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    Local Sheriffs Are Turning Their Jails Into ICE Detention Centers

    <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–>Butler is among the largest of a growing number of county jails and other local facilities that now house a sizable chunk of ICE detainees, many of whom have never been charged with a crime. The agency’s use of these facilities has more than doubled since President Trump took […] More

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    Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date

    <!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–>Whether you care about horoscopes or not, you probably know your zodiac sign. You’ve probably known it for most of your life.–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> –>1. Earth’s wobble<!–> –><!–> [–><!–>The Earth wobbles like a top. A spinning top starts to wobble soon after it […] More

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    Maps: Tracking Tropical Storm Tapah

    Sources and notes <!–> [–><!–>Tracking map Tracking data is from the National Hurricane Center. The map shows probabilities of at least 5 percent. The forecast is for up to five days, with that time span starting up to three hours before the reported time that the storm reaches its latest location. Wind speed probability data […] More

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    Read the Appeals Court’s Decision

    USCA Case #25-5261 Document #2133109

    Filed: 09/02/2025

    Page 9 of 29

    No. 25-5261

    United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

    September Term, 2025

    228 (“not revisit[ing] Humphrey’s Executor”), with id. at 286 (Kagan, J., concurring in the judgment with respect to severability and dissenting in part) (noting that the Federal Trade Commission, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “can issue regulations, conduct its own adjudications, and bring civil enforcement actions in court all backed by the threat of penalties”); compare Collins, 594 U.S. 220, 250-251 (2021) (recognizing that Seila Law did “not revisit () prior decisions”) (quoting Seila Law, 591 U.S. at 204), with id. at 285 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (noting that the Federal Housing Finance Agency may initiate administrative proceedings, issue subpoenas, and impose monetary penalties); see generally Free Enter. Fund, 561 U.S. at 483 (in case involving multimember board, declining to “reexamine” Humphrey’s Executor).

    Those repeated decisions of the Supreme Court to preserve Humphrey’s Executor with full knowledge of the executive powers exercised by the Commission—the same ones relied on by the government here as purported grounds for discarding precedent-control this court’s decisionmaking. For when a precedent of the Supreme Court “has direct application in a case,” as Humphrey’s Executor does here, “the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly controls, leaving to [the Supreme] Court the prerogative of overruling its own decisions.” Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484 (1989). A lower court is bound by that rule “even if the lower court thinks the precedent is in tension with ‘some other line of decisions”” or that “intervening decisions from [the Supreme] Court had ‘implicitly overruled’ [the precedent.]” Mallory v. Norfolk S. Ry. Co., 600 U.S. 122, 136 (2023) (quoting Rodriguez de Quijas, 490 U.S. at 484); see also Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 237 (1997) (“We do not acknowledge, and we do not hold, that other courts should conclude our more recent cases have, by implication, overruled an earlier precedent.”).

    The Fifth Circuit has faithfully hewed to this rule with respect to the very precedent at issue here-Humphrey’s Executor. Illumina, Inc. v. Federal Trade Comm’n, 88 F.4th 1036, 1047 (5th Cir. 2023) (“[A]lthough the FTC’s powers may have changed since Humphrey’s Executor was decided, the question of whether the FTC’s authority has changed so fundamentally as to render Humphrey’s Executor no longer binding is for the Supreme Court, not us, to answer.”). This court likewise has repeatedly acknowledged that its role is to apply Supreme Court precedent, not to declare its overruling. See National Security Archive v. CIA, 104 F.4th 267, 272 n.1 (D.C. Cir. 2024) (“This Court is charged with following case law that directly controls a particular issue[.]”); Shea v. Kerry, 796 F.3d 42, 54 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (quoting Agostini, 521 U.S. at 237); Sierra Club v. EPA, 322 F.3d 718, 725 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (quoting

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    Pickleball Courts Taking Over Tennis Courts, as Seen From the Sky

    <!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–>In its place are four pickleball courts, attached to what is now called the Santa Monica Pickleball Center.–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–>Our analysis is not comprehensive: By trade group estimates, there are […] More

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    10-Minute Challenge: A Monet in Venice

    Today, we bring you another focus challenge, in which we invite you to spend uninterrupted time looking at one piece of art. This painting, by the Impressionist master Claude Monet, takes us to Venice in 1908, in front of the Palazzo Ducale — “The Doge’s Palace.” (These challenges are published on the first Monday of […] More

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    Maps: Tracking Tropical Storm Kiko

    Sources and notes <!–> [–><!–>Tracking map Tracking data is from the National Hurricane Center. The map shows probabilities of at least 5 percent. The forecast is for up to five days, with that time span starting up to three hours before the reported time that the storm reaches its latest location. Wind speed probability data […] More