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Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship In Loss For Trump; Supreme Court Backs GOP-Led Effort To Lift Campaign Spending Caps; Death Toll Rises To 1,900 Plus After Twin Earthquakes Rock Venezuela; NASA Gives Update On $30B Moon Base Plans; Supreme Court: States May Ban Trans Athletes In Girls Sports. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 30, 2026 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: And Serena won seven singles at Wimbledon. So, just such a special occasion.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Such a special occasion, and if she's on the court with that serve, you know she's got a shot. Don Riddell, thank you so much.

RIDDELL: (INAUDIBLE) ...

SANCHEZ: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

The Supreme Court term coming to a close with two blockbuster opinions, one making clear who can be a U.S. citizen, another making clear who gets to make the rules about trans athletes in sports. We'll look at the consequences from those opinions.

Plus, the death toll in Venezuela rising. More than 1,900 people have died. At least 10,000 are injured after back-to-back earthquakes. Rescue teams racing against the clock to save those still trapped underneath rubble.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: And moving on up to the moon. NASA sharing updates on its plans to build a base on the lunar surface. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Breaking news to CNN. The Supreme Court ending its term in blockbuster fashion, handing President Trump a big loss, but also some major wins. In their final opinions before summer break, the justices rejected President Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. The President today, though, celebrating another key decision from the court, one on transgender athletes, another decision on the amount of money that political parties can spend on candidates.

HILL: CNN's Paula Reid, Priscilla Alvarez, and Mark Preston all with us now to discuss.

So, first of all, let's start with birthright citizenship. Paula, what did the court find?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, Erica, they found that President Trump cannot end birthright citizenship through executive order. And in the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts, he underscored how significant birthright citizenship is. I mean, this is something that's not only in the 14th Amendment, but twice.

Congress has passed laws that have language that really reflects that same right that was codified in the 14th Amendment. He said, this is the right -- the right that bestows other rights upon you. I will say, though, that Justice Kavanaugh did give a suggested on-ramp -- off- ramp to the President, saying that, look, if you take this executive order, bring it over to Congress, get them to pass a law that says the same thing, you might be good.

Now, I heard similar things from officials inside the administration shortly after he signed that executive order. They've always told me they thought this was a long shot to get this approved by the Supreme Court. It's something that President Trump campaigned on, so this is a big loss for him, but it's not unexpected, and I think there has, for a long time, been an understanding that you can't do this this way.

SANCHEZ: Now, Priscilla, what are your sources inside the administration saying?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, picking up where Paula left off, they had hoped that this was going to reach the Supreme Court. It did, they got their decision. But the idea behind this executive order was always for this debate to unfold in that room. I had one source tell me during the transition that something has to kick off the legal battle, and that's what this executive order was.

So, did they expect that they were going to win it? Not necessarily, but this is a debate that is now happening and happened before the Supreme Court, and then the question is, do they try to take this up in Congress? But in terms of what this means for today, everything is as it was. Babies that are born in the United States are -- still have the right to birthright citizenship. The change they wanted to make, however, was that not only was it children who were born to undocumented immigrants, but also just someone who is temporarily in the country legally. And that really would impact many, many, many families because there are people who come through on business visas, student visas, and the rest who would have been impacted by this.

In fact, just looking at a data point to give you a sense of how huge this could have potentially been, in 2023, there were about 320,000 babies who were born to undocumented mothers or mothers who had a temporary legal status. Had this come through, had the Supreme Court allowed for this to take place, 260,000 of those children would not be U.S. citizens -- U.S. citizens.

So, this is just one year, one slice, one example. This would have had massive ramifications. The Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship, and from what we've seen in public polling, most Americans do believe in this concept. So, we'll see where it goes from here, but it was a blow to some of the allies of the President who at the very -- who -- while they got this before the Supreme Court, do want to see a change on this front. HILL: It is important that there's broad public support, which is

going to come into play if Congress did actually want to ask -- to act, rather, because they could potentially hear from their constituents. Speaker Johnson acknowledged this is a quite an uphill battle. The President, though, seems to want to, in some way, pursue that battle. What's the reality?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, the reality is that -- that there's no way that it's going to get through Congress. There's just obviously too much opposition to it, and as we've noted, you know, over the years, there has been support to keep this in place, something that began at the beginning of the founding of our country.

But to what Priscilla's saying, they wanted a fight. They had a fight.

[15:05:01]

They came into office a second time. They told us they were going to run really hard. They were going to break last. They didn't care. As long as they tried to get through their policies. Now, they knew they weren't going to get everything through, but they were going to get a lot of what they wanted through, and we have seen that so far. And in a battle like this, as we head into the midterm elections, for sure, you are going to see Republicans try to take this ruling, twist it, and try to use it to their advantage in the midterm elections.

SANCHEZ: And Paula, the court also ruled on transgender athletes the ability of states to put bans on them participating in women's sports, something that the President was celebrating.

REID: Yes, I mean, this has been something that he's talked about with his supporters, many of the people who vote for him, also the people that would support these bans in these states, though, where people don't want to see transgender athletes participating in girls' sports. So, that's certainly one of those cultural issues that he has seized on. He considers it a win, even though it was technically like a Trump-adjacent case, not one of his cases specifically.

But I think his biggest win today, and maybe one of the biggest wins of the term, was this campaign finance decision. I mean, since the 1970s, there have been caps on the amount of money that political parties can coordinate in -- with a candidate and use, and they have now lifted those caps. That is a huge win for the GOP, because that is where they are going to benefit far more the Democrats, because if you look at fundraising, the GOP already goes into this election season with more money, but where Democrats do tend to out-raise them is from individual small donors.

So, now that the political parties can sort of flood the zone with all this money, that is a huge boon for Republicans. We know that they have a lot of tight Senate races. This is going to result in a lot more political ads on TV, but potentially, maybe the President being able to hold on to the Senate, which, regardless of any of these opinions, probably matters more to him than anything else.

HILL: And that's -- I mean, that's the crux of it, right, politically speaking.

PRESTON: Well, I mean, yes, no doubt (ph). And look, we were talking about this earlier. There's going to be an incredible amount of more money already added to, you know, I mean, think of it like a glass full of water. We are just adding more water to the glass and it's just going to spill over the sides. To the point where you have to wonder, will it even matter?

It will matter because Republicans, to what Paul was saying, their -- the crutch of their support is from corporate America, that who has the money. The crutch of the support for the Democratic Party tends to be folks who don't necessarily have a whole lot of money in their back pocket. So, where's the money going to go? It's going to go to the Republicans and it's going to come from corporate America.

SANCHEZ: Marl, Priscilla, Paula, thank you all. Appreciate your reporting.

HILL: I do want to make one note, too.

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

HILL: When we were talking about the transgender case, we did have a guest on last hour who made -- who talked about there had been allegations of inappropriate behavior or harassment by Becky Pepper- Jackson, who of course was the plaintiff in the West Virginia case. I do want to note that there was an investigation. Those were unsubstantiated claims and Becky Pepper-Jackson has denied those allegations.

SANCHEZ: Important to clarify. Still to come this afternoon, the race to save lives in Venezuela after back-to-back earthquakes ripping through the country. We'll take you live to Caracas in just moments.

HILL: Plus, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner now in Qatar, but they won't be meeting with Iranian officials after all.

And later, a reunion 35 years in the making. How the FIFA World Cup brought together a Peace Corps volunteer. (INAUDIBLE) one of the students, that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:39]

HILL: A grim update for you this hour. The death toll from Venezuela's catastrophic back-to-back earthquakes last Wednesday continuing to grow. The President of the National Assembly now saying more than 1,900 people are confirmed dead. Some 10,000 have been hurt. Government authorities say those numbers are expected to continue to rise. NASA estimates from satellite images more than 58,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Now, even considering that scale of devastation, it is perhaps even more remarkable that we can tell you survivors do continue to be found. Rescuers yesterday pulling out a 12-year-old boy who'd been buried under rubble for five days. Teams from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic say they worked for hours to reach him. CNN's Mary Triny Mena is in Caracas this hour.

So, Mary, bring us up to speed in terms of where things stand and what Venezuelans are facing in this moment.

MARY TRINY MENA, CNN REPORTER: Well, many necessities right now, food. They need also medicines. Hospitals are now overwhelmed by the amount of people injured that they are receiving. But also, the amount of people that resulted -- displaced due to the earthquakes.

I'm here right now in a tent camp that was established in Caracas. One of the two established in a public park. It's like a central park here. There's a zoo inside of here. But now, there are many families, multiple families. Just yesterday, 200 families came here to try to sleep a little bit. Authorities are providing these tents, blankets, and -- and many things for them to stay here safer, at least to have a place to stay for a while.

And it is a difficult situation. I've been talking to some of them. They tell me that they lost their belongings. They don't want to recall or -- or retell how they -- what they experienced on -- on Wednesday because it is so hard for them. They are receiving here some aid and also psychological feedback for -- in order for them to be -- to be better with the situation that they are struggling with.

Also, on the ground, there are still rescue teams globally making efforts in order to find more people alive.

[15:15:02]

And those founds that they had in the past hours are giving families also hope that they will find more people under the rubble. We talked to one -- the brother of one woman that is missing. She was part of a deportation flight that landed in Venezuela on Wednesday. And then, they were moved to a hotel in La Guaira. And that hotel then was totally ended -- totally collapsed due to the earthquake. Let's -- let's hear what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS ARMANDO DASILVA, MISSING DEPORTEE'S BROTHER (through interpreter): Please act quickly. We want our relatives to be found however they are. What we want is to bury them. Do you understand? We've been here for five days and nothing. They're not giving us answers. They're not working. They're not doing anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MENA: There were more than 100 people that came to Venezuela in a deportation flight sent by the U.S. administration. And right now, the families are saying that some of them could be alive down in that building. They are making an effort to bring more support, more machinery to that place. But fuel is also scarce in the area right now.

HILL: Yes, certainly complicating matters. Mary, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here, NASA just gave an update on its plans to build a permanent base on the moon. You may want to be interested to know which companies are receiving about a half billion dollars in contracts to make that happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:16]

SANCHEZ: NASA is turning its biggest lunar vision in decades into action. The agency moving forward with a $30 billion moon base plan awarding contracts for the missions that will help build it. CNN's Jackie Wattles joins us with the details. Jackie, what do we know about these contracts?

JACKIE WATTLES, CNN SPACE & SCIENCE WRITER: Right, yes. Well, you said it. NASA is ramping up in earnest here with these moon-based -- moon- based plans. We just heard them announce another roughly $600 million worth of contracts to three different private commercial space companies, Firefly, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines. And these companies have all worked on robotic landers before. And even individually, each of these four new missions NASA announced today would be a huge deal if they were carried out today, right?

We don't often send landers to the moon. But as you can tell just by the sheer scale here, NASA is working to drastically ramp up how often and how quickly it lands robots on the moon. And it's part of this overall goal here, worth about $30 billion to start building out a permanent moon base, where they envision astronauts will one day live and work. And this is all a very new roadmap.

NASA really only started mapping out the specifics of this plan in March. And they're talking about sending as many as 20 lunar landers to the surface, or more than that, in just the -- the next couple of years, all part of just phase one of this project, which alone costs $10 billion.

So, it is truly a massive undertaking. And you can really tell by the tone of today's announcement that NASA understands that, right? They said that these are going to be part of monthly updates, where they're going to keep issuing new contract awards, handing out more money to companies, and really trying to ramp up to get this full vision realized.

SANCHEZ: Jackie, we had this amazing light show a few weeks ago. Amazing for us, not so much for Blue Origin. They suffered a major setback when one of their rockets exploded. Is this going to impact moon base plans?

WATTLES: Absolutely. Yes, so Blue Origin wasn't one of the companies that was awarded new funds today. But Blue Origin is critical in this moon base plan. They have one of the largest, most capable lunar landers, though it hasn't actually been tested yet, called Blue Moon. And Blue Moon is supposed to fly on that rocket that exploded in May. And the trouble here is that that explosion really decimated their launch pad. So, they have to really work quickly for the next few months, trying to get that infrastructure built back up, trying to get their timeline back on track, because NASA does really need that big lunar lander to deliver heavy cargo.

So, the pressure is certainly on for them. We'll see how it goes.

SANCHEZ: Jackie Wattles, thank you so much for the update to those moon plans.

Still to come, the Supreme Court ruling that states can ban transgender athletes from playing on girls' sports teams. We take a look at what research -- what research says about whether transgender women have an athletic advantage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:49]

HILL: The Supreme Court today ruling on one of the most closely watched culture war disputes in the country. In a 6-3 decision, the high court upheld states' bans on transgender student athletes in women's sports, writing for the majority. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, "the interest in safety and competitive fairness are important for purposes of equal protection analysis." And the state's sex-based classification, limiting women in girls' sports to biological females, is substantially related to those interests. CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard joins us now.

So, Jacqueline, what more do we know about the research that has been done into whether transgender women do in fact have an athletic advantage?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Erica, what makes this complex is there really isn't much research out there. So, it makes it really difficult to analyze this from solely a scientific or medical lens. But what we've gathered from experts, what experts say is when you look at the youngest athletes, young children, we're talking about ages five, six, seven, you don't see much of a difference between their athletic abilities and physical abilities. But once children begin puberty, that's where differences in athletic performance emerge.

[15:30:02]

And that's really where this whole conversation begins.