Supreme Court clears the way for voter-citizenship checks as Iran floats a Hormuz deal
The administration asks the justices to restore third-country deportations, the Senate backs the president on Iran, and Xi leaves Washington.
12 PM CT video brief · 1:12Presenter voice and image generated with AI tools.Read transcript
I'm Nora Vale with your 12 PM World Brief for Friday, September 25th. The Supreme Court, 6-3, has cleared the way for Homeland Security to use its SAVE database to help election officials verify voters' citizenship, pausing a lower-court ruling while the case continues. What this means: confirming that voters are citizens is not voter suppression. It's the most basic guardrail an election has. The administration is also asking the justices to restore deportations to third countries, after an appeals court upheld limits on them. A response is due Monday. Iran says it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if its conditions are met, including a full ceasefire and the release of more than $12 billion in frozen assets. In the Senate, a resolution to limit the president's Iran war powers failed, 50-49. Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Washington after a final stop at the National Archives. And Saudi Arabia says it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthis. Full stories and sources are at WorldBriefNow.com. I'm Nora Vale. Thanks for watching.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has offered, through intermediaries, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks within seven days if its conditions are met: a complete ceasefire that includes Lebanon, the release of more than $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, an end to the U.S. naval blockade and waivers on oil sanctions, The Washington Times and the AP reported. Iran has kept the strait effectively closed since March. The White House said Friday that U.S. officials are having positive and constructive conversations with mediators.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis toward Taif and the Red Sea port area of Yanbu. Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani military chiefs are meeting to discuss support for the kingdom under a joint defense pact signed in August, Reuters reported. Oil prices hit a one-week high after the attacks, then fell more than 2.5% on Friday as hopes for a U.S.-Iran truce outweighed supply worries.
Russian strikes on Kyiv on Friday killed seven people, including a 14-year-old boy, and injured 46, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, Reuters reported. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said it is halting production at its Kryvyi Rih plant, Ukraine's largest, after four strikes in five weeks damaged the site and killed five workers. The U.N. monitoring mission in Ukraine said it has recorded at least 200 civilian deaths in September.
The United States has proposed a technical-level, three-way meeting with Ukraine and Russia, with the United Arab Emirates as a possible venue, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday. The Kremlin said a trilateral meeting could happen soon but gave no details. Separately, EU countries agreed to release $7.5 billion in EU funds linked to military aid for Ukraine.
The World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to two more health zones, bringing the total affected to 63 across seven provinces. The newly affected zones are Bulu in Sud Ubangi province and Dungu in Haut-Uele province, which borders South Sudan.
Renewed fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-supported government forces is overwhelming Yemen's fragile health system, the Associated Press reported, with more than 130,000 people forced from their homes. Hospitals in Taiz province had received about 635 casualties, including 112 bodies, as of Thursday, a provincial health official said. The WHO says fewer than 10% of affected health centers are fully equipped for trauma care.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for tea at the White House on Friday, then toured the National Archives, where the state visit concluded, the White House said. At Thursday's state dinner, Trump gave Xi a bald eagle sculpture, the New York Post reported, while protesters outside chanted "Free Hong Kong," according to Fox News. The BBC reported the leaders exchanged warm words but gave little indication of progress on trade, AI or Taiwan. Xi said he expects to meet Trump twice more this year, at the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, and at the G20 summit in Florida.
The Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday to reject a Democratic-led resolution that would have stopped the Iran war until hostilities are authorized by Congress, Reuters reported. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Thom Tillis voted with Democrats, Fox News reported; Tillis said the administration had again passed a 60-day deadline to involve Congress. Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged voter frustration over high gas and diesel prices and urged the administration to focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The administration complied Thursday with a federal judge's temporary restraining order restoring White House "hard pass" credentials for CNN, Politico and MS NOW, which President Trump announced he was banning on Sept. 18. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly found the outlets were likely to succeed on their due-process claim; the order lasts 14 days, and the outlets have until Sept. 28 to seek a preliminary injunction. The AP reported the network TV pool appeared to be back in operation Friday.
The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Department of Homeland Security to use its expanded SAVE database to help state and local election officials verify voters' citizenship, pausing U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan's June 22 ruling while the case continues. In an unsigned opinion in DHS v. League of Women Voters, the majority said the challengers' claims "likely lack merit" and that the lower-court order "inhibits the Federal Government's efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, arguing the Court acted without full briefing and ignored risks to recently naturalized citizens whose records may be outdated. The ruling came 39 days before the Nov. 3 election; states' use of SAVE is voluntary.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to let the government resume deporting some noncitizens to countries not named in their removal orders, saying it had been deprived of "an essential tool to remove certain aliens, including some of the worst criminal aliens." It is the third time the administration has taken the fight to the Court. The 1st Circuit last week upheld an order by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee, requiring notice and a meaningful chance to challenge such removals, and on Wednesday dissolved the stay that had let them continue. The government's filing says DHS has already canceled a flight to three countries carrying 70 aliens with criminal convictions. Justice Jackson ordered a response by 4 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 28.
The justices meet in conference on Monday, Sept. 28, to consider petitions distributed over the summer, according to the Court's case distribution schedule; decisions on petitions from a conference are usually announced in an order list at 9:30 a.m. ET the following Monday. The October 2026 term's first oral arguments are set for Oct. 5, including Suncor Energy v. Commissioners of Boulder County and Johnson v. United States Congress. St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a challenge by Catholic parishes to the terms of Colorado's universal preschool program, is set for argument Nov. 3.
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