| We’re covering a big case at the Supreme Court, Israel’s deadly attack against a militant commander in Gaza, and the hospitalization of former President Jimmy Carter. |
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 By Chris Stanford |
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| Demonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Washington this week. Jose Luis Magana/Agence France-Presse ? Getty Images |
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| Mr. Trump has praised the goals of the Obama-era program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, but has said that it’s unconstitutional. That argument has been rejected by lower courts, which have ruled that the decision to shut it down was “arbitrary and capricious.” |
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| Background: DACA shields young immigrants from deportation and allows them to work. The status lasts for two years and is renewable, but it doesn’t offer a path to citizenship. |
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| Go deeper: The 2017 memo announcing the end of DACA relied on a strictly legal argument, rather than one based on policy objections. That memo is now at the heart of what experts say is a major weakness in the government’s case. |
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| For months, Mr. Trump focused on one of the weakest countries in Europe as a potential solution to his political problems. A 30-minute phone call in July with Ukraine’s leader has since emerged as a major threat to Mr. Trump’s presidency. |
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| How we know: The article is based on interviews with more than a dozen Americans and Ukrainians as well as thousands of pages of witness testimony from the House inquiry. |
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| Many studies detailing links between pollution and disease would be inadmissible because they rely on personal health information gathered under confidentiality agreements. |
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| The measure, which E.P.A. officials called a step toward transparency, would apply retroactively to existing health regulations, so the underlying studies might become invalid when those rules come up for renewal. |
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| How we know: The Times obtained a draft of the proposal, which was revised after criticism from environmental and public health groups. The new version doesn’t appear to have taken any of the opposition into consideration. |
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| What’s next: The revised regulation is headed to the White House for review. The public has 30 days to comment on the changes to the plan, which E.P.A. officials hope to finalize by next year. |
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| The home of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Ata after it was hit by an Israeli strike in Gaza City today. Mohammed Saber/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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| “Our response to this crime will have no limits,” Islamic Jihad said, calling the strike “a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.” |
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| Background: The Israeli military described the commander, Baha Abu al-Ata, as a “ticking bomb.” Islamic Jihad is listed as a terrorist organization by many countries, and is supported by Iran. |
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| Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Amy Elise Wilson. |
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| The holiday is a little more than two weeks away, so for inspiration we turned to Alison Roman, our food columnist and an author. |
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| Jimmy Carter is hospitalized: The former president, 95, is to undergo a procedure today to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from recent falls. |
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| Prisoner swap in Afghanistan: The Afghan government said today that it would release three Taliban prisoners in what is expected to be an exchange for two professors — one American and one Australian — who were abducted in 2016. |
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| Asylum for Bolivia’s former leader: Evo Morales, who resigned as president under pressure from protesters and the military, was granted refuge in Mexico. |
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| Snapshot: Above left, a diamond, one of the most brilliant materials on Earth, is rendered virtually invisible after being covered with black carbon nanotubes, at right. The material created by scientists traps 99.995 percent of the light traveling to it. |
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| Late-night comedy: The hosts discussed Michael Bloomberg’s potential presidential campaign: “Why do billionaires always do this?” Trevor Noah asked. “It’s not just him — look at Bruce Wayne. Gotham’s crime was out of control. Instead of complaining about the cops, he was like, ‘Alfred, build me a car that shoots grenades — I’ll do it myself!’” |
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| What we’re reading: This essay from the Brookings Institution. “Constanze Stelzenmüller is one of the best analysts of Germany we have,” says Steven Erlanger, our chief diplomatic correspondent for Europe. “Here she explores what 1989 means to her, to Germany and to us.” |
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| Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott for The New York Times. Prop Stylist: Kalen Kaminski. |
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| Go: A revival of the play “Fires in the Mirror,” about the Brooklyn race riots of 1991, is more searing than ever, our theater critic writes. It’s at the Pershing Square Signature Center in Manhattan. |
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| The innermost planet in the solar system, Mercury orbits in a zippy 88 days. The Romans named it after the speedy messenger of the gods (Hermes to the Greeks). The word “planet” is drawn from the ancient Greek for “wandering star.” |
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| Mercury passing between Earth and the sun on Monday. NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, via Associated Press |
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| The Greeks and the Romans weren’t the only ancient people fascinated with Mercury and with the four other planets visible with the naked eye. |
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| For instance, the Chinese named the five after their primary elements. Jupiter is the wood star (木星), Mars the fire star (火星), Saturn the earth star (土星), Venus the metal star (金星) and Mercury the water star (水星). |
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| Eventually, humans realized that what they were standing on was also a planet. What the West ended up calling Earth, the Chinese called Diqiu (地球), meaning “ball of earth” — or, slightly less elegantly, “dirt ball.” |
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| That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. |
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Thank you
Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford provided the break from the news. Andrea Kannapell, the briefings editor, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. |
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