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Category: Administration

Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship

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In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s executive order declaring that children born in the US are not American citizens if their parents were here illegally or temporarily.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, citing congressional debate over the amendment, “We keep that promise today.”

Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorusch, and Samuel Alito dissented. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s majority to strike down the executive order but said he based his decision on a federal law, not the Constitution. Back in April, Trump attended the oral arguments for this case, Trump v. Barbara, becoming the first sitting president ever to do so. The Court was expected to uphold birthright citizenship, but the final ruling was closer than predicted, with most expecting a 7-2 ruling.

The decision is one of several key rulings released over the past week:

  • In a 6-3 decision, the Court upheld state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, ruling that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or Title IX.
  • In a 6-3 decision, the Court expanded the power of the executive branch to fire independent regulators, with the notable exception of members of the Federal Reserve. Despite allowing Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her role, this ruling increases the power of the president to fire agency heads at will.
  • In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld Mississippi’s grace period for late mail-in ballots, rejecting Trump’s persistent attempts to invalidate ballots arriving after Election Day. This ruling is significant for protecting mail-in voting across 2026 battleground districts. Over half of states permit mailed ballots to be counted a certain number of days after the election, if they are postmarked by Election Day.
  • In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court erased party spending limits in federal elections, striking down a federal election law more than 50 years old.
  • Also in a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled the Trump administration may end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence in Haiti and Syria, allowing DHS to end the temporary protected status program.

White House Proposes New Rules on Research Grant Approvals

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The White House released draft regulations yesterday that aim to centralize Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control over the release of government funds, including scientific research grants.

If enacted, the proposal would dramatically change the peer review process, giving senior political appointees final say over approvals.

Section 200.205 states that “consistent with the Executive order, senior appointees must conduct these reviews and apply specific principles when evaluating proposals. These principles include ensuring that discretionary awards advance the President’s policy priorities, prohibit the use of funds for discriminatory or otherwise impermissible purposes, and emphasize ensuring compliance with applicable law.” This section refers to President Trump’s August 7 Executive Order regarding oversight of federal grantmaking.

The proposal states that the scientific peer review of research proposals “remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion.”

The proposed OMB rule would not affect the indirect costs rate, which the administration had previously tried to cap at 15% last year.

Five Hour Vote

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After five hours of an open vote, the House was able to pass the Senate budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 33) in an effort end the stalemate on DHS funding and if and how much for fund ICE. This resolution instructs Congress to provide $70 million for immigration enforcement funding.

The House voted to adopt the resolution 215-211, strictly along party lines with one member voting present.

While the budget vote marked an important step, it will not, on its own end, the 75-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. The House still must take up a Senate-passed appropriations bill (HR 7147) to fund the rest of the DHS, outside of immigration agencies. The concurrent resolution is a significant step for Congress to begin funding the agency.

At present, the Coast Guard, TSA and other DHS units are being funded through extraordinary measures. Funding available to do so will be fully depleted in the next month.

The House planned on having a busy week and was scheduled to consider the FISA reauthorization and the Farm Bill. However, after multiple caucus issues, the Farm Bill was removed from the House Floor and returned to the House Rules Committee.

 

Senate appropriators push back on ED cuts during budget hearing

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Education Secretary Linda McMahon faced backlash from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday during a Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the President’s proposed FY27 budget. The President’s budget requests $76.5 billion for the Department of Education, a $2.3 billion decrease from the 2026 enacted level.

TRIO programs were a major point of discussion, with nearly every Senator expressing support for the programs, and questioning McMahon over proposed cuts. Several Senators also used their time to draw attention to the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is facing a 35% funding decrease. In March 2025, the Trump administration fired over half of OCR’s lawyers and staff and shut down seven of the twelve regional OCR offices. In a heated exchange between Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), McMahon denied responsibility for these staffing cuts, but said the department was working to hire more lawyers to work through the backlog of cases.

Several senators also highlighted the dismantling of the department, and questioned McMahon on restructuring, including the plan to shift the $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, and moving special education to HHS. Throughout the hearing, McMahon defended the budget cuts and promised that consolidation and restructuring would deliver better results for students and families. In her testimony, she remarked:

“In November of 2024, the American people elected President Trump with a clear mandate: to sunset a 46-year-old, $3 trillion, failed education bureaucracy in Washington, DC, and return authority to where it belongs—to parents, teachers, and local leaders. Amid record-low test scores and record-high numbers of students buried in debt, Americans want results. Today, I can confidently attest that we are delivering on the vision of educational renewal that, for decades, many promised but none delivered.”