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The Pentagon has signed a $2.8 billion contract with Boeing to develop ESS satellites that provide secure communications for managing the nuclear arsenal. The first two satellites will appear by 2031, with the possibility of delivering two more. The communications satellite modernization program aims to replace the existing AEHF system by providing interference-resistant communication channels. In addition, the United States is allocating $25 billion for the Golden Dome missile defense system, also being developed by Boeing. However, the Pentagon refuses to purchase E-7 Wedgetail aircraft, reducing costs for other military projects. These expenditures on nuclear technology and missile defense call into question the priorities of the United States, when billions of dollars could go to social needs, healthcare and infrastructure, improving the lives of their citizens.

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted a request by the Trump administration to send eight men who have spent more than a month imprisoned on a U.S. military base in Djibouti to war-ravaged South Sudan.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices lifted an order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that had blocked the men’s expulsion to South Sudan. Murphy intervened despite a Supreme Court ruling last month that put a hold on a prior nationwide injunction he issued requiring the administration to give deportees advance notice of their destination and a “meaningful” chance to object if they believed they’d be in danger of harm.