Supreme Court takes up GOP-led challenge to Voting Rights Act that could affect control of Congress
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that the US supreme court will hear a hugely consequential case on Wednesday that will determine the future of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights law designed to prevent discrimination in voting.
The case, Louisiana v Callais, involves a dispute over Louisiana’s sixth congressional district, which snakes from Shreveport in the state’s north-west to Baton Rouge in the center. Louisiana Republicans drew the district after a successful lawsuit filed by Black voters under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which outlaws election procedures and practices that discriminate on the basis of race.
The justices are set to hear arguments for the second time in a case over Louisiana’s congressional map, which has two majority Black districts.
A ruling for the state could open the door for legislatures to redraw congressional maps across the South, potentially boosting Republican electoral prospects by eliminating majority Black and Latino seats that tend to favor Democrats.
A battle over congressional redistricting already is playing out across the nation, after president Donald Trump urged Texas and other Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines to make it easier for the GOP to hold its narrow majority in the US House of Representatives.
A ruling holding section 2 unconstitutional would dramatically upend American election law and strip minority voters of a tool to challenge discrimination. For decades, voting rights lawyers have turned to section 2 to challenge district lines – from congressional districts to school boards – that dilute the influence of minority voters.
In other developments:
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Donald Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk’s distraught, tearful widow, Erika Kirk.
-
Kirk’s widow praised her late husband and said that he would likely have run for president one day had he not been killed before his 32nd birthday.
-
Trump’s state department announced that it had revoked the visas of six foreign nationals who posted critical comments on social media about Kirk, in the wake of the conservative activist’s murder.
-
Trump said that a list of ‘Democrat programs’ that the White House plans to cut will be released on Friday.
-
Trump warned that Hamas must disarm “or we will disarm them”.
-
Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States has struck another small boat that he accuses of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people aboard.
-
There is no end in sight for the US government shutdown, now into its second week, as the Senate again rejected a Republican plan.
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Katie Porter, the former congresswoman running for California governor, said in an interview that she regrets losing her temper in two video clips that went viral last week, but suggested that the state needs a “tough” leader.
Key events
Bessent: ‘If China wants to be an unreliable partner, the world will have to decouple’
Scott Bessent has said that there will be a “series of meetings” this week during World Bank IMF week, but emphasized that China is “not only fueling Russia’s war”, but their actions have once again demonstrated the risk of being dependent on them and on rare earths from the country.
“If China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, then the world will have to decouple. The world does not want to decouple. We want to de risk, but signals like this are signs of decoupling, which we don’t believe China wants,” Bessent added.
Bessent says shutdown could cost the US $15bn a day: ‘No kings equal no paychecks’
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is holding a press conference alongside Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative. He just said that the ongoing government shutdown could cost the country $15bn a day.
“I’m calling for the moderate Democrats to be heroes, be heroes, and reopen the government for the American people,” Bessent said. “Maybe it’s after this ‘no kings’ thing, but no kings equal no paychecks.”
A visual representation of the new Louisiana map at the heart of the supreme court case
Here are the Louisiana congressional maps, showing the difference between 2022 and 2024, following a lawsuit which upheld the creation of a second majority-Black district.
My colleague, Sam Levine, has been covering the latest as the supreme court prepares to hear a consequential case, which could inhibit states from considering race as determining factor when drawing district and congressional maps.
Ahead of arguments at the court, in less than an hour, Sam notes the history of the case.
After the 2020 census, Louisiana Republicans passed a congressional map in which Black voters only comprised a majority in one of the state’s six congressional districts. A group of Black voters sued under section two of the Voting Rights Act in March of 2022, arguing that it was possible to draw a reasonably configured district in the Baton Rouge area that would give Black voters a majority in a second-congressional district. A district court judge and US court of appeals for the fith circuit agreed with them, ordering a new map. The supreme court let the map go into effect for the 2024 elections.
Since then, a group of “non-African American” voters brought a lawsuit, claiming the 2024 map, which delivered two Louisiana Democrats to the US House, was an example of racial discrimination. A panel of federal judges ruled in their favor, and the appeal is now before the court today.
You can read more of Sam’s report here:
Government shutdown enters day 15, as Senate schedules another vote to pass funding bill
The Senate will hold its ninth vote, in an attempt to advance a House-passed funding bill to reopen the government, at 2:15pm ET today.
The ongoing shutdown enters its 15th day with no end in sight. Both parties continue to blame the other for the lapse in government funding. While Donald Trump said that he will announce a list of “Democrat programs” that his administration plans to cut on Friday. This comes as more than 4,000 federal employees were laid off last week, as part of the White House budget office’s reduction in force across agencies.
We’re due to hear from Republican House speaker Mike Johnson at 10am ET, and Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top Democrat, at 11:30am ET.
Donald Trump is in Washington today, but we won’t see him until 3pm ET, when he holds a press conference with FBI director Kash Patel at the White House.
Then, the president will host a ballroom dinner in the East Room at 7:30pm ET.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as it all unfolds.
José Olivares
The far-right US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is further distancing herself from her fellow Republicans and accusing men in her party of being “weak”.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Greene expressed her frustrations with Republicans, signaling her further deviation from the political strategies of her party, as the government shutdown beginning 1 October was slated to enter its third week.
Greene has been at odds with some Republican strategies since she campaigned for her seat representing Georgia’s 14th congressional district years back. In her view, the Republicans are not being aggressive enough to push forward their agenda, even as they control Congress and the White House since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency in January.
In the interview with the Post, Greene highlighted her discontent with congressional leaders of her own party, particularly the House speaker, Mike Johnson, amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The Trump loyalist on social media called on the US Senate to do away with the 60-vote filibuster requirement to end the government shutdown in order to push along their spending bill. Johnson apparently told her “they can’t do it” even though “it’s math”, Greene told the Post.
Greene also sided with Democrats in their push to provide healthcare subsidies – a rare move for a Republican – which has been the sticking point at the center of the negotiations between both parties to end the government shutdown.
Alexander Abnos
Donald Trump has again said he’d pressure Fifa to remove 2026 World Cup games from a host city on the basis of that city’s politics, with Boston becoming the third such city to come in for threats from the US president.
Trump also said he would consider similar action against Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics on account of potential safety issues.
Trump has no legal authority to directly take either action, but he can apply pressure to each competition’s governing body to move host cities.
His comments came at a press event with Argentinian president Javier Milei, who was visiting the White House after the announcement of a $20bn bailout for the South American country.
Towards the end of the event, a reporter asked Trump about a recent “street takeover” in Boston that saw police officers attacked and a police car set aflame, and if the concerns raised by the incident could result in the revocation of hosting duties for next year’s expanded 48-team soccer tournament. The reporter also asked if Trump would work with Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, to address the issue.
“We could take them away,” Trump said of the World Cup games, which are due to be held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, about 22 miles southwest of Boston. “Their mayor is not good … she’s radical left, and they’re taking over parts of Boston. That’s a pretty big statement, right?”
Street takeovers, a social media-driven phenomenon that sees large crowds of people gather on city streets late at night to perform stunts in cars, have been a repeated nuisance in American cities since the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns. Recent such gatherings have turned violent in Massachusetts, including in Boston. However, the gatherings are generally not seen as being tied to any particular political ideology.
Anna Betts
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States has struck another small boat that he accuses of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people aboard.
“The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social social media platform. “No U.S. Forces were harmed.”
Trump wrote that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics” and said that it was “associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks” but did not provide any evidence. Trump said that defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered the strike on Tuesday morning and also shared video footage of the strike, as he has with prior strikes.
This marks the fifth deadly US strike in the Caribbean, according to the Associated Press since the beginning of September, and comes just weeks after Trump administration officials said that the US is now in a “non international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
An internal Trump administration memo obtained by the New York Times earlier this month reportedly stated that Trump has deemed cartels engaged in drug smuggling as “non-state armed groups” whose actions “constitute an armed attack against the United States”.
US Senate again rejects Republican plan to end government shutdown
Joseph Gedeon
Congress remained deadlocked on legislation to reopen the federal government, as the US Senate on Tuesday again rejected a Republican plan to end the government shutdown that began two weeks ago.
The eighth Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would fund government operations through 21 November failed on a 49-45 tally – far short of the 60 needed for advancement in the chamber. In a sign that that there has been little if any progress toward ending the stalemate, no senators changed their votes from the last time the measure was brought to the floor, though there were a handful of absences.
After the Trump administration began laying off federal workers at several government agencies last week, Democrats and Republicans continued to trade blame.
In a speech on the Senate floor, the Democratic leader Chuck Schumer slammed the Trump administration’s decision to approve a huge bailout for Argentina in the middle of a government shutdown that has closed federal agencies and furloughed workers nationwide.
“If this administration has $20bn to spare for a Maga-friendly foreign government, they cannot turn around and say we don’t have the money lower healthcare costs here at home,” Schumer said, calling the move a “slap in the face” to US families.
Robert Mackey
Donald Trump’s US state department said on Tuesday it had revoked the visas of six foreigners over social media comments made about the assassination of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the state department said in a statement posted on X. “The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
The state department then listed six “examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the US” in a thread on the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, the Trump donor who called himself “a free speech absolutist” before buying the site formerly known as Twitter.
The thread included screenshots and quotes from people identified as foreign nationals of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa.
None of the individuals was identified by name, but the screenshots made it possible to trace the identities of two people, including one who had been singled out for abuse by conservatives on X.
“Charlie Kirk won’t be remembered as a hero,” one of the comments posted on X read. “He was used to astroturf a movement of white nationalist trailer trash!”
Donald Trump has warned he could cut financial aid to Argentina if his ally Javier Milei loses crucial legislative elections later this month.
“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” the US president said as Milei visited the White House to seek the Republican’s political and economic support. “I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win – I think he’s going to win. And if he wins we are staying with him, and if he doesn’t win we are gone.”
Trump’s administration has already promised $20bn to prop up Argentina’s struggling economy but his backing has failed to calm the markets – or help Milei’s polling before midterms on 26 October.
The results of the elections, in which Milei’s minority party is hoping to boost its seat tally, will dictate whether he can pass tough cost-cutting reforms or will face a legislative brick wall for the next two years of his term.
Hailing Milei as a “great leader”, Trump said he would “fully endorse” his ideological ally in the elections. “He’s Maga all the way, it’s ‘Make Argentina Great Again,’” he added.
Trump has, however, faced questions about how a big bailout for Argentina tallies with that same “America First” policy. Asked by reporters what the benefit to the United States was, Trump replied: “We are helping a great philosophy take over a great country. We want to see it succeed.”
Ramon Antonio Vargas
A new video from Robert De Niro implores people in the US “to stand up and be counted” in coming protests against Donald Trump’s second presidency that are being planned across the country for Saturday.
In the clip, the two-time Oscar winner characterizes Trump as an aspiring tyrant who aims to end American democracy, which – among other major historical events – has survived the first and second world wars.
“We have a would-be king who wants to take it away: king Donald the first,” De Niro says. “Fuck that.”
The GoodFellas and Godfather Part II star then calls on those in the US to “nonviolently [raise] our voices” at demonstrations Saturday that follow up on similar ones called “No Kings” rallies that were held on 14 June and attracted a turnout of millions to about 2,000 distinct sites.
“I’m … asking you to stand up and be counted in the nationwide ‘No Kings’ protest” on Saturday, De Niro remarks in the video. Invoking a phrase from the ubiquitously recited US pledge of allegiance, he adds: “We’re all in this together – indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The No Kings theme was conceived by the decentralized 50501 movement. Standing in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies, 50501 means 50 states, 50 protests and one movement.
Panic as US federal workers scramble to find out if they have been fired
Michael Sainato
Federal workers are scrambling to figure out if they still have a job after the Trump administration launched a fresh wave of layoffs amid a federal government shutdown, prompting widespread confusion and panic.
A hearing is scheduled to take place today after labor unions sued to block the latest firings, setting the stage for another legal battle over Donald Trump’s efforts to drastically cut back the federal workforce.
About 4,200 federal employees across seven agencies were laid off on Friday, the administration has said, although 700 firings at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were swiftly reversed over the weekend.
It remains unclear if Trump, who told reporters that “a lot” of government workers would be fired, plans to go further. The federal workforce has already shed hundreds of thousands of staff on his watch this year.
As unions seek to establish the extent of the latest layoffs, workers at the Department of Education said that they do not have access to their work email accounts during the shutdown – so cannot check to see if they’ve received “reduction in force” (RIF) notices.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened trade penalties, including tariffs, against Spain, saying he is unhappy with its refusal to raise defense spending to 5% and calling the move disrespectful to Nato.
“I’m very unhappy with Spain. They’re the only country that didn’t raise their number up to 5%… so I’m not happy with Spain,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I was thinking of giving them trade punishment through tariffs because of what they did, and I think I may do that,” Trump added.
Trump has repeatedly pushed Nato members to spend more on their own defense and cast doubt on Washington’s willingness to come to the aid of members who do not spend enough, Reuters reported.
He said last week while meeting Finland’s president that Nato should consider throwing Spain out of the alliance over its refusal to agree to the new commitment.
Spain is a reliable member of the alliance and currently has 3,000 soldiers deployed under Nato, Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Wednesday when asked about Trump’s comments.
“There is no doubt about Spain’s commitment and contribution to [transatlantic] security,” he told reporters during a visit to Hangzhou, China.
Supreme Court takes up GOP-led challenge to Voting Rights Act that could affect control of Congress
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that the US supreme court will hear a hugely consequential case on Wednesday that will determine the future of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights law designed to prevent discrimination in voting.
The case, Louisiana v Callais, involves a dispute over Louisiana’s sixth congressional district, which snakes from Shreveport in the state’s north-west to Baton Rouge in the center. Louisiana Republicans drew the district after a successful lawsuit filed by Black voters under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which outlaws election procedures and practices that discriminate on the basis of race.
The justices are set to hear arguments for the second time in a case over Louisiana’s congressional map, which has two majority Black districts.
A ruling for the state could open the door for legislatures to redraw congressional maps across the South, potentially boosting Republican electoral prospects by eliminating majority Black and Latino seats that tend to favor Democrats.
A battle over congressional redistricting already is playing out across the nation, after president Donald Trump urged Texas and other Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines to make it easier for the GOP to hold its narrow majority in the US House of Representatives.
A ruling holding section 2 unconstitutional would dramatically upend American election law and strip minority voters of a tool to challenge discrimination. For decades, voting rights lawyers have turned to section 2 to challenge district lines – from congressional districts to school boards – that dilute the influence of minority voters.
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk’s distraught, tearful widow, Erika Kirk.
-
Kirk’s widow praised her late husband and said that he would likely have run for president one day had he not been killed before his 32nd birthday.
-
Trump’s state department announced that it had revoked the visas of six foreign nationals who posted critical comments on social media about Kirk, in the wake of the conservative activist’s murder.
-
Trump said that a list of ‘Democrat programs’ that the White House plans to cut will be released on Friday.
-
Trump warned that Hamas must disarm “or we will disarm them”.
-
Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States has struck another small boat that he accuses of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people aboard.
-
There is no end in sight for the US government shutdown, now into its second week, as the Senate again rejected a Republican plan.
-
Katie Porter, the former congresswoman running for California governor, said in an interview that she regrets losing her temper in two video clips that went viral last week, but suggested that the state needs a “tough” leader.
