The Supreme Court appeared open today to allowing Oklahoma to use government money to run the nation’s first religious charter school. A decision in favor of the school could lead to the opening of similar institutions across the country and lower the wall separating church and state.
The main question in the case is whether the First Amendment permits states to sponsor and finance religious charter schools. In other words, the Supreme Court is deciding whether charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately run, are fundamentally public or private.
During arguments today, the court’s conservative justices were largely sympathetic to the school, while the liberal ones were quite wary. However, Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case without explanation. That left the court’s chief justice, John Roberts, with the likely deciding vote. He was less pointed than the other Republican appointees but still expressed doubt that religious charter schools were different from other groups the court had protected from discrimination.
The case is one of the most significant of the term, so the court will probably not issue a decision until late June or early July.
A look behind Trump’s migrant deal with El Salvador
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The Trump administration recently sent a letter to officials in El Salvador requesting the return of a migrant who had been wrongly deported. Salvadoran officials, according to people with knowledge of the matter, said no. It was unclear, however, whether it was a genuine effort or window dressing to appear in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling.
President Trump acknowledged in an interview yesterday that he could free the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, but that he wouldn’t because he believed he was a gang member.
Last month, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, had expressed concerns about the deportations. He asked U.S. officials for assurances that the men were all gang members, causing the Americans to scramble to get him evidence. The incident raised questions about whether the Trump administration had sufficiently assessed those it had dispatched to a foreign prison.
My colleagues learned of Bukele’s concerns when they went back and reconstructed the deal between Trump and El Salvador. Here are takeaways from their investigation, as well as an hour-by-hour timeline of the deportations.
In other politics news:
Tariff fears caused the G.D.P. to sink
Data released today on U.S. gross domestic product suggested that the economy shrank in the first quarter by a 0.3 percent annual rate, following strong growth at the end of last year.
The decline, however, was somewhat misleading. Underlying economic growth remained solid, and the G.D.P. drop was driven almost entirely by a huge increase in imports as consumers and businesses rushed to buy goods and materials before Trump’s tariffs took effect. But tariffs and uncertainty have increased in the last month, prompting economists to warn that growth could continue to slow.
In related news, stocks performed worse in Trump’s first 100 days compared with how they did at the start of every presidential term since 1974.
A deadly storm tore through Pennsylvania
Hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania were still without power this afternoon after a powerful storm plowed through the area yesterday. At least four people were killed, including a 22-year-old man who was electrocuted while trying to put out a mulch fire.
A steamy TV show about the father of French gastronomy
Marie-Antoine Carême is widely thought to be one of the world’s first celebrity chefs. During the early 19th century, he served kings, invented the croquembouche and coined the phrase “You can try this yourself at home.” Now, Carême is the subject of an Apple TV+ series that premieres today.
The show, like many period dramas, has a loose relationship to historical facts. But that frees it to be spry and fun, our critic writes.
Meet Ballerina Cappuccina
Her head is a cup. She is the wife of Cappuccino Assassino. And she’s incredibly famous.
For those of you who have never heard of Ballerina Cappuccina, don’t worry. Neither had I. She is the star of the incredibly popular, and intentionally silly, internet trend called Italian brain rot. On TikTok, she and her other A.I.-generated friends — like Bombardiro Crocodilo — have generated over three billion views.
Is that … a kangaroo?
Drivers on Interstate 85 in Alabama were surprised yesterday to see a kangaroo bounding along the side of the road. Two were apparently so astonished that they got into a crash. Officials shut the highway down, and captured the kangaroo on video.
Don’t worry. The drivers are OK, and so is the kangaroo. Her name is Sheila, and she was a local man’s pet who had escaped her enclosure. “Wow,” the county sheriff marveled as he watched the owner carry the animal back to his vehicle. “We see a little bit of everything here.”
Have a hopping evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
Sean Kawasaki-Culligan was our photo editor.
We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
