heads to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson plans to take it up next week. The funding had been delayed for months after Democrats demanded policy changes following fatal shootings of protesters by federal agents earlier this year.
What to Watch
The Iran war powers resolution moves to the Senate, which advanced its own version last month. The Ukraine bill faces a difficult path in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes and the president’s signature. The $70 billion immigration package now goes to the House for an expected vote next week. The anti-weaponization fund is officially abandoned by the Justice Department, but the president has declined to rule out reviving it, so the underlying litigation still matters. Blanche’s confirmation will test how much the fund cost him with Senate Republicans, and at least one Democrat has already said no. The Kennedy Center faces a June 12 deadline to remove the president’s name while it weighs an appeal, part of a broader reshaping of Washington’s public spaces that also includes new spending at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Wins This Week 🎉
There were real ones, and they are worth naming plainly even where the larger fights continue.
The House put itself on record against the Iran war for the first time, a symbolic but genuine rebuke that now pressures the Senate.
The House passed Ukraine aid and Russia sanctions over its own leadership and the president, with 18 Republicans crossing.
The Justice Department was forced to abandon the anti-weaponization fund after bipartisan backlash, even though it has not been permanently barred and the president has not ruled out reviving it.
A federal court protected NCAR, one of the country’s major climate research centers, from being broken up.
An appeals court blocked the immediate removal of transgender service members who have already met every standard of service.
A federal judge cleared the way for 16 states and D.C. to keep challenging the administration’s pressure campaign against gender-affirming care providers.
The Kennedy Center began restoring its rightful name after a court found the rebrand unlawful.
The thread connecting these is that organized, sustained pressure, in courtrooms and in congressional offices, changed outcomes this week. The wins are partial, and the immigration bill that cleared the Senate this morning is a reminder that pressure is not yet winning everywhere. But partial wins are still wins, and they accumulate.
Three of this week’s fights now move to chambers where your voice carries weight: the Iran war powers resolution and the Ukraine package head to the Senate, and the immigration-enforcement bill heads to the House. If you have time for one call to your representatives this week, which fight would you prioritize?
2 - 3 X a week is good. Also, when a major event happens.
2-3x per week would be my preference. But take care not to burn yourselves out😊 I really appreciate your posts!