Desk
Courts, Congress, and cost of living
Federal debt and interest, labour data, state speech statutes, USDA and farm checkoffs, and court precedents that travel beyond one district.
Cost of Living|United States
The Employment Situation for October 2026, released 6 November, shows total nonfarm payroll employment up 165,000 and the unemployment rate at 4.1% (from 4.2% in September). Average hourly earnings rose to $38.00 (+0.4% month-over-month, +3.1% year-over-year). U-6 underemployment rose to 7.9%.
Policy Watch|United States
FR Doc. 2026-22680 (91 FR 70164, 6 Nov) revises 29 CFR part 30. Effective 5 January 2027, sponsors no longer face part 30’s general affirmative-action/EEO administrative duties or the numerical race/sex/ethnicity utilization goals for programs with five or more apprentices. Sponsors must still obey other federal and state nondiscrimination laws.
Policy Watch|United States
The November 4 bulletin calls the technology “Super Intelligence”, but expressly disclaims new regulatory expectations. Consequences, autonomy and human oversight are the guide's focus—not a claim that superhuman systems have arrived.
Policy Watch|United States
FR Doc. 2026-22615 (5 Nov, 91 FR 69736) would rename the April 2026 “Advancing Artificial Intelligence in Education” supplemental priority to “Advancing Super Intelligence in Education,” swap AI literacy for SI literacy under Executive Order 14434, and widen education-choice and workforce priorities. Docket ED-2026-OS-3169; comments through 7 December 2026.
Accountability|United States
On Monday 2 November the Justice Department said it had charged 63 individuals—including four it described as illegal aliens—with illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration and related offences. Most of the named defendants are lawful permanent residents. DOJ also claimed 195 noncitizen voting/registration charges in nine weeks and 239 since the administration began. The release is an accusation list, not a set of convictions.
Accountability|United States
On Election Day 3 November the Justice Department said it was running its largest monitoring effort in department history: roughly 1,000 monitors and observers, for the first time covering every state, coordinated by the Civil Rights Division with U.S. Attorney’s Offices and OPM federal observers. The release lists intended jurisdictions county by county and points voters to DOJ complaint lines—not to a change in who may vote.
Accountability|United States
On Monday 2 November Judge Michael J. Riordan held that Mich. Admin. Code R. 168.48—which required clerks to delete electronic pollbook software and files within seven days of canvass—conflicts with MCL 168.811’s 22-month retention duty and is invalid. He permanently enjoined enforcement and ordered EPBs kept with metadata intact. He rejected a federal-preemption theory under 52 U.S.C. § 20701.
Accountability|United States
Published in the Federal Register on 3 November (effective 4 January 2027), HHS’s Office for Civil Rights amends 45 CFR part 84 so that the statutory exclusion of “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments” expressly encompasses “gender dysphoria not resulting from a physical impairment.” The rule responds to ambiguity created by the 2024 §504 preamble and leaves gender dysphoria caused by a physical impairment outside that exclusion.
Accountability|United States
On Sunday 1 November, Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed United States v. State of Alaska (No. 3:26-cv-00376-SLG) for lack of standing. She found the court could not order ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan set aside for a law-enforcement inquiry into voters’ intent without breaching the secret ballot, and refused leave to amend. DOJ filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit hours later. Alaska votes on Tuesday under the existing ballot.
Cost of Living|United States
The Employee Benefits Security Administration’s final rule (91 FR 69092, published today) requires PBMs and affiliated brokers and consultants to disclose their direct and indirect compensation to fiduciaries of self-insured ERISA plans averaging at least 100 participants. Disclosures are due at contracting and every six months, and plans gain annual audit rights. The rule applies to plan years beginning on or after 1 July 2027. Workers do not receive the disclosures themselves.
Accountability|United States
On 30 October a Ninth Circuit panel (Thomas, Wardlaw, Johnstone) refused to pause a district-court injunction. The injunction stops DHS from election-related field operations and interviews in nine states when agents know, or should suspect, that the person is a U.S. citizen. A vote to rehear the order en banc failed the same day over a seven-judge dissent. The injunction ends when voting closes on 3 November.
Accountability|United States
In United States v. State of Alaska (No. 3:26-cv-00376-SLG), DOJ filed a motion on 30 October asking the court to order the state to “preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan”, a first-time candidate running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. Its amended complaint also asks the court to block certification of any result “that may be impacted by voter confusion”. The state, the Peltola campaign and the DSCC, and a group of voter organisations have all moved to dismiss. Judge Sharon Gleason set replies for noon today, Alaska time. Update 1 November: case dismissed for lack of standing; DOJ has appealed.
Policy Watch|United States, Canada, European Union
Proclamation 11077, signed 28 October and due in the Federal Register on 2 November, adopts Commerce’s finding that imports of robotics, industrial machinery and their parts “threaten to impair the national security”. It orders Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners and report back within 180 days. No tariff is imposed now, but tariffs, quotas, fees and an investment-incentive program remain options.
Cost of Living|Canada, United States
In a report to the Transport Minister, released 28 October, the Competition Bureau says the airlines’ proposed expanded joint venture would let them coordinate fares on 10 routes where a 2012 consent agreement now bars it. The two airlines carry all non-stop traffic on five of those routes. The Bureau predicts materially higher prices on eight of the 10. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon makes the final call, and public comments close 15 November.
Policy Watch|United States
In a 29 October ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns (D. Mass.) held that CMS had no authority to require people who are blind, disabled, or have a substance-use disorder, a disabling mental disorder or a serious medical condition to also prove their condition “significantly impairs” their ability to meet the 80-hour monthly requirement. He vacated that language and issued a permanent injunction. CMS’s 12-month look-back on medical records and its one-self-attestation limit survived. The work requirement still starts on 1 January 2027.
Accountability|United States
The Justice Department said on 29 October that federal grand juries and prosecutors in North Carolina’s three districts have charged 18 more noncitizens: nine in the Eastern District, five in the Middle and four in the Western. DOJ says all but one are lawful permanent residents; one is in the country illegally. Most face a false claim of citizenship to vote (up to five years) and voting by an alien (up to one year). DOJ’s release alleges some voted for decades. All are presumed innocent.
Policy Watch|United States
A proposed rule in today’s Federal Register (91 FR 68234) would rescind the third-party ‘super emitter’ reporting system, create lighter requirements for marginal or conventional well sites, and drop routing associated gas to a sales line as the required control. EPA estimates compliance-cost reductions of about $2.3–2.8 billion a year from 2027 to 2050, offset in part by gas that would no longer be captured. Virtual hearing 13 November.
Housing|United States
A final rule in today’s Federal Register lets the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program back properties with one or more income-producing accessory dwelling units and homes designed for home-based businesses such as childcare or crafts. Lenders still cannot count expected ADU rent as borrower income.
Housing|United States
Signed 22 October and published in today’s Federal Register, the order asks the FHFA to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac test proactive cancellation of mortgage insurance using automated home valuations, to make their title-insurance waiver pilot for refinances a nationwide program, and to pass savings to borrowers. It also sets up a task force on manufactured and factory-built homes and tells USDA and VA to cut rates on their direct home loans. Most steps depend on the FHFA director’s judgment and on later agency action.
Cost of Living|United States
A proposed rule implementing the Working Families Tax Cut law would stop Exchanges from paying advance premium tax credits while key data mismatches are unresolved, end automatic subsidy re-enrollment (people must confirm their details each year from 1 August) and let consumers ‘pend’ a plan until approved. CMS estimates subsidy spending falls about $7.6 billion a year from plan year 2028. Comments close 27 November.
Policy Watch|United States
A final rule published today removes requirements that certified electronic health record systems show clinicians how predictive decision-support tools were trained, their limits and how they perform across patient groups, plus the related risk-management requirements. HHS’s technology office says it found no evidence the disclosures were used or improved care; it acknowledges a large majority of commenters opposed the change. The rule takes effect 28 December 2026.
Policy Watch|United States
Proclamation 11074, published today, adopts Commerce findings that imported wind turbines and parts threaten U.S. security (grid reliability, radar clutter, hackable inverters) and tells Commerce and the USTR to negotiate with trading partners, with an update due in 180 days. It adds no new duty; existing steel, aluminium and copper tariffs on turbine parts stay. A same-day Defense Production Act determination lets the Secretary of War fund domestic oil production, refining, pipelines and storage.
Data Desk|United States
The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ preliminary 2025 National Crime Victimization Survey estimates, released 26 October, put the rate of violent crime excluding simple assault at 7.4 per 1,000 people aged 12+, down from 9.9 in 2024. Aggravated assault fell 31% and household property victimization 19%. But the overall violent-victimization drop (28.7 to 25.7) is not flagged as statistically significant, the figures may change, and two months of 2025 interviews were lost to the federal shutdown.
Policy Watch|United States
A Federal Register notice published 27 October (91 FR 67595) suspends the CNMI Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program (EVS-TAP) at 2 p.m. EDT on 30 October. The program let prescreened nationals of the People’s Republic of China visit only the Northern Mariana Islands for up to 14 days without a visa; more than 3,000 used it in FY2025. Existing authorizations are cancelled too. DHS acknowledges the hit to island businesses but says security risks outweigh it.
Policy Watch|United States
A 26 October letter on U.S. Attorney’s Office (Eastern District of Washington) letterhead asks Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to review, within 24 hours, a DHS list of more than 400 people it says are or were noncitizens who cast over 1,500 votes, and to stop verifying or counting their returned ballots until citizenship is determined. It sets a noon PST deadline on 28 October and threatens emergency relief. Hobbs says he will only respond to requests that follow due process and that DOJ’s system frequently flags citizens. Update 28 October: Hobbs refused in writing, saying the list includes U.S. citizens and is not reliable.
Economy & Jobs|Canada, United States
A proclamation signed 23 October modifies Proclamation 11048 for a second time. Annex I Part A takes 22 eight-digit tariff lines off the 50% duty, including thin plywood, some paper and paperboard, packing machinery and some refrigerating equipment. Part B adds 96 lines, including carpets, valves, window air conditioners, chest freezers, MDF, wood flooring, paints, soap, shampoo and canoes. The tariff applies whether or not a good qualifies under USMCA, on top of Section 232 duties, for goods entered from 12:01 a.m. ET on 30 October. Published 30 October as Proclamation 11076 (91 FR 68861); in effect from today.
Economy & Jobs|Canada, United States
Commerce published the final results of its 2024 administrative reviews on 19 October. Antidumping: Canfor 17.00%, West Fraser 4.71%, Resolute 13.13%, and 10.64% for the other reviewed companies. Countervailing: Resolute 12.42%, West Fraser 15.31%, and 14.11% for non-selected companies. The new cash-deposit rates apply to entries from 19 October.
Policy Watch|United States
Published in the Federal Register on 20 October, FASCSA Exclusion and Removal Order 2026-01, signed by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and first issued 24 July, bars products and services of Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co. and its affiliates from civilian agency procurement. Agencies must also remove DeepSeek products, and third-party products built on DeepSeek, from their IT. National security systems are outside its scope.
Policy Watch|United States
Treasury’s proposed rule implementing the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act, issued 22 October and due in the Federal Register on 26 October, would make investment in country-of-concern entities that develop any “super intelligence (SI) system” a prohibited transaction, ending the current notification tier. It adds hypersonics, high-performance computing and biotech to the covered sectors, and adds a $50,000 de minimis exception. Comments close 7 December.
Housing|United States
In a Voluntary Compliance Agreement signed 20–21 October, Multnomah County, Oregon, and its Homeless Services Department agree to remove points for an applicant’s interest in culturally specific services within seven days and to rename “English as a second language” as “language barriers”. They must rescore pending households and reset Priority Housing Pool thresholds. The county denies the allegations, and the agreement is not a HUD finding.
Policy Watch|United States
The IRS list of states participating in the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (section 25F) names 30 states for 2027 as of 22 October. From 1 January 2027 donors to approved scholarship-granting organizations in those states can claim a non-refundable credit of up to $1,700 ($3,400 joint). Treasury’s proposed regulations, open for comment until 1 December, would bar states from limiting which schools scholarships can be used at.
Accountability|United States
New Mexico’s Attorney General announced on 21 October that a state court ordered Facebook to pay $25 billion in civil penalties. The order follows a jury verdict that Facebook violated the state Unfair Practices Act 43,899,725 times through its representations about user privacy, third-party data access, and its handling of misinformation and hate speech. We have not yet obtained the court order itself.
Policy Watch|United States
Colorado’s certified ballot includes two citizen-initiated statutory measures. Proposition 134 (Initiative #109, “Protect Women and Girls Sports Act”) would require school teams to be designated male, female or coed by biological sex and bar males from female teams. Proposition 135 (Initiative #110, “Protect Children from Irreversible Sex Change Surgery Act”) would bar surgery on under-18s to alter biological sex characteristics, and bar state or federal funds, Medicaid or insurance coverage for it. Both would take effect 1 January 2027.
Policy Watch|United States
On 9 October the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted PJM’s new definition of a ‘Large Load’ (50 MW or more at one site) and a Large Load Registry, effective 12 October. It rejected the core of the plan: an ‘Interim Resource Adequacy Service’ that would have let new data centres connect without matching new generation if they agreed to be curtailed first, plus ‘bring your own new capacity’ rules. FERC said the curtailment plan appears to regulate retail electricity service, which is the states’ job.
Policy Watch|United States
A proposed rule placed on public inspection on 23 October, to be published 26 October with a 30-day comment period, would drop manual turn-signal, hazard and beam-switch control requirements for vehicles with no manual driving controls and allow four to eight cyan lamps that show an automated driving system is in charge. Separately, NHTSA is auditing how Tesla certified its pedal-less Cybercab, and on 9 October opened a review of a petition alleging Tesla robotaxis speed in school zones.
Accountability|United States
On 29 September the Third Circuit affirmed that ROSS Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters’ copyright by using 2,243 Westlaw headnotes to train a non-generative AI legal search engine meant to compete with Westlaw. Three of the four fair-use factors weighed against ROSS, including harm to a developing market for licensing headnotes as AI training data. The court stressed that ROSS’s tool could not generate new text, leaving the generative-AI question open.
Accountability|United States
Ruling 10–7 on 23 October in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Vergara, the en banc Fifth Circuit reversed three Texas district courts that had ordered bond hearings for long-time residents held under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The majority held that due process does not require individual hearings on dangerousness or flight risk, however long removal proceedings last. Seven judges dissented. The ruling binds federal courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Accountability|United States
The Justice Department announced on 19 October that 28 lawful permanent residents in California have been charged in “Operation Protect the Vote.” Eleven were arrested. Charges include false statements in naturalization applications and fraudulent voter registration (felonies, up to five years) and, in the Eastern District, misdemeanour voting by an alien. DOJ says every defendant appears on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants it gave California. The same day, it asked a court for a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Accountability|United States
In United States v. City of New York, No. 25-cv-04084 (E.D.N.Y.), Judge Ramón E. Reyes Jr. granted the city’s motion to dismiss on 15 October 2026, and judgment was entered on 16 October. He held that the United States lacks standing and that its preemption and intergovernmental-immunity claims fail. He also found the anticommandeering doctrine bars the relief sought. His footnote says every prior federal challenge to such provisions has been rejected.
Policy Watch|United States, World
A 16 October 2026 presidential order implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 sets out a 500% duty on Russian goods, plus 100% duties on the top five buyers of Russian crude and gas and on the top five sanctions-evasion facilitators. The same order waives all of those duties and most of the Act’s new sanctions under section 115. Existing executive-order sanctions on Russia stay in place.
Accountability|United States
In Columbus City School Dist. v. State, 2026-Ohio-4047 (decided 15 October 2026), a unanimous Tenth District panel affirmed that EdChoice and EdChoice Expansion violate the Ohio Constitution’s “thorough and efficient system of common schools” clause. The court stayed its judgment pending an anticipated appeal, so vouchers keep flowing for now.
Accountability|United States
In NetChoice v. Attorney General of Georgia (No. 25-12436, filed 15 October 2026), a three-judge panel held that NetChoice failed its facial First Amendment burden under Moody, and failed on vagueness and § 230 preemption. The panel vacated the Northern District of Georgia’s preliminary injunction against SB 351 and remanded. The law’s age checks, parental consent under 16, and minor-ad targeting limits can be enforced while the case continues.
Accountability|United States
In United States v. California, No. 2:26-cv-12025 (C.D. Cal., filed 15 October 2026), the Justice Department asks a federal court to stop California from tabulating federal vote-by-mail ballots from people on a federal list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizens until citizenship is verified. The complaint cites 18 U.S.C. § 611 and California’s practice of mailing ballots to every registered voter. Update 28 October: Judge Carter denied DOJ’s TRO application (Dkt. 149). Update 29 October: special master appointed and 13 November evidentiary hearing set (Dkt. 159); Santa Clara County refused a parallel 902-name demand. Update 30 October: Ninth Circuit panel denied DOJ’s emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal, 2–1.
Policy Watch|United States
After granting more 2025 small refinery exemptions than it had projected, EPA is co-proposing two ways to put the extra 770 million RINs back into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Fuel Standard obligations. EPA estimates the change adds less than one cent a gallon to gasoline and diesel. Comments are due 4 December 2026; a virtual hearing is set for 4 November.
Cost of Living|United States
IR-2026-122 (14 October 2026) says the IRS will not impose section 6715 penalties when dyed diesel is sold for or used on U.S. highways. Relief is retroactive to 1 October and runs to 31 December 2026; federal fuel-tank inspections for on-road dyed fuel are suspended for that window. The agency still says it will issue further guidance on postponing the backup diesel taxes under 26 U.S.C. 7508A — that piece is not in this release. State fuel taxes are unaffected.
Policy Watch|United States
A final rule published 14 October 2026 (91 FR 65306) adopts without change the October 2025 interim rule that ended automatic extensions of Employment Authorization Documents for people who timely renew in covered categories. Asylum seekers and green-card applicants are the two biggest groups. Renewals filed before 30 October 2025 can still get up to 540 days; those filed on or after that date cannot. The rule is effective on publication.
Policy Watch|United States
An interim final rule published 14 October 2026 (91 FR 65112) moves the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program deadline for reporting-year 2025 data from 30 October 2026 to 10 March 2027. Nothing else in the reporting rule changes. EPA says it needs time to finish work on a separate reconsideration proposal. Comments on this deadline shift are due 30 November 2026.
Economy & Jobs|United States, Canada
A Commerce Department notice publishing on 14 October 2026 tells U.S. Customs what counts as “U.S. content” for USMCA-qualifying goods from Canada and Mexico under Proclamation 11032. Those goods pay the 25% steel-and-aluminum duty only on their non-U.S. content, with a 15% floor. The guidance lets importers count U.S.-made parts and, separately, steel melted and poured or aluminum and copper smelted and cast in the U.S.
Policy Watch|United States, Canada
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposed rule, scheduled for Federal Register publication on 13 October 2026, would require rail carriers to transmit each passenger’s and crew member’s name, date of birth, sex, citizenship, residence, travel-document details, itinerary, U.S. address, seat, and phone and email if given, at least 60 minutes before any train leaves for or from the United States, including trains to and from Canada. Sharing this data has been voluntary since 2005, and CBP says one carrier does it now. Comments are open for 60 days.
Policy Watch|United States
A USDA final rule, scheduled for Federal Register publication on 13 October 2026 and effective 30 days later, rewrites how people challenge logging, grazing, road and other projects on national forests and grasslands before they are approved. Comment periods drop to 15 days for environmental assessments and 30 for environmental impact statements, from 30 and 45. The window to file an objection falls to 10 or 20 days, from 45 for most projects. The independent reviewing officer is dropped, and notices move from newspapers to USDA websites. Because objecting is a precondition for suing, the shorter windows also bear on who can go to court.
Policy Watch|United States
A joint DHS–Justice final rule, published 14 October 2026 at 91 FR 65390, adopts the June 2025 interim rule that lets ICE and CBP issue civil fines directly and moves appeals from the Board of Immigration Appeals to a DHS supervisor. The only change: ICE may accept a late appeal if documented mail delays caused it. Fines run up to $998 a day for willfully failing to leave after a final removal order. The rule is effective on publication.
Cost of Living|United States
On 9 October 2026 the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued Russia-related General License 135. It authorizes transactions tied to the sale, delivery, offloading and importation, including into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian origin that sanctions rules would otherwise bar, until 12:01 a.m. EDT on 7 April 2027. It is a time-limited licence, not a lifting of sanctions: no one was removed from the sanctions list, and Russia’s central bank, sovereign wealth fund and finance ministry remain shut out of U.S. accounts under it.
Policy Watch|United States
A proposed rule from DHS/ICE, published in the Federal Register on 8 October 2026, would charge SEVP-certified schools $70,000 per F-1 student recommended for initial Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for any later OPT, including the STEM extension. DHS says schools may pass the cost on to students, all students, or employers. Comments close 9 November. Nothing changes until a final rule takes effect 60 days after publication.
Accountability|United States
A DHS Inspector General audit (OIG-26-38, 29 September 2026) found ICE rated 104,049 overstay leads as potential security or safety concerns, deemed 21,885 viable, investigated 496 and made eight arrests from those investigations. A 2021 enforcement-priorities memo narrowed the work, and bad address data got in the way. ICE separately arrested thousands of overstays through other operations.
Cost of Living|Canada, United States, European Union, World
On 2 October 2026 G7 leaders agreed a coordinated IEA release of 100 million barrels over four months, with a front-loaded diesel release within 20 days, plus refinery-maintenance coordination and a pledge against energy export bans among members. Canada, a net exporter, has no IEA stockholding obligation and no public emergency oil stocks, so its role is on the refinery and supply side.
Accountability|United States
On 30 September 2026 Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. vacated the USCIS, CBP, and State Department policies that collected the $100,000 H-1B payment and barred those agencies from enforcing them until they finish notice-and-comment rulemaking and a regulatory-flexibility analysis. The order does not strike Presidential Proclamation 10973 itself. A Massachusetts court had already vacated the same policies; a D.C. court went the other way.
Accountability|United States
On 2 October 2026 Judge Kathleen Cardone (W.D. Tex.) granted a preliminary injunction in Friends of the Ruidosa Church v. Mullin, No. EP-26-CV-1099-KC. Effective immediately, defendants may not build border barrier or do ground-disturbing work in the Big Bend Sector until they comply with all applicable laws. The order stays the effect of the named Big Bend IIRIRA waivers. A memorandum opinion is still to come — this is not a final merits ruling.
Accountability|United States
On 1 October 2026 the Supreme Court granted the petition in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, No. 26-104 — whether noncitizens apprehended inside the United States may be held without a bond hearing under the administration’s mandatory-detention reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Certiorari is not a merits win for either side.
Accountability|United States
In Diemert v. City of Seattle (No. 25-1188, filed 28 Sep 2026) a Ninth Circuit panel reversed summary judgment on Joshua Diemert’s Title VII and Washington Law Against Discrimination hostile-work-environment claims, remanding for trial. It affirmed dismissal of constructive-discharge, disparate-treatment, retaliation, and Equal Protection claims. Race-conscious training is not per se unlawful — the holding is that a jury may hear whether workplace incidents created a racially hostile environment.
Accountability|Canada, United States
Presidential Proclamations 11061, 11062 and 11063 exclude specified Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor-vehicle products from importation into the United States effective 29 September 2026 at 12:01 a.m. ET — escalating from the prior 50% Section 338 duties. CBP is rejecting covered entries in ACE. Distinct from steel tariffs that Stelco cited when idling Hamilton cold-rolled lines.
Accountability|United States
On 29 September 2026 the Supreme Court granted the government’s emergency stay in DHS v. D.V.D. (No. 26A406), pausing a Massachusetts district-court judgment that had blocked third-country removal guidance, treated the application as a cert petition, granted review (No. 26-426), and set December 2026 argument. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson would have denied the stay.
Accountability|United States
On 28 September 2026 Judge Tiffany R. Johnson granted the NCAA’s motion for summary judgment in Gaines v. NCAA (1:24-cv-01109), holding there is no evidence the NCAA received or could have received federal funds through its concussion-research partnership with the Department of Defense. Clerk’s judgment for the NCAA; case closed. The court did not decide whether the former transgender-athlete policy was sex discrimination. Appeal window open.
Accountability|United States
On 21 October 2026 the Supreme Court denied the Solicitor General’s emergency application (No. 26A416) to stay D.D.C. orders that bar the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing its February 2026 policy ending surgeries, general new hormone interventions and social accommodations for gender dysphoria. Justices Thomas and Alito would have granted the stay. The order gives no reasons and does not decide the merits; the lower-court block stays in place while the appeal continues.
Accountability|United States
On 17 September 2026 a Ninth Circuit panel in S.D. v. Reese vacated a class-wide preliminary injunction that would have required Oregon to start housing assessments with a presumption of placing male inmates who identify as women into the state’s only women’s prison — and ordered the class decertified.
Accountability|United States
A Southern District of California order dated 14 September 2026 approved a $175,000 settlement in S.E. v. Grey, vacated the May 2025 preliminary injunction, and dismissed the case with prejudice — after Encinitas Union School District had already rewritten notice-and-opt-out rules in the shadow of Mahmoud v. Taylor.
Data Desk|Canada, United States
StatsCan’s 22 July 2026 Daily release: police-reported CSI fell 5% to 75.01 in 2025, with homicides down 125 year-over-year. California courts reported 15,508 felony theft filings under Prop 36’s §666.1 in calendar 2025 — filings, not proven causation.
Policy Watch|United States, World
On 30 June 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court held states may restrict girls’ and women’s school sports to biological females. World Athletics separately requires SRY gene testing for the female World Rankings category effective 1 September 2025.
Policy Watch|United States
Mahmoud v. Taylor (27 Jun 2025) required notice and opt-outs for Montgomery County’s LGBTQ-inclusive elementary storybooks. A Feb 2026 permanent injunction and reported $1.5M settlement closed the district chapter — the Free Exercise precedent travels.
Accountability|United States
On 2 March 2026 the Supreme Court vacated a Ninth Circuit stay as to parents in Mirabelli v. Bonta — Free Exercise and Due Process parental-rights theories. Emphasize: interim emergency relief, not a final nationwide ban on all student-privacy policies.
Policy Watch|United States
HB 1557 (2022) restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in early grades and strengthens parental notification on student well-being. The March 2024 Equality Florida settlement left the statute intact while clarifying it is not a ban on ‘saying gay,’ library books, GSAs, or mere discussion.
Accountability|United States
California’s SAFETY Act (AB 1955) still forbids districts from requiring parental disclosure of a pupil’s SOGI without pupil consent. After Mirabelli, the Ninth Circuit (18 Jun 2026) entered a limited injunction covering named parent plaintiffs only — not a statewide strike-down.
Accountability|United States
Short balance piece: Foote v. Ludlow (First Circuit 18 Feb 2025) affirmed dismissal of parents’ Due Process claim over school social transition without notice. SCOTUS denied cert 20 Apr 2026 — leaving a circuit contrast with Mirabelli’s interim parental win.
Accountability|United States
California’s new immigration-worker privacy law was written after a viral fraud hunter showed up. FIRE warned it chills speech. Shirley’s lawyers say that’s the point.
Accountability|United States
New Hampshire officials called pink “XX” bands “hateful.” The First Circuit called punishing them viewpoint discrimination — and sent the case back.
Accountability|United States
Three Wisconsin producers backed by WILL challenged mandatory checkoff spending on emissions and sustainability. USDA directed boards to stop; the lawsuit is paused while the order is implemented.
Accountability|Canada, United States
Record pump prices in Canada and the U.S. are real. The viral “park the trucks” shutdown for October 1 remains social-media rumour — the same claim Snopes and OOIDA torched south of the border.
Data Desk|Canada, United States, European Union
From $6.29 U.S. gallons to $2.77 Canadian litres to €2.08 EU diesel, one fuel is driving trucking, farming, and grocery anxiety. Here are the sourced numbers.
Data Desk|Canada, United States, European Union, World
A chart-heavy explainer on why ‘debt/GDP’ headlines mislead when coverage (federal vs general government) and denominators differ.
Debt & Fiscal|United States
Treasury and CBO figures show net interest approaching defence outlays — a quiet squeeze on future budgets regardless of which party holds Congress.
Economy & Jobs|United States
BLS payrolls and unemployment (near 4.2%) still look resilient — but temporary help and hours worked hint at cooling under the headline.
Cost of Living|Canada, United States, European Union
Food CPI cooled from peaks, but cumulative price levels remain far above 2019 — and national baskets differ more than politicians admit.
Accountability|Canada, United States, European Union, World
Auditor-general and GAO-style findings across jurisdictions keep finding the same pattern — dollars obligated, metrics vague, citizen results unclear.
Policy Watch|Canada, United States, European Union
Battery plants and chip fabs draw billions in Canada, the U.S., and the EU — job and investment promises should be tracked like bond covenants.
