This image shows a small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s view of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, including two spiral galaxies (lower right).  NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Dear Commons Community,

The first test images from a groundbreaking observatory named for trailblazing astronomer Vera Rubin have captured the light from millions of distant stars and galaxies on an unprecedented scale and revealed thousands of previously unseen asteroids.

While the National Science Foundation initially released only a couple of images and a brief video clip of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first imagery, more images and videos taken using the largest camera ever built were shared yesterday on the agency’s YouTube channel. The facility is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The new images represent just over 10 hours of test observations, offering a brief preview of the observatory’s decade-long mission to explore the mysteries of the universe like never before.

“NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined,” said National Science Foundation Chief of Staff Brian Stone, who is currently performing the duties of the NSF director.

If you have the time, the ninety-minute NASA Youtube video cited above is most informative.

Tony

This composite image combines 678 separate images to show faint details like clouds of gas and dust in the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula. – NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

The Trifid Nebula is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars, an emission nebula of glowing clouds of gas and dust that emits its own light (the pink region), a reflection nebula that reflects the light of nearby stars (the blue region), and a dark nebula so dense it blocks light from objects behind it (the dark regions). – RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA

Dear Commons Community,

Alan Turing — British mathematician, World War II codebreaker, and computer science trailblazer — would have been 113 years old yesterday. The piece below highlights his key achievements and impact on the computer science and machine learning (ML) and speculates on what he may have thought of the state of AI today. Courtesy of dataiku.

Academic and Wartime Background

Turing’s genius is evidenced by his academic history — he studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge, pursued a fellowship at King’s College for his research in probability theory, and eventually received his doctoral degree in mathematical logic at Princeton.

He wrote a famous paper “On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem [Decision Problem]” which aimed to find a valid method for solving the fundamental problem of identifying which mathematical statements are provable within a given formal mathematical system and which are not. It was revealed that this decision method has no clear resolution, meaning no consistent formal system of arithmetic can solve, calculate, or compute every instance of the problem.

During his research for Entscheidungsproblem, Turing invented the Turing machine, a computing device that was designed to further investigate the extent and limitations of what can in fact be computed. Today, Turing machines are considered to be one of the foundational elements of computability and theoretical computer science and a precursor to the modern computer.

Further, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS), a British code-breaking organization. It was here that he made five major advances in the field of cryptanalysis, including specifically the Bombe, an electromechanical device used to help decipher Enigma, the main machine used by the German military to encrypt secret radio messages.

During this time, German submarines were hunting Allied ships carrying important cargo for the war. The Allied forces relied on Turing and the cryptologists at GCCS to decode messages to alter their course, so it is for this reason that the code breakers are viewed as playing a pivotal role in the Allied war victory. In early 1942, the team at GCCS is said to have decoded about 39,000 intercepted messages per month (a figure that rose to over 84,000 per month) and indicates two messages per minute, day and night.

Turing also developed a machine called Delilah that could securely encode a voice message, based on arithmetic, which could be used to scramble a radio or telephone conversation. It worked by combining the speech to be scrambled with what sounded like a random noise, similar to radio static.

What Would Turing Think of Enterprise AI Today?

In the biography “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges, Turing says, “The isolated man does not develop any intellectual power. It is necessary for him to be immersed in an environment of other[s]… The search for new techniques must be regarded as carried out by the human community as a whole, rather than by individuals.

While Turing himself was a genius, his work was not achieved alone — collaboration and teamwork was very important to him throughout his career, working with other mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. This notion of collaboration rings true with global data teams today, and Turing would likely approve.

Collaboration on AI projects between different people with different experiences, strengths, and educational backgrounds enables a myriad of positive outcomes, including but not limited to increased levels of transparency, visibility, and job ownership and responsibility. Further, different teams working together to achieve a common goal can eventually ladder up to the wider adoption of AI processes throughout an organization, completely transforming how teams work and driving more efficiency.

Further, Turing’s achievements in cryptography were developed during wartime to help maintain public safety and security and the emphasis on compliance and fairness still applies. Today, it is business critical for teams pursuing data efforts to have systems and processes in place that allow them to extract insights that demonstrate the true value of data without compromising individuals’ privacy. In order to achieve data minimization (where only the personal data needed for each project gets processed due to the proper separation of projects, anonymization, and pseudonymization wherever necessary), teams need to know which data sources are used where and which ones contain sensitive or personal information.

Data leaders also need to determine what “responsible” practices are, both in their organizations and in the context of AI. The guidelines should reinforce concepts like explainability, transparency, and inclusivity. Dataiku’s end-to-end platform, for example, is committed to supporting organizations in building an AI strategy that is responsible through accountability, sustainability, and governability. We aim to ensure models are designed and behave in ways that align with their intended purpose and do so in a way that is centrally controlled and managed.

Next, Turing’s work with the Delilah is highly connected to natural language processing (NLP), a branch of AI that deals with the interaction between humans and computers using the natural language. The primary objective of NLP is reading, deciphering, understanding, and making sense of the human languages, so Turing would likely be deeply interested in finding new subfields and applications for NLP, in addition to the growing use of things like sentiment analysis, speech recognition, and information extraction. In 1999, “Time” magazine named him one of its “100 Most Important People of the 20th Century,” citing that everyone who works at a keyboard, opens a spreadsheet, or works in a word-processing program “is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine.”

Turing’s impact on the state of ML today is vast. I think Turing would be proud of the great strides that have been made in data science, machine learning, and AI. I am not sure what his opinion would be of where they are leading us.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

 Former President Bill Clinton endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York City yesterday, the last day of early voting.

“The election will decide the next mayor of New York, and I urge you to vote for Andrew Cuomo,” Clinton said in a news release. “As President, I chose Andrew to be my Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and he never let me down—but more importantly, he didn’t let the nation down. He built public housing all across the country, from Chicago to LA, designed and implemented new innovative programs to successfully combat homelessness, and fought discrimination, including against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and antisemitism.”

Cuomo worked for the Clinton administration as the housing secretary.

He also served as governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021, after he was accused of sexual harassment and trying to silence his victims.

Cuomo thanked Clinton in a news release, calling Clinton a “personal mentor, friend and hero.”

“His administration was one of the most accomplished in modern political history — and that’s what government is supposed to be all about,” Cuomo said in a news release. “He never ran from a challenge and in fact ran towards them. Together we built housing, battled homelessness and fought for justice for communities too often left out and left behind. His belief that change was not only possible but is the foundational work of government inspires me in every action I take.”

In-person primary voting day is tomorrow in New York!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Oklahoma City Thunder, who led the league in defensive rating in the regular season and the playoffs, turned in another gem in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, a 103-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers last night. Oklahoma City held the Pacers to 41.4% shooting in the deciding game, far below the 48.4% Indiana shot percentage in the playoffs overall. The Thunder forced 21 turnovers and blocked eight shots. As reported by The Associated Press.

“You have to really grind it out,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It’s an endurance race. You have to be able to win in the mud. You have to be able to win ugly, have to be able to gut it out. That’s what we did. The team did an unbelievable job of that.”

The defensive effort, combined with another strong offensive performance by Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, put Oklahoma City over the top. The Thunder became the youngest NBA champions since the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers, with an average age of 25.68 years.

“It’s one of the biggest moments in city history,” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said. “We’ve achieved sports immortality, and that will open doors in our community far beyond basketball for years, decades to come. It’s a very, very special day we can build upon forever.”

Chet Holmgren led the way with five blocks, the most by a player in an NBA Finals Game 7 since blocks were first recorded in the 1973-74 season.

“Honestly, I never really play for records,” the 7-foot-1 forward said. “I never play for stats. All that will be forgotten. But us winning is forever. It’s immortal. I’m just so happy we were able to do that together as a team.”

Thunder guards Lu Dort, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace each had three steals.

Indiana played most of the game without guard Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered a lower right leg injury in the first quarter. Bennedict Mathurin did his best to help the Pacers stay in the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Another spectacular effort by veteran TJ McConnell prevented Oklahoma City’s swarming defense from being even more dominant. McConnell scored 16 points on 8-for-13 shooting, confounding Thunder defenders with crafty moves around the basket.

But he also had seven turnovers.

“Their pressure can really get to you, but I was just trying to be aggressive and had some uncharacteristic turnovers, but that happens,” McConnell said. “Just proud of the fight. We fought to the end. Credit to OKC. They are just really good.”

Pascal Siakam, who had caused problems for the Thunder throughout the series, was held to 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting.

Dort, an All-Defense first-team selection, gave Indiana credit for hanging tough.

“I mean, they’re a great team,” he said. “They’ve got great players. I feel like we was just trying different stuff to mess them up and to disturb them. We threw them a lot of different defensive stuff. We were just trying to slow them down.”

I watched the NBA playoffs from start to finish.  Growing up on the streets of New York City and playing in the schoolyards, basketball is in my blood. The Thunder deserve all the praise that is being heaped upon them.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Congressional leaders reacted to Trump ordering attack on Iran.  The quotes below were collected by ABC News.

Tony

———————————-

Congressional leaders expressed surprise Saturday night about President Donald Trump’s announcement he had ordered a U.S. attacked on three Iranian nuclear sites, with some Republicans praising the move and some Democrats questioning the president’s authority.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, an Israel hawk, said in an X post moments after Trump announced the attack that it was “the right call.”

“The regime deserves it. Well done, President @realDonaldTrump,” he said. “To my fellow citizens: We have the best Air Force in the world. It makes me so proud.”

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images – PHOTO: President Donald Trump points to the new flag on the south lawn of the White House on June 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

But the top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said Trump had “misled the country.”

“Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way,” he said in a statement.

“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” he continued.

“First, the Trump administration bears the heavy burden of explaining to the American people why this military action was undertaken. Second, Congress must be fully and immediately briefed in a classified setting. Third, Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action,” he added.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was on stage at one of his “Fight Oligarchy” events in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he read a portion of President Trump’s post about the strikes to an audience that immediately began booing.

“Not only is this news this that I’ve heard this second alarming — all of you have just heard. But it is so grossly unconstitutional. All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. the president does not have the right,” he added.

Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arizona Republican and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he was in touch with the president before the attack and still monitoring the situation.

“As I have said multiple times recently, I regret that Iran has brought the world to this point. That said, I am thankful President Trump understood that the red line — articulated by Presidents of both parties for decades — was real,” he said.

At least one Republican in the House, however, questioned the president’s action without congressional authorization.

“This is not Constitutional,” GOP Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky posted.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, posted on X, “According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop.”

“We need to immediately return to DC and vote on @RepThomasMassie and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in an X post.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was briefed ahead of the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Johnson was supposed to be in Israel Sunday to address the Knesset, but the trip was scrapped because of the ongoing conflict.

The speaker also put out a statement endorsing the strikes, calling it a “decisive” action that prevents terrorism.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune was also briefed ahead of the U.S. strikes on Iran, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.

GOP Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming posted, “President @realDonaldTrump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear program is the right one. The greatest threat to the safety of the United States and the world is Iran with a nuclear weapon. God Bless our troops 🇺🇸”

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn posted, “President Trump made the courageous and correct decision to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat. God Bless the USA. Thank you to our extraordinary military and our indomitable @POTUS This is what leadership on the world stage looks like.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said on X, “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS. Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities. I’m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world. 🇺🇸”

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York posted that President Trump’s strike on Iran constitutes “ground for impeachment,” saying he was “in grave violation of the Constitution” without first receiving congressional authorization.

American Bombs Targeted Three Sites in Iran. Courtesy of AP News.

Dear Commons Community,

Trump bombed three sites in Iran late last night, directly joining Israel’s war aimed at decapitating the country’s nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.

Three key developments:

• Trump delivers remarks: President Donald Trump says Iran’s key nuclear sites were “completely and fully obliterated” by U.S. strikes. Speaking at the White House hours after the attacks, he threatened more strikes and said Iran faced a choice between “peace or tragedy.”
• Iran issues warning: Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday that the U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites “will have everlasting consequences” and that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate. The comment from Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X represents the first ranking official to comment on the strikes on Isfahan, Fordo and Natanz by the Americans.
• How we got here:Israel launched a surprise barrage of attacks on sites in Iran on June 13, which Israeli officials said was necessary to head off what they claimed was an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs. Iran has retaliated with a series of missile and drone strikes in Israel, while Israel has continued to strike sites in Iran.

We will wait and see where this leads but it is not likely to be pretty and could be quite tragic.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The White House has a full-blown freakout after activist artists erect a hilarious statue on the National Mall mocking Donald Trump’s failure of a birthday parade.

This one really struck a nerve…

“If these Democrat activists were living in a dictatorship, their eye-sore of a sculpture wouldn’t be sitting on the National Mall right now,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Washington Post. “In the United States of America you have the freedom to display your so-called ‘art,’ no matter how ugly it is.”

The art in question is an 8-foot-tall sculpture of a golden hand — evocative of Trump’s obsession with tacky gold-plating — giving a big Trumpian thumbs up while squashing the Statue of Liberty. The piece is appropriately entitled “Dictator Approved” and the base displays quotes from authoritarian leaders heaping praise on Trump.

“President Trump is a very bright and talented man,” reads one plaque, quoting murderous Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

“We do have a great deal of shared values. I admire President Trump,” reads the second, quoting far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s quotes calling Trump “Your Excellency” and praising their “special relationship” and “the extraordinary courage of President Trump” are also featured.

“The most respected, the most feared person is Donald Trump,” reads another, quoting authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The piece was legally erected through a permit with the National Park Service and was specifically designed to condemn Trump’s birthday military parade that doubled as a celebration of the Army’s 250th anniversary.

The purpose of the statue is to draw attention to “the praising these types of oppressive leaders have given Donald Trump.”

Heil Trump!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Artificial intelligence chatbots may be able to write a quick essay, but a new study from MIT found that their use comes at a cognitive cost.

A study published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab analyzed the cognitive function of 54 people writing an essay with: only the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT; only online browsers; or no outside tools at all.

Largely, the study found that those who relied solely on ChatGPT to write their essays had lower levels of brain activity and presented less original writing.

“As we stand at this technological crossroads, it becomes crucial to understand the full spectrum of cognitive consequences associated with (language learning model) integration in educational and informational contexts,” the study states. “While these tools offer unprecedented opportunities for enhancing learning and information access, their potential impact on cognitive development, critical thinking and intellectual independence demands a very careful consideration and continued research.”

Here’s a deeper look at the study and how it was conducted.

A team of MIT researchers, led by MIT Media Lab research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna, studied 54 participants between the ages of 18 and 39. Participants were recruited from MIT, Wellesley College, Harvard, Tufts University and Northeastern University. The participants were randomly split into three groups, 18 people per group.

The study states that the three groups included a language learning model group, in which participants only used OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o to write their essays. The second group was limited to using only search engines for their research, and the third was prohibited from any tools. Participants in the latter group could only use their minds to write their essays.

Each participant had 20 minutes to write an essay from one of three prompts taken from SAT tests, the study states. Three different options were provided to each group, totaling nine unique prompts. An example of a prompt available to participants using ChatGPT was about loyalty:

“Many people believe that loyalty whether to an individual, an organization, or a nation means unconditional and unquestioning support no matter what. To these people, the withdrawal of support is by definition a betrayal of loyalty. But doesn’t true loyalty sometimes require us to be critical of those we are loyal to? If we see that they are doing something that we believe is wrong, doesn’t true loyalty require us to speak up, even if we must be critical? Does true loyalty require unconditional support?”

As the participants wrote their essays, they were hooked up to a Neuoelectrics Enobio 32 headset, which allowed researchers to collect EEG (electroencephalogram) signals, the brain’s electrical activity.

Following the sessions, 18 participants returned for a fourth study group. Participants who had previously used ChatGPT to write their essays were required to use no tools and participants who had used no tools before used ChatGPT, the study states.

In addition to analyzing brain activity, the researchers looked at the essays themselves.

First and foremost, the essays of participants who used no tools (ChatGPT or search engines) had wider variability in both topics, words and sentence structure, the study states. On the other hand, essays written with the help of ChatGPT were more homogenous.

All of the essays were “judged” by two English teachers and two AI judges trained by the researchers. The English teachers were not provided background information about the study but were able to identify essays written by AI.

“These, often lengthy essays included standard ideas, reoccurring typical formulations and statements, which made the use of AI in the writing process rather obvious. We, as English teachers, perceived these essays as ‘soulless,’ in a way, as many sentences were empty with regard to content and essays lacked personal nuances,” a statement from the teachers, included in the study, reads.

As for the AI judges, a judge trained by the researchers to evaluate like the real teachers scored each of the essays, for the most part, a four or above, on a scale of five.

When it came to brain activity, researchers were presented “robust” evidence that participants who used no writing tools displayed the “strongest, widest-ranging” brain activity, while those who used ChatGPT displayed the weakest. Specifically, the ChatGPT group displayed 55% reduced brain activity, the study states.

And though the participants who used only search engines had less overall brain activity than those who used no tools, these participants had a higher level of eye activity than those who used ChatGPT, even though both were using a digital screen.

Further research on the long-term impacts of artificial intelligence chatbots on cognitive activity is needed, the study states.

As for this particular study, researchers noted that a larger number of participants from a wider geographical area would be necessary for a more successful study. Writing outside of a traditional educational environment could also provide more insight into how AI works in more generalized tasks.

Good study!

Tony

The moment a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded into a gigantic fireball.   Courtesy Andrew C @therocketfuture

Dear Commons Community,

As Elon Musk returns his focus to his businesses, one of his most important companies just had another setback: A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded in an immense fireball Wednesday during a routine ground test.

The explosion marks the fourth failure in a row for SpaceX’s Starship, all while Musk’s other companies and his personal brand struggle to recover after his foray into politics.

Starship is supposed to help reach NASA’s goal of bringing American astronauts back to the moon by 2027: The US space agency is paying SpaceX up to about $4 billion for the mission. Although SpaceX has said that the last three launches before Wednesday’s explosions were successful in testing some elements, all ended in mid-flight failures.   As reported by CNN.

SpaceX has long made the case that failures during the testing and development phase are not the harbingers of disaster they may seem. The company embraces a design philosophy called “rapid iterative development” that emphasizes building relatively low-cost prototypes and launching frequent test flights. SpaceX believes the approach allows the company to hash out rocket designs faster and at cheaper price points than relying on slower, more methodical engineering approaches that can guarantee a vehicle’s success.

But the very fiery Starship explosion comes as Musk has been trying to restore his reputation as he returned to focus on his businesses after a controversial stint in the Trump administration. After several months as a top White House adviser and leading the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk is now taking a step back from full-time government work refocusing his time on his companies, including Tesla, which has struggled in part as a result of Musk’s alliance with the Trump administration.

Upon his return, Musk has sought to promote an image of safety and reliability at Tesla, which is aiming to launch its driverless robotaxis in Austin on Sunday – although the initial phase is expected to be limited less than two dozen cars and Musk has warned the date could shift.

But before the launch, a group of Texas lawmakers have asked Tesla to delay the roll out of its robotaxi service until September, citing a new law on autonomous driving set to take effect. And Tesla’s share price slipped this week, before recovering somewhat, following a report from Business Insider that the company plans to pause production on Cybertruck and Model Y lines for a week at its Austin factory for maintenance, the third such shutdown this year. And in Europe, where Tesla sales have been plunging, Chinese car maker BYD sold more pure battery electric vehicles over Tesla in Europe for the first time, according to a report from JATO, an automotive market research firm.

Musk also has his work cut out for him at his AI company, xAI. Bloomberg reported the company “is burning through $1 billion a month” as the cost of building out its AI model “races ahead of the limited revenues.”

Musk brushed off the report. “Bloomberg is talking nonsense,” he posted on X in response.

Musk also publicly disputed his own AI chatbot Grok, when it posted a fact check about politically motivated violence, noting that “Since 2016, data suggests right-wing political violence has been more frequent and deadly.” That response lines up with most publicly available data.

But Musk didn’t agree. “Major fail, as this is objectively false. Grok is parroting legacy media. Working on it.” he posted.

Musk seems to be brushing off the setbacks, especially with SpaceX. He said last month that he hoped Starship would make its inaugural flight to Mars by the end of next year — a target that looks increasingly unlikely to be met.

“Just a scratch,” he posted after Starship’s explosion before posting “RIP Ship 36” and memes.

When a user asked Musk’s chatbot Grok why Musk was posting memes, Grok responded “The timing suggests it’s likely a humorous comment on the SpaceX Starship explosion that occurred on June 18, rather than targeting a specific person. Musk often uses memes to downplay such setbacks.” Musk responded with a bullseye emoji.

Try, try again.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld laws in roughly half the states that ban gender affirming medical care for transgender minors. The vote was 6-3, along ideological lines.

The case was brought by transgender children and their parents in Tennessee who claimed that the state’s ban on hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender minors discriminated on the basis of sex. They contended that they were being denied equal protection of the law because the same medications that are banned for minors with gender dysphoria, are permitted for other minors with conditions such as endometriosis and early or late onset puberty.

But writing for the conservative court’s supermajority, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected that argument entirely.  

He said that laws like Tennessee’s that turn on age or medical use, are not subject to the kind of heightened legal scrutiny that courts use to look at workplace sex discrimination, for instance. Instead, the court applied the lowest level of legal scrutiny, called rational basis, meaning that if there is any rational justification for the law, it passes constitutional muster.  As reported by NPR.

Acknowledging what he called “the fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Roberts said that it is not the court’s job to judge “the wisdom or fairness” of Tennessee’s law.

The court’s job, he said, is only to determine whether the law violates the constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the law. Having concluded that the law does not unconstitutionally discriminate, he said, the court leaves these policy questions “to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.”

Reaction to the decision was swift. “There’s no sugar coating this opinion,” said Jennifer Levi, a senior director at GLAD Law, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ rights. “It means that in more than half the states where the care is banned, families won’t be able to get the care that their children need.”

“The court really abdicated its responsibility to protect a vulnerable group,” she added.

In a rare dissent, read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor echoed that sentiment. Because the Tennessee law explicitly classifies its ban on the basis of sex and transgender status, she said, both the constitution and precedent require that the court subject the law to a higher level of scrutiny.

Instead, she said, the majority “contorts logic and precedent to say otherwise,” retreating from meaningful judicial review “exactly when it matters most.”

To make her point, Sotomayor noted that judicial scrutiny has long played an essential role in guarding against legislative efforts to impose the state’s view on how people of a particular race or sex should live, or look or act. Pointing to what she called a “hauntingly familiar passage” in Virginia’s 1967 brief defending its ban on interracial marriage, Sotomayor noted that the court did not “defer to the wisdom of the state legislature.” Indeed, the court’s 1967 landmark ruling struck down the ban on interracial marriage.

Contrary to that decision, she said that the court now abandons children and their families to “political whims,” adding, “In sadness, I dissent.”

Joining her in full was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Elena Kagan partially joined. She too would have required a higher level of scrutiny, but she would have stopped there. Given the extensive, and disputed evidence presented in the lower courts, she said, the court should have sent the case back down to determine whether the state law was based on stereotypes and prejudices or legitimate state interests.

While the court’s majority opinion gave states broad powers to ban or regulate transgender medical care for minors, it left unresolved a number of questions that very likely will reach the Supreme Court next term.

Among them is a challenge to the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people in the military, and a challenge to the administration’s policy denying passports for transgender individuals, unless they list as their gender as their sex at birth.

Also not resolved by Wednesday’s ruling are cases involving bans on transgender participation in school sports. Federal law bars discrimination based on sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.

John Bursch, who argued and won the case on behalf of the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom said that “about half the states have adopted laws that prohibit boys who identify as girls from participating in girls sports teams.”

As he noted, two of those cases are currently pending before the Supreme Court.

Farther down the road is another question — whether states can ban medical care for transitioning adults.

“I think there would be a rational basis to also prohibit it for adults, and that would be up to the states to decide,” said Bursch.

The court will be back today with more opinions.

Tony