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The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. The Voting Rights Act faces a pivotal test at the U.S. Supreme Court. Plus, the 3rd Circuit will hear arguments over whether New Jersey's assault weapons ban is unconstitutional; and Elon Musk's legal team will make their case to the Delaware Supreme Court to restore his $56 billion compensation. If scientists can create human eggs using skin cells we can weather Wednesday. Let’s get going.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear case that takes aim at Voting Rights Act

REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a dispute over the composition of Louisiana electoral districts in a case that could imperil a key section of the Voting Rights Act. Here’s what to know:

A group of Black voters have appealed a lower court's finding that a voting map that added a second Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana was guided too much by racial considerations in violation of the constitutional promise of equal protection under law.
The case gives the conservative justices a chance to decimate a central element of the Voting Rights Act. The law's Section 2 prohibits electoral maps that would result in diluting the clout of minority voters, even without direct proof of racist intent.
This provision gained greater significance as a bulwark against racial discrimination in voting after the Supreme Court, in a 2013 ruling authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, gutted a different part of the same law.
This is the second time this year the court will hear arguments in the case. It heard the case back in March but then in June sidestepped a decision and ordered another round of arguments.
Legal experts say that a hollowing out of Section 2 could have dramatic consequences. Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the U.S. House. A ruling against race-conscious redistricting could help Republicans gain up to 19 House seats and reduce minority representation in Congress.
John Kruzel and Andrew Chung have more here.

Coming up today

The 3rd Circuit will hear arguments over whether New Jersey's assault weapons ban is unconstitutional. In July 2024, the district court upheld the state’s magazine ban but found that the assault weapons ban was unconstitutional. Read that decision here. A 3rd Circuit panel heard arguments in the case on July 1, 2025, but in August the full court decided to take the case before the panel could issue a decision.
Elon Musk's legal team will make their case to the Delaware Supreme Court to restore his $56 billion compensation that was rescinded by a lower court judge because it was determined to be unfair to shareholders.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco will consider a motion for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees over threatened layoffs during the government shutdown. Read the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan will consider whether to approve a $138.75 million settlement of a lawsuit that accused Rio Tinto of defrauding investors by concealing problems with its $7 billion underground expansion of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia.
The D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by the Narragansett Indian Tribe accusing the Federal Highway Administration of violating the National Historic Preservation Act for failing to mitigate damage to the tribe’s historic lands during a highway expansion project. Read the district court order.
The U.S. Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules will hold a hearing in D.C. Find the agenda book here.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins will address the annual DC Fintech Week industry conference in D.C.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

More top news

Industry insight

A California attorney pleaded guilty a week before he was set to face trial on criminal charges stemming from his role in an estimated $912 million Ponzi scheme involving California solar power supply company DC Solar. Find out more.
Moves: Matthew Van Hise, former chief of the Illinois attorney general's privacy and data security unit, joined Baker Hostetler … Jim Jensen left Wilson Sonsini to join Orrick as head of the firm’s fund formation practice … M&A partner Azlan Mohammad Noh moved to Greenberg Traurig from Baker McKenzie … Seward & Kissel added Mark Garibyan to its litigation practice from Schulte Roth & Zabel … Transactional partner Carole Turcotte joined Baker McKenzie from Trans-Canada Capital … Rebecca Dandeker moved to Wiley’s food and drug practice from Morgan Lewis … Barnes & Thornburg added