Welcome to today’s daily update for Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting, marking a major win for Democrats as they fight to win the midterm elections in November.
Around one-third of Americans voted by mail in the 2024 general election, making it a significant pathway for democratic processes to take place. However, mail-in voting is most particularly common in Democratic states, particularly the likes of Oregon (100% of voters), Washington (99%), Hawaii (95%), and California (87%). Among the top ten states for mail-in voting, only one state usually votes Republican – Utah, with 90% – while Arizona (80%) and Nevada (51%) are swing states.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of states that do not utilize mail-in voting are Republican, which many have argued is a driving factor behind the Trump administration’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting.
Rather than ending mail-in voting, Trump’s executive order from March would have restricted the US Postal Service (USPS) to only deliver mail-in ballots to those on the federally approved mail voter list. This would have required significant changes from USPS in a very short period of time, and their attempt to do so was chaotic.
Months later, USPS opened a portal where states would be able to submit lists of pre-approved voters for mail-in ballots, but officials labeled the process as “rushed,” “fundamentally flawed,” and therefore a threat to the midterm elections. Democrats argued that the president has no authority to require USPS to impose such restrictive measures, and they appear to have been correct – the order was taken down by the Supreme Court yesterday.
The Supreme Court confirmed in an emergency ruling – one that is expedited but has no official majority vote count – that implementing such measures so close to the midterm elections was “arbitrary and capricious.” Several Republican justices argued that they would have backed the executive order, but the Supreme Court as a whole agreed upon the fact that it was too close to the elections to consider its imposition.
Democrats and voter rights groups were quick to praise the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that it would protect voter rights across the United States for both Democrats and Republicans. Even some Republicans hailed the decision – one county clerk from Utah, where 90% of ballots are mailed in, confirmed that it would have been absolute chaos to scrap mail-in voting like this, last minute.
The Global Snapshot
Gas prices across the United States are soaring amid rising tensions in the Middle East, with the Trump administration likely unable to do anything about the prices. According to AAA, the national average for gas has reached a whopping $4.32 a gallon, with diesel skyrocketing past records set during the Biden administration over the last week to reach an average of $6.23 a gallon. A crucial oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone attack over the weekend – conducted Iranian proxy forces in Iraq – raising prices further. The US is now requesting Ukraine to avoid hitting Russian diesel infrastructure to avoid pushing prices higher, but whether that will actually happen is yet to be seen.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just repealed the carbon pollution emission standards set by the Biden administration to reduce fossil fuel emissions from power plants, eliminating a key mandate that required gas and coal-powered plants to capture up to 90% of their emissions before they reached the air. The Trump administration was behind the move, claiming that it would save the energy industry more than $300 billion while lowering electricity prices, but environmental experts have warned about countless dangers that come with the removal of the measure – including increasing greenhouse gases and ramping up air pollution. Furthermore, the Trump administration is also attempting to revoke the federal "endangerment finding" for power plant emissions, which would announce that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel plants "do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution.” Several organizations have been outraged by the moves and plan to challenge the measures in court, but it could take some time.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): The maximum recommended consumption for Monster Energy Drink is 16 ounces in Australia, but 48 ounces in the US due to America’s much higher recommended maximum caffeine intake. Not to mention, 16 ounces of Monster Energy also has a whopping 54 grams of sugar – and the limit in the US would contain three times that.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone. (Rollo May)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Empirical (adj, im-PEER-uh-kul) - When we describe something, such as data, as empirical, we mean that it originated in, or was based on, observation or experience. Empirical can also be used to describe something that can be verified or disproved by observation or experiment, as in “empirical laws.”
In a Sentence: The team of conservation biologists has over the years collected reams of empirical data, from species inventories to soil analyses.
Image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
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