--- title: Morning Must Reads: June 23 description: South Carolina's top Republican leaders, along with nationwide GOP lawmakers, called on the state legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds... canonical: https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-23T12:07:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T19:55:35.014Z article:section: Politics og:title: Morning Must Reads: June 23 og:description: South Carolina's top Republican leaders, along with nationwide GOP lawmakers, called on the state legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds... og:url: https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morning Must Reads: June 23 twitter:description: South Carolina's top Republican leaders, along with nationwide GOP lawmakers, called on the state legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Morning Must Reads: June 23 (23 Jun 2015) > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c83f9068-9bf8-461c-9651-f79aa4ba9cd8&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jun 23, 2015 12:07 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jun 23, 2015 12:07 PM UTC South Carolina’s top Republican leaders, along with nationwide GOP lawmakers, called on the state legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds Monday, after days of behind-the-scenes wrangling and public stumbles. According to people familiar with the decision, the discovery Saturday of a racist website kept by the Charleston shooter cemented Gov. Nikki Haley’s decision to call for the Civil War symbol’s removal, and started the process which came to include the state’s two senators, the RNC chairman, and top state legislators joining together on Monday. The state legislature must still vote by a two-thirds margin to remove the flag, and while some opposition is likely, momentum is squarely on the side of removal. Most Republican presidential candidates avoided specifically weighing in on the flag issue, deferring to Haley and South Carolinians, while gauging the political winds. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush offered equivocating statements suggesting the flag should be removed, while the rest of the field joined in support only once Haley came out for taking it down. While messy, the episode avoids what could have been a catastrophic messaging problem for the Republican Party, which is struggling to grow its support among minority voters. Here are your must-reads: **Must Reads** [Gov. Nikki Haley Joins Call to Remove Confederate Flag ](http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150622/PC1603/150629833)A historic step in South Carolina \[The Post and Courier\] [While GOP Candidates Stammer, Clinton Directly Confronts Race ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/while-gop-candidates-stammer-clinton-directly-confronts-race/2015/06/22/6414dd66-18f8-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5%5Fstory.html)Clinton seizes opportunity \[Washington Post\] [Before Supreme Court Health Ruling, GOP Lawmaker Is in Tug-of-War ](http://www.wsj.com/articles/before-supreme-court-health-ruling-gop-lawmaker-is-in-tug-of-war-1435016104)An unpopular law, but a subsidy that benefits millions \[Wall Street Journal\] [Inside Scott Walker’s $20 Million Push to Lay Groundwork for Presidential Run ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-scott-walkers-20-million-push-to-get-ready-for-a-presidential-run/2015/06/22/f89cdac0-15d2-11e5-9ddc-e3353542100c%5Fstory.html)He’s raised well less than Jeb Bush, but he plans to run a leaner operation \[Washington Post\] [Your Politics Determine Your Anxieties ](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/06/22/your-politics-determine-your-anxieties-wsjnbc-poll/)Red and Blue America have different concerns about the country. No wonder consensus is so difficult \[Wall Street Journal\] **Sound Off** “My odds of beating this are much, much better than my odds were at beating \[former Democratic Lt. Gov.\] Anthony Brown.” — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan Monday after announcing he has been diagnosed with a form of late stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that is deemed “very advanced and very aggressive.” He won election in November, defeating Brown in a surprise victory. “This is a moment in which we can say that that flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state. The murderer now locked up in Charleston said he hoped his actions would start a race war. We have an opportunity to show that not only was he wrong, but that—that just the opposite is happening.” — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announcing she supports removing the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds. **Bits and Bites** [CNN’s GoPro antics rile Supreme Court](http://www.politico.com//blogs/media/2015/06/cnns-gopro-antics-rile-supreme-court-209283.html) \[Politico\] [Obama to deliver eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney](http://time.com/3930966/barack-obama-clementa-pinckney-eulogy/) \[TIME\] [White House defends Obama’s use of the n-word in interview](http://time.com/3930623/barack-obama-n-word-wtf-podcast/) \[TIME\] [Mississippi House Speaker: Confederate part of state flag ‘needs to be removed’](http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/06/22/petition-mississippi-confederate-flag/29113157/) \[The Clarion-Ledger\] [Council of Conservative Citizens promotes white primacy, and G.O.P. ties](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/us/politics/views-on-race-and-gop-ties-define-group-council-of-conservative-citizens.html?emc=edit%5Fth%5F20150623&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=55003713&%5Fr=0) \[New York Times\] [From Piyush to Bobby: How does Jindal feel about his family’s past?](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/from-piyush-to-bobby-how-does-jindal-feel-about-his-familys-past/2015/06/22/7d45a3da-18ec-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5%5Fstory.html) \[Washington Post\] [Clinton to meet with church officials near Ferguson unrest](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/77edff9891a543a18a1524c7e9e8d46d/clinton-meet-church-officials-near-ferguson-unrest) \[Associated Press\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: June 23 (23 Jun 2015)","datePublished":"2015-06-23T12:07:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T19:55:35.014Z","description":"South Carolina's top Republican leaders, along with nationwide GOP lawmakers, called on the state legislature to remove the Confederate Flag from the state capitol grounds...","url":"https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3931608/morning-must-reads-june-23-2/","name":"Morning Must Reads: June 23 (23 Jun 2015)"}}]}] ```