The Supreme Court heard a pair of cases yesterday that could weaken the power of federal agencies to regulate any industry, from crypto to pharmaceuticals, so you’d never guess that they’re about...fishing.

Lawyers for Atlantic herring fishermen in the Northeast argued against a regulation requiring fishing boats to cover the ~$700/day cost of carrying government-mandated conservation observers. While that may sound simple enough, the program is now defunct and the fishermen were already reimbursed, meaning the herrings may be…

…a red herring. The fishermen’s lawyers—hailing from two conservative, Koch-backed groups—have asked the Supreme Court to overturn the precedent that made the fishing boat fee possible: a 1984 pro-regulation decision in the case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council that’s become a cornerstone of American law.

TL;DR on Chevron: When a federal law is unclear, the Chevron doctrine says that judges should defer to how a federal agency with expertise in that area interprets it, as long as it’s reasonable, which gives the SEC, EPA, and basically anything starting with “Department of…” the power to determine what laws in their areas mean.

What happens if Chevron is overturned?

It would shift the balance of power in government. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar warned the court that reversing Chevron would deal a “convulsive shock to the legal system.” It may be on its way: Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh have publicly criticized Chevron for giving what Gorsuch called “huge amounts” of power to bureaucrats.

If the court rules in favor of the fishermen, then the hundreds of federal agencies that set rules for public health, workplace safety, consumer protections, and more would be severely limited in their ability to decide what Congress means when it writes a law.

This could spell trouble for evolving industries. Finance and trade regulators who try to keep crypto and AI in check, for example, primarily work off of old laws written before a lot of our current tech existed, which is where their ability to interpret comes in clutch. Without the Chevron doctrine, the way laws apply would largely be left up to the courts—where getting clarification tends to be costly and time consuming.—ML

Lithium is essential for batteries in electric cars, renewable energy storage, and even smartphones. That’s why demand for lithium is projected to grow 20x by 2040.

So when EnergyX revealed that their technology could extract 300% more lithium than traditional methods, investors everywhere took note—General Motors included.

GM is the lead investor in EnergyX’s $50m funding round. And you can join them. That means you have the unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a company just as they’re set to unlock the US lithium supply.

Now’s your chance: Invest in EnergyX at the current price of $8/share before it changes next month. Become an EnergyX shareholder here.

The Biden admin wants overdraft fees cut to as little as $3. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed new rules yesterday that would cap the fees banks charge customers who try to spend more than they have in their accounts. The agency proposed $3, $6, $7, or $14 as the upper limits and is seeking public input on the right amounts. Unsurprisingly, banks, which frequently charge $35 per overdraft and stand to lose billions in annual revenue if the rules take effect, are expected to fight hard against them.

Apple watches with blood oxygen sensors banned again. Your next Apple Watch probably won’t be able to measure your blood oxygen level after a federal appeals court yesterday reinstated a ban on importing the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches that were found to infringe on health-tech-maker Masimo’s patent. But Apple already has a workaround: making the watches without the allegedly infringing feature. And Apple didn’t lose entirely—the ruling wasn’t about whether it violated the patent, just whether Apple could import the watches while it continues to fight in court.

Iran says it’s not backing down. Tensions in the Middle East are certainly not easing, and Iran’s foreign minister insisted yesterday that Iranian-backed groups won’t stop launching attacks as long as the Israel–Hamas war continues. The official’s statement came one day after the US redesignated the Iran-supported Houthis who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea as global terrorists. This week, Iran also fired missiles at targets in Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria.

The Chinese government, like your aging relatives, wants to see more baby showers. China’s overall population dropped in 2023 for the second year in a row due in part to an annual decline in babies being born (the seventh straight one), the country announced yesterday.

China’s population fell by 2.1 million to 1.4 billion last year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The fall was partially driven by a Covid surge that pushed the death rate up 6.6% to 11.1 million people last year, outpacing the birthrate, which dipped 5.7%, to 9.02 million.

China’s worried. Since dropping its decadeslong one-child rule in 2016, the country has done a hard 180 on its messaging. Even President Xi Jinping has encouraged young women to have kids. But…

• Young people cite rising housing and education costs as reasons they’re still child-free.
• Some women, specifically, are opting out of marriage and motherhood, saying the legal system isn’t set up to protect their property, financial freedom, or personal safety.

Big picture: Most high-income countries are struggling to keep birthrates up. France announced yesterday it would make parental leave better after its birthrate fell to the lowest since World War II. But reversing birthrate trends can cost governments a lot, even to achieve a minuscule change.—MM

While you were asking your mom if she’s seen your old snow pants, electric vehicle owners have struggled to get around town during the polar vortex.

In Chicago, where the wind chill fell as low as –25 degrees Fahrenheit this week, Tesla owners had so much trouble simply charging their vehicles that some people were forced to abandon their dead cars, creating charging stations that became known as “Tesla graveyards.” Drivers reported sitting in queues for hours to juice up their EVs—and spending even more hours waiting for their Teslas to finish charging once plugged in, since the process takes longer in lower temps.

Why? Like the Miami Dolphins, EVs don’t handle the cold very well. To be fair, gas-powered cars don’t, either, but the effects are often more noticeable with EVs because you can’t just fill ’em up. Freezing temps can cut EV battery life by as much as half, according to AAA. Blasting the heat also drains the battery.

Meanwhile…in Norway, where 1-in-4 cars is electric and winter temps stay below freezing, this isn’t a problem. That’s because the Scandinavians are prepared for it: Norway has better charging infrastructure, and drivers are generally better at “preconditioning,” or warming up, their cars before a charge, which makes the process more efficient.

And don’t get us started on Cybertrucks. Not only do they need to be charged, but Tesla’s new EV pickup trucks also keep getting stuck in the snow.—CC

Stat: An outdated definition of “out of pocket” isn’t the only thing boomers are holding onto: Data compiled by Redfin shows that boomer empty-nesters own 28% of the large homes in the US, while millennials with kids own just 14% (Gen Z parents barely make a blip with 0.3%). That’s true even though millennials make up a larger share of the adult population than boomers do, and it’s a change from 10 years ago, when young families and parents whose kids had flown the coop were about as likely to own large homes. There aren’t a lot of reasons for boomers—most of whom own their homes outright—to sell, and most of the younger generations can’t afford to buy anyway.

Quote: “I don’t regret sharing that. I have received so many messages of people telling me, ‘I wish I would have stood up for myself the way you did.’”

Not since Brandi Glanville got booted from the Real Housewives has a firing caused as much drama as the exit of ex-Cloudflare employee Brittany Pietsch, whose video of her termination meeting has racked up millions of views on social media. Even Cloudflare’s CEO watched it and acknowledged that the company’s actions weren’t “anywhere close to perfect.” Pietsch told the Wall Street Journal that she’s fine with the world watching her last moments at the job—during which she repeatedly pressed for details on what performance expectations she fell short of and asked why her manager isn’t on the call, to no avail—and that it’s led to other companies reaching out positively.

Read: Fast-food giants overwork teenagers, driving America’s child labor crisis. (Washington Post)

There’s no way to overstate the transformative impact the song “Breaking Free” left on Disney—and on a nation of shy teenage girls who thought they could sing. High School Musical’s massive success changed the way the Disney Channel made movies: In addition to providing production teams with bigger budgets and more time to make movies, the Disney Channel started investing in “tentpole” films that elevated certain stars or franchises.

Michael Healy, Disney’s former SVP of Original Movies and one of the brains behind the operation, told Morning Brew, “When High School Musical came out, I said to people out loud, ‘This is the kind of success that could get you fired.’”

We talked to 16 people who were there, and from it we created an oral history of the Disney Channel Original Movie. Read more here.

Update your profile pic: Here’s how to look better in photos.

A river runs to it: These maps show where the world’s rivers end up.

Live long and prosper: Images beamed back from Mars look a lot like the Starfleet emblem.

Watch: A master Lego sculptor uses only black bricks.

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