Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Thursday morning!
Deborah Lipstadt, the nominee to be the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, is on Capitol Hill this week and has met with Republican staffers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a committee aide told Jewish Insider. The meetings signal possible progress for her delayed confirmation process.
Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) told JI on Wednesday that unless there is progress by the end of the year, he may consider bypassing normal committee procedure and moving to discharge Lipstadt’s nomination from the committee to the full Senate for consideration — potentially without a hearing, which would be a rare step.
Menedez added, “We’re almost at the end of the year. If it doesn’t happen under normal regular order, [then] as we start the year I certainly will consider it. I’m not going to wait another year for them to move on this nominee or for that fact others… They can [delay] [the hearing] forever if they seek to do so.”
Instagram head Adam Mosseri was on Capitol Hill yesterday, testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, members of which grilled him on what the social media platform, owned by Meta, is doing to protect young users from accessing harmful content.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo this morning during a visit to the country.
Topics discussed by the two leaders, according to the Foreign Ministry, included the Iranian nuclear issue as well as its use of terrorism and the threat it poses to the Middle East; an “economy for security” plan presented by Lapid to El-Sisi; the Palestinian issue and steps taken by Israel to strengthen the Palestinian Authority; and areas of potential cooperation between Israel and Egypt in the fields of economy, energy, agriculture and trade. Lapid is also expected to meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
In cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, Lapid will return Egyptian archeological items seized in Israel in a gesture meant to strengthen relations, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
court case
Supreme Court hears arguments on public funding of religious schooling

Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday morning in Carson v. Makin, a case centering on the constitutionality of public funding of religious education. Following the arguments, activists and observers expect the justices to further broaden public funding of religious education, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Crux of the matter: At issue is whether Maine can bar students in rural areas without public school districts from receiving public assistance to attend parochial schools. The state provides families in such areas with funding to find schooling, but excludes sectarian schools.
Making the case: Michael Bindas, the attorney representing the plaintiffs — parents suing Maine over the rule — argued that “Maine’s sectarian exclusion discriminates based on religion. Like all discrimination based on religion, it should be subjected to strict scrutiny and held unconstitutional.”
Flip side: Maine’s Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub responded that under the program, the state is essentially “outsourc[ing]” public education to private schools. “Maine has determined that as a matter of public policy, public education should be religiously neutral,” Taub said. “The petitioners want an entirely different benefit, instruction designed to instill religious beliefs at taxpayer expense. They are not being discriminated against. They simply are not being offered a benefit that no family in Maine is entitled to.” U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart also argued in defense of the Maine law.
In agreement: Caroline Mala Corbin, a law professor at the University of Miami specializing in the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses who opposes a ruling for the petitioners, told JI she expects the court to rule in the parents’ favor. “A lot of the justices seemed to be harping on this idea that any time you deny money to a religious organization it is discrimination against religion,” Corbin said. Other Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Jewish Women, Union for Reform Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism filed an amicus brief supporting the Maine law.