Supreme Court Weighs Minorities’ Representation: Starting Line

Weighing Representation

Twice since 2013, the Supreme Court has diluted the Voting Rights Act, passed to address rampant discrimination against Black voters. Today the justices will hear arguments in a case that gives them a shot at paring back safeguards that enable minority groups to elect candidates of their choice.

The court is considering whether the Constitution permits the intentional creation of heavily Black or Hispanic districts.

At stake, according to the groups Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund: seats in 19 House districts. “If Section 2 is gutted, up to 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus and 11% of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus could lose their seats,” a summary of the groups’ report said. “Communities of color nationwide would see their voting power gutted, echoing the pre-1965 Jim Crow era — and the ruling could ripple into housing, education, and employment, by declaring that race can never be considered, even to remedy discrimination.” Read More

Re-Redistricting

It takes some time for the justices to consider, evaluate, and rule on cases, so it’s too soon to tell whether there’ll be a decision in time to make a difference in the 2026 election — though House maps are a moving target anyway.

We’re watching for Kansas to set the dates for redoing congressional lines, changes that would make it harder for the state’s only Democrat in Congress to stay there. State Senate President Ty Masterson, who’s also a candidate for governor, approved spending $460,000 for a special legislative redistricting session that he said he’d like to start on Nov. 7, KWCH reported.

And Greg Giroux reports that North Carolina’s legislature will convene and vote next week on a new congressional map that’s intended to squeeze an additional district from Democrats. Read More

Shutdown Money Magic

If you fly into rural airports, you probably paid attention when Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a critical government program was about to run out of money. Two days later, he said his agency had identified $41 million to temporarily cover its costs.

Whether or not Duffy was aware, the funds for the Essential Air Service subsidies were there all along, Zach Williams reports. It’s one of the developments our crew has been following as the federal shutdown heads into Day No. 15.

The distinct lack of urgency about ending the shutdown is one of the defining characteristics of this standoff, with Congressional leaders trying to present an illusion of activity while they talk more to reporters than one another, Jonathan Tamari reports. The Senate may even move on to full-year spending bills after being unable to pass a measure to reopen the government. For more on that, see this morning’s Congress Tracker.

See Also:

• House Democrat Says Viral Clashes Breaking Through With Voters
• HHS Tells Court 778 Workers Accidentally Fired
• Administration Cuts Staff at Key Mental Health Agency
• Second Union Mulls Legal Action Over Trump Shutdown Firings
• Trump’s Shutdown Power Grab Goes Unchecked by GOP Lawmakers

Eye on Tariffs

Coming soon to Newsmax, Fox, NBC, CBS, and other television networks: the words of free-trader Ronald Reagan, brought to you by our neighbors to the north.

Ontario is planning a $53 million ad campaign against US tariffs, targeted at Republican-held districts. The ads will feature excerpts from a 1987 address in which Reagan slammed tariffs as an outdated idea that stifles innovation, drives up prices, and hurts US workers.

Until Trump broke the streak, the US and Canada had mostly tariff-free trade since Reagan and then-Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney agreed to a broad trade accord in the late 1980s. Read More

And Trump’s not done dreaming up new ways to use tariffs as a lever:

• Trump Threatens China Cooking Oil as Payback for Soy Boycott
• Trump Floats ‘Trade Punishment’ for Spain Over Defense Spending
• Trump’s Trade War Unites Lula and Modi in a Hunt for New Markets
• Stellantis Yields to Tariff Pain With $13 Billion US Investment

K Street Stock

Some of you are reading this because the government is your livelihood — you’re an employee, a vendor, an advocate, or an arm-twister working some facet of the federal machinery. But what if you could profit from someone else’s arm-twisting?

That’s already possible on the London Stock Exchange, and Kate Ackley reports that a US-based stock listing could be on the way. The umbrella company over lobbying firms Alpine Group, Forbes Tate Partners, and Crossroads Strategies filed a registration statement with the SEC.

Public Policy Holding Co. has applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol PPHC. Read More

Before You Go

Primary Fight: Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton announced he will challenge Sen. Edward Markey in next year’s Democratic primary. “The next generation will keep paying the cost if we don’t change course,” Moulton said in a post on X.

Balancing Act: Trump’s Chicago crackdown is forcing one of his more conventional US attorneys to balance apolitical traditions against escalating White House pressure. Ben Penn and Megan Crepeau look at the reputation and expectations of prosecutor Andrew Boutros. Read More

What If Appointment’s Illegal: A judge considering whether an acting US attorney was illegally appointed said the case might not end with indictments being thrown out, Maia Spoto reports. Tossing cases could be on the table if they were filed against a “personal enemy” of an acting US attorney, but the cases involved in a challenge against prosecutor Bill Essayli in Los Angeles aren’t personal, said Judge J. Michael Seabright. Disqualification motions are a trend as the Trump administration tests its ability to install prosecutors without local approval. Read More

‘Ham-Handed': A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reissue disaster-aid award letters, this time without adding a condition about helping with immigration enforcement, Eric Heisig reports. Senior Judge William E. Smith called FEMA’s language “a ham-handed attempt to bully the states into making promises they have no obligation to make at the risk of losing critical disaster and other funding already appropriated by Congress.” Read More

Foot on the Scale: Less than two weeks out from a pivotal midterm election in Argentina, an Oval Office visit sought to add the weight of the United States on President Javier Milei’s behalf. “If he wins we’re staying with him, and if he doesn’t win we’re gone,” Trump told reporters, adding that the governments also planned to discuss a potential free trade agreement. Read More

This is a Good Way to Start Your Day

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