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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case involving challenges brought against President Donald Trump’s tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Several justices questioned whether the president’s authority is as vast as the White House has argued. Justice Neil Gorsuch said the interpretation of IEEPA’s powers offered by U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer could lead to a “one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch.” Chief Justice John Roberts indicated such an argument could violate the “major questions doctrine,” a legal principle that requires Congress to be explicit in delegating power to the executive branch for economic or politically significant decisions. To learn more, read today’s TMD, and Amy Howe’s breakdown of the oral arguments at SCOTUSblog. Thirty-six days into the longest government shutdown ever, House Democrats are publicly and privately urging their Senate colleagues not to join Republicans in supporting a temporary government funding bill. They argue Tuesday’s election results show Democrats should remain firm in their health care demands. During a breakfast yesterday with GOP senators, Trump urged them to repeal the filibuster so the chamber can pass a funding bill without Democratic support, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there’s not enough support within the GOP to kill the filibuster. With military service members set to miss paychecks on November 15, the U.S. Army provided guidance to soldiers stationed in Germany, informing them of nearby German food banks and other emergency social benefits. On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it would decrease air traffic in 40 “high-volume” airports by about 10 percent. New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced yesterday that Lina Khan—chair of the Federal Trade Commission under President Joe Biden—will co-lead his transition team. More than 2 million New Yorkers cast their ballots on Tuesday—the highest turnout for a New York City mayoral election since 1969, and almost double the 2021 turnout. Mamdani, 34, was the first NYC mayoral candidate since that 1969 election to win more than 1 million votes. He led in four of the city’s five boroughs, with the strongest support among minority and new-resident voters, though he did poorly with Jewish voters. Hours after he won, a Jewish day school, cemetery, and social services group in Brooklyn were vandalized with spray-painted swastikas, which Mamdani condemned as a “disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism,” and pledged to “always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of antisemitism out of our city.” Israeli authorities identified the body Hamas returned Wednesday night as belonging to Joshua Loitu Mollel, a 21-year-old Tanzanian national who worked as an agricultural intern at Kibbutz Nahal Oz and was murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Six hostage bodies remain in Gaza. CNN reported on Wednesday, citing two unnamed Israeli sources, that Israeli intelligence discovered the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier killed by Hamas in 2014, are located in tunnels beneath the southern Gaza City of Rafah, but the IDF disputed the report and said it had “no information” confirming Goldin’s location. Also, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Rom Braslavski—an Israeli held hostage in Gaza who was freed last month—said his captors sexually abused, tortured, and starved him. “I came back from meeting the devil,” he said. Ukraine launched drones deep into Russia Wednesday night, attacking targets such as Russia’s southwestern city of Volgograd, the home of a large-scale oil refinery. Russian state-sanctioned media reported that flights in and out of 13 airports in the country were temporarily suspended during the attack. Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he received calls from 17 South Africans on Wednesday who had joined mercenary groups to fight in the Ukraine-Russia war, but were now stranded in the Donbas region of Ukraine, an area controlled mainly by Russian forces. It was not immediately clear what led them to Ukraine, or which side they fought for.
