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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 27, 2026· Updated

The Missouri Supreme Court Unanimously Pulls the Trump-Backed Congressional Map Out of the November Election and Hands It to the Voters — After It Had Already Been Used in the August Primary, and Nine Weeks Before the Midterms

On September 3, 2026 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the congressional map Republicans passed in a 2025 special session at President Trump's urging cannot be used in the November midterms, and that Missourians will instead vote on whether to keep or reject it. Writing for the court, Judge Ginger K. Gooch held that "the referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise," and that the map "did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters." The 2022 map drawn after the 2020 census stays in force for the general election. The map was drawn to break up Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's 5th District — splitting Kansas City across three districts — and was expected to net Republicans one House seat. Opponents organized by People Not Politicians gathered more than 300,000 signatures for a veto referendum in December. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until primary election day in August to reject the petition, on the theory that the referendum process does not reach congressional redistricting. The court rejected that reading. The ruling is, on the Republican side's own account, without precedent: no court had previously pulled a congressional map after a primary had already been run under it and before the general election. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said she would seek immediate relief from the U.S. Supreme Court and called the decision a constitutional crisis; Gov. Mike Kehoe and Hoskins issued statements attacking the court; state Sen. Rick Brattin called the majority "liberal activist." Trump posted that it was a "Dark Day for 'Justice' in Missouri." Cleaver and Rep. Wesley Bell called it a win for voters.

“The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory. They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions. Thank you to the Governor, and all of the Great People of Missouri, who are fighting so hard for Fairness and Election Security. Such tremendous Spirit and Love of our Country. I won Missouri BIG, all three times, and I couldn't be more proud of doing so. A great place — I love you all!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 27, 2026

Sep 24, 2026· Updated

Kennedy Center Board Votes 20-3 to Carve Trump's Name Into the Facade and Close the Main Building for Two Years, Three Months After a Judge Ordered the Name Removed

On Thursday, August 13, 2026, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board of trustees — chaired by President Trump and composed mostly of his appointees — voted 20-3 during a roughly two-hour Zoom meeting to close the center's main building for a two-year, $250 million renovation and to attach Trump's name to the building again. The board approved changing the building's name to "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump," to be realized as an inscription reading "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" placed below the existing marquee bearing President Kennedy's name. The board separately voted to rename the physical site "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." The REACH, a 2019 addition, stays open for limited programming and as a memorial to Kennedy. Reopening is targeted for summer 2028. The vote came three months after U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled in May 2026 that the board's earlier renaming of the venue the "Trump-Kennedy Center" was unlawful, writing that "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," and separately blocking a planned closure as "ill-informed and preordained." A D.C. Circuit panel declined to stay that ruling. Federal law establishes the center as a memorial to Kennedy and bars renaming it — or adding "memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials" — without an act of Congress. The three votes against came from the congressional ex officio trustees: Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3), the plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit *Beatty v. Trump*, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA-2). Whitehouse said Trump called into the meeting and gave a speech for several minutes, after which the president's vote — and that of chief of staff Susie Wiles, a board member — were texted in. Democratic trustees said they still had not been given the assessments of what a closure would mean for the institution. The White House defended the plan; Beatty's counsel called the vote an effort to evade the court's ruling, setting up a likely contempt fight.

“What was not authorized is a demolition of the Kennedy Center. … If a federal facility is going to be demolished, it cannot be without congressional oversight here.”
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · Sep 24, 2026

Texas Lets an ICE Agent Charged With Four Felonies in Minnesota Walk Out of Jail Rather Than Extradite Him — and Minnesota’s Attorney General Says Greg Abbott Has Turned Texas Into "a Sanctuary State for Accused Felons"

On Jan. 14, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, ICE agent Christian Castro fired his gun through the closed front door of a north Minneapolis duplex and hit Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, in the leg. Castro told investigators the men inside had assaulted him with a broom and a snow shovel; surveillance footage contradicted that account, and the assault charges filed against the two men were dropped. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause that Castro committed four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He was arrested by the Texas Rangers on May 29 and held in the Carrizalez-Rucker jail in Cameron County. A governor's warrant for Castro's extradition sat on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk from June 3 forward, unsigned. Abbott said he had "serious doubts" Castro qualified as a fugitive under the Extradition Clause. Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Abbott on Aug. 18 to compel him to sign it. On Aug. 26 U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled the suit was not ripe and declined to intervene; Abbott answered Ellison on social media that "you guys are such bad lawyers." Texas law bars holding an extradition subject more than 90 days, and at 7 a.m. on Aug. 27 the Cameron County sheriff released Castro. DHS said he had been suspended without pay pending a federal investigation. The standoff is the first time in this administration that two states have gone to federal court against each other over whether one must hand over a federal immigration officer to face state criminal charges — a fight over the Constitution's Extradition Clause with an accused shooter now at liberty and Minnesota's case stalled.

“I've said all along that Christian Castro would face justice in Minnesota. And now that he's finally turned himself in in Texas, he soon will.”
Keith Ellison (D-MN) · Sep 3, 2026

A Panel of Three Trump Appointees Rules That Kalshi’s Sports Contracts Are Gambling, Not Swaps — Handing Nevada the Power to Regulate Prediction Markets, Splitting With the Third Circuit, and Sending the Whole Fight Toward the Supreme Court

On Friday, August 28, 2026, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit — all Trump appointees, ruling without dissent — held that Kalshi's sports event contracts are not "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act, and that federal registration with the CFTC therefore does not preempt state gaming law. The decision upheld a Nevada federal judge's ruling dissolving the injunction that had let Kalshi keep offering sports contracts in the state without a gaming license, and it applies across the Ninth Circuit to platforms including Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood. It is the largest courtroom win to date for the states and tribes that have argued the prediction-market industry built a federal back door around state gambling regulation. It also creates a direct circuit split: the Third Circuit held in April that event contracts are swaps subject to exclusive CFTC jurisdiction. That split is the classic setup for Supreme Court review, and every party to the fight said so within a day. The congressional dimension is a bipartisan Nevada bill. Rep. Steven Horsford (D) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R) introduced the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act in July 2026 to write the state-and-tribal-jurisdiction rule into statute rather than leave it to litigation; Sens. Adam Schiff, John Curtis and Catherine Cortez Masto have a Senate companion, and Rep. Dina Titus has a separate bill, the Fair Markets and Sports Integrity Act. Horsford's response to the ruling was to treat it as leverage rather than a finish line: "the fight is not over," and Congress should pass the bill before the Supreme Court takes the question away. Nevada's Republican governor, Joe Lombardo — a former Clark County sheriff who oversees the state whose gaming regulators brought the case — welcomed the ruling in the same terms, saying sports-event contracts are gambling and must comply with Nevada's licensing regime. Arizona's attorney general, whose criminal case against Kalshi a federal judge had blocked in May, said the decision was a significant win for state authority and that her office was reviewing what it means for that prosecution.

“We must continue working to protect consumers, ensure young people aren’t targets, preserve state and Tribal rights, and safeguard gaming workers across the country. This issue is far from settled and will likely make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is time to stop unelected regulators from bypassing states by passing my bipartisan Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act.”
Steven Horsford (D-NV) · Aug 28, 2026

After Losing Four Times in Court, the Administration Appeals the Order Forcing It to Keep Paying for the $16 Billion Gateway Tunnel — a Project Trump Declared "Terminated" Because It Was Money "Schumer Has Worked 20 Years to Get"

On Friday, August 28, 2026, the Trump administration filed notice that it will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas that permanently barred the Department of Transportation from freezing federal funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. Judge Vargas ruled on June 29, 2026 that the freeze violated federal law. It was the administration's fourth straight loss in the case, which New York and New Jersey brought in February 2026. Gateway is a $16 billion program to bore new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel, the single two-track bottleneck carrying roughly 200,000 Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers a day between New Jersey and Penn Station. The federal share is $6.88 billion under a Capital Investment Grants full funding grant agreement signed before Trump returned to office. The fight began on October 16, 2025, when Trump said of the money that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had spent two decades securing, "Tell him it's terminated." The Transportation Department publicly disputed that the program was cancelled — Secretary Sean Duffy had called the projects "important" days earlier — but the department stopped reimbursing the Gateway Development Commission for completed work. By early February 2026 the commission had gone more than four months without payment and construction stopped, idling roughly 1,000 union workers. New York and New Jersey sued on February 3, 2026; a court blocked the freeze days later, and DOT released $235 million in withheld reimbursements on February 18. Work resumed. Judge Vargas made the block permanent on June 29. The New York–New Jersey congressional delegation has been on this continuously — a January 28, 2026 letter led by Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim warning the funds had to move before the February 6 stoppage, and a February 6 press conference in which nine members of the New Jersey delegation denounced the freeze as political retaliation. Rep. Rob Menendez said flatly that Trump froze the money "to target Democratic lawmakers." Reaction to the August 28 appeal was near-uniform among the region's Democrats, who noted the administration's unbroken losing record. No Republican member of the New York or New Jersey delegation is on record supporting the appeal.

“Mr. President: keep the project on track, and support the hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans who rely on this train line each and every day to get to work, appointments, and see friends and loved ones.”
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) · Aug 28, 2026

A Maryland Judge Throws the Democrats' Mid-Decade Gerrymander Off the November Ballot — Ruling the General Assembly Broke Its Own Deadline and Wrote "Intentionally Misleading" Ballot Language

On August 26, 2026, Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Robert J. Thompson blocked a Democratic-backed constitutional amendment from appearing on Maryland's November general election ballot. The amendment was the vehicle Maryland Democrats had built during an August special session to let the General Assembly redraw the state's congressional map before 2028 — a map that would almost certainly have eliminated the Eastern Shore seat held by Rep. Andy Harris, the state's lone Republican in Congress and chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Thompson found three separate defects. Lawmakers missed the statutory deadline they themselves had enacted in April for placing measures on the ballot; the ballot question's claim that it merely "clarifies" the Constitution's compactness standards was intentionally misleading; and the measure violated the single-subject rule by also handing the Maryland Supreme Court original jurisdiction over congressional redistricting suits. "Because the legislature did not follow the very laws it enacted," Thompson wrote, "the court finds the enactment of HB2100 to be legally deficient." Thompson stayed his own order pending appeal, and the state noted an appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court within hours. Gov. Wes Moore and the General Assembly's two presiding officers said they expect to be vindicated; Harris and Annapolis Republicans treated the ruling as proof that the majority had tried to rewrite the state constitution without following it. The case is the Democratic counterpart to the mid-decade redistricting fights the site has tracked in Texas, Indiana, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina, and its outcome determines whether Maryland can answer those maps before the 2028 cycle.

“I expect this case to receive prompt review, and I look forward to a clear ruling that affirms the General Assembly's constitutional authority.”
Bill Ferguson (D-MD) · Aug 26, 2026

The Third Circuit Rules 2-1 That the Speech or Debate Clause Does Not Shield Rep. LaMonica McIver — Sending the Only Member of Congress Indicted by Trump’s Justice Department to Trial Ten Weeks Before the Midterms

On August 26, 2026, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) is not immune from prosecution on charges arising from a May 2025 congressional oversight visit to the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. The 2-1 panel allowed two of three counts of impeding and interfering with federal officers to proceed to trial and remanded the third to the district court. Writing for the majority, Judge Cindy Chung held that the charged conduct — physical contact with two officers — was "unambiguously non-legislative" and that the Speech or Debate Clause immunizes legislative acts only. Judge Thomas Ambro dissented in part, writing that the Constitution does not permit the Executive to wield prosecutorial discretion in retaliation against disfavored legislators, and would have allowed McIver discovery into the government's motives. McIver, who is running for reelection while under indictment, said the court "got it wrong" and that the ruling "chills" congressional oversight authority. The charges were originally brought by Alina Habba, whose appointment as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey the same court later found unlawful. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill both said publicly they stand with her. No Republican member of Congress was on record about the ruling in the first 48 hours.

“I fundamentally believe that the court got it wrong here. To protect the people, their elected representatives must be authorized to conduct oversight of the executive branch without fear of retaliation.”
LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) · Aug 26, 2026

Aug 25, 2026· Updated

Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump's $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee as Unlawful Tax

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston struck down Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee on June 8, 2026, ruling it an unlawful tax that only Congress has the power to impose. The fee — announced in September 2025 and raising costs from roughly $2,000–$5,000 to $100,000 per application — was challenged by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. The ruling drew bipartisan praise from lawmakers citing impacts on healthcare and education staffing; the White House vowed to appeal.

“I don't believe that for a minute, that they have trouble finding people with skills in the U.S. to fill those jobs. This isn't about skills. This is about money. It's about cheap labor.”
Riley Moore (R-WV) · Aug 25, 2026

One State Sues Another Over an ICE Agent: Minnesota Takes Greg Abbott to Court for Refusing to Extradite the Officer Charged With Shooting Into a Minneapolis Home

On August 18, 2026, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to force him to extradite Christian Castro, an ICE agent charged in Hennepin County with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Castro is accused of firing his gun at the front door of an occupied Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, striking a Venezuelan man in the leg, and then lying about the circumstances of the shooting. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause on both sets of charges. Castro was arrested in Texas on May 29, 2026. Gov. Tim Walz's extradition warrant has sat with Abbott's office since June 3 unsigned. Extradition between states is ordinarily a ministerial act under the Extradition Clause of the Constitution and the federal Extradition Act; Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she had "never heard of anything taking this long." Abbott, asked about the suit at an Austin news conference the same day, tied his refusal to unrelated grievances against Minnesota, saying he did not trust Gov. Walz and would not respond "until they step up and do what's right." Ellison warned that Castro could walk free as early as August 26 if the warrant is not signed. The case is a rare state-versus-state clash arising directly from federal immigration enforcement.

“Christian Castro’s not above the law, and Greg Abbott isn’t either. This means that as early as Aug. 26… Christian Castro could walk free.”
Keith Ellison (D-MN) · Aug 18, 2026

ABC and Disney Sue the FCC on First Amendment Grounds, Calling Brendan Carr's Forced Early Review of Eight Broadcast Licenses an "Existential Threat" — and the Commission's Lone Democrat Says She's Glad They Did

On August 18, 2026, ABC, its parent company Disney, and the eight local stations whose licenses are at issue sued the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking the court to halt an early license-renewal proceeding the agency opened in April. None of the eight licenses were due to expire before 2028, and the complaint says the commission had not demanded an early renewal like it in more than fifty years. The suit frames the proceeding as retaliation: "Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts." It points to President Trump's public demands that ABC lose its licenses, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's threats against the network's broadcast licenses, an inquiry into its workplace diversity practices, and agency scrutiny of Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico's appearance on "The View." Carr, in interviews the same day, called the case meritless and said "Disney seems a little jumpy right now." Anna Gomez, the commission's only Democrat, broke with her chairman and publicly welcomed the lawsuit, saying the FCC has spent months waging "a campaign of censorship and control." A dozen Senate Democrats — led by Ed Markey, Maria Cantwell, Chuck Schumer and Ben Ray Luján — had already written to Carr in May calling the early-renewal order "an egregious abuse of power."

“Disney seems a little jumpy right now. From our perspective, we're going to continue to follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead. Perhaps Disney is concerned or worried about how the record is developing.”
Brendan Carr (R) · Aug 18, 2026

The Ninth Circuit — Two Trump Appointees Among Them — Rules the Attorney General Cannot Install Unconfirmed U.S. Attorneys by Naming Them "First Assistant" to a Job That Is Already Vacant

On August 17, 2026, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order disqualifying Sigal Chattah from running the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, holding that the Justice Department's workaround for keeping unconfirmed prosecutors in place is unlawful. Writing for the panel, Judge Eric Miller — a Trump appointee, joined by fellow Trump appointee Stanley Blumenfeld and Clinton appointee Sidney Thomas — framed the question directly: "These cases present the question whether the Attorney General can make someone an Acting United States Attorney — bypassing the usual requirement that a U.S. Attorney be confirmed by the Senate — by designating that person as the first assistant to an already-vacant office of U.S. Attorney. We hold that the Attorney General cannot do so." Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the panel held, automatic succession runs only to a first assistant who already held that post when the vacancy arose. Chattah was named interim U.S. attorney in 2025 under 28 U.S.C. § 546 after Jason Frierson resigned, and was never confirmed — Nevada's two Democratic senators blocked her, citing her record as an election denier. When her 120-day interim term ran out, the department designated her first assistant so she could serve as acting U.S. attorney indefinitely. The Ninth Circuit is the second appeals court to reject that maneuver, after the Third Circuit ruled against Alina Habba's tenure in New Jersey. A Justice Department spokesperson said the department disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Sigal Chattah has always been unfit to serve as Nevada's U.S. Attorney, and I'm glad to see the Ninth Circuit agree her appointment is illegal. It's past time for her to vacate the position and leave the U.S. Attorney's office once and for all.”
Jacky Rosen (D-NV) · Aug 17, 2026

A Federal Judge Blocks the Trump Administration From Scrapping the FBI’s Greenbelt Headquarters and Diverting the Money to a Building Across the Street From the White House

On August 17, 2026, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang permanently enjoined the FBI and the General Services Administration from moving the Bureau's future headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, ruling that the agencies "exceeded their authority" and acted unlawfully under the Administrative Procedure Act. The dispute goes back to 2023, when GSA — running a competition Congress had structured in 2022 and 2023 appropriations laws — selected Greenbelt, Maryland, over sites in Springfield, Virginia, and Landover, Maryland, for a new FBI headquarters to replace the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building. In July 2025 the FBI and GSA announced they were abandoning that selection and would instead move the Bureau into the Reagan Building, blocks from the Hoover site. Maryland and Prince George's County sued, arguing the administration could not override a congressionally structured site selection or redirect the construction money Congress had appropriated for it. Judge Chuang agreed, holding that the statutes required GSA to pick from the three short-listed sites outside Washington. Maryland's Democratic officials — Gov. Wes Moore, Attorney General Anthony Brown, Prince George's County Executive Aisha Braveboy, and all eight Democrats in the state's congressional delegation — cast the ruling as a rebuke of an administration that treated a congressional appropriation as optional. The county has estimated the project at more than 7,500 jobs and roughly $4 billion in added GDP. The FBI pushed back hard in a statement, saying "the court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons" and that "this is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective."

“Maryland and Prince George's County committed more than a decade of work to earn the FBI headquarters and pledged hundreds of millions of dollars. By blocking the Trump Administration's unlawful attempt to move the FBI to the Reagan Building and divert the funds Congress set aside for this project, the Court has cleared the path back to Greenbelt.”
Anthony Brown (D-MD) · Aug 17, 2026

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