The Red Mass, a long-standing tradition marking the start of the U.S. Supreme Court’s term, brings judges, lawyers and public officials together at Washington’s St. Matthew’s Cathedral to pray for wisdom and moral clarity in the administration of justice.

Since the 1950s, this ecumenical service — welcoming for people of all faiths and belief systems — has been a sort of opening ceremony attended by many Supreme Court justices.

This year none of them attended due to security concerns.

A man allegedly carrying a Molotov cocktail was arrested outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral, police said Sunday, underscoring the heightened security concerns surrounding the court in today’s polarized climate.

Late last week, a 29-year-old was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, after her 2022 arrest near his home with plans to kill him and then herself. Earlier this year, Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s sister faced a bomb threat.

In these charged times, the nation’s highest court will soon weigh in on a handful of polarizing cases. Emotions are sure to run hot.

But the court must remain cool — and do its important work.

The justices’ job is not to please the public or politicians, but to interpret the Constitution faithfully — even when that means angering one side (or both sides). The court was never meant to be the most popular branch, only the most principled one.

Its October term kicked off Monday and will run through late June or early July. Tuesday, the court heard arguments in two cases — Chiles v. Salazar, which tests whether Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” violates free speech, and Barrett v. United States, which examines how double-jeopardy principles apply to a federal firearm offense.

Other cases on the docket this session cover such topics as gun rights, transgender athletes in sports and the death penalty.

They’ll also be reviewing a slew of cases related to President Donald Trump and his presidential powers, tariff policies and limits to executive authority. All of which are certain to bring emotions and tensions to a boiling point.

And so we return to the Molotov cocktail outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral, a chilling reminder that in an age of anger even a symbolic and traditional act meant to foster unity can feel dangerous. The court must not let fear — or fury — dictate its work.

The coming months will test not only the justices, but the country’s capacity to accept decisions we dislike without resorting to rage. If the court loses its ability to deliberate freely, every institution that depends on the rule of law grows weaker.

We noted with approval words from Justice Amy Coney Barrett when she spoke at the Aug. 18 Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference in Chicago.

“We know how to argue, but we also know how to do it without letting it consume relationships,” she said.

We’d encourage members of the public to heed these words — even if they take issue with the results of how the justices interpret the Constitution.

— The Chicago Tribune

PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Aces are in position to make short work of the WNBA’s expanded playoff schedule.

A’ja Wilson’s turnaround jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining lifted the Aces over the Phoenix Mercury for a thrilling 90-88 win on Wednesday night. It also gave Las Vegas a 3-0 lead in the first best-of-seven WNBA Finals in league history.

In the previous best-of-five format, the Aces would already be celebrating their third championship in four seasons. In 2025, there’s more work to do.

Game 4 is on Friday night in Phoenix.

“We don’t look at it too big,” Wilson said. “We just win one game, win one possession, win one quarter and then everything will pan out.”

The Aces were one of the best teams in the WNBA all season, earning the No. 2 seed in the playoffs with a 30-14 record, but they looked surprisingly vulnerable early in the postseason. They dropped a game to Seattle in the opening round and needed the full five games to squeeze past the Indiana Fever in the semifinals, prevailing in overtime for a 107-98 win in the decisive Game 5.

In the finals, the Aces have looked unstoppable.

Wilson — a four-time MVP who is already one of the league’s all-time greats — continued to add to her legacy on Wednesday night with a 34-point, 14-rebound performance that helped the Aces navigate a hostile road environment and shake off a late Mercury rally.

Wilson has already set a WNBA record with 291 postseason points through 11 games and is averaging 26.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. A 29, she remains at the peak of her basketball powers, using her 6-foot-4 frame and soft touch around the basket to score in bunches.

“I always have to credit my teammates, because they give me the basketball in the right space at the right time,” Wilson said. “Like Jewell (Loyd) said, the ball has energy. Players understand, there’s something different where you get a pass and it’s like ‘This is a pass to score the basketball.’ ”

Wilson’s presence was more important than ever in the closing moments of Game 3.

The Aces had coughed up a 76-59 lead entering the fourth quarter, and the game was tied at 88 with 5 seconds left. Las Vegas had the ball and the daunting task of trying to close the game against a desperate Mercury team that had a raucous home crowd on its side.

Aces coach Becky Hammon didn’t need to consult her playbook for the right call.

Just throw it to A’ja. Boom. Game over.

“These are the moments that you dream of, the times you see on TV, you’re watching and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, to be in that building,’ ” Wilson said.

The Mercury will try to shake off the tough loss and force the series back to Las Vegas for a Game 5. Phoenix will be without star forward Satou Sabally, who suffered a concussion late in Wednesday’s game after scoring 24 points.

DeWanna Bonner led the Mercury with 25 points in Game 3 while Alyssa Thomas was one assist short of a triple double, finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

“This group has been a group that continues to compete at a high level,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We’re going to expect that in front of our fans. We’ve got a certain level of pride.”

By R.J. RICO, Associated Press

Thirty-four men have died by court-ordered executions in the U.S. so far this year, and eight others are scheduled to be put to death by year’s end, including five in the next eight days.

The total for 2025 already far exceeds the number of executions carried out last year — 25 — and could be the highest since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death, though still far below the modern peak of 98 executions in 1999.

The increase in executions is largely being driven by four states — Florida, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — that have carried out 76% of this year’s court-ordered killings.

“This is not an uptick of executions nationally — this is really down to just a few states,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

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Chief among them is Florida, which has already carried out 13 executions after performing just one last year. The increase comes as President Donald Trump has urged governors to expand their use of the death penalty.

“Gov. DeSantis is scheduling all of these executions with complete autonomy and in complete secrecy,” Maher said.

DeSantis’ office has not responded to questions about why the governor is increasing the pace of executions now and whether Trump’s policies are playing a role.

Executions have been carried out this year in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

All but one of those states — Arizona — are run by Republican governors.

Here’s a look at the executions scheduled for the rest of the year, by state:

Indiana

Roy Lee Ward is set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

Ward, 53, was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne.

Attorneys said Ward is remorseful and has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

Missouri

Lance C. Shockley is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.

Shockley, 48, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham outside his home in Carter County in 2005.

Authorities said Graham was killed because he was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.

Florida

Samuel Lee Smithers is set to receive a lethal injection Tuesday evening.

Smithers, 72, was convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996. Authorities said he met his two victims — Christy Cowan and Denise Roach — on different dates at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor Cynthia Campbell, whose body was found near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998.

Smithers’ and Grim’s executions would be Florida’s 14th and 15th death sentences carried out in 2025, further extending the state’s record for executions in one year. Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the state’s previous record was eight in 2014.

Mississippi

Charles Ray Crawford is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for kidnapping and killing a college student in 1993.

Crawford, 59, was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 20-year-old community college student Kristy Ray after abducting her from her parents’ home in northern Mississippi’s Tippah County. Crawford told officers he had blacked out and did not recall killing her.

Texas

Robert Roberson had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 16, but his closely watched case was paused Thursday by Texas’ top criminal court.

Roberson, 58, had been set to become the first person in the U.S. put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

Prosecutors at Roberson’s 2003 trial argued that he hit his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis and violently shook her, causing severe head trauma that led to her death.

But Roberson says he never abused the girl. A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers believe Roberson is innocent and have sought to get him a new trial.

Roberson’s lawyers and some medical experts say his daughter died from complications related to pneumonia. They say his conviction was based on flawed and now outdated scientific evidence.

Arizona

Richard Kenneth Djerf is set to be executed Oct. 17 by lethal injection for killing four members of a family in their Phoenix home.

Djerf, 55, had pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 1993 killings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia, their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and their 5-year-old son Damien.

Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment and became obsessed with revenge.

Alabama

Anthony Todd Boyd is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on Oct. 23.

A judge sentenced Boyd to death for his role in the 1993 killing of Gregory Huguley in Talladega. Prosecutors said Boyd taped Huguley’s feet together before another man doused him with gasoline and set him on fire over a $200 cocaine debt.

Boyd has long maintained his innocence, saying he never participated in the killing.

Tennessee

Harold Nichols is scheduled to be executed Dec. 11.

Nichols, 64, was convicted of rape and first-degree felony murder in the 1988 death of 21-year-old Karen Pulley in Hamilton County. Authorities said he broke into Pulley’s home, raped her and hit her in the head several times with a board.

Nichols had been scheduled to be killed in August 2020, but the execution was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A man beat a woman repeatedly with a table leg in a random attack at a Green Line station in St. Paul, according to an attempted murder charge filed Thursday.

Officers responded to the Fairview and University avenues platform about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday and found a 31-year-old woman lying in a pool of blood. She was bleeding heavily from her head and face, and her glasses lay broken nearby.

Police found a large wooden table leg on a nearby platform walkway.

Witnesses reported the assailant had walked west on University Avenue, and police found Jerrod Rentist Johnson nearby at Lynnhurst and Oakley avenues. Johnson, 20, of Minneapolis, matched the suspect’s description and had blood on both his hands, according to the criminal complaint.

“Attacks on our riders are absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth said in a statement Thursday. “Those responsible will be held fully accountable.

“I am grateful for the swift response of our MTPD officers, who apprehended this individual within three minutes of this senseless attack, and to our investigative unit for ensuring he has been appropriately charged. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this disturbing incident.”

Metro Transit police data indicates serious crimes are down 7 percent year-over-year.

Swung table leg like baseball bat

Surveillance video showed the woman exited a bus and headed toward the train platform. Johnson “picked up his pace to follow her,” caught up to the woman and “swung the table leg like a baseball bat hitting her head,” the complaint said.

She turned around “stunned and looked at Johnson,” the complaint continued. He “wielded the table leg over his head” and hit the woman’s shoulder. The woman screamed for help and ran onto the platform’s ramp.

Johnson caught the woman and struck her 21 more times with the table leg on her head, shoulder and arm, the complaint said. She’d been protecting herself with her right leg and arm, but lost consciousness. Johnson allegedly hit the woman for 17 seconds when she was unconscious.

Five to six male bystanders “eventually approached, but they did nothing to physically stop Johnson,” the complaint said. “Johnson leaned against a cement wall, slid down, and dropped the table leg while the bystanders surrounded him.” He then got up and walked away.

At the hospital, the woman told an officer she didn’t know the man who assaulted her. She said it appeared he “was upset that she was screaming as it was ruining the situation for him” and that she “saw joy” in his eyes when he beat her, according to the complaint.

The woman sustained a fractured skull. Staples were used to close injuries to her head in three places and she was diagnosed with a concussion. Her right arm was broken in multiple places from her shoulder to her hand, and will require surgery. One of her eyes was swollen completely shut.

Charged last month after alleged punch to woman

Johnson didn’t talk to police after his arrest.

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In addition to attempted murder, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Johnson with first-degree assault.

Johnson is due to make his first court appearance in the case on Friday. An attorney wasn’t listed for him as of Thursday.

On Sept. 14, Metro Transit police arrested Johnson after a woman reported that a man she didn’t know, identified as Johnson, punched her when she turned around. It happened near the Government Plaza light-rail station in downtown Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office charged Johnson with fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and the case is ongoing.