Welcome back! It's been a pretty chaotic week in both our domestic politics and international affairs. We had the absolutely outrageous (and likely unconstitutional) $83.3 million verdict levied against former President Donald Trump in the defamation case of E. Jean Carroll, an unprecedented crisis at the Texas-Mexico border between the Biden administration and the righteously defiant Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas), and three American soldiers tragically killed at the Tower 22 U.S. military base in Jordan. The United States continues to unravel with the doddering, senile Joe Biden at the (nominal) helm as commander-in-chief. Worse, the ruling class in this nation continues to wield state power to subjugate us "deplorables" out in the open for all to see: The most recent example being Tuesday's grotesque verdict in Nashville wherein six pro-life activists now face up to 10.5 years in prison for peacefully protesting at an abortion clinic. Something must change in order to alter—viz., correct—our nation's depressing current trajectory.

My column last week focused on the crisis at the Texas-Mexico border, exacerbated by an absurd 5-4 order of the U.S. Supreme Court that permitted U.S. Border Patrol officials to physically snip razor fire fencing installed by Texas officials. Gov. Abbott responded by holding his ground—as he indeed should have. First, the Court's order said nothing about what Texas officials can do to install new wire; it merely spoke about what federal agents can do to cut wire. Second and most fundamental, it is a truism of American constitutional law that both the federal government and the states may exercise full power as sovereign entities within their respective spheres of legitimate governing authority. Furthermore, the "right to exclude" is the singular defining trait of what it means to be a sovereign power, as the late Justice Antonin Scalia explained in his magisterial 2012 concurrence/dissent in Arizona v. United States. Absent superseding congressional legislation or some other constitutional limitation—and neither exists here—Texas can continue to secure its sovereignty from this Biden administration-abetted invasion at the border. God bless the great state of Texas.

There have been three episodes of "The Josh Hammer Show" since our last newsletter. First, I did a deep dive on the legal and cultural ramifications of the border standoff between the state of Texas and the Biden administration before being joined (on-site and in-studio in Oxford, Mississippi!) by Lee Habeeb, host of the nationally syndicated "Our American Stories" show, to discuss the importance of sports in raising our next generation. You can listen to that first episode on Apple, Spotify, or here. Second, in an episode following the recent deadly drone attack by Iran-backed militias on U.S. military personnel in Jordan, I broke down the failures of the Biden administration that led to this tragedy and the path to ensuring it never happens again. You can listen to that second episode on Apple, Spotify, or here. Finally, I was joined in an episode just out this morning by Matthew Tyrmand, an investigative journalist and conservative activist, to talk in-depth about his recent undercover visit to the Palestinian-Arab city of Ramallah. You can listen to that second episode on Apple, Spotify, or here. As a reminder: If you are a radio station programming director interested in bringing my show to your station, please email my producer Jesse Edwards: j.edwards@newsweek.com.

I have done a lot of media since our last newsletter—from Charlie Kirk to Dinesh D'Souza to Clay Travis & Buck Sexton to Jesse Kelly to Stu Burguiere to Rita Panahi to Steve Deace to Eric Metaxas to Bill O'Reilly, with others in between. (I will also be joining Megyn Kelly right around the time this newsletter lands in your inbox!) Additionally, I had an essay come out in the new issue of City Journal on the problem of contingency-fee arrangements, and an updated link was released for my new academic jurisprudential essay in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. In other big professional news, I also launched a new legal-themed podcast with The First! The new daily podcast is called "America on Trial," and you can subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. (Fear not: "America on Trial" is a strictly legal-themed show and will in no way detract from "The Josh Hammer Show.") To keep up with all my media hits, make sure to follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook!

Our additional highlighted right-leaning Newsweek op-eds from the past two weeks include selections from Jonathan Tobin, Paul du Quenoy, Joseph Epstein, Aviva Klompas, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) & Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.).

Thanks for reading and subscribing! We'll be back next week.