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Chicago is pushing back against the use of force by federal agents. An attorney for Marimar Martinez, whom immigration agents wounded on Saturday, told a court that body-cam footage shows an agent ramming her car, saying “do something, bitch”, and then pulling over and firing. This contradicts a criminal complaint against Ms Martinez, which claims that an agent opened fire after she tried to run him down. Separately, a group of journalists and protesters from the windy city sued the Trump administration, saying federal agencies had used “unconstitutional” tactics against them.
A judge refused to hear until Thursday a challenge to the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, which means they could be sent imminently. Meanwhile Donald Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act, a law enacted in 1807, to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon “if people were being killed” or if courts, governors or mayors “were holding us up”.
The Internal Revenue Service got its seventh boss since Mr Trump took office. Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, said that Frank Bisignano, now the social-security commissioner, will also become the IRS’s “chief executive officer”. That’s a new title. Mr Bessent will remain the acting IRS commissioner. The arrangement may mean that the Senate will not need to confirm Mr Bisignano’s appointment.
The Supreme Court said it would not hear Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal to overturn her criminal conviction. Ms Maxwell, who procured teenagers for Jeffrey Epstein, a dead sex offender, is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Separately, Pam Bondi, the attorney-general, appears before a Senate committee today. She is expected to face questions about the Department of Justice’s investigation of the Epstein affair and about the prosecution of Mr Trump’s political foes.
Mr Trump said 25% tariffson imports of medium- and heavy-duty trucks would take effect on November 1st, but did not give details. This appears to be an updated version of levies on heavy lorries that the president said would begin on October 1st. Some American carmakers, which import trucks, had lobbied the administration to reconsider the duties.
Utah’s legislature passed an electoral map that would make two districts more competitive. Though the districts would still lean Republican, the new map gives Democrats a chance of winning them in next year’s midterms. In August a judge ruled that Utah’s electoral map violated a law against partisan gerrymandering. The new map must be approved by the judge.
David Ellison, the new owner of Paramount, appointed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Paramount also bought Ms Weiss’s media startup, the Free Press, reportedly for around $150m. Ms Weiss founded the Free Press in 2021 after she resigned as an opinion writer at the New York Times, criticising its “illiberal environment”.
Chicago bound
PHOTOGRAPH: MEGA AGENCYEarly on September 30th at least 300 masked federal agents, mostly from border patrol, stormed 7500 South Shore Drive. Some rappelled from helicopters; others used breaching ladders. They threw flashbang grenades into the corridors, smashed in doors and then marched everyone, including children, into the street in their pyjamas. Read our story about what a Chicago immigration raid says about Trumpism.
A view from elsewhere
“Markets though don’t seem too perturbed” by the government shutdown, wrote Greg Smith in the Post, a newspaper in New Zealand. Though there “will be specific economic impacts”, investors view shutdowns as “temporary political gridlock rather than an economic crisis”. But the shutdown has already had a “notable impact for investors”: the Bureau of Labour Statistics didn’t release its monthly jobs report after pausing “virtually all activity”.
Figure of the day
Nearly $47bn, how much the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in July, designates to keep building a border wall and equip it with cameras and sensors. Read our story about Mr Trump’s victory at the southern border.
We want to hear from you
What did you think of the speeches that Mr Trump and Pete Hegseth gave to America’s top generals and admirals at Quantico last week? Do you agree with their priorities for the armed forces? Write to us at usib@economist.com and we will publish some of your views on Wednesday. And we welcome your feedback on this newsletter.
Editor’s picks
Our latest US coverage
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The problem is not greedy pharma firms
How the Trump administration learned to love foreign aid
America’s international assistance has not been destroyed—it has been transformed
Are America’s military standards slipping?
Shashank Joshi, our defence editor, reflects on Donald Trump’s speech to American generals
Daily quiz
From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on all things American. This week we’re seeing how prepared you are for the Supreme Court’s new session. (Readers who would rather not play can read our guide to the upcoming term. The Economist assumes that you would never use it to cheat.)
Tuesday: In Trump v Slaughter the court will consider overturning a 90-year-old precedent that prevents the president from firing heads of independent agencies without cause. What is it called?
Monday: On November 5th the court will hear arguments in Trump v VOS Selections and Learning Resources v Trump. What are they about?
See how to take part in the quiz at the bottom of this page.
If you’re enjoying this week’s questions, play Dateline, The Economist’s history game.
Seen on X
On this momentous anniversary, there is no profile more emblematic for the front of this coin than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump.
—The Treasury Department plans to mint a coin with the president’s image for America’s 250th anniversary, even though law from 1866 says that no living person can appear on money.
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