NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-19-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

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Shae Stevens Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President Trump is calling for the impeachment of a federal judge who ordered a halt to his efforts to deport Venezuelan migrants who were accused of being gang members. More from NPR's Nina Totenberg. Chief Judge James Boasberg halted the deportation for two weeks after Trump, in a highly controversial move, used the 1798 Enmi Aliens Act to deport the alleged gang members. Reacting to the temporary ruling, Trump said that Boesberg, a former prosecutor with a history of bipartisan support, should be impeached, labeling the judge crooked, lunatic, and a

troublemaker and agitator. In response, the normally reserved Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, issued a statement of his own. For more than two centuries, he said, it's been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreements concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. President Trump's powers over independent government agencies faces a test amid his

efforts to fire two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. More from NPR's Scott Horsley. The two commissioners, Al Robodoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, have promised to fight their dismissal in court. They say, under current law, they can only be removed for cause. Bedoya accuses the president of trying to turn the FTC, which enforces antitrust law, into a lapdog for his rich golfing buddies. If you take away the independence of this agency, the only people it will help is the powerful.

The only people it will help is the powerful. The only people it will help are billionaires. The FTC's Republican Chairman, Andrew Ferguson, says he has no doubt about the president's constitutional authority to fire commissioners. Ferguson says the commission will continue its work to protect consumers and police anti-competitive behavior. Scott Horsley, MPI News, Washington. A federal judge in Washington has blocked enforcement of President Trump's executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military. Judge Ana Reyes says the order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates

their constitutional rights. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams are back on Earth following an unplanned nine-month long stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA program manager Steve Stitch says the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule returned the crew without any major problems. Overall, I would say it was a really clean, undocking reentry and landing. The Dragon vehicle performed extremely well, didn't really have any issues to work. You know, little things, a GPS outage

that we reset a filter on and things like that. Astronauts Wilmore and Williams arrived at the International Space Station aboard a Boeing Starliner capsule that had been deemed too unsafe to bring them back to Earth last June. You're listening to NPR. A federal judge in Maryland is temporarily blocking Elon Musk's Doge team from dismantling the U.S. agency for international development. U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang says the move is likely unconstitutional because

Congress was given no say in the matter. Chuang has ordered Doge to allow U.S. aid to reoccupy its headquarters in Washington and restore email and other access for thousands of employees pending further court action. The temporary ruling came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than two dozen U.S. aid workers. Major League Baseball's regular season is underway, with an opening series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in Tokyo. The Dodgers beat the Cubs 4-1 in the first victory of the season, as NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.

Coming home to Japan to play in front of 42,000 noisy fans at the Tokyo Dome was a big deal even for superstar show Heyotani. He spoke to MLB Network with his interpreter. I was actually pretty nervous. It's been a while since I was nervous, but today definitely felt it. Otani is a huge celebrity in Japan where an average of 12 million people watched the five games of last year's World Series. Japanese players are more prominent than ever in Major League Baseball, Chicago, and LA. Between them, roster five, including both starting pitchers in Game 1. And Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki will make his MLB debut in Game 2. For the rest of the league, baseball's official opening day is next week.

Becky Sullivan, NPR News. U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street on Asia Pacific markets. Shares are mixed. This is NPR News. There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire Shares are mixed. This is NPR News.