Good morning from Guantánamo Bay. Today, the Pentagon is holding just 15 prisoners at the post-9/11 wartime detention operation — the smallest in the history of the offshore enterprise. We broke the news yesterday. nytimes.com/2025/01/06/us/…

“The law of the deep state is effectively the law of who can be told ‘You’re fired.’” ⁦Jeannie Suk Gersen⁩ on whether Biden’s last-minute moves will stick. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

“With Trump’s first array of executive orders, he gets in the ring with the other branches and throws the first punch”— Jeannie Suk Gersen provides a tale of the tape on the monumental SCOTUS fights to come. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

The assault on birthright citizenship has been a long time coming. For background, here’s a piece I wrote when Trump was running the first time and deriding the Fourteenth Amendment as something akin to a paternity-suit scam. newyorker.com/news/amy-david…

“The A.C.L.U. could sue him on the particulars, and, presumably, it will continue to. But, politically, who was ready to actually challenge him?”—⁦Jonathan Blitzer⁩ on Trump’s opening moves on immigration. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

“The larger prize is a constitutional norm of total Presidential control of the executive branch”—⁦Jeannie Suk Gersen⁩ on Trump’s real game and SCOTUS’s next move. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

The emojis…

Very good question! By ⁦Dan Kaufman⁩ newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

“Rather than relying on federal funding, Harvard, among other universities, could instead be willing to live on much, much less”—⁦Jeannie Suk Gersen⁩ on why Harvard had to fight and what could come next. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

Pope Francis, who died today at 88, was the antithesis of a strongman. “He was the model of the world leader as a shrewd, searching, and practical man who faced hard choices in vexing circumstances, and responded humbly,” Paul_R_Elie writes. nyer.cm/IyDWj9a

"Moments ago, we filed a lawsuit to halt the funding freeze because it is unlawful and beyond the government’s authority." - President Alan Garber hrvd.me/Complain421t

Today's front page.

I spent the last 24 hours talking to people who knew Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. They were idealistic, young. They had distinct paths to working for state of Israel. They were murdered without regard for who they were or what they believed. (1/x) newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

“From this perspective, there are no safe reservoirs of power. Corporations sometimes serve the national interest and sometimes betray it. The same is true for governments, for unions, for churches, for nonprofits.” Good reminder from Ezra Klein

I’m devastated to learn that my friend, Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, were killed in last night’s shooting.

Important discussion, thoughtful piece by Nick Confessore

Read ⁦Jeannie Suk Gersen⁩ on the scandal of what both parties have allowed the President’s war powers to become—and Congress’s multi-decade cowardice. newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…

Agreed!