The Supreme Court today ruled against a devout Rastafarian who sought damages after Louisiana prison officials cut his dreadlocks over his religious objections.
New York is one of several states holding elections today. Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration attempted to compel testimony from four journalists before a federal grand jury, an official familiar with the matter told NBC News, but backed off the matter after the news organizations pushed back.
The Justice Department eventually dropped the grand jury subpoenas for three reporters from The Wall Street Journal and one from The Washington Post.
The subpoenas stood out because they not only demanded the disclosure of information, as have subpoenas targeting news organizations and journalists in the past, but would have required journalists to actively testify before a federal grand jury investigating national security leaks, under the threat of contempt of court.
The Washington Post disclosed the subpoenas in the Eastern District of Virginia in a story this morning. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the subpoenas, but never disclosed that they would have required testimony from reporters.
A spokesperson for The Washington Post said in a statement that the “unwarranted subpoena of our reporter Ellen Nakashima — a clear violation of constitutionally guaranteed press freedom — was another sign of the government seeking to compel journalists to become instruments of its investigations. We will continue to stand fully behind the journalism of The Washington Post and fight all efforts by any administration that violate our First Amendment rights.”
A spokesperson for the Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones, declined to comment. The company’s chief communications officer, Ashok Sinha, told the paper last month that “the government’s subpoenas to The Wall Street Journal and our reporters represent an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering.”
Speaking with DOJ beat reporters earlier today, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to speak about the specifics of the subpoena fight but said that his predecessors “have said in these cases reporters are not our targets.”
“We’re not going to stop investigating people who work in this administration who think it’s OK to leak classified information,” Blanche said.
Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson, who is running for reelection, said he feels “great” about where things stand today.
“These are really frustrating and hard times for all Americans, but especially for Baltimoreans, because we know our city has been under attack by the Trump administration,” Ferguson said outside a polling place for today’s primary. “And I’ve been able to talk about the things that we’ve done to protect Marylanders from the chaos.”
Sahil asked Ferguson about how his views on redistricting may have changed since the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act in April. Ferguson said Marylanders can’t sit out of the redistricting conversation, but that right now his focus is on working to put a constitutional amendment related to redistricting on Maryland’s ballot in November.
“It’s just about the constitutional amendment, it is not a map itself,” Ferguson said. “We want to see how things play out, give Marylanders a say, and then we’ll re-approach it next session to see what is the best place for Maryland to do to respond to the chaos that’s been unleashed by the Trump administration and by the Supreme Court.”
Ferguson said Democrats have to make thoughtful and purposeful political decisions.
“Firefighters don’t fight fire with fire,” Ferguson said. “In fact, they fight it with water, and they put the fire out, and I think that’s because you have to be strategic and thoughtful. You don’t want to burn the house down.”
On today’s rainy weather, Ferguson said he hopes it doesn’t diminish turnout.
“This is democracy at its fullest,” Ferguson said. “People have fought and died for the right to vote. Today is the day to exercise that voice for democracy, and so I hope to see you out here.”
The cost of applying for American citizenship could nearly double under a new Trump administration proposal to hike fees as much as 80% and to stop discounting or waiving fees for the very poor.
The administration proposed the increase today in the Federal Register.
The announcement of the plan, which also includes raising by 80% costs for reconsideration of a denied application, comes about two weeks before the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday.
Read the full story here.
When Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., launched her Senate campaign last year, she repeatedly villainized Elon Musk, the tech mogul whose cost-cutting government efficiency project was at the time an unpopular priority of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The “Trump-Musk chaos agenda,” Stevens told The Washington Post in April 2025, “is wreaking havoc on people’s lives.”
But Musk’s political agenda has also benefited Stevens’ political career.
The PAC tied to Musk’s SpaceX rocket company contributed a total of $50,000 to Stevens’ House campaign fund and her leadership PAC between 2019 and 2024, Federal Election Commission records show.
The SpaceX PAC has not donated to Stevens’ Senate campaign, but Stevens last year transferred a large chunk of her House campaign funds — more than $1 million — to her new Senate account. And while Democrats in other races have passed their SpaceX contributions on to charity, Stevens has no plans to follow their lead, a campaign spokesperson told NBC News.
Read the full story here.
A New York coffee shop said in an Instagram post that Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., should never return to the establishment because of his pro-Israel views.
The post came just ahead of today’s primary elections in New York, where Goldman faces a challenge from former city Comptroller Brad Lander in one of the most notable primary races in the state.
Both candidates are Jewish, and Goldman has been endorsed by pro-Israel lobbying groups J Street and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, while Lander is being backed by progressives like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
In the harshly worded post, Poetica Coffee alluded to Goldman’s stance in support of Israel, which has been strongly criticized by progressives like Lander and human rights groups over the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and mentioned genocide and AIPAC.
Read the full story here.
Iran has “fully and completely agreed” to nuclear inspections long into the future, Trump said Tuesday after Tehran denied making the concession as part of talks on a permanent end to the war between the two countries.
The discrepancy over what had been agreed emerged after Vice President JD Vance echoed the positive assessment of mediators following the first round of high-level negotiations in Switzerland. Washington and Tehran had “laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal,” Vance said yesterday.
The Supreme Court today ruled against a devout Rastafarian who sought damages after Louisiana prison officials cut his dreadlocks despite his claim that it violated his religious rights.
The court ruled 6-3 that Damon Landor cannot seek damages under a law called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Read the full story here.
A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan yesterday challenged a decision by a top state elections official to disqualify his candidacy and remove him from the August primary ballot.
A court filing, on behalf of the challenger Sullivan by his attorneys, said the decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualifying him violates state and federal law. It asks that he be placed on the ballot. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg, has maintained that he’s a qualified candidate for U.S. Senate and that election officials lacked a legal basis to boot him from the ballot.
Read the full story here.
New photos of the Kennedy Center show Trump’s name has been taken down from the building’s facade after a monthslong court battle and the recent addition of a tarp blocking public viewing of the removed signage.
Scaffolding and a tarp erected June 13, a day after a federal judge’s deadline to remove Trump’s name from the iconic performing arts center, have hidden the removal from the public.
Read the full story here.
Longtime conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said on a podcast that “there’s no chance I would support the Republican Party” ahead of the November midterm elections, dismissing the political affiliation he’s defended as a pundit for decades, including as one of Fox News channel’s most popular hosts.
“Not gonna support the Democratic Party,” Carlson was quick to add, speaking late last week on the show “Can’t Be Censored.” “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Read the full story here.
Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, began purging staff members at the office yesterday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
“The deep state firings have begun,” the source said.
CNN was first to report that the dismissals were underway.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump named Pulte the acting director this month and said on Truth Social that he had “asked him to execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office, reverting staff to their home agencies.” Pulte, who has no background in national security matters, has been serving as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Read the full story here.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to pass a sweeping housing affordability bill aimed at lowering costs, putting Congress on the brink of a rare bipartisan victory in Trump’s second term.
The vote was 85-5. Several senators missed the vote due to severe thunderstorms in the Washington area that led to a ground stop at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The legislation, which would make it easier to build homes and slap limits on Wall Street investors’ buying up houses, now goes to the House, which hopes to vote on it in the next few days. Then, it would go to Trump’s desk to be signed into law.
Read the full story here.
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas is launching his first TV ad in the New Hampshire Senate race, focusing on lowering costs and combating corruption.
The 30-second spot, shared first with NBC News, begins by featuring the Puritan, Pappas’ family restaurant in Manchester, as Pappas says, “Here, there’s no VIP section. And the only special interests? The people who walk through the doors.”
“Most politicians in Washington play by their own rules. But while they’re cashing in, I’m fighting to ban stock trading,” says Pappas, adding that he is “working to make sure no family has to choose between buying groceries and paying for a prescription.”
The Pappas campaign is also launching a shorter version of the ad on digital platforms.
Pappas, who was first elected to the House in 2018, is hitting the airwaves a few months before Republicans choose their nominee. Former Sen. John Sununu, who has Trump’s endorsement and the backing of Senate GOP leaders, is facing off against former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, in the Sept. 8 primary.
Pappas’ early advertising underscores the sizable financial advantage he’s built up in the race. His campaign had $4.2 million in its account as of March 31, while Sununu’s campaign had $1.9 million on hand and Brown’s campaign had $783,000. The race could potentially be competitive, especially since it is an open contest to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
The Trump administration has been struggling to demonstrate evidence of widespread voter fraud, with just months to go before midterms and as the president insists that the nation’s elections are “rigged,” according to a review of cases by NBC News.
Staff from the Justice Department, Homeland Security and intelligence agencies are focused on the president’s election grievances, hunting for instances where noncitizens voted, and digging into his false claim that he won the 2020 election, even though most suspected criminal conduct from 2020 would be outside the standard five-year statute of limitations for most federal crimes.
As part of the effort, the Justice Department sought voter registration data from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, data they’ve hoped to use to identify noncitizens on voter rolls. While many states have complied with the requests, the department has filed lawsuits against 30 states and Washington, D.C., for refusing.
Read the full story here.
The American Civil Liberties Union will spend more than $50 million on the 2026 midterm election, with half going toward efforts to ensure smooth administration of elections as Trump seeks to exert more control over the process.
In plans shared first with NBC News, ACLU officials said they will train and deploy more than 100 paid staff members and more than 3,000 volunteer leaders to encourage people to vote and to ensure voter access while monitoring ballot counting and certification.
Those people will coordinate thousands of other volunteers. The ACLU said it has already trained 5,000 people on election work and plans to train 5,000 more.
Read the full story here.
Just days after the ticker-tape parade celebrating the New York Knicks’ NBA championship, New Yorkers are gearing up for another major contest: today’s primaries, featuring several intense battles between Democratic members of Congress and upstart challengers.
Those races, as well as a handful of Democratic House primaries in Maryland and one in Utah, are the latest proving ground in the battle between the different wings in the Democratic Party this year. Progressives are seeking to increase their foothold in Washington, including in a series of races that will test New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sway among Democrats. And some of the most powerful and well-financed interest groups in politics are spending big in primaries at an inflection point for their issues in Washington.
Republicans will have some key races, too — most notably in South Carolina, where the Republican nomination in the open race for governor has gone to a runoff. And both parties are setting up battleground races with primaries across New York, too.
Here’s what to watch in today’s primaries.
Read the full story here.
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