HC Wake-Up Call: Merriam-Webster Announces Word Of The Year, Tucker Carlson’s Advertisers Drop Out, & Former GOP Officials Call Trump’s Asylum Ban Illegal

Good morning Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds — we’re all only human, after all. 

But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.) 

Merriam-Webster’s Word Of The Year Is….*drum roll please*

Justice. 

Apparently people have been extremely curious about the exact definition of “justice” in 2018, dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster said in a press release on Monday. There was a 74 percent increase in searches in the last year, which made it Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2018, according to the Associated Press.

“The concept of justice was at the center of many of our national debates in the past year: racial justice, social justice, criminal justice, economic justice. In any conversation about these topics, the questions of just what exactly we mean when we use the term justice is relevant, and part of the discussion,” said Merriam-Webster in the press release. 

The dictionary publisher continued, citing topics related to President Trump are primarily responsible for the words jump, “This year’s news had many stories involving the division within the executive branch of government responsible for the enforcement of laws.” 

It further referenced how the Mueller investigation and the controversial confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh also played a role in the word’s frequent search in 2018. 

Merriam-Webster also released the 10 runners-up: nationalism, pansexual, lodestar, epiphany, feckless, laurel, pissant, respect, maverick, and excelsior. Dictionary.com and Oxford Dictionaries also selected their word’s of the year as“toxic” and “misinformation.”

Advertisers Are Saying Goodbye To Tucker Carlson On Fox News After Controversial Immigration Comments 

Multiple companies have announced that they are pulling advertisements from Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” following controversial comments about the ongoing immigration crisis. Last Thursday, the host suggested that the immigration crisis in the U.S. makes American “poor and dirtier and more divided.”

Carlson made the comments on his show last Thursday while discussing the migrant caravan coming to the U.S. from Central America, according to the Washington Post. “It’s indefensible, so nobody even tried to defend it. Instead, our leaders demand that you shut up and accept it. We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poor and dirtier and more divided…” Carlson reportedly said. 

At least two companies have recently announced that they refuse to air advertisements on his show. The Hill reported that insurance company, Pacific Life, announced it wouldn’t air ads the day after. 

The Hollywood Reporter later said Bowflex also withdrew ads on Monday.

 “We can confirm that Nautilus, Inc., parent company for Bowflex, has pulled its ads from the Tucker Carlson Tonight show,” the company said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We have requested that Fox News remove our ads from airing in conjunction with Tucker Carlson Tonight in the future. Aside from our decision to remove our ads from his show, we have no other association or affiliation with Mr. Carlson.”

Indeed and SmileDirectClub also told BuzzFeed News on Monday that they would stop advertising with the show. 

Fox News released a statement, which doesn’t directly mention Carlson’s show. “It is a shame that left-wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed ‘media watchdogs,’ weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech,” the company said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions.” 

Former GOP Leaders Tell The Supreme Court That Trump’s Asylum Ban Is Illegal 

A group of former lawyers who served in past Republican administrations and many high-ranking former Republican officials have filed a brief with the Supreme Court on Monday, saying that Trump’s attempted asylum ban is illegal.

The lawyers and officials argued that the “government is simply wrong” in its reasoning that the administration can enforce the ban under federal law. 

BuzzFeed Newsfirst reported the brief on Monday night, indicating that former high-positioned officials from the FBI and Department of Justice filed it. Former director of the FBI and CIA, William Webster, two former acting attorney generals, Peter Keisler and Stuart Gerson, former Republican congressman, Ray LaHood, former EPA chief in the Bush Administration, Todd Whitman, former DOJ official and Supreme Court advocate, Carter Phillips, and nine others filed and signed the brief. 

“The relevant provision of federal asylum law begins with the command that ‘any alien’ who crosses the southern border illegally outside ‘a designated port of arrival...may apply for asylum,’” the brief said, which was written by Richard Bernstein The Hill reports. “The Attorney General’s regulation is inconsistent with the plain text and meaning of [the law]. That should be the end of the matter.” 

Earlier this month, a federal judge form the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had denied the administration's attempt to delay a judge’s order to block a policy that would stop migrants from claiming asylum if they entered illegally. 

What To Look Out For….

To all our royal-family fans, it looks like Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and Baby of Sussex will be coming to the U.S. in the Fall of 2019!