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Why SCOTUS’s new term could be more impactful than its last · Apple News Today

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  Gideon Resnick, Narrating: Good morning! It's Monday, October 3rd. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
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  The Supreme Court begins a new term today. Its previous session was among the most divisive and consequential in modern history, with major rulings on religious freedom, gun laws, environmental policy and, of course, abortion access. Ian Millhiser covers the Supreme Court for "Vox" and says this term could be even more impactful than the last.
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  Ian Millhiser: And I know that is saying a lot, but there are two enormous democracy cases. I mean, cases that could fundamentally reshape the United States and our ability to choose our own leaders.
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  One is Moore v. Harper, which could redefine the power that states have over federal election law.
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  Millhiser: It involves this wild theory known as the independent state legislature doctrine, which in its strongest form claims that state legislatures can set whatever rules they want for federal elections, and there's nothing anyone else can do about it.
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  For more than a century, the Court has included governors and state Supreme Courts under the umbrella of the "state legislature." But under the independent state legislature theory, the definition would tighten and only elected officials in the state legislative branch would have power over federal election laws.
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  Millhiser: So, the governor can't veto. The state Supreme Court can't say, "Hey, that law you just passed violates the state constitution. We're gonna strike it down."
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  Millhiser says this could happen in states like Wisconsin or Michigan where one party does not control all of state government.
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  The other case to watch is Merrill v. Milligan. Here, the Court will decide if Alabama's congressional maps violate the Voting Rights Act and dilute the voting power of Black residents. Roughly one in four people in Alabama are Black, but there is one majority-Black district out of a total of seven in the state. The plaintiffs in Milligan say that's unfair, and several judges in lower courts agreed with them. Millhiser says if the Supreme Court decides to leave Alabama's maps as they're currently drawn, it could set a dangerous precedent.
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  Millhiser: What the Supreme Court could do here is it could say that there are essentially no safeguards against racial gerrymandering. And so, you know, a state could pack all the Black voters into one district. They could spread out all the Latino voters, so that none of them are a majority in any one district.
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  Millhiser says the decisions made by SCOTUS in these two cases have the power to change how elections in the U.S. are conducted, which ballots are counted, where district lines are drawn, and potentially even who is certified as the winner of an election.
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  Of course, these aren't the only major decisions coming up for the Court in the new term. The future of affirmative action in the college admission process is at stake in two cases set to be argued at the end of the month. To learn about those and other cases on the docket, you can find Millhiser's story and other coverage in the Apple News app.
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  Rescue and recovery continue to be key priorities for the Gulf Coast of Florida following the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian. At least 68 people have died since the Category 4 storm made landfall last week. And that number could grow as rescue crews keep working to reach places that were hit the hardest. According to PowerOutage.us, around 650,000 homes and businesses in Florida are still without power.
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  The "Miami Herald" reports that many people in Southwest Florida are feeling exhausted and frustrated as they wait for support with electricity, gas, water, food and other basic needs. People in at least 23 counties have been instructed to boil their drinking water. A resident of Port Charlotte told the "Herald" that people are, quote, "in panic mode," especially those who are relatively new to the state. But even seasoned hurricane veterans were shocked by this storm. Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson told "CBS…"
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  Mayor Kevin Anderson: I've been here 40 years plus. This is by far the worst storm I have ever witnessed.
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  Sean Hunt lives in Fort Myers Beach and told "The Washington Post" that this was nothing like he had ever experienced.
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  Sean Hunt: Ferocious. This was unbelievable, man. I was here for Charlie. Charlie… Charlie's a wimp to this. I have never seen water this high in… Shoot, man. It was unbelievable.
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  Island communities like Sanibel and the Pine Islands are having an especially difficult time after Ian damaged roads and bridges connecting them to the mainland, making them difficult to access. More than 4,000 people have been rescued, according to FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard. And a large percentage have been from island communities. FEMA director Deanne Criswell spoke to "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
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  Deanne Criswell: We're gonna support all communities. I committed that to the governor, I commit to you right here that all Floridians are gonna be able to get the help that is available to them through our programs.
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  In recent days, FEMA sent millions of meals and liters of water to Florida, plus ambulances and aircrafts. CBS spoke to an expert from a research group that calculates the impact of natural disasters. He said Ian is on track to be one of the most expensive storms in state history, and estimates put the total economic loss somewhere between $60 billion and $70 billion dollars.
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  President Biden plans to visit Florida on Wednesday to assess the damage. Today, he travels to Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona two weeks ago.
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  As we approach the midterm elections, there is a growing concern about political violence. According to data from Capitol Police, threats against members of Congress have been climbing, with nearly 2,000 cases reported in the first three months of this year alone. "CNN" reported recently that election workers are being offered trainings to deal with possible violence.
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  I recently spoke with Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal. This summer, two men showed up outside her Seattle home.
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  Pramila Jayapal: Two voices started screaming at us, yelling horrible, horrible things, telling me to go back to India, telling me that they would come back every night until I did go back to India, telling me to kill myself, and that they would be back until I did. Really horrific.
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  Jayapal's husband went outside. And before Jayapal could finish calling 911, the men had driven away. But about a half hour later, they heard a car coming down the street, aggressively revving its engine.
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  Jayapal: And this time, it was one person. And he got out of the car and my husband went out on the porch again thinking, "If this is the same guy, maybe they'll go away again if I go out." But he immediately came back and said, "Call 911."
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  Jayapal says the man was approaching their property and her husband heard three metal taps.
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  Jayapal: The first one sounded distinct to him, sounded like somebody was chambering around in a gun. And we called 911, and they came. And in fact, it was a guy who had a gun, it was holstered, the round was chambered. And they arrested him. And it was a pretty terrifying experience.
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  The whole ordeal lasted 47 minutes. And Jayapal is not alone. So many of her colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, have been concerned about threats recently.
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  Jayapal: I've been getting so many texts now from members saying, you know, asking me specific questions about the camera system, about security systems, because they're installing them for themselves, which is really important. But I've gotten to the point where I'm cutting and pasting my texts to provide my recommendations to members.
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  Jayapal told me how this event brought her back to January 6th.
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  Jayapal: We were shaken by that. I was shaken by that. As you know, Gideon, I was trapped in the chamber on January 6th, and there was a lot of the anger and the vitriol in their voices that reminded me of January 6th and brought that all back.
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  "The Washington Post" recently chronicled the incident in a harrowing minute-by-minute account. We'll link to it on our show notes page. As for the man who threatened Jayapal? According to "The Post," he's out on bail and lives just seven blocks away.
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  In lighter news, or in some ways, I suppose, heavier news, this week marks the start of what has become one of the most beloved competitions of the year: Fat Bear Week.
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  It is a March Madness-style contest organized by the National Parks Service and Explore.org. So, thousands of people from around the world tune into the livestream and watch brown bears roam around Katmai National Park as they chow down on salmon and fatten up for the winter.
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  People at home can vote on their favorite fat bear too. Bears can lose up to one third of their body weight while hibernating, so they need all the extra layers they can get to survive the long winter.
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  "The Wall Street Journal" takes a look at this year's competition and why so many people are excited about last year's reigning champ, Otis. He has now won a whopping four times. And, if you see the pictures, for good reason. He's an absolute chonker.
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  A few months back, Explore.org put out a video announcing an Otis spotting, meaning that he had survived the winter.
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  The "Journal" talked with one Otis lover who's been watching the bear cam for years. She said she was so excited to see Otis she literally screamed. A few dedicated fans even created campaign posters for the four-time champ ahead of this year's contest.
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  And if you're wondering what it takes to be crowned king of Fat Bear Week, well, Otis weighs in at around 1,000 pounds. The National Parks says his biggest competitor in recent years is nearly 1,400 pounds. It's a bear that goes by the name Bearforce One.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. Shumita is back with us tomorrow.
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