Good morning! March is a tough time for those of us who aren’t big basketball fans. Thankfully, CNN has come to the rescue — there’s something nobody’s ever said before —with its fillable 2028 presidential election bracket. The downside? You’ve got to wait four years to see how you did. The upside? That’s quicker than the five years it took the Brits to capture and convict the two guys who stole a $3.6 million toilet made from 216 pounds of pure gold from Blenheim Palace.

In other news, the Trump administration released thousands of unredacted documents on the JFK assassination. They’re mostly boring government records (so far!) but could shed some light on how the CIA operated in the 1960s.

Programming note: We’re taking the weekend off, so your inbox will be one (really good) email lighter on Monday. The Elective will return, fresher than ever, on Thursday, March 27.

HOUSING

🏠️ Government aims to build houses on federal land

Who said a North Dakota software billionaire and a former NFL cornerback weren’t the solution to America’s housing crisis? The Trump administration wants to lower housing costs and believes building on federal land could help. To that end, two Cabinet secretaries are launching the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing.

Who are these guys? Sec. Scott Turner leads the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Sec. Doug Burgum leads the Department of the Interior, which manages most of the roughly 1 million square miles of land owned by the federal government.

What’s the plan? In their Wall Street Journal op-ed, the men wrote that HUD will "pinpoint where housing needs are most pressing" while Interior will "identify locations that can support homes" while keeping an eye on environmental impact. They'll analyze underused federal properties and either lease them out or give them to state or local governments.

• Building anything on federal land is a red tape nightmare. They say streamlining that process is key and note that it won't be "a free-for-all."

The federal government owns about 28% of all land in the United States, most of which is located out West. That includes more than 80% of Nevada, 63% of Utah, 52% of Oregon, and 45% of California. Most of that is land that’s not suitable for housing, like mountains, remote deserts, and national parks.

• However, about 7.3% of it is valuable land near major cities thirsty for more housing, such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. Even a fraction of that is enough to build millions of homes.

• Housing is becoming a key concern for Democrats as voters flee en masse to more affordable Republican states.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both proposed building housing on federal lands during the 2024 campaign (much to the chagrin of environmentalists. With 69% of voters "very concerned" about home prices, this is likely good politics for the Trump administration whether it’s successful or not.

On the political front, Republicans are eyeing Vance’s 2028 odds as he tries to bridge the gap, and Democratic voters are taking aim at their own Senate leadership.

GOVERNMENT

🔥 Legal challenges to Trump's firing spree continue this week at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The president canned two of the antitrust agency's four commissioners (the fifth seat was already vacant). Both are suing to get their jobs back and say they can only be fired for cause. But federal law requires bipartisan FTC leadership, and these two were the FTC's only Democratic commissioners. So the idea that their firings were political could have merit in court... or the Trump administration could win and get more direct control over so-called "independent" agencies like the FTC.

🔫 Former presidential kids Hunter and Ashley Biden (ages 55 and 43) are on their own for security. Trump revoked their U.S. Secret Service protection this week over cost concerns and said Hunter had 18 agents assigned to him this week while Ashley had 13. Ex-presidents and first ladies get protection for life (the VPs get six months). But protection for their adult children ends immediately. Outgoing presidents and their successors can extend that, which Biden had done, for a maximum of six months.

📉 Stocks rallied on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at their current 4.25-4.50% range. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the "economy is strong overall" and still sees two rate cuts coming later this year as inflation keeps cooling. On the flip side, the central bank also cut its 2025 economic growth projection from 2.1% to 1.7%. The central bank

COURTS

⚖️ Executive branch’s fight with judicial branch continues

The Chief has broken his silence on the brewing war of words between the White House and the federal court system.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts released a rare public statement pushing back against a growing desire on the right to impeach a federal judge who ruled against the Trump administration's plan to use a 1798 law to deport illegal Venezuelan gang members.

• Said Roberts, "… impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision."

• Some Trump supporters slammed his statement, arguing Trump's duty to protect Americans outweighs any judicial concerns.

Federal judges nationwide, most of them lower-level district court judges appointed by Democratic presidents, have ruled against Trump six ways to Sunday. Just this week, they’ve:

• Said the DOGE-driven dismantling of USAID was unconstitutional and employee access should be restored.

• Reinstated DEI-related Department of Education grants.

• Given the administration until noon today to hand over information on Saturday's deportation flights.

And, in further proof that everyone in government is an overgrown theater kid, quoted “Hamilton” to block the ban on transgender military members.

Can you really impeach judges? Yep. As with the president, any federal official can be impeached. Congress has been doing it literally since George Washington was president (the first one was in 1797). Eight judges have been kicked out of office. One of them was even elected to Congress afterward.

• Convicting and removing a judge requires 67 Senate votes.

• Congress can’t even agree on obvious things like whether pizza is a vegetable, so removing a judge from the bench isn’t going to happen.

Other non-impeachment options are also on the table. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) thinks Congress should strip lower-level courts of jurisdiction on these issues. Of course, there’s also the standard-issue method mentioned in the chief justice’s statement: appeal the decisions to higher-level courts.

Either way, don't expect this fight to end any time soon. The White House on Wednesday blasted one of these judges as a "Democrat activist" who’s trying to “usurp the president’s authority to deport "foreign terrorists." The current plan? To keep fighting this "egregious abuse of the bench" in court.

TRIVIA

Whether it’s her awkwardly reminding people that she’s toootally a duchess or legal questions over his immigration status, the artists formerly known as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been in the news lately. Harry might be the first major British royal to move to America, but he’s not the first to marry an American. Which British king gave up the throne so he could marry a twice-divorced American socialite?

Hint: This was Queen Elizabeth II’s uncle.

BRIEFS

● An hours-long standoff outside CIA headquarters ended peacefully on Wednesday when the guy surrendered. Every agency in the book responded after an armed man started ranting and raving about Donald Trump and Osama bin Laden.

● The French are really torn up over Donald Trump cutting funding to Voice of America (VOA). They say the federal radio news network is often the only credible source broadcasting over the border into dictatorships like Iran and Belarus.

● President Trump paused $175 million in federal funding (from the Health and Defense Departments) to the University of Pennsylvania over the Ivy League school's policy on transgender inclusion in women’s sports. The U. of Maine could be next.

● The two-month-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is officially over. Israel launched a new ground invasion and recaptured a strip of land bisecting Gaza after accusing Hamas of refusing to release Israeli hostages.

● A North Dakota jury ordered Greenpeace to pay $660 million in damages to a Texas-based energy company due to lost revenue caused by anti-pipeline protests. The environmental group says the lawsuit ruling could put it out of business.

QUOTE

ANSWER

His 1936 proposal to Wallis Simpson caused major political problems. So, instead of giving up on “the woman I love,” King Edward VIII abdicated after less than eleven months on the throne. The big beneficiary? His brother, who became King George VI, and all of his descendants who make up the modern crop of British royals — Harry and Meghan included. Imagine giving up a lifetime as king for your spouse. You’ve got to imagine this guy never lost an argument again, right?