The briefing for Wednesday, April 1.

Global markets surged and oil prices fell below $100 per barrel on Wednesday after President Trump said the United States will likely be done attacking Iran in two to three weeks. The S&P 500 jumped 2.9% Tuesday for its largest gain since May, while Asian markets followed with strong rallies including South Korea's Kospi surging 8.4% and Tokyo's Nikkei rising 5.2%. Brent crude dropped to $102.98 per barrel after briefly falling below $100.

Trump's comments came after he told U.S. allies to "go get your own oil" and said the U.S. "will not have anything to do with" what happens next in the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world's oil typically passes through. The White House announced Trump will deliver a public address Wednesday evening on the Iran war, now in its fifth week. U.S. gas prices surged past $4 a gallon on Tuesday, the first time since 2022, as the conflict continues to disrupt global energy markets.

Despite the market optimism, analysts cautioned that effects of the war could persist even if it ends soon. Thomas Mathews of Capital Economics noted that while de-escalation hopes have lifted markets, "the effects of the war would, in many cases, persist even if the war did end soon." Iran has shown no signs of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and significant maritime traffic disruption continues to fuel global inflation concerns.

President Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as justices heard his appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down his executive order ending birthright citizenship. Trump signed the order on his first day in office, declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens—an about-face from the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

The order challenges the constitutional provision that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The administration argues that children of noncitizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States, but no court has accepted that interpretation. Multiple federal judges have blocked the order, citing the 1898 Supreme Court case Wong Kim Ark, which held that a U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

More than 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State. The case frames another test of Trump's assertions of executive power, with a definitive ruling expected by early summer. Trump has recently criticized justices who ruled against him in previous cases, calling them "unpatriotic" after the court struck down his global tariffs in February.

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against Colorado's ban on "conversion therapy" for LGBTQ+ youth on Tuesday, finding that the law violates the First Amendment by censoring speech based on viewpoint. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said the law "censors speech based on viewpoint" and that the First Amendment "stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country."

The decision sided with Christian counselor Kaley Chiles, who argued the 2019 law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy. Colorado maintained the law simply prohibits using therapy to "convert" LGBTQ+ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations, a practice that has been scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm. Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority opinion, with Kagan noting that a state similarly could not ban talk therapy designed to affirm a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued that states should be free to regulate health care, even if that means incidental restrictions on speech. She wrote the decision "opens a dangerous can of worms" that "threatens to impair states' ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect." The ruling is expected to make similar laws in about two dozen other states unenforceable, though no one has been sanctioned under Colorado's law since its passage.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to suspend construction of a $400 million ballroom on Tuesday, ruling that President Trump lacks congressional authority for the project that demolished the White House East Wing. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon concluded that "no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have," writing that "The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!"

The preliminary injunction, granted to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, halts the most significant structural change to the White House since President Truman added a balcony in the 1940s. Leon suspended enforcement of his order for 14 days and exempted construction work necessary for White House safety and security. The Trump administration immediately filed a notice of appeal, though it remains unclear what the ruling means for a project where crews have already torn down the East Wing.

Trump fumed at the ruling in the Oval Office, noting that work on underground bunkers and security measures can continue under the exemption. "We built many things at the White House over the years. They don't get congressional approval," he told reporters. The judge's decision came two days before the National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to approve the addition, with a spokesperson saying the ruling does not affect Thursday's schedule.

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing the creation of a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and restricting mail-in voting, drawing immediate legal threats from Democratic state officials. The order calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Social Security Administration, to create the voter list for each state and seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on approved state lists, though Trump likely lacks authority to mandate Postal Service actions.

The order also calls for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking and threatens to withhold federal funding from states and localities that don't comply. "The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary," Trump said while signing the order, repeating his false allegations about mail ballots. States that rely heavily on mail voting quickly pledged to sue, with Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read saying "We don't need decrees from Washington, D.C. My message to the President: We'll see you in court."

Voting law experts say the order violates the Constitution by attempting to seize the power to run elections from states. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows called it "laughably unconstitutional" and said her state would not comply. Legal experts also noted Trump has no power to tell the Postal Service what mail it can deliver, as the agency is run by a board of governors. More than a quarter of Maine voters cast mail-in ballots in the 2024 election.

NASA reported a trouble-free countdown Tuesday as the Artemis II mission approaches a Wednesday evening launch, marking the first time astronauts will travel to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The four-person crew—three Americans and one Canadian—will fly around the moon without landing or orbiting, then return directly to Earth on a 10-day test flight. Forecasters put the odds of favorable weather conditions at 80%.

After weeks of fuel leaks and clogged helium lines that pushed the launch from February to March and then to April, senior test director Jeff Spaulding said "Everybody's pretty excited and understands the significance of this launch." The launch team plans to begin fueling the 32-story Space Launch System rocket Wednesday morning for an evening send-off between 6:24 and 8:24 p.m. local time. NASA has only a handful of days every month when conditions align for lunar missions.

The mission will test the Orion capsule with a human crew for the first time, carrying the astronauts in close quarters for the duration of the flight. Future Artemis missions plan to land humans on the moon for the first time since 1972, with the goal of building a permanent moon base to exploit natural resources and provide a springboard for Mars missions. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to watch the launch from Florida's Space Coast, with an estimated economic impact of $160 million for the region."}],