Up First from NPR - SCOTUS Upholds Birthright Citizenship, Colorado Primary Results, World Cup Heats Up

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

The Supreme Court closed out its term with a major loss for President Trump, upholding birthright citizenship, though the justices handed him plenty of power elsewhere over the course of the year. Democratic socialist Melat Kiros pulled off a stunning upset in Colorado's primary, unseating a 15-term congresswoman in the third such win for the left in a week, while an anti-Washington mood also cost longtime Senator Michael Bennet his bid for governor. And the World Cup enters its knockout rounds as a brutal heat wave grips the East, putting more than 100 million people under extreme heat warnings and setting up some of the biggest games to be played in dangerous conditions.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yukhananov, Padma Rama, Barrie Hardimon, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Zac Coleman.And our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.(0:00) Introduction(02:07) SCOTUS Upholds Birthright Citizenship(05:54) Colorado Primary Results(09:35) World Cup Heats UpSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The Supreme Court, oh, God, oh, that's right. My name does not start with M. Jeremy when Michelle starts, it generally means this Michelle. This one. This one. Okay, fine. Take two. The Supreme Court rejected President Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship.

The court affirmed the long-held understanding of the Constitution. Why did some justices argue for exceptions to the rule? I'm Michelle Martin. That's Steve Inskeep. And this is up first from NPR News. Democratic Socialists won another Democratic Party primary. Maylat Keros defeated the incumbent in the voting for a Colorado House seat. Denver!

What does this say about the direction of the Democratic Party? Also, World Cup teams try to endure the knockout bracket while also trying not to be knocked out by the heat. Stay with us. You've got the news you need to start your day. The Supreme Court's term is over, and its final ruling was a loss for President Trump. The ruling says almost all children born in the U.S. are citizens, according to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The majority of justices rejected Trump's executive order seeking to change that. NPR's Kerry Johnson covers the Supreme Court and is on the line. Carrie, good morning.

Good morning, Steve. What was the justice's reason to block the president? Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority ruling here. He said it was not a close call. He talked about birthright citizenship being part of American law for generations. Robert said the framers. who drafted the 14th Amendment, extended a promise of citizenship to every free person in this land. And Roberts wrote, we keep that promise today. The chief was joined by the court's three liberals and Justice Amy Coney-Barrant.

Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately to say he would have struck down the president's executive order based on a federal law. Kavanaugh left open the possibility Congress could change it to put limits on babies born to people here illegally or on temporary visas. And if there was a surprise, it was that we had so many dissents on this birthright issue, which has been well understood for more than 150 years. Yeah, much closer case than people anticipated. What did the dissenters say? Justice Clarence Thomas filed a dissent of 91 pages, what experts tell me is one of his longest dissents. He says the court majority misunderstood the 14th Amendment.

He wanted to add a new requirement that parents be domiciled in the U.S. And Justice Sam Alito wrote to say, He worries about birth tourism, the idea that wealthy people from overseas will come to have children here on American soil. President Trump echoed that view in a post on social media. He actually congratulated China and its leader for what he called a massive birthright win. Remember, Trump took the rare step of going to the Supreme Court to hear arguments in this case, a sign of how important it was to him. But the justices never acknowledged his presence and it may have backfired. And again, a majority of the justices went with what would seem to be the literal meaning of the words of the 14th Amendment.

What are some of the other cases we learned about yesterday? The court says states can ban transgender girls and women from high school and college sports programs. They said those bans in about half the states do not violate the Constitution or a federal law that bars discrimination by schools that get federal funding. And for campaign finance, the court overturned a post-Watergate law that tried to limit coordination. between political parties and candidates. This case emerged during the Senate run of J.D. Vance, who's now the vice president. The Supreme Court says this is a free speech issue, that money is speech. Okay, so we've gotten to the end of the term.

What does all this leave you thinking as someone who covers the court? Well, the Supreme Court has handed President Trump and future presidents a lot of power to fire people in the federal government and reshape agencies we thought were independent. But Trump lost big in a few of the president. the cases that mattered most to him in the birthright case and with his tariffs. Longtime appellate lawyer, Cannon-Shan Mugam put it this way in a talk sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society yesterday. One emerging theme in some of these cases is that on issues of sort of broader significance, the quote-unquote conservative side is typically winning. On issues that are more specific to this

administration, the outcomes are sometimes different. And we're going to find out whether that pattern Holtz when the court returns for a new term in October. NPR's, Carrie Johnson, will be there covering the court when they return. Carrie, thanks for your reporting. Really appreciate it. Thank you. A Democratic Socialist in Colorado has defeated a 15-term member of Congress. That is just one of the upsets in the state's primary results Tuesday night. And Colorado Public Radio's Caitlin Kim is here to tell us about it. Caitlin, good morning. Good morning. Okay, wow, political newcomer, Malat Kiros defeated the long-term representative Diana DeGette. Tell us more about Kiroz.

So Malat Kiros is a 29-year-old Democratic Socialist. She's a lawyer who got fired for a post, she wrote, that criticized Israel over its actions in Gaza. And she hasn't apologized for that, you know, making several comments defending pro-Palestinia activists. So after that experience, she decided to challenge Democratic congresswoman Diana DeGette, who's been her representative for her entire life. Yeah. Now, Denver is a deep blue district, and she's expected to have a smooth glide path to Congress. But I will add, she's also really fired up voters here in the city who were looking for change, especially generational change.

This is what she had to say at her victory party. Denver is of all relinquish message. Were those voo-vozella's there at the end? I think those are air horns, actually. Air horns. Okay, thank you. But she was, you know, and she's also criticized the current leaders of the Democratic Party like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Okay, a couple of aspects to this win. One is her youth, a 29-year-old, beating a member of Congress who'd been there for almost 30 years. But it's also the label, Democratic Socialist. How much did that play a role here? Look, I think there are definitely younger voters in Denver who want to see their congressperson take more progressive stances, Medicare for All, ending aid to Israel. They just want more of a fighter, someone who will bring fresh ideas to Congress. But a lot of voters I spoke with also just thought it was well-past time for to get to pass the baton. You know, Republicans are already using Kuros's wind to say Democrats in the state have moved too far left.

But I'd actually use a Republican example. In 2020, Lauren Bobert came out of nowhere to challenge and beat a long-term Colorado incumbent whose constituents didn't think he was fighting enough or vocal enough. And now she's probably one of the most vocal and well-known Republicans in Congress. Now, the question here is will Kiros take on a similar role for Democrats? I want to ask about another primary in Colorado. Michael Bennett, Democratic Senator, well-known Democrat, ran for president at one time, ran for governor, and lost in the primary. What happened? Yes, the other big theme of the night was, I think, an anti-Washington one, and Bennett suffered from that. You know, he's been in the Senate since 2009. And people were asking, you know, what had he done? And more to the point, what did he done recently to fight Trump? I will add, a lot of voters like both Bennett and primary winner, Phil Weiser, you know, their policy stances were not very different. They're cut from the same political clause. Weiser's team actually came up with an effective slogan, wiser for Governor Bennett for the Senate.

And for voters who like both, you know, this was a way to have them both. Bennett's Senate seat is not up for re-election until 2028. As for the Republican primary for governor in Colorado, you know, that race is still too close to call. One other question here. Colorado has one of the toss-up seats that could decide the House. What happened there? Manny Rutnell, a young state lawmaker with Latino Heritage, beat out a more moderate candidate to face GOP incumbent Gabe Evans, who also has Hispanic roots. You know, this is expected to be a tough and expensive general election race.

Okay, Colorado Public Radio's Caitlin Kim in Denver. Thanks for a lot of important updates. Really appreciate it. Thank you. The World Cup has entered the knockout bracket. Yeah, that means one loss and you're out. The U.S. team faces off against Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight outside San Francisco. Other games are in the east in cities that face extreme heat warnings.

An NPR analysis finds that this issue was produced. predictable. NPR's Rebecca Herscher has this hot story. Rebecca, good morning. Good morning. I hope you're staying cool wherever you are. How many games will be affected by the heat wave? A lot. There are about a half dozen games between today and Sunday that are in places that will be extremely hot. Think weather that feels like it's over 100 degrees. Those games are in New Jersey, Atlanta, Kansas City, Miami, and Philadelphia. Now, the stadium in Atlanta has a roof, so that helps protect people. But the others do not. And the game in Philadelphia on July 4th is really shaping up to be the highest risk one. Paraguay is playing France. The weather service has already issued an extreme heat warning. The forecast is calling for high temperatures around 100 degrees that day. And humidity will make it feel even hotter. The humidity is also going to keep the temperature high even as the sun goes down.

So that warning actually runs all the way until 8 p.m. after the game is over. And it's not just the match itself. It's the side events, which also happen outside. So there's this giant outdoor watch party in Philadelphia. The organizers have shortened the hours for that because of the heat. Okay, sounds sensible. What else are people doing to keep safe? Well, I actually asked FIFA about that.

They're the organizing body for international soccer. And they said they did their best to schedule matches in the evening. Many of the menus in the southern U.S. do have roofs. And they're giving two extra water breaks per match to help players and officials stay hydrated. Yeah, I've seen that. But NPR found that those. measures don't alleviate the risk from heat. So we analyzed past weather conditions in World Cup host cities and found that more than a third of the tournament's matches are at high risk for dangerous heat and humidity.

And that analysis, it identified Philadelphia as one of the highest risk host cities and specifically noted the July 4th match in Philly was likely to take place in dangerous conditions. So this was foreseeable. And FIFA didn't respond to questions from NPR about individual match schedule. decision or about whether matches this week will have extra protections, things like cooling buses and misters and free cold water for attendees. Okay, so we don't know if they're going to take those extra steps. What can individuals take on their own? So drinking a lot of water is a really good first step. Don't drink too much alcohol. I talked to Daniel Vassilio about this. He's an expert on extreme heat and the human body at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. If you are outside tailgating all day,

alcohol consumption can help to dehydrate you. You're putting in a liquid, but you're not getting the actual effects of that liquid. He also recommends staying in the shade as much as possible, wearing loose clothing that covers your skin, protects it from the sun. And for folks who are older who have heart disease, he says think twice about attending the highest risk matches. Older people overheat more easily, and heart conditions put you at extra risk. So that group should really be extra careful. I appreciate to like that counterintuitive sounding advice. Long sleeves. I mean, that's really helpful. Just that simple step. It really does. Rebecca, thanks so much. Thanks. That's in Pierre's Rebecca Hersher. Okay, we need your help to create a time capsule

of American stories featuring you. Connect 250 is a new project from StoryCorps and Morning Edition. Celebrating America's 250th birthday. You get matched with a stranger from a different part of the country and you learn about each other's lives. The recording goes to the Library of Congress. showing future generations who we are as Americans right now, in our own words. Sign up for the experiment in Human Connection at Connect250.org. America, get ready to meet America. And that's up first for this Wednesday, July 1st. I'm Steve Inskeep.

And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yukonov, Padmaurama, Barry Hardiman, Mohammed Elberdisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziet Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. engineering support from Nisha Highness. Our technical director is Zach Coleman and our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.