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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. The Supreme Court cleared the way for New York prosecutors — but not Congress — to see President Trump’s financial records.
The first ruling was a major statement on the scope and limits of presidential power, rejecting the argument that Mr. Trump is immune from criminal investigations while in office.
“No citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority, which included Mr. Trump’s two appointments, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, but not Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The same 7-2 majority sent Congress’s request to see the Trump tax records back to a lower court. Still, the documents will most likely be shielded from public scrutiny until after the election.
A third decision, a 5-4 ruling that nearly half of Oklahoma is an Indian reservation in the eyes of the criminal justice system, gave Native Americans one of their most consequential legal victories in decades.
2. The coronavirus is reaching terrifying new levels in the U.S.
The country set its fifth record in nine days for new cases, with more than 59,400 reported on Wednesday. New cases are trending up in 36 states — especially in those that were among the first to reopen. They are more or less steady in 12, and decreasing in only two: Vermont and New Hampshire.
Under pressure from scientists around the globe, the World Health Organization acknowledged the importance of two forms of transmission: aerosolized microdroplets that can linger in indoor air for hours, and infected people who do not have symptoms.
3. When a vaccine arrives, who should get it first?
A federal committee is working on a ranking system for what may be an extended U.S. rollout, giving priority to vital medical and national security officials first, then to essential workers, and then to groups at high risk, like the older adults and those with existing conditions.
Black and Latino people have also disproportionately fallen victim to Covid-19, and the committee is debating how to get them closer to the front of the line without fanning their distrust — or provoking legal challenges. Above, testing in San Jose, Calif.
At a clinic in Queens, N.Y., 68 percent of people tested had coronavirus antibodies. Doctors wonder if that might help the neighborhood, one of the hardest hit in the city, withstand a second wave.
4. An additional 1.3 million Americans filed for unemployment claims, the latest indication of the stress on the economy.
The number of new claims has been declining since early April, but the weekly total is still far above records from previous downturns. Above, a shuttered El Paso, Texas, last week.
Hiring nationwide has picked up in recent weeks, but most of the payroll gains were because many workers who had been temporarily laid off were rehired. The pool of workers whose jobs have disappeared and who must search for new ones has grown.
5. The mayor of Seoul was found dead by the police hours after his daughter reported him missing, the authorities said.
There were no immediate details about Park Won-Soon’s death. His disappearance came just days after a secretary in his office told the police that he had sexually harassed her since 2017, the authorities said. Mr. Park, 64, had left his daughter a cryptic “will-like” message, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Mr. Park, pictured above in 2014, was considered the most powerful official after South Korea’s president and a contender to replace President Moon Jae-in.
6. Joe Biden began to lay out his economic agenda.
The former vice president laid out a populist vision with the tagline “Build Back Better,” part of an effort to confront President Trump on his strongest issue in polling. Mr. Biden called for major new spending, including a $300 billion increase in government spending on research and development of technologies, and stricter new rules to “Buy American.”
Yesterday, allies of Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled a sweeping set of joint policy recommendations. Signature progressive programs like “Medicare for all” did not make the cut, but other polices were pushed to the left.
7. North Atlantic right whales are now on the Red List of critically endangered species, the last classification before they are gone from the wild. There are fewer than 450 left.
The species, which get their name because they float after being killed and thus are considered the “right whale” to hunt, are dying at an alarming rate from ship strikes and entanglement in lobster and fishing gear.
The government’s fisheries division found that the population could not withstand even a single death a year, yet 31 deaths have been reported since 2017. The task of responding now falls on President Trump, but his recent efforts in support of Maine lobstermen could clash with saving the right whale.
8. Two big steps for women.
Joy Reid, who rose to television fame as a commentator on liberal politics and race, will become the host of a new nightly show on MSNBC. She becomes one of the few Black women to anchor a major American evening news program.
“Evening and prime-time news has been a universe of white men really since I was growing up,” Ms. Reid said in an interview. She cited Gwen Ifill, Deborah Roberts and Carole Simpson as role models.
And a woman has become a Green Beret for the first time. The Pentagon opened all combat jobs to women in 2016, including the secretive Special Operations community she will join after graduating from Army Special Forces training. Her name and biographical information are being withheld by the Army for personal and operational security reasons.
9. Without the usual glitz and glam, you may have missed that it’s Paris Fashion Week.
But the shows have gone on! Online, at least. Couture fashion — exquisite handmade clothes, meant for the very few — is usually displayed in exclusive shows in Paris. Now all of us are invited to see digital presentations up close and very personal.
Vanessa Friedman, our chief fashion critic, did miss the energy of the runway, but found perspective. The streamed couture shows were more like mini-movies, music videos, trailers or perfume commercials, but, she wrote, “Thinking of these digital shows as shows is probably wrong in the first place. They were more like a joint declaration of belief: We’re still here!”
10. And finally, an ode to an old friend.
Steve Martin first got to know Carl Reiner while making “The Jerk.” They had lunch together nearly every day for five or six years. For Mr. Martin, there were two perfect people in his life: “One is that son of a bitch Martin Short,” he writes in an essay. “The other is Carl Reiner.”
Reiner, who died last week at 98, taught Mr. Martin about film and comedy. But it was his advice on a completely different subject that Mr. Martin cherishes.
“One of your qualities stands out that is not often cited in the legacies of the famous: decency,” Mr. Martin writes. “All along, it was your decency that infused and invigorated your incredible gifts.”
May your evening be courteously irreverent.
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