Supreme Court blocks ruling that ordered New York to redraw its congressional maps
The U.S. Supreme Court as seen on February 24, 2026 in Washington. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday blocked a New York state court ruling that had ordered the Empire State’s congressional map redrawn ahead of the 2026 midterms.
A state judge in New York ruled earlier this year that New York must redraw its congressional map and cease using its current one because the current map’s 11th Congressional District violates the state’s Constitution and dilutes the votes of Black and Latino voters.
U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican representing the district, had appealed the ruling initially in state court and later asked the Supreme Court to block the order, as did other Republicans.
The district currently covers Staten Island, along with several neighborhoods across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn.
In a statement posted on social media, Malliotakis praised the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that it “helps restore the public’s confidence in our judicial system and proves the challenge to our district lines was always meritless.”
“The plaintiffs in this case attempted to manipulate our state’s courts to use race as a weapon to rig our elections. That was wrong and, as demonstrated by today’s ruling, clearly unconstitutional,” Malliotakis’ post said.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the state court order that knocked down New York’s current map “blatantly discriminates on the basis of race” and that the court had no choice but to step in — even so close the election.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a sharply worded dissent, accused her colleagues of prematurely intervening in a state-law case, even before New York courts had fully resolved the appeals.
“By granting these applications, the Court thrusts itself into the middle of every election-law dispute around the country, even as many States redraw their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election,” Sotomayor wrote. “It also invites parties searching for a sympathetic ear to file emergency applications directly with this Court, without even bothering to ask the state courts first.”
The ruling from SCOTUS allows appeals to play out in lower courts, but it means New York will not be redrawing its map for the 2026 election.
“This blatantly political case violated both the New York State and federal constitutions and, as Justice Alito stated, the lower court’s decision was a full-blown racial gerrymander,” New York Republican Party chair Ed Cox wrote in a statement Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump shared on his social media platform late Thursday night a video that included a racist animation of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted with the bodies of apes.
After backlash, the White House at about noon Friday said the post had been taken down from the president’s page.
The roughly minutelong video, shared by Trump at 11:44 p.m. ET on Thursday, largely focused on debunked claims about the 2020 election.
At the end of the video, the Obamas’ faces appear abruptly and without explanation for seconds with the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing over it. The video then ends back on similar imagery of the conspiracy video footage.
The Obamas had no comment when ABC News reached out to their representatives for a response.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when first asked for comment early Friday, had said, “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Though later Friday afternoon, a White House official told ABC News that a “staffer erroneously made the post.”
The video reposted by Trump overnight included only imagery of the Obamas.
The meme video referenced by Leavitt was shared in October by the Hardin County Republican Party of Kentucky on Facebook, which led the chairman to issue an apology and deleted the post after swift backlash noting the long history of racist tropes depicting Black people as apes or monkeys — a tool of slave traders and segregationists to dehumanize them.
Trump’s overnight repost was condemned by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, some of whom had called for it to be taken down and for the president to apologize.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, wrote on X: “President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.”
“Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” Jeffries wrote.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and also the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted on X: “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker wrote in a post: “This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote in a post: “Racist. Vile. Abhorrent. This is dangerous and degrades our country — where are Senate Republicans? The President must immediately delete the post and apologize to Barack and Michelle Obama, two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, envious man.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on February 18, 2026, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The standoff between Democrats and the White House over Department of Homeland Security funding and immigration enforcement continued on Wednesday, with both sides digging in as the partial government shutdown hit its fifth day.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the counteroffer made by Democrats “very unserious,” while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries remained firm that Democrats would not back away from their demands for reform.
President Donald Trump, who had said he would be personally involved in negotiations, hasn’t yet spoken with Democrats, according to Leavitt.
“He hasn’t had any direct conversation or correspondence with Democrat lawmakers recently. It doesn’t mean he’s not willing to. I’m just not aware of any conversations that have taken place,” she told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing.
Funding for DHS lapsed on Saturday, affecting agencies like the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Secret Service.
A majority of DHS employees are expected to work during the shutdown, though they could miss a paycheck.
FEMA has paused almost all travel related to the agency’s work, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision, though travel related to disaster relief will continue.
“These limitations are not a choice but are necessary to comply with federal law. FEMA continues to coordinate closely with DHS to ensure effective disaster response under these circumstances,” a FEMA spokesperson said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is at the center of the funding fight after two fatal shootings of American citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection remain operational due to billion-dollar infusions from Trump’s massive spending and tax-cut bill passed by Republicans in Congress last summer.
Democrats have asked for a range of new restrictions on immigration enforcement, including a mandate for body cameras, judicial warrants before agents can enter private property — rather than administrative warrants — and a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks. They also want stricter use-of-force policy and new training standards for agents.
The White House and Democrats have traded offers over the past week, though the details haven’t been released publicly. Both sides have called the other’s proposals “unserious.”
“We’ve been engaged in good faith negotiations with the Democrats … They sent over a counterproposal that, frankly, was very unserious. And we hope they get serious very soon because Americans are going to be impacted by this,” Leavitt said on Wednesday.
Jeffries said Wednesday the ball was in the White House’s court.
“We’ve reiterated our perspective on the types of things that are absolutely necessary in order for a DHS funding bill to move forward, all anchored in this principle that ICE needs to conduct itself like every other law-enforcement agency in the country, and stop using taxpayer dollars to brutalize the American people,” he said.
Trump said on Sunday he didn’t like some of what Democrats are asking for, and emphasized his administration is “going to protect ICE.”
In the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis during the administration’s immigration crackdown and resulting protests, an ABC News review found multiple examples of public statements appearing to be in inaccurate that the agency initially made after using force.
One example occurred last month in Minneapolis when Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan migrant, was shot in the leg by an ICE agent.
At the time, DHS said its agents were “violently assaulted … with a shovel and broom handle.” ABC News obtained a frantic 911 call made by apparent relatives saying agents fired the shot as Sosa-Celis ran away. Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, later said two of his agents appear to have made “untruthful statements” about the moments before the shooting. Both officers were placed on administrative leave and Lyons said they may face federal charges.
Another case unfolded in Chicago last October when Marimar Martinez, an American citizen and teacher’s assistant, was shot five times by federal agents.
DHS initially said that the agents were “forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen” after their SUV was “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.” But an ABC News analysis of video footage shows that agents were being followed by two, not 10 vehicles, and that at no time was their vehicle blocked from the front. A CBP spokesperson said in a statement that the officer who shot Martinez was placed on administrative leave following the incident and the Department of Justice dropped the charges against Martinez.
National Thanksgiving turkeys Waddle and Gobble are presented to journalists at the Willard InterContinental on November 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Two very lucky birds won the White House lottery this year — a presidential pardon and a lifetime free from the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Waddle and Gobble, who had their names chosen by the public online, were pardoned by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump Tuesday in the annual tradition that spares two Thanksgiving turkeys from becoming the centerpiece of a holiday meal.
“See how happy he is,” Trump remarked of Gobble at the ceremony. Waddle was not present at the formal pardoning ceremony.
“Waddle, by the way is missing in action, but that’s OK, we can pretend Waddle is here,” Trump said.
The two birds stayed at the luxurious Willard InterContinental hotel in D.C. ahead of their Rose Garden ceremony, according to the hotel.
The two turkeys are provided to the White House by the National Turkey Federation, who will take Gobble and Waddle back to North Carolina, where they will live under the care of the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, per the school.
Trump also took the opportunity to tout his administration’s accomplishments, including the passage of his “one, big beautiful bill,” working to increase safety in cities across the country, and mitigating international conflicts.
“The turkeys known as Peach and Blossom last year have been located, and they were on their way to be processed, in other words to be killed, but I stopped that journey and I am officially pardoning them,” Trump said.
Trump also harangued Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer at the ceremony, joking he wanted to name the birds after the two politicians.
“When I first saw their pictures, I thought we should send them, well I shouldn’t say this — I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy, but then I realized I wouldn’t be pardoning them, I would never pardon those two people,” he added.
While American presidents as far back as Abraham Lincoln have pardoned turkeys, the modern tradition did not begin until 1989 during George H.W. Bush’s administration, even though Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan had both pardoned turkeys during their stays in the White House, according to the White House Historical Association.
“But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy — he’s presented a presidential pardon as of right now –and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” Bush said in 1989, officially launching the yearly custom, according to the WHHA.
