Supreme Court Backs Trump on Asylum, Judge Blocks Voting Order as Congress Gridlocks

WASHINGTON — In a dramatic day of divided government, the Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a major victory on immigration Thursday while a federal judge simultaneously blocked his executive order on voting rules, as Capitol Hill remained paralyzed by a standoff over election legislation that has derailed a popular bipartisan housing bill.

Supreme Court Delivers Twin Immigration Victories

The nation’s highest court issued two significant rulings in immigration-related cases on Thursday, both siding with the Trump administration in a 6-3 vote powered by the court’s conservative majority.

In the first case, the court upheld the federal government’s authority to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border when officials deem crossings too overburdened to handle additional claims. The policy, known as “metering,” allows immigration officials to stop asylum seekers at the border and indefinitely decline to process their claims. It was originally dropped by Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who authored Thursday’s ruling, wrote that asylum seekers stopped on the Mexican side of the border have not “arrived in the United States” under the law.

“In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place — for example, a house, a city or a country — before the person enters that place,” Alito wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor read a lengthy summary of her dissenting opinion from the bench — an action that signals a justice’s strong opposition to a ruling. She was joined by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“The consequences of today’s decision are predictable,” Sotomayor wrote. “More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not. More people will be forced to walk along the US-Mexico border in dangerous conditions, trying to find a port that will inspect them. More people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves, such as their race, religion, nationality or political opinion”.

In an unusual move, Alito responded from the bench to Sotomayor with an additional defense of the ruling, saying there was much more he would have included in his opinion summary had he known that Sotomayor intended to air her dissent in court.

The second ruling, also authored by Alito, cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of Temporary Protected Status — a humanitarian designation that protects them from deportation. At issue was TPS for more than 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,100 from Syria.

James Percival, general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, welcomed the rulings, saying the decision “opens up an important tool to continue securing our southern border”.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin posted on X that “the three rulings from the Supreme Court this week are all victories for enforcing our nation’s immigration laws”.

“They include barring aliens from applying for asylum if they haven’t set foot in the United States, making it easier to remove lawful permanent residents who commit a crime, and reaffirming that Temporary Protected Status was always meant to be TEMPORARY and can be cancelled at the appropriate time,” Mullin wrote. “These decisions give us the tools we need to continue securing our nation”.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also hailed the rulings, saying the Justice Department “successfully defended the position that TPS was always meant to be temporary. This ruling rejects efforts to turn the program into a loophole abused by illegal aliens to remain in the United States”.

Federal Judge Blocks Trump Voting Executive Order

In a separate setback for the administration, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts blocked key provisions of President Trump’s executive order on elections, ruling that sections 2 and 3 of Executive Order 14399 are “unconstitutional and exceed presidential authority”.

The March executive order sought to tighten controls on mail-in voting by requiring the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters whose names appear on federally approved voter lists. It also directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of verified U.S. citizens using federal records and provide them to state election officials.

Judge Talwani found that the measures “improperly interfered with states’ constitutional authority to administer elections and determine voter eligibility”. The court ruled that the president does not “have any specific powers over elections”.

The lawsuit was filed by Democratic attorneys general representing 22 states and the District of Columbia, who argued that the order would force them to make costly last-minute changes to their mail voting systems. The ruling permanently bars federal agencies from implementing the provisions in 23 states and the District of Columbia ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded that “President Donald Trump is committed to ensuring that the American people have complete confidence in the administration and organization of the election,” adding that the White House believes the executive order is legal and will eventually be implemented.

The ruling comes just one day after another federal judge blocked most of another Trump election order that would require voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

Capitol Hill Gridlock: Housing Bill in Limbo as Voting Fight Intensifies

On Capitol Hill, the legislative branch remained paralyzed Thursday as President Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill unless Congress first passes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act — legislation that would place new restrictions on voting eligibility and ID requirements.

The housing bill, a product of months of negotiations between the House and Senate banking committees, passed both chambers this week with overwhelming bipartisan support — the House voted 358-32 and the Senate voted 85-5. The legislation aims to increase the country’s housing supply by limiting the number of homes that corporate buyers can control and speeding the permitting process.

President Trump blindsided lawmakers Wednesday when he abruptly canceled the signing ceremony for the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson was reportedly caught unaware. Rather than a celebratory bill signing, workers in Statuary Hall dismantled a stage and removed chairs, a desk and the presidential seal.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who played a role in writing the compromise legislation, told NJ Spotlight News, “This is going to help build more housing in America. And that will help give people more opportunities to own and rent”.

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone (D-6th) said Trump was thwarting the legislation. “Trump is blocking a bipartisan bill that would build more homes and lower housing costs because he’d rather make it harder for Americans to vote than easier for them to buy a home,” Pallone said in a statement. “At a time when the American dream is increasingly out of reach for people, this selfish President is holding economic opportunity hostage to push an agenda that has nothing to do with helping people who, unlike him and his billionaire friends, have to work for a living”.

Johnson met with Trump at the White House Thursday in an effort to break the logjam. The Speaker called the meeting “very productive” and told reporters, “We’re on exactly the same page”.

“He wants to ensure that we stop any blockade in the House. Congress has work to do, and that’s what we’re going to do, and so we’ll be moving forward on all of that,” Johnson said. He added that “the majority party should never be voting down rules”.

Johnson said the House would send the housing bill to President Trump for signature. Trump will have 10 days to either sign it into law or veto.

After the meeting, Trump urged House Republicans to unify and stop “grandstanding” after a group of hard-line conservatives brought most House activity to a halt this week over the SAVE America Act.

“House Republicans should unify, and stop voting down ‘Rules’ or, threatening to do so. Giving power to the Radical Left Dumocrats in the House to control what goes up for a Vote will make our outcomes worse, not better. No more grandstanding, please! They are the Dumocrats, and we can’t let them WIN!” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and other conservatives said they would oppose any procedural rules unless the Senate passed the SAVE America Act. The bill has stalled in the upper chamber over Democratic opposition.

Luna wrote on X after Johnson’s meeting with Trump that she submitted an amendment to the House Rules Committee to attach the SAVE America Act to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2027. “This is how to get my vote on a rule. But I am one of MANY,” Luna wrote.

Even if Republicans attach the SAVE America Act to must-pass legislation, it will still need to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, which will require some Democratic support.

Markets Mixed as Inflation Surges Past 4%

On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed Thursday as investors digested hotter-than-expected inflation data and continued to rotate out of major technology stocks.

The S&P 500 fell 0.01% to 7,357.49, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.46% to 25,358.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.14% to 51,920.62.

The Commerce Department reported that the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — rose 4.1% year-over-year in May, the highest level since April 2023 and more than double the Fed’s 2% target.

First-quarter GDP was revised upward to 2.1% growth from a prior estimate of 1.6%, while weekly jobless claims fell more than expected, signaling continued resilience in the labor market.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams, the central bank’s “third-ranking” official, said the current monetary policy stance is capable of effectively suppressing inflation and that interest rates are “fully equipped” to guide inflation back to the 2% long-term target. He predicted inflation would return to 2% by 2028.

Williams identified three factors driving the current inflation rise: tariff increases on imported goods, energy and commodity price spikes from Middle East conflict, and sustained demand for technology products fueled by the AI investment boom.

BMO Family Office Chief Investment Officer Carol Schleif told CNBC, “The inflation data is indeed on the hot side, which is basically in line with market expectations, but it’s not hot to the point of being out of control. Considering that oil prices have recently fallen, we expect inflation to continue to cool as summer and fall arrive”.

Schleif also commented on the divergence between chip stocks and big tech, saying, “The market is beginning to realize that a company’s impressive revenue and profit performance means that the other end of the industry chain is bearing the corresponding cost. Micron’s ability to generate such strong earnings and revenue ultimately means someone is paying for it”.

Major tech stocks tumbled. Apple plunged more than 6%, its worst drop since April 2025, after announcing global price increases on Mac, iPad and multiple hardware products of up to $300. Microsoft and Amazon each fell more than 3%, Meta dropped over 2%, and Nvidia, Google and Tesla also declined.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks surged. Micron Technology jumped more than 15% after reporting earnings and guidance that beat Wall Street expectations. Applied Materials surged over 13%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 3.59%. Storage-chip makers also rallied, with SanDisk soaring more than 21%.

Argent Capital Management portfolio manager Jed Ellerbroek said, “As memory chip prices rise, almost all electronic products containing semiconductor components will face price increase pressure”. He added that “the large-scale inflationary effect emerging in the technology supply chain is having a fairly broad spillover impact. However, consumers still have sufficient capacity to absorb these price increases at this point”.

IMF: U.S. Growth ‘Robust,’ Fed Rate Hold ‘Appropriate’

The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that the U.S. economy continues to show robust growth momentum and expects inflation to return to the Fed’s 2% target by the end of 2027.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said at a regular news briefing that the Fed’s decision last week to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged was “appropriate” and welcomed new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s “firm commitment” to price stability.

“U.S. economic growth momentum remains robust,” Kozack said. She noted that government consumption spending has rebounded, domestic investment remains strong, and labor productivity remains at a relatively high level, making the U.S. stand out among major global economies.

“Based on the above situation, we believe the Fed’s decision to keep the policy rate unchanged is appropriate. Any further policy adjustments in the future need to be cautious and carefully calibrated based on the latest economic data,” Kozack said.

Kozack also noted that oil prices have fallen from the highs reached during the war but remain about 10% higher than before the conflict broke out.