SCOTUS’ 2025-26 session begins Monday, and many of its most urgent cases over the next 10 months will follow up on emergency docket rulings that largely have overturned rulings against President Trump’s Constitution-challenging executive orders. Read our preview in The Gray Area or on our Substack page.
TUESDAY 10/7/25
‘Many Details’ Linger in Peace – On the second anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari, says many details of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza strip need to be worked out, Reuters reports. The deal would return 48 Israeli hostages and a number of Palestinian security prisoners, and Hamas would relinquish its leadership of Gaza.
Timeline … Haaretz documents the Hamas attack and Israel’s response Tuesday in “Two Years of Hell.”
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Negotiations with Canada – Prime Minister Mark Carney goes to the White House Tuesday to meet with President Trump in an effort to bring down tariffs between the US and Canada, Marketplace reports. At issue is Trump’s 35% tariff on many Canadian goods, which excepts those goods covered by Trump 45’s US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which is scheduled for renegotiation in summer of 2026.
Canada also faces a 25% tariff on heavy commercial trucks imported to the US scheduled for November 1.
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Court Considers Conversion Therapy – The Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in Chiles v. Salazar, on whether Colorado’s ban on much-discredited “conversion therapy” violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment (per SCOTUSblog).
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De-Weaponize This – Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi, who in her confirmation hearing early this year said she would “de-weaponize” the Justice Department, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, less than two weeks after her indictment of ex-FBI Director James Comey at President Trump’s behest.
Comey is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. He is charged with one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice.
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Renewables Beat Coal – Renewables led by solar and wind power surpassed coal as global energy sources for the first time in 2024, Ember reported Tuesday. Low-carbon sources accounted for 40.9% of world energy consumption, the green-leaning think tank says. Solar power grew by 29% in 2024, though electricity demand was up 4% largely due to an increase in heatwaves. –TL
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MONDAY 10/6/25
LAWSUIT TO BLOCK TROOP DEPLOYMENT – Illinois and Chicago sued Monday to block President Trump’s deployment of National Guard members in the city after the White House moved to send in hundreds of troops, The Hill reports. Gov. JB Pritzker objected to War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s federalization of up to 300 Illinois National Guard on Saturday, and to President Trump’s direction on Sunday of up to 400 federalized Texas National Guard members to Chicago, Portland, Oregon and potentially “where needed.”
The complaint reads in part: “The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor.”
Nobel for Trump? – As President Trump sent National Guard troops and ICE agents to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, over the last week, Israel and Hamas are meeting in Egypt Monday to negotiate a “sweeping peace plan” that Trump presented last week. The Nobel Peace Prize Trump seeks and which his political nemesis Barack Obama received in his first term, is to be awarded Friday.
Let’s see if we can sort this out.
Like all of Trump’s near-deals, this one touted with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House last Monday is not yet done. But its prospects are quite good.
Hamas last Friday “signaled” willingness to release Israeli hostages captured in its October 7, 2023 terrorist attack, as a key part of Trump’s ceasefire proposal, in exchange for prisoners held in Israel. On Saturday, Netanyahu said Israel was “on the brink of a great achievement” that could include release of remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, according to The New York Times.
Israel’s government said Saturday it was preparing for “immediate implementation” of the first steps in Trump’s proposal.
Judge blocks Trump twice … Late Sunday evening US District Court Judge Karen Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked the administration’s second effort to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, this time from California and Texas, saying the deployment would be “in direct contravention” of her earlier order blocking deployment of Oregon National Guard, Politico reports.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had sued the Trump administration, seeking to block the White House’s order to send 300 National Guard troops from California to Portland, ostensibly to “protect” ICE agents from protestors. The judge first ruling blocked a Trump administration order to send 200 Oregon National Guard troops into the city.
Meanwhile, in Chicago … Still in play is the Trump administration’s plan to send Texas National Guard troops to Chicago, where armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been a growing presence. Last week federal agents conducted a “military-style” raid on a South Shore apartment building, arresting 37 people and “leaving behind cracked windows, broken doors and a lot of pain,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) will not be suing the White House to prevent deployment of his National Guard to Chicago.
Like Newsom in California, Illinois’ Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, is trying to push back on Trump’s National Guard and ICE deployments.
“They are the ones that are making it a war zone,” Pritzker told Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa