Gorsuch, revealed: With his dissent in the Supreme Court ruling on Monday that will require states to list same-sex parents on birth certificates, Justice Neil Gorsuch indicated he opposes equal rights for same-sex couples. And so, just two months in, Gorsuch has “revealed himself to be everything that liberals had most feared: pro-gun, pro–travel ban, anti-gay, anti–church/state separation,” writes Mark Joseph Stern.
The DOJ whisperer: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and his ousted predecessor Sally Yates have a lot more in common than just their drama with Trump this year: They share a trusted adviser, a former prosecutor named Scott Newton Schools, who is the senior-most career attorney at the Department of Justice. Leon Neyfakh learns more about “the most important unknown person in D.C.” and how he might influence the future of the DOJ.
How to “think like a tick”: Scientists predicted this year would be a bad one for ticks. Melinda Wenner Moyer outlines everything you need to do to protect yourself and your family from the vicious bloodsuckers.
Follow the white lines: To Medellín, where cocaine is illegal but easily accessible—even encouraged, perhaps. It’s been decades since Pablo Escobar’s rule, but tourists still flock to the Colombian city to indulge in the white powder and other drugs. Ben Grenrock headed to the former murder capital of the world to see how the city has tried to improve its notorious reputation, and how the drug is still holding it back.
For fun: This July Fourth, Slate and the National Archives have a challenge for you: Condense the Declaration of Independence into a single tweet.
And don’t forget to tag #TinyDeclaration,
Chau
