Good morning. In this edition:

• ⚖️ SCOTUS + tariffs
• 💻 Apple’s new budget laptop
• 🇺🇸 Election Day results

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.48-minute read (927 words).

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“Anyone who wants to achieve a dream must stay strong, focused and steady.”

–Estée Lauder (1908-2004)

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments later today in a blockbuster case centered around the fate of most of President Trump’s signature tariff policies.

SCOTUS’ eventual decision in this morning’s case has the potential to reshape the US economy, global diplomacy, and future presidential power.

How we got here: Earlier this year, a coalition of small business owners and Democrat-led states sued the Trump administration over the president’s legal authority to impose wide-ranging “reciprocal” tariffs in early April, which targeted goods from nearly every country in the world.

• Congress holds exclusive power to levy taxes on citizens and tariffs on imports under the Constitution, with limited exceptions giving presidents some discretion during times of national emergency.
• The key question in today’s case is whether the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants US presidents the ability to declare an emergency that allows them to unilaterally set tariffs.

The arguments

President Trump and his administration argue that the 1977 law’s broad text—which gives the president authority to “regulate” the “importation” of goods to protect national security—allows Trump to impose wide-ranging tariffs, as long as he declares a national emergency.

• They also argue reciprocal tariffs are necessary to counter the national emergency posed by unfair foreign trade practices, and that US courts should defer to executive power in economic and foreign affairs.
• In a social media post yesterday, Trump said the US would be "virtually defenseless" against other nations if the Court strikes down most of his tariffs, describing the case as “literally, LIFE OR DEATH.”

On the flip side: Democratic lawmakers, some business owners, and three previous court rulings contend that Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan exceeds his presidential authority under the Constitution.

• They say the 1977 law doesn’t justify sweeping trade actions without Congress’s approval, and warn that upholding his actions would set a dangerous precedent of expanded presidential power.
• Critics also cite harm to consumers, businesses, and global trade stability.

What’s at stake

Analysts say a decision in favor of Trump would have far-reaching impacts beyond trade policy, and could shape whether the use of emergency powers to bypass Congress becomes a routine tool of governance for US presidents moving forward.

A ruling against Trump could also carry a significant impact.

• Along with greatly restricting the president’s powers in imposing tariffs, it could set off a chaotic refund process, result in a loss of record-high tariff revenue, and undermine recent US trade deals.
• However—the Trump admin says that in the event its tariffs are struck down by SCOTUS, officials will work to replace them using other, more process-heavy trade laws.

Looking ahead…Oral arguments before SCOTUS begin at 9 am CT. The Court’s final decision is expected sometime before the end of its term in late June.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, how should the Supreme Court handle the legality of President Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan?

• Uphold it as is
• Uphold it with small changes
• Strike it down entirely
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏢 IBM to cut a “low single-digit percentage” of its ~270,000-person global workforce, amounting to several thousand jobs. | Yum! Brands is exploring a potential sale of Pizza Hut amid struggles for the restaurant chain.
• 💉 Trump admin is reportedly negotiating a deal with weight-loss drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that would allow the lowest doses of some of their obesity drugs to be sold for $149/month via TrumpRx.
• 😬 This famous method of valuing stocks is pointing toward some rough years ahead.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 Ohio State leads the inaugural 2025 College Football Playoff poll, followed by #2 Indiana, #3 Texas A&M, and #4 Alabama.
• 🍿 The Mummy 4 confirmed: Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are reuniting for the fourth installment of the decades-old action franchise.
• 📰 Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in America, is rebranding to USA Today Co.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💻 Apple plans to launch a budget laptop next year, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman; the product, codenamed "J700," is designed to compete with Chromebooks and entry-level PCs.
• 🚀 Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is re-nominated by President Trump to serve as head of NASA; Trump had previously dropped his support for Isaacman’s nomination back in May, shortly before a Senate confirmation vote.
• 🌕 November's full moon—the biggest and brightest of 2025—reaches its peak later this morning. How and when to see it.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🇺🇸 Election Day results: New York City elects Zohran Mamdani (D) as its new mayor, while Democrats win both governor races in New Jersey and Virginia. Here's what you should know.
• 🏛️ Ongoing gov’t shutdown is officially the longest in US history after Senate fails once more to pass a short-term funding bill.
• 🙏 Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served in the George W. Bush administration as one of the most powerful and controversial VPs in history, died at age 84. | UPS cargo plane crashes at airport in Louisville, Kentucky, with three crew members onboard; at least seven people were killed (including all onboard) and 11 others injured.

☝️ Scientists recently discovered the biggest black hole flare ever seen, which emits as much energy as ~10 trillion Suns. The flare is located in the center of a galaxy far, far away ~10 billion light-years from Earth, and peaked at ~30x the brightness of any known event of its kind.

🤔 Did you know? Continuous night sleep is a fairly new occurrence to humankind. For most of our species’ history, people slept in two shifts each night, with a 1+-hour-long wake window around midnight.

📰 Worth a read: Inside Pittsburgh's parallel parking championship

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• How to die young at a very old age
• The foods that make you smell more attractive
• My No. 1 non-negotiable rule for raising resilient teens

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How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Your challenge is to guess whether the actual number is over or under the given value.

• 🚢 60 years: How long the Titanic lay undiscovered before being found
• 🐶 100 million: Number of pet dogs in the US
• 🍩 15 billion: Amount of donuts made in America each year

🎶 Frank Uryasz is quite possibly the oldest Swiftie out there. The 95-year-old just started a Taylor Swift fan club at his Omaha, Nebraska, nursing home.

1. 🚢 Over; 73 years
2. 🐶 Under; ~89.7 million
3. 🍩 Under; ~10 billion

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