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Clarence Thomas presses Dem operative Marc Elias in high-stakes Supreme Court clash
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas grilled prominent left-leaning lawyer Marc Elias this week about a campaign finance law, joining several other conservative justices in voicing skepticism about the law’s restrictions on certain types of political donations.
Thomas’ questions centered on a Federal Election Campaign Act provision that limits how much money state and national political parties can spend when coordinating with specific candidates.
Republicans who brought the lawsuit argued that the coordinated political spending is protected speech and should not be limited by Congress, while Elias, a prolific election lawyer, argued to the high court that Congress has a right to cap those expenses.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before swearing in Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Thomas and Elias appeared at odds during oral arguments, as Thomas questioned why coordinated political spending between parties and candidates should face limits — particularly when it covers routine campaign expenses like hotels or food.
«Just so I’m clear, is there any First Amendment interest in coordinated expenditures?» Thomas asked.
Elias replied «yes,» but said a party paying an individual campaign’s bills was «symbolic speech» that is not fully protected and should be subject to standard contribution limits.
«I still don’t understand what you’re saying,» Thomas told Elias. «If the party coordinates with the candidate and pays the bill, does that have a First Amendment protection or is it simply, as you say, a bill-paying exercise?»
«It is speech,» Elias said, but he said court precedent says the bill payment «is treated as a contribution, and, therefore, though it is speech, it is subject to limit by Congress in how much can be spent on engaging in that speech.»
Congress currently limits individual donations that can be made to a political candidate, and the Supreme Court has in past cases balanced allowing First Amendment-protected political donations while also allowing caps as a safeguard against outsize influence and corruption in elections.
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Democratic lawyer Marc Elias attacked Trump’s executive orders on «60 Minutes.» (Screenshot/CBS)
But the high court is now being asked to potentially allow millionaires and billionaires to make unlimited individual contributions to a state or national political party, with the expectation that the money would be redirected and spent in coordination with a particular candidate. The decision could upend the current political spending landscape ahead of the 2026 midterm elections by allowing rich donors to flood state or national political parties with more money.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, another skeptic of Elias’ argument, pointed out that outside groups can accept limitless funds and influence elections and that state and national parties appear disadvantaged because of it.
«I am concerned that a combination of campaign finance laws and this court’s decisions over the years have together reduced the power of political parties, as compared with outside groups, with negative effects on our constitutional democracy,» Kavanaugh said.
«That’s the real source of the disadvantage. You can give huge money to the outside group, but you can’t give huge money to the party, so the parties are very much weakened,» he said.
The Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (AP/Jon Elswick)
The case was brought to the high court by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and two former Ohio Republican candidates: now–Vice President JD Vance and former Rep. Steve Chabot.
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The liberal justices leaned toward wanting to avoid further undoing campaign spending limits, which have eroded over time under Chief Justice John Roberts.
«Every time we interfere with the congressional design, we make matters worse… our tinkering causes more harm than good,» said Justice Sonia Sotomayor. «Once we take off these coordinated expenditure limits, then what’s left? What’s left is nothing. No control whatsoever.»
supreme court,campaigning,elections
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Con la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, Irán endurece el régimen y profundiza la confrontación con EE.UU.
La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei como nuevo líder supremo de Irán profundizó el control de las fuerzas más conservadoras y el avance de la Guardia Revolucionaria (CGRI) en el poder político y militar del gobierno de los ayatollah en plena guerra de Medio Oriente.
El mensaje es claro: el “régimen teocrático” se endurece aún más en abierto desafío a los Estados Unidos e Israel y deja una clara advertencia a cualquier atisbo de protesta popular.
Leé también: Medio Oriente: Trump intenta minimizar el impacto económico, pero escala la tensión por el precio del petróleo
“Todo apunta a que la Guardia Revolucionaria ejerce el poder político y militar. El presidente Masoud Pezeshkian quedó relegado a figura simbólica», dijo a TN el analista internacional Federico Gaón, especializado en temas de Medio Oriente.
Según el experto, “Mojtaba Jamenei ejercía de enlace entre la oficina del ayatollah y el CGRI desde antes de la muerte de su padre”, Ali Jamenei, asesinado el 28 de febrero en el inicio de la guerra.
“Con Mojtaba al mando, la Guardia Revolucionaria quiere mostrar unidad y cerrar filas en pos de preservar la supervivencia del régimen”, advirtió.
La Guardia Revolucionaria acumula poder
La Guardia Revolucionaria, también conocida como Pasadarán, fue creada tras el triunfo de la Revolución Islámica en 1979. Su objetivo principal es salvaguardar el gobierno de amenazas internas y externas.
Se estima que cuenta con 150.000 efectivos entre fuerzas terrestres, navales y aéreas. Bajo su mando está la milicia voluntaria conocida como Basiji, utilizada para contener protestas y a la oposición. Además, tiene a su cargo a la fuerza Quds, el cuerpo de elite encargado de las operaciones en el exterior y nexo con los grupos proxy proiraníes como Hezbollah, Hamas o los hutíes yemeníes.
El humo se levanta en Teherán tras un ataque estadounidense-israelí (Foto: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
Es, en la práctica, un ejército paralelo.
La Guardia Revolucionaria, según fuentes citadas por Irán Internacional, un medio especializado en noticias iraníes con base en Londres, presionó por la designación de Mojtaba Jamenei, a pesar de que la tradición chiíta rechaza la sucesión dinástica.
Leé también: La guerra en Medio Oriente golpea a China: petróleo, asociación estratégica con Irán y tensión geopolítica
De esa manera, este cuerpo militar de élite se convirtió virtualmente en el nuevo y monopólico gran poder político y militar del país, en un escenario complejo que deja muchísimas dudas en el terreno.
“La eliminación sistemática de los escalafones más altos del régimen por parte de los Estados Unidos e Israel va a dificultar el proceso de toma y ejecución de decisiones”, dijo Gaón.
Para el analista, “en este momento lo más probable es que distintas unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria estén actuando de forma independiente o descentralizada, cual organización terrorista. Tienen más de 30 unidades o comandos que operan de forma independiente, decidiendo cómo continuar la guerra y qué hacer para mantener el orden interno”, añadió.
Amenazas de represión interna: “Orden de disparar a matar”
Salar Abnoush, un comandante de la Guardia Revolucionaria, citado por The Media Line, un portal estadounidense especializado en Medio Oriente, advirtió que cualquier iraní que salga a las calles a protestar será atacado bajo “orden de disparar a matar”.
Según el reporte, numerosos iraníes lanzan “espontáneamente” distintas consignas contra el gobierno desde sus casas y en la oscuridad de la noche. Pero nadie se anima a protestar en las calles, como en las masivas movilizaciones de diciembre y enero que dejaron miles de muertos.
Leé también: Los kurdos quieren combatir a los ayatollah: contactos con la CIA y el riesgo de una guerra civil en Irán
Según el reporte, las fuerzas Basiji desplegaron armas pesadas y vehículos blindados en lugares clave de Teherán listas para reprimir a manifestantes.
Un mensaje de SMS al que tuvo acceso el portal y distribuido entre la población de Karaj, a 40 kilómetros de Teherán, alertó sobre eventuales protestas. “Cualquier disturbio callejero será tratado como cooperación con el enemigo”, indicó.
Las unidades de la Guardia Revolucionaria y de los Basiji se reposicionaron en estadios, complejos deportivos, escuelas y mezquitas después de que sus cuarteles fueron blanco de los ataques estadounidenses e israelíes. El nuevo líder supremo de Irán, Mojtaba Jamenei, que sucede a su padre, el ayatollah, Alí Jamenei, que murió en el inicio de los ataques de Estados Unidos e Israel. (Foto: EFE – Mehr)
Más confrontación y línea dura
La designación de Mojtaba Jamenei y el aumento del poder de la Guardia Nacional son un claro mensaje de que el gobierno de los ayatollah eligió la confrontación total con Estados Unidos e Israel.
Es el triunfo de la línea dura del poder central.
“El mundo extrañará la era de su padre”, dijo a Reuters un funcionario iraní. “Mojtaba no tendrá más remedio que mostrar un puño de hierro. Incluso si el conflicto termina, habrá una severa represión interna”, advirtió.
En ese escenario, Irán no piensa cesar la guerra. «Mojtaba es aún peor y más de línea dura que su padre”, dijo Alan Eyre, exdiplomático estadounidense y especialista en Irán, citado por The Israel Times.
El mensaje es inequívoco: la Revolución Islámica está dispuesta a todo para preservar el poder.
Irán, Israel, Donald Trump
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Ukraine sending drone team to help protect US bases in Jordan at Washington’s request, Zelenskyy says
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Ukraine has dispatched interceptor drones and a team of drone specialists to help protect U.S. military bases in Jordan as fighting tied to the Iran war intensifies across the region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times.
Zelenskyy told the NYT that Washington made the request on Thursday, and Kyiv moved swiftly to respond, dispatching the drone team the following day.
«We reacted immediately,» Zelenskyy said. «I said, yes, of course, we will send our experts.»
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for confirmation.
IRAN PROXIES WAGE WAR ON ISRAEL, THREATEN US INTERESTS AS IRAQ SLAMMED FOR NOT DISARMING THEM
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi stands during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rob Jetten on March 8, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images)
The reported request comes as the U.S. and Gulf states work to intercept hundreds of Iranian missiles and thousands of drones launched in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian drones have struck the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, including an attack on a tactical operations center in Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members.
The high volume of Iranian Shahed drone launches has drawn attention to the cost disparity between the relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft and the far more sophisticated air defense systems, such as Patriot missiles, used to intercept them.
PETRAEUS CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA OVER ALLEGED INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT TO IRAN
According to the Department of the Army’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget estimates, the cost for a single Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor is $3.8 million.
A basic Iranian-designed Shahed drone costs roughly $20,000 to $50,000, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
CENTCOM ISSUES SAFETY WARNING TO IRANIAN CIVILIANS AS REGIME USES ‘HEAVILY POPULATED’ AREAS FOR LAUNCHES
FPV training drones are seen on a wall at the Killhouse Academy drone training center on March 4, 2026, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
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«Iran knows it can’t match the U.S. or Gulf states plane for plane or missile for missile, but it can change the economics of the conflict,» said Patrycja Bazylczyk, an associate director with the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, in an interview with Military Times.
«Drones let Iran punch above its weight, keep its adversaries off balance, and project power across the region at minimal cost. We can’t just play whack-a-mole in the sky,» she added. «Shooting drones down one by one is the most expensive way to fight the cheapest threat. We have to go after the roots – the launch sites, the production lines, and the storage depots.»
ukraine,volodymyr zelenskyy,middle east,drones
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‘Serious concerns’: GOP sounds alarm on taxpayer funds going to ‘high risk’ universities vulnerable to CCP
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FIRST ON FOX: The House Select Committee on China is calling on the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pause a $67 million research security initiative, citing concerns that the universities leading the effort have engaged in problematic collaborations with Chinese military-linked institutions.
In a Tuesday letter to NSF Interim Director Brian Stone obtained by Fox News Digital, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, urged the agency to suspend funding for the «Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem» (SECURE) initiative and conduct a comprehensive review of the participating institutions.
Moolenaar’s concern, expressed in the letter, is that several of those participating institutions, including Texas A&M University and the University of Washington, receive tens of millions from the grant despite ties to the CCP that the committee finds concerning.
«The program is intended to develop tools, data infrastructure, and analytic capabilities for assessing research-security risks,» Moolenaar wrote. «Faculty from UW and TAMU – the same institutions now charged with designing systems and processes to protect taxpayer-funded research – have been collaborating with People’s Republic of China (PRC) defense research and industrial base entities, many of which are on various U.S. government national security entity lists, as detailed in this letter.»
NEW REPORT SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘STAGGERING’ AMOUNT OF FOREIGN MONEY POURING INTO US UNIVERSITIES
The House Select Committee on China is sounding the alarm about taxpayer dollars going to CCP-linked entities. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
The committee alleges the University of Washington collaborated on research with Chinese institutions tied to the CCP’s military and defense sector, including entities on U.S. government watchlists. The committee cited joint publications with PLA-linked organizations, China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and universities known as the «Seven Sons of National Defense,» involving work in AI, advanced materials and other dual-use technologies.
The letter describes the university’s ties as «high-risk research relationships with PRC military- and defense-linked institutions.»
The University of Washington is designated to be awarded $50 million from the grant.
Additionally, the note claims that Texas A&M partnered with Chinese defense-affiliated institutions, including the PLA’s National University of Defense Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology. They argue these collaborations, some involving federally funded research, raise national security concerns and could conflict with U.S. research security and export control laws.
Texas A&M is designated to be awarded $17 million from the grant.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED FAKE RESEARCH THREATENING US TAXPAYER-FUNDED SCIENCE
«Institutions entrusted with U.S. taxpayer dollars to safeguard the nation’s research enterprise should not simultaneously enable foreign adversaries to access and exploit sensitive research and taxpayer-funded scientific advances,» Moolenaar wrote.
«These joint research projects detailed above raise serious concerns about allocating taxpayer dollars for research security initiatives to institutions like TAMU and UW—institutions with documented and ongoing failures in safeguarding U.S. research from PRC defense entities,» Moolenaar said, adding that it is «troubling that U.S. institutions that collaborate with China’s defense research and industrial base, its nuclear weapons programs, its mass surveillance infrastructure, and institutions on U.S. government national security lists are being entrusted to co-lead the development of national research security frameworks.»
Moolenaar’s letter urges NSF to assess whether the institutions are complying with a range of federal requirements, including National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33) Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, and U.S. export control laws.
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Chinese honor guards prepare for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)
Moolenaar also raised concerns about potential violations of the Wolf Amendment, an appropriations restriction in effect since 2012 that prohibits NASA from engaging in bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government or Chinese government-affiliated organizations in NASA-funded research without specific certification.
Moolenaar’s letter concludes with four requests for NSF to respond to by March 31.
First, the congressman asks if NSF will pause its SECURE contract funding to conduct a «full review» and also requests that NSF provide the committee with the results of that review.
The letter also requests that NSF «provide the award and contract details for the SECURE Initiative» and asks whether NSF believes that «it is appropriate for universities to use U.S. taxpayer funds to conduct research in collaboration with known Chinese defense research and industrial base entities or entities implicated in human rights violations?»
«Will NSF update its terms and conditions to expressly prohibit the use of award funds to conduct research with, or for the benefit of, any entity that appears on a publicly available U.S. government entity list?» the last question in the letter asks. «If not, please explain why.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Texas A&M University for comment, as well as Stanford University, who is mentioned in the letter as being a participant in the program.
«NSF will respond directly to the Committee’s letter,» an NSF spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a University of Washington spokesperson said, «SECURE is a dynamic program that is not prescriptive but can assist universities of all sizes and other research entities to address research security concerns. The University of Washington takes research security and integrity very seriously. The UW directs significant effort and resources toward being leaders in research security and integrity, and goes above and beyond SECURE’s guidance and recommendations. Given the evolving landscape, we are regularly reviewing our guidelines and protocols.»
Fox News Digital has extensively reported on rising concerns about the CCP’s attempts to infiltrate the education system in the United States, including a sweeping report last year warning that America’s top universities have been quietly partnering with Chinese artificial intelligence labs deeply embedded in Beijing’s surveillance and security state and in some cases co-authoring thousands of papers with entities tied to oppressive efforts against Uyghur Muslims.
china,politics,education,campus radicals
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