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U.S. politics: the White House, Congress, the courts and the campaigns, and what each move means.
WatchTech titans filled the East Room as Trump toasted 'harmony, peace and success' with China's leader. The warm words produced a pledge to keep talking about AI, but no visible movement on Taiwan or trade.
Judge P. Kevin Castel ruled the Clean Air Act preempts the law, which would have made fossil fuel companies pay for climate damage. It is the Justice Department's second win against the law this month.
In a 127-page final ruling, Judge Lewis Kaplan found ICE packed detainees into squalid hold rooms at 26 Federal Plaza to push them to self-deport, and imposed a permanent injunction with strict limits.
WatchThe justices ruled unanimously that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke state election law when he took the ballots from a 2025 redistricting vote, and broke it again when he ignored the attorney general.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said an independent investigation found Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell sexually harassed a young staffer and repeatedly broke state ethics rules. His lawyers say the report goes further than the evidence.
The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would pause advanced AI development until a new Cabinet-level Department of AI exists to police it. Industry groups call it dead on arrival.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright says 31 projects in 26 states will use sensors and new hardware to push more power through existing lines, as AI data centers strain supply and drive up bills.
Sen. Susan Collins says the plan to let Russ Vought and other appointees block research awards is 'looking dead' after a bipartisan backlash, though insiders say it may come back after the midterms.
Dr. Heidi Overton called the MMR vaccine and the abortion pill mifepristone safe and effective under FDA review, but dodged questions about IUDs and whether she would stand up to the president.
The vote was likely Congress's last chance to weigh in on the six-month war before the midterms. Fetterman was again the only Democrat to vote no.
Civil Rights chief Harmeet Dhillon called the decades-old consent decrees 'onerous and outdated.' The NAACP's general counsel said the move threatens to 'fuel resegregation.'
Lower courts ruled migrants must get notice and a chance to object before being sent to countries where they have no ties. The government says that already grounded a flight of 70 deportees.
WatchXi Jinping's first White House visit in more than a decade brought fighter-jet flyovers, a pledge of two pandas for Atlanta and talk of AI "always under human control." Trump ignored shouted questions about Taiwan and Jimmy Lai.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure in a letter to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, weeks after Trump said the carrier's deployment was "not nearly long enough" and Hegseth said conditions were "completely misrepresented."
WatchJudge Timothy Kelly granted a 14-day restraining order shortly after midnight, writing that he was skeptical national security was the real reason for the ban. Some reporters were still turned away at the gate hours later.
Judge Scott Beattie ruled the Des Moines Register poll that showed Kamala Harris ahead in Iowa was protected political speech, not consumer fraud. Trump's lawyers say they will appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.
The Chinese leader's first state visit in more than a decade opened with a rare planeside welcome at Joint Base Andrews. Bessent announced a two-month truce extension, far shorter than many expected.
A State Department notice to Congress says the fiscal 2027 refugee slots will go 'primarily' to Afrikaners, at a projected cost of $500 million, while the program stays shut to most other refugees.
H.R. 5334 passed the Senate 86-11 and the House 262-159 in honor of the senator who died in July. It bars new U.S. investment in Russia until Ukraine accepts a peace deal and extends Iran sanctions to 2031. A former State Department sanctions chief says Trump 'missed a chance to send a message to Putin.'
The deals resolve allegations that providers used false diagnosis codes to bill insurers and federal programs. NYU had already shut its youth program in February. Mount Sinai, Texas Children's, Cleveland Clinic and Connecticut Children's have signed similar agreements, and DOJ says investigations into other hospitals 'are ongoing.'
The package extends drop-box hours, lets voters return mail ballots at any polling place, expands language access and targets AI deepfake ads seven weeks before the midterms. State Sen. Aisha Wahab, who wrote the felony provision: 'This is about protecting every Californian's right to be able to vote and vote how they want.'
WatchThe three outlets asked a federal judge in Washington for a temporary restraining order after their reporters were turned away at the gate Saturday and CNN was pulled from Monday's travel pool. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the 'off-ramp' might be 'a change in coverage.'
Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island vacated the August 2025 termination in a suit led by the state AFL-CIO. The EPA says it is 'considering options for appeal.' A separate appeals court already found the other $20 billion of the green bank was improperly cut.
Vought accused Bhattacharya of funding 'woke' projects and tried to claw back unspent money; the NIH says 'all NIH grant monies will be spent.' Congress blocked a similar OMB rule earlier this year, and the ACLU sued last week over the agency's existing screening list.
'We've accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago,' Kennedy said, citing the cut-down childhood schedule and the remade vaccine advisory panel, both of which a judge has since halted. Gov. Josh Shapiro said he 'couldn't bring himself' to tell people to get the measles shot.
WatchThe Saturday Truth Social post gave no structure, budget, authority or name for the new body. It landed a week after Anthropic's Dario Amodei told CBS the industry 'lied to people' about AI's risks and after four subscribers sued the top labs for agreeing to slow down.
The president said the monument between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial will also store sniper ammunition. Rep. Don Beyer called a drone site under DCA's approach 'a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea,' and a federal judge has ordered 48 hours' notice before any construction.
Trump will meet Xi at the airport himself. The summit is the two leaders' second face-to-face of the year after May's meeting in Beijing, and it lands as an existing trade truce nears expiry and as the administration weighs what, if anything, to ask Beijing on AI safety.
The Office of Legal Counsel opinion by T. Elliot Gaiser says the law fails the Supreme Court's 2022 history-and-tradition test because Founding-era militia statutes required 18-year-olds to show up with their own guns. It binds no court, but it tells every federal prosecutor to stand down. Everytown called it a 'dangerous dereliction of duty.'
Judge Seth Aframe wrote that the government's reading of the law 'would deny access to that protection to a substantial swath of noncitizens.' DHS general counsel James Percival said the policy stays in force because the ruling has not taken effect, and the case is expected to go back to the Supreme Court.