FOUR-MINUTE READ | UNBIASED COVERAGE OF TOP POLITICAL NEWS
Federal Level
Judge’s Order Lifts Silencer Tax Limits
On Monday, a federal judge’s ruling took effect after the Justice Department declined an emergency appeal, easing decades-old restrictions on short-barrel firearms and silencers. Congress passed the National Firearms Act in 1934, requiring a two hundred dollar tax to register such weapons, but last year’s tax bill eliminated that fee. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Lubbock ruled the regulations could not survive once Congress revoked the tax that justified them. Gun rights groups and fourteen states had sued, and Hendrix limited his order to those plaintiffs and states’ agencies. The department still has sixty days to appeal but has not said what it plans. 1, 2
Appeals Court Rejects Trump Prosecutor Tactic
A federal appeals court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s practice of keeping politically aligned prosecutors in office without Senate confirmation. Federal law caps an interim U.S. attorney at one hundred twenty days, after which a district court, not the attorney general, names a replacement. Sigal Chattah hit that limit in Nevada last July, resigned a day early, then was reinstalled as acting attorney under a separate law, a move the 9th Circuit called unlawful. Judge Eric Miller, a Trump appointee, wrote the attorney general cannot create a de facto attorney via shuffled titles. It was the second appellate ruling in a year challenging the tactic. 3, 4
House Ethics Panel Opens Probe Into Gomez
The House Ethics Committee announced Monday it is investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat, over allegations he engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer. Chairman Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier, a California Democrat, said the probe alone does not indicate a violation occurred. Gomez, who is married and co-founded the Congressional Dads Caucus, said he had made personal mistakes outside his marriage and would cooperate with the review. The allegation, first reported by the New York Post, involves an incident said to have occurred in 2023. The case adds to a string of misconduct inquiries facing lawmakers. 5, 6
Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Carroll Appeal
The Supreme Court on Monday declined for a second time to reconsider President Trump’s bid to overturn the jury verdict finding him liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll and later defaming her. The justices issued an unsigned order listing the petition among several rehearing requests denied, without explaining their reasoning. The decision leaves in place a five million dollar civil judgment against Trump from a 2023 trial. Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, said the jury verdict is now final and cannot be challenged in any court. The case had moved through multiple appeals, with Trump’s team repeatedly seeking review. 7
White House Touts Record Drug Price Drop
The White House on Monday touted new data showing prescription drug prices fell three point one percent over the past year, calling it the steepest annual decline since 1963. Officials credited Most Favored Nation pricing deals covering seventeen major drugmakers, about eighty six percent of the branded drug market, along with the TrumpRx platform, which they said generated seven hundred million dollars in patient savings. The Department of Veterans Affairs has locked in more than ten billion dollars in pharmaceutical savings this year, officials said. Some health economists disagreed, pointing instead to Medicare’s new power to negotiate prices, which cut costs on ten drugs sharply. 8, 9
State Level
Stein Vetoes North Carolina Election Bill
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein vetoed House Bill 958 on Monday, an elections bill passed by the General Assembly with only Republican votes. The bill would shorten early voting during primaries by about a week, give the state auditor authority to audit county election systems, and shorten the window for challenging early-voting ballots. Standing with Democratic legislative leaders at the Executive Mansion, Stein said the bill makes it harder to vote and easier for losing candidates to challenge results. Republicans hold a supermajority in the Senate but not the House, so the veto could survive without Democratic support. House Republicans said they plan an override anyway. 10, 11
Stein Vetoes Bill On Suspending NC Judges
Gov. Josh Stein also vetoed House Bill 377 on Monday, a measure that would have let North Carolina’s chief justice suspend trial judges without pay. Stein said the bill would chill judicial independence and grant a power no other chief justice in the country holds. He noted that North Carolina voters elect most of the state’s judges and argued that removing an elected judge should rest with the people, not legislative leadership. Stein also criticized the General Assembly for repeatedly reshaping the judiciary’s oversight bodies over thirteen years, saying it needs to stop politicizing the courts. The bill had passed largely along party lines. 12
McMaster Announces South Carolina Budget Vetoes
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced fourteen line-item vetoes to the state’s 2026 to 2027 budget on Monday, saying the plan still reflects ninety two percent of his original proposal, including an income tax cut and pay raises for teachers and law enforcement. McMaster struck eight hundred thousand dollars for a youth program that closed after graduating its final class in June, and he blocked forgiveness of a 350,000 dollar grant to the town of Pacolet over concerns the funds were misused. He also vetoed a provision delaying spending tied to the Scout Motors site pending a cost-overrun review, saying the state should pay contractors now. 13, 14
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Article Sources
1. Texas Tribune, “Limits on certain firearms, silencers lifted for some in Texas after judge’s order takes effect,” Aug. 13, 2026.
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/13/texas-national-firearms-act-ruling-silencers-short-barrel/
2. NPR, “Part of a key firearms law lapsed following a federal court ruling,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/17/nx-s1-5935562/firearms-law-lapsed-federal-court-ruling
3. Law.com / The National Law Journal, “9th Circuit Says Nevada’s Acting US Attorney Wasn’t Lawfully Appointed,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2026/08/17/9th-circuit-says-nevadas-acting-us-attorney-wasnt-lawfully-appointed-/
4. The Hill, “Appeals court upholds Sigal Chattah’s disqualification as Nevada’s top federal prosecutor,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6033984-court-disqualifies-sigal-chattah/
5. NBC News, “House ethics panel says it’s investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez over allegation of ‘sexual misconduct’,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-ethics-panel-says-s-investigating-rep-jimmy-gomez-alleged-sexual-rcna592984
6. House Committee on Ethics, “Statement of the Chairman and Ranking Member Regarding Representative Jimmy Gomez,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://ethics.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Press-Release-Rep.-Gomez-8.17.26.pdf
7. The Guardian, “US supreme court again rejects Trump’s bid to overturn E Jean Carroll verdict,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/trump-e-jean-carroll-appeal
8. The White House, “President Trump Delivers Largest Prescription Drug Price Drop in Over 60 Years,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/08/president-trump-delivers-largest-prescription-drug-price-drop-in-over-60-years/
9. Newser, “Drug Prices Falling at Record Rates,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.newser.com/story/394772/prescription-drug-prices-see-sharpest-drop-in-60-years.html
10. Governor Josh Stein, “”Protect Our Vote”: Governor Stein Vetoes House Bill 958,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2026/08/17/protect-our-vote-governor-stein-vetoes-house-bill-958-urges-north-carolinians-to-call-legislators-uphold-veto
11. Yahoo News, “Stein vetoes Republican-backed ‘anti-voter’ North Carolina elections bill,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/stein-vetoes-republican-backed-anti-215434957.html
12. Governor Josh Stein, “Governor Stein Vetoes House Bill 377,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2026/08/17/governor-stein-vetoes-house-bill-377
13. ABC News 4, “Gov. McMaster addresses state budget vetoes,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://abcnews4.com/news/state/gov-mcmaster-to-address-state-budget-vetoes-sc-state-house-south-carolina-senate-house-of-representatives
14. Office of the Governor of South Carolina, “Governor Henry McMaster Announces Line Item Vetoes for FY 2026-2027 State Budget,” Aug. 17, 2026.
https://governor.sc.gov/news/2026-08/governor-henry-mcmaster-announces-line-item-vetoes-fy-2026-2027-state-budget