The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Louisiana must redraw a congressional map that was designed to create a second majority-Black district in the state, where African Americans have long faced racial segregation and barriers to voting. The decision effectively guts Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining major provision of the landmark 1965 law that was a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, a majority of the justices ruled Louisiana’s map “relied too heavily on race” and unfairly favored Black voters over white voters.

In a dissent signed by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Elena Kagan writes, “The Voting Rights Act is — or, now more accurately, was — ’one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation’s history.’ It was born of the literal blood of Union soldiers and civil rights marchers. It ushered in awe-inspiring change, bringing this Nation closer to fulfilling the ideals of democracy and racial equality.” We’ll have more on the gutting of the Voting Rights Act after headlines. 

In more news from the Supreme Court, the conservative majority on Wednesday appeared to side with the Trump administration’s argument that it has the authority to revoke temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti and Syria. During oral arguments, the court’s six conservative justices signaled skepticism toward lower court rulings that had blocked the administration’s efforts to end TPS designations, which shield immigrants from deportation when their home countries are deemed unsafe. A ruling in favor of the administration could strip legal protections from some 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, and potentially more than a million TPS holders nationwide. Geoffrey Pipoly is a lawyer representing tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants challenging the Trump administration’s termination of their TPS.

Geoffrey Pipoly: “The true reason for the termination is the president’s racial animus towards nonwhite immigrants and bare dislike of Haitians in particular. The president has disparaged Haitian TPS holders specifically as undesirables from a, quote, 'shithole country,' and days after falsely accusing them of, quote, 'eating the dogs and eating the cats of Americans,' he vowed that he would terminate Haiti’s TPS. And that is exactly what happened.”

President Trump said Wednesday the U.S. will continue its naval blockade of Iran until Tehran agrees to an agreement over its nuclear program. Trump’s comments to Axios raised the prospect that the Strait of Hormuz could remain closed for months, setting off panic in global energy markets, where the price of crude oil soared above $126 per barrel, its highest level since 2022. This comes as the U.S. blockade and U.S.-Israeli attacks have pushed Iran into a severe economic crisis, with the cost of food and medicine skyrocketing. On Wednesday, Iran’s currency fell to a record low of more than 1.8 million rials to the U.S. dollar. Iran’s government says the conflict has led more than a million people to lose their jobs, with bomb damage to over 23,000 factories and businesses across Iran. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces a second day of questioning under oath on Capitol Hill today, where he’s due to testify to a Senate committee about the Pentagon’s record-shattering $1.5 trillion budget request. On Wednesday, Hegseth was grilled by members of the House Armed Services Committee for nearly six hours in exchanges that often turned acrimonious, as Hegseth berated Democratic lawmakers who accused him of lying, mismanagement and incompetence. This is California Congressmember John Garamendi.

Rep. John Garamendi: “Secretary Hegseth, you have been lying to the American public about this war from day one, and so has the president. You have misled the public about why we are at war. You and the president have offered ever-changing reasons for this war.”

In response, Hegseth angrily questioned Garamendi’s patriotism and accused the congressmember of “handing propaganda to our enemies.” 

Hegseth also faced questions about the Pentagon’s targeting of civilian boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which U.S. Southern Command says has killed nearly 200 people. The Pentagon has said, without providing evidence, that the boats were all carrying drugs. Human rights groups and some lawmakers have condemned the strikes as murder. Massachusetts Congressmember William Keating said he’d found “no justification” for the attacks and warned Hegseth he could face accountability.

Rep. William Keating: “With each of these extrajudicial killings, the administration is pirating American values. We’ll continue to investigate this. We will. It’ll come forward in the future.”

Lebanon’s National News Agency says Israeli airstrikes have killed at least nine people across southern Lebanon, with homes targeted and reduced to rubble. Israel’s latest attacks come despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that was declared on April 16 and extended last week. On Wednesday, a U.N.-backed report found more than 1.2 million people — or nearly a quarter of Lebanon’s population — will face acute hunger this year due to “conflict, displacement and economic pressures.”

Israel’s military has intercepted boats traveling with the Global Sumud Flotilla as they worked to bring food and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Leaders of the international aid group say at least 22 of the 58 vessels en route to Gaza were chased down overnight by drones and military speedboats near the Greek island of Crete. Their radar was jammed as Israeli troops carrying assault rifles boarded the ships and ordered participants to their hands and knees. Israeli authorities said they arrested 175 people. Activist Neve O’Connor live-streamed as her ship was intercepted.

Neve O’Connor: “As a flotilla, we have activated all safety protocols, and we are now preparing for interception. If we go silent, this is why: We have been intercepted. Please keep tracking us. Condemn Israel. Condemn anyone that you can to bring us back home safely, and keep an eye on us.”

A spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla condemned Israel’s interception as “a straight-up attack on unarmed civilian boats in international waters” and “kidnapping on the high seas.” Last year Israel carried out similar raids on a previous attempt by the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the siege of Gaza; 440 participants were arrested by Israel, many of whom said they were tortured and abused while in Israeli custody.

Two Jewish men were stabbed in broad daylight in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green on Wednesday in what police are declaring a terrorist incident. The two victims, aged 76 and 34, are in stable condition. A 45-year-old British national born in Somalia was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after also allegedly attempting to stab police officers. Counterterrorism police are looking into whether the stabbings are connected to a string of recent arson attacks on synagogues and Jewish sites in London. This is London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mayor Sadiq Khan: “An attack on a Jewish Londoner is an attack on our country. An attack on a synagogue is an attack on our capital city. This attack today has spread terror in the Jewish community, not just in London, not just across the country, but across the globe. Our response must be equal.”

U.S. prosecutors have indicted Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other Mexican officials with helping the Sinaloa Cartel traffic drugs into the U.S. in exchange for bribes and political favors. Prosecutors allege Rocha Moya met with the sons of former cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán before his 2021 election and promised to install officials friendly to their drug trafficking operations, while cartel members stole ballot boxes and intimidated opponents to ensure his victory. Rocha Moya denied the allegations. He is the highest-ranking member of Mexico’s leading political party, Morena, to be indicted by the United States.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday killed a Democratic resolution that would have required President Trump to get Congress’s approval to keep blockading Cuba. The GOP’s maneuver to dismiss the war powers resolution succeeded on a 51-47 vote, with Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the lone Democrat to vote with Republicans. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky were the only Republicans to support the Democrats’ resolution. The U.S. blockade has plunged Cuba into an energy crisis, leaving millions without reliable power or clean water.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for three years, sending the bill to the Senate ahead of tonight’s deadline. The program allows U.S. intelligence agencies to intercept the electronic communications of foreign nationals outside the United States. But some of the data collected under FISA’s Section 702 authority also includes communications with Americans. Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan blasted the measure, saying it “has been used to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters, members of Congress, journalists, and more.” Forty-two Democrats joined most House Republicans in advancing the legislation.

Hajar Hammado, a senior policy adviser at Demand Progress, said, “These Democrats defied their constituents and common sense to undercut meaningful privacy reforms in the House and instead voted to hand over sweeping spy powers to the Trump administration. This means continuing warrantless backdoor searches and allowing an increasing number of federal agencies to exploit the data broker loophole to supercharge AI and fuel mass domestic surveillance.”