SCOTUS shakes up the campaign finance world- POLITICO

3 BIG STORIES YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF TODAY …

1. DEPRESSING MILESTONE — Today, the U.S. officially surpassed 1 million Covid deaths since the start of the pandemic. AP’s Carla Johnson puts the devastating figure into perspective: “The confirmed number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 336 days. It is roughly equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined. It’s as if Boston and Pittsburgh were wiped out.”

Related reading: “How Often Can You Be Infected With the Coronavirus?” by NYT’s Apoorva Mandavilli

2. BIDEN TO REDEPLOY TROOPS IN SOMALIA — President JOE BIDEN this morning said the U.S. would return troops to Somalia, reversing a decision by former President DONALD TRUMP’s that pulled all U.S. forces from the country, NYT’s Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt report. “In addition, Mr. Biden has approved a Pentagon request for standing authority to target about a dozen suspected leaders of Al Shabab, the Somali terrorist group that is affiliated with Al Qaeda, three of the officials said.”

— The context: “Together, the decisions by Mr. Biden … will revive an open-ended American counterterrorism operation that has amounted to a slow-burn war through three administrations.”

3. SCOTUS SIDES WITH CRUZ ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE — The Supreme Court this morning sided with Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) in a big campaign finance ruling that “struck down a limit on the amount of post-election funds that can…

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