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Morning Brief: SCOTUS Takes Up Trump Tariffs, ICE Checks Mamdani, & Dems Rig Maps In California
The Supreme Court considers President Donald Trump’s authority to impose tariffs, a standoff is brewing in New York City between Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and ICE, and the battle to shift the balance of power in Congress through redistricting ratchets up.
It’s Thursday, November 6, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire:
SCOTUS Hears Trump’s Tariff Case
Topline: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case challenging Trump’s authority to impose broad tariffs. The ruling will have a significant impact on Trump’s signature trade policy.
The case is Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. In total, seven businesses argue that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose his sweeping tariffs and that these tariffs have caused them significant financial harm.
The tariffs at issue cover a wide range of imported goods, with many set at around 10%, on nearly every U.S. trading partner. Those were enacted due to the trade deficit and the declining American industrial base, which the administration said constituted an emergency. The other set of tariffs is more targeted. They relate to border protection and the illegal flow of drugs into the United States. China, Canada, and Mexico were hit with varying rates.
The arguments: The plaintiffs argued that tariffs are taxes, and the power of the purse belongs to Congress, not the president. They claim the statute Trump cited to enact the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), doesn’t explicitly allow the president to impose tariffs, though it does give him other powers when it comes to foreign trade during a declared emergency. It’s typically been used for sanctions.
The Trump administration argued that IEEPA does allow the president to impose tariffs, even though it’s never been used for that purpose. They say that the issue at the border constitutes an emergency, thereby allowing the tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico. Similarly, they argue the trade deficit, among other reasons, is an emergency that justifies additional tariffs.
The Court: The response from the bench was nuanced, and opinions seemed to cut both ways.
“Your interpretation of the statute would allow the president to shut down all trade with every other country in the world, or impose some significant quota on imports from every other country in the world – but would not allow a 1% tariff. And that leaves, in the government’s words, an odd donut hole in the statute,” Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said. “That doesn’t seem to have a lot of common sense behind it.”
In another moment, judges focused on what exactly constitutes an emergency, and if there are limits. Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested that if the Court broadly sides with the Trump administration, it would give future administrations significant power.
“Could the president impose a 50% tariff on gas-powered cars and auto parts to deal with the ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ from abroad of climate change? … I think that has to be the logic of your view,” Gorsuch said.
View from the Oval: Trump very much believes in tariffs – he has spoken about tariffs and trade policy for decades and believes that Americans have been taken advantage of for too long. He framed this case as “literally life or death for our country.” In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, he said a victory in court would mean financial and national security for America, but a loss would mean the U.S. being taken advantage of again.
ICE Undaunted By Mamdani
Topline: With Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral election, how will immigration raids in the city look?
Trump border czar Tom Homan told The Daily Wire that nothing will change on the administration’s end and that “operations will continue.” He is undaunted by Mamdani, who has pledged to keep NYC a sanctuary city that refuses to work with ICE. For years, this has looked like illegal immigrant criminals benefitting from NYC’s lax-on-crime laws getting released from local jails only to walk free and end up in the revolving door of justice. ICE has to then go out into the communities, rather than have the jail contact them, to inform them that these criminals are being released.
The Growing Redistricting War
Topline: Proposition 50 passed by an overwhelming margin in California on Tuesday. It’s just the latest in what’s likely to become a messy nationwide redistricting battle.
Challenges moving forward: The biggest issue is that voters gave the state permission to redraw up to five congressional districts to favor Democrats. This was meant to counter the state of Texas’s effort to create a map that gives the GOP the same advantage. But this could trigger redistricting efforts all around the country. Missouri, North Carolina, and other states have already launched redistricting efforts.
There’s a possibility that, through the wave of redistricting, California’s efforts are more than canceled out in other states. But while this battle plays out, there will be many court cases and different actions at the state level across the country that could influence the final tally.
For example, the California Republican Party just announced a federal-level lawsuit against Prop 50 on Wednesday, calling it unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. And that could also create sweeping implications if it goes up through the federal court system.
Other factors influencing 2026 maps: Louisiana is arguing a major Supreme Court case attempting to get rid of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 2, to an extent, removes the race factor from how congressional maps are redrawn. If that happens, it could benefit Republicans in the South and lead to redistricting that favors the GOP in that region. Even with Democratic backlash in other states, by and large, that would be strong news for Republicans.
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