The Distraction Index

This week saw the Supreme Court fundamentally reshape executive power and individual rights through three major 6-3 decisions: limiting nationwide injunctions against executive orders, allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood through Medicaid, and establishing parental opt-outs from LGBTQ-inclusive school materials. Simultaneously, the administration conducted the largest B-2 bomber strike in history against Iranian nuclear facilities while advancing a massive reconciliation bill through the Senate in a dramatic 51-49 vote, though intelligence assessments contradicted claims about the strike's effectiveness. The government also eliminated 85% of Voice of America's workforce and terminated Temporary Protected Status for 348,000 Haitian nationals, representing significant institutional and humanitarian shifts. These structural changes to constitutional interpretation, foreign policy, and domestic governance proceeded largely while public attention cycled through threats of additional Iranian strikes and disputes over ceasefire announcements—events that generated headlines but lacked the institutional permanence of the week's judicial and executive actions.