Good morning and congratulations to Pommel Horse Guy (fine, Steve Nedoroscik) for becoming the internet’s newest fascination and to Simone Biles for affirming her spot as the GOAT. She’s back on the schedule again tomorrow.

SUPREME COURT

👨‍⚖️ Biden plans Supreme Court reform package

Oh no! Your vacation ends tomorrow and you suddenly realize how many margarita flavors you still haven’t tried. President Biden’s feeling that hard right now as the sun sets on his 54-year political career.

Biden spoke at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin on Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act (of 1964 — there are many). In his speech, he detailed his three-part plan to overhaul the Supreme Court. He says reform is necessary because the court's "extremism" is undercutting public confidence in the court's decisions.

Term limits: Biden wants Congress to limit Supreme Court justices to eighteen years on the bench. They currently serve for life. Appointing a new justice every two years, he says, would "reduce the chance that any single Presidency imposes undue influence for generations to come."

• Opponents say this would politicize the court by forcing justices to worry about their post-Supreme Court careers. They also say it's unconstitutional because Article III says judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour” (peep that British spelling). This has traditionally been interpreted to mean "for life.”

Ethics code: Biden also wants Congress to hold justices to "binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules" similar to those governing lower-tier federal judges. His plan would force them to disclose gifts, sit out cases in which they may have conflicts of interest, and refrain from political activity.

• Opponents say this is a "violation of the separation of powers" and that Congress should avoid politicizing the court. They also point out that the court already has a self-imposed ethics code and believe these rules would clog up and undermine the court.

Overturn the immunity ruling: The Supreme Court's decision in "Trump v. United States" means presidents have legal immunity for "official acts." Biden wants a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision to "prevent abuse of presidential power."

• Opponents say this could result in constant indictments of presidents by opposite-party prosecutors. They also note the huge hurdle to amending the constitution. Two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress and three-fourths of state legislatures would have to agree (good luck).

Amendment challenges aside, no part of the plan will be seriously considered this year. Congress doesn't like congressing during election season. But Democrats hope it will help energize their voters in what's likely to be a close race in November.

WHITE HOUSE

👩‍🍳 White House head chef to retire after 29 years

Breakfast for one. Lunch for two. Dinner for 140. It’s all in a day’s work for Cristeta Comerford. But she’s had enough. The White House executive chef is hanging up her weird, tall hat (a toque blanche) after 29 years in the kitchen that would make Carmy Berzatto blush.

Comerford started at the White House as an assistant chef in 1995 during the Clinton years. She was later appointed executive chef by then-First Lady Laura Bush in 2005. She’s since served through the Obama, Trump, and Biden presidencies.

• Chefs, like other White House Residence employees, serve continuously no matter who’s in office (as long as they don’t get fired).

• Comerford is the first woman to hold the top job and the first person of Asian descent. She immigrated from the Philippines at 23.

The executive chef oversees the White House kitchen, managing everything from the first family's private meals to massive state functions like boiling hundreds of Easter eggs at a time or whipping up hors d'oeuvres for 1,000 people at Christmas. And she does it all in a famously cramped kitchen.

• One person she doesn't manage? The White House executive pastry chef, Susie Morrison. Desserts (like the famous annual Gingerbread White House) are a different beast altogether. And that chocolate shop isn't going to run itself.

• The guy Comerford replaced later wrote a book about his time in the toque, though it's gossip-free by design.

The hiring process back in 2005 took over six months. As with all Residence staff, privacy is the name of the game, security is extensive, and the White House has very specific needs. So the Bidens will launch that process, but there's no guarantee they finish it before leaving office in January. Picking a chef just might be the first decision the next president has to gets to make.

In other news, here’s a quick look at where the Secret Service investigation stands:

• 🏛️ The House assassination task force has its 13 members. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) picked the seven Republicans while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) picked the six Democrats.

• 😡 Freshman Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) is big mad he wasn't selected and says he'll speak with other members about a "parallel" investigation, which he'll "personally fund" if needed.

• 🗨️ The acting director of the Secret Service testified to the Senate that he was "ashamed" of his agency's failure. Deputy Director Ronald Rowe is temporarily in charge until a new permanent director is found.

POLITICS

⚪ The debate debate is heating up. Trump says he's "probably" in but might also skip a September 10 debate he’d set up with Biden. He’s since pushed to move the event off of ABC. The Harris campaign says she'll show up with or without him.

🔴 As Donald Trump continues to take hits for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, his campaign managers say the program’s “demise would be greatly welcomed.” Now it looks like they’re getting that wish. The group’s director is out and its policy work is winding down. The attacks? Not so much.

• Trump will address the National Association of Black Journalists today in Chicago, causing the group's co-chair to resign in protest.

• Well, that's one way to ensure your guy wins. Trump endorsed all three Republican candidates for governor of Missouri (one of 11 states electing a governor this year).

🔵 Kamala Harris's status as the presumptive Democratic nominee is about to change. Nearly 4,000 delegates will begin voting online as soon as tomorrow to make her the party's official nominee instead of waiting until the party's convention kicks off on August 19.

• The new Harris line of attack on Trump and Vance? Call 'em weird. JD Vance raised the stakes in response, calling Harris’s policies “really weird.” Democrats raised the stakes again, dubbing Vance’s ideas “super weird.” At this rate, “infinity weird” is just around the corner.

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is on the rise in the race to be the VP’s VP and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters is a new dark horse candidate. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer self-eliminated, as did North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Cooper claims it's because he’d totally rather run for Senate in 2026.

• Monday's "White Dudes for Harris" Zoom call (featuring The Dude himself) drew 200,000 attendees and raised over $4 million.

⚪ Arizona voters set up one of the nation’s marquee Senate matchups last night. Democrats nominated Rep. Ruben Gallego with little opposition. Republicans went with former TV journalist Kari Lake over county sheriff Mark Lamb in a closer race than expected.

• In Arizona’s 8th congressional district, ex-Rep. Trent Franks (R) came in fourth in his comeback attempt. He resigned from the House in 2017 after (allegedly) trying to convince two female staffers to serve as surrogates via the, ahem, direct method.

TRIVIA

Kamala Harris is winning praise from young, coconutpilled Gen Z voters. But until 1971, 18-year-olds weren’t guaranteed the right to vote in presidential elections — you had to be 21. Which constitutional amendment gave 18, 19, and 20-year-olds the right to vote in federal elections?

Hint: There are 27 amendments. The 19th gave women the right to vote.

WORLD

🇻🇪 Venezuela: Longtime dictator Nicolás Maduro claims he won Sunday's election with 51% of the vote. But opposition leaders say they won in a landslide and are, with U.S. and Brazilian support, demanding the release of detailed voting data. Deadly protests are raging now and Venezuela is expelling foreign diplomats who called the race rigged.

🇪🇭 Western Sahara: France now supports Moroccan rule of Western Sahara, a Colorado-sized disputed territory on the northwest coast of Africa. Morocco, a U.S. ally, already controls most of the place. But this is a testy subject and much of the world recognizes the area's so-called Sahrawi Republic.

BRIEFS

• Salt Lake will get the 2034 Olympics only if the U.S. drops its probe of the World Anti-Doping Agency for ignoring juiced Chinese athletes

• JetBlue stock jumped 12% Tuesday after posting its first post-pandemic profit in Q2

• France-based Interpol says its investigation led to 200+ arrests and the seizure of 615 tons of drugs and production chemicals

• Meta will pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit with the state of Texas for capturing biometric user data without permission

QUOTE

ANSWER

The first presidential election in which 18-year-olds could vote nationwide was in 1972. That was thanks to the Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971 after approval from three-fourths of state legislatures.