The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether it should find the structure of a key housing regulator unconstitutional and void an agreement struck with the Treasury Department over the handling of revenue from the government-sponsored enterprises it oversees.

The case, Collins v. Mnuchin, centers on whether the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, infringes on the president’s executive authority, thereby invalidating a 2012 agreement to exchange billions in Fannie and Freddie stock for capital infusions from the Treasury.

Congress created the FHFA in 2008 to obtain and oversee Fannie and Freddie, two government-sponsored enterprises that collapsed during the 2007 foreclosure crisis. The FHFA, led by a single director unfireable by the president unless “for cause,” regulates Fannie and Freddie, which purchase home mortgages and package them into securities.

ADVERTISEMENT

A group of Fannie and Freddie shareholders led by Patrick Collins argued that the FHFA director has unconstitutional independence from the president’s oversight because they cannot be fired at will, making a 2012 contract with Treasury invalid. 

“FHFA sweeping claims to unlimited, standardless discretion powerfully illustrate the framers’ wisdom in refusing to vest executive authority in an unaccountable, fourth branch of government,” said David Thompson, an attorney for the shareholders.

The federal government agreed that the FHFA’s structure is unconstitutional, but insists that the 2012 agreement should stand since it was approved by an acting director and the Treasury secretary, both of whom can be fired at will by the president.

“My colleague hasn’t shown any presidential insulation on either side of the [agreement],” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Hashim Moopan, arguing on behalf of the Treasury Department. “He hasn’t shown any reason why this court would construe the statute to create a constitutional problem rather than to avoid one.”

The court ruled 5-4 in a similar case in June that the nearly identical structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) violated the Constitution, but solved the issue by striking down the director’s protection from at-will dismissal.

ADVERTISEMENT

Aaron Nielson, a law professor at Brigham Young University appointed to argue in defense of the FHFA’s structure, said the agency should not be held to the same standard as the CFPB because it does not regulate privately run businesses and has less discretion than the bureau.

“The court is going to have to answer some very hard questions, including what is the constitutional basis for any of this,” he said. “Thankfully the court doesn’t need to answer any of them. Because an acting director doesn’t have 10 years to begin with.”

But arguments focused primarily on how the court should handle the 2012 contract, known as the “third amendment” to the FHFA’s original financing agreement, and less on the structure of the agency itself. 

The justices focused their questions on how far the court should go in settling the dispute over the third amendment if it found the agency’s structure unconstitutional and whether such a ruling would affect other FHFA actions.

“Does that mean that everything that happened in the course of the third amendment is then void as structurally invalid because at some point, a constitutionally invalid officer entered the scene?” asked Justice Amy Coney BarrettAmy Coney BarrettDurbin to become top Democrat on Judiciary panel, keep No. 2 spot Durbin’s fate unclear after rule change vote sparks disarray Supreme Court hears arguments in challenge to housing regulator’s constitutionality MORE.

ADVERTISEMENT

Several justices asked whether the enforcement of the agreement by confirmed directors and the actions of other regulators insulated from presidential firing could be illegal under those circumstances.

Justice Elena KaganElena KaganSupreme Court hears arguments in challenge to housing regulator’s constitutionality Supreme Court sees new requests for religious COVID-19 carve-outs COVID-19: Justice Alito overstepped judicial boundaries MORE also asked if the court would have “to deal with a great deal more and invalidate the third amendment and everything that’s followed from it” if it found the FHFA’s structure to violate the Constitution.

Thompson responded that while the court would have to go back and assess which actions were taken by FHFA directors with unconstitutional protections, the Fannie and Freddie shareholders were only seeking a ban on any further payments under the third amendment and $18.9 billion to cover the additional amount Fannie and Freddie paid over what they would have been required to pay under the previous agreement.

“No conservator or receiver has ever before been permitted to operate its ward for the exclusive benefit of the federal government,” he said. 

The Navy is looking for a sailor thought to have fallen from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt off the coast of Southern California.

The ship began the search Thursday “after a lookout spotted what appeared to be a person in the water,” according to a Navy statement released Friday.

One sailor was later unaccounted for, the statement said. 

ADVERTISEMENT

The Navy has since scrambled three search and rescue helicopters and other Navy and Coast Guard ships to help in the search efforts.

The Roosevelt on Monday set sail from San Diego on a scheduled deployment.

The ship had been in San Diego since July following an outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier this spring that resulted in more than 1,000 sailors contracting the coronavirus and one dying, forcing the Roosevelt to dock in Guam for weeks.

A two-day international business conference in Boston early in the pandemic was likely a super-spreader event that has been linked to as many as 300,000 coronavirus cases worldwide, according to a new scientific study released on Thursday.

The study, published in the journal Science by lead author Jacob Lemieux of Massachusetts General Hospital, found that the event is responsible for roughly 1.6 percent of all U.S. cases since the onset of the pandemic.

According to The Boston Globe, the Biogen conference was held at Boston Marriott Long Wharf Hotel between Feb. 26-27 with approximately 175 participants. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Attendees later boarded planes to destinations overseas and across the U.S but many began feeling sick days later. A public health investigation with contact tracing identified approximately 100 cases directly associated with the conference.

Overall, the unique genetic signature correlated to the virus spreading at the conference has been linked to COVID-19 cases in 29 states and several countries, including Australia, Slovakia, and Sweden.

Through Nov. 1, it is estimated that between 205,000-300,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide are directly linked to the conference. 

While Massachusetts accounted for most of the early spread related to the gathering, Florida was hit the hardest with an estimated 71,450 cases linked back to the conference. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic had a very direct and personal impact on the Biogen community — as it has on many communities across the country and world,” Biogen said in a statement obtained by The Globe. “Tremendous progress has been made since the start of the pandemic to gain a better understanding of this novel virus and its transmission, develop vaccines, and investigate potential treatment options. As a company rooted in science, we understand the value of the data that came from the first wave of the pandemic in the Boston area and we hope that information gleaned from these data will help continue to drive a better understanding of the transmission of this virus and efforts to address it.”

Lemieux, an infectious disease physician, told the outlet that “the conditions that enable these types of massive super-spreading events to occur are still with us.”

“They’re still possible if we let our guard down. They’re still possible if infected but otherwise healthy people mingle and travel without restriction,” he said in warning.

AstraZeneca is expected to begin a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine combined with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

The U.K.-based drugmaker said in a statement on Friday that volunteers aged 18 years and older will be enrolled to assess AZD1222 with Sputnik V.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, the vaccine’s main backer, said in a separate statement that it offered AstraZeneca the chance to use one of Sputnik V’s components in November after preliminary results showed Russia’s vaccine to be 90 percent effective.

ADVERTISEMENT

The trial is expected to begin before the end of the year, RDIF said.

RDIF CEO Krill Dmitriev said in a statement that the collaboration will “play a decisive role in achieving a final victory over the pandemic globally.”

“The decision by AstraZeneca to carry out clinical trials using one of two vectors of Sputnik V in order to increase its own vaccine’s efficacy is an important step towards uniting efforts in the fight against the pandemic,” Dmitriev said.

Russia registered the Sputnik V vaccine in August, making it the first country to register a vaccine. The nation began inoculating people this week, according to Bloomberg News.

However, the vaccine has faced scrutiny since it was approved, as it did not go through the same rigorous testing as its competitors.

Meanwhile, data on AZD1222 published on Tuesday confirmed that it is overall 70 percent effective. However, some questions remain on its efficacy, including in those over the age of 55.

Thanks to rajah.com reader Edward Rice for sending in these results!

Here are the results from WWE Live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH

-Our ring announcer was WWE Diva Eden Stiles

Match 1: Neville pinned Stardust w/ 450 Splash

Match 2: Lucha Dragons defeated The Ascention when Sin Cara pinned Viktor
after a Swanton Bomb

Match 3: Jimmy Uso pinned Adam Rose after a top rope splash; Rose came down
to the ring ranting about how we the fans have seen enough matches,
wrestlers, the shows over cause he said so, he ordered the ref out, Eden out,
Uso out, etc… The ref got fed up and rang the bell against Rose’s wishes,
he turned into a super kick and was hit w/ a top rope splash; quite honestly
a complete waste of Jimmy Uso’s talent

Match 4: Jack Swagger defeated The Miz by submission after Miz tapped to the
Patriot Lock

Match 5: “Cleveland Streetfight” Randy Orton pinned Sheamus w/ an RKO

Intermission

Match 6: Natalya defeated Naomi (w/ Tamina and Sasha Banks) by submission
when Naomi submitted to the sharpshooter

Match 7: Dolph Ziggler pinned Rusevw/ Summer Rae following the Zig Zag

Main Event: “Lunatic Fringe” Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Bray
Wyatt and Braun Strowman when Reigns pinned Wyatt following a spear