Today's Top Stories from NBC News

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 24, 2025

In today's newsletter: The Supreme Court rules against the Trump administration over National Guard deployment in Illinois. The latest Epstein files release includes several references to the president. And, where the redistricting battle will go next year.

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▼ The Lead

Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to deploy National Guard in Illinois

(Adam Gray / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's plan to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois amid strenuous objections from local officials.

The court in an unsigned order turned away an emergency request made by the administration, which said the troops are needed to protect federal agents involved in immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.

Although the decision is a preliminary one involving only Chicago, it will likely bolster similar challenges made to National Guard deployments in other cities, with the opinion setting significant new limits on the president's ability to do so.

The decision marked a rare defeat for President Donald Trump at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, after the administration secured a series of high-profile wins this year.

The court rejected the administration's view that the situation on the ground is so chaotic that it justifies invoking a federal law that allows the president to call National Guard troops into federal service in extreme situations.

The decision saw the court's six conservative justices split, with three in the majority and three in dissent. The court's three liberals were in the majority. The dissenters were Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

Read the full story.

More politics news:

Former Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., announced he has been diagnosed with "metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer," saying the diagnosis is "a death sentence."

Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican, is running for Senate in Wyoming next year, seeking to replace retiring GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who announced she would not run for re-election.

The Justice Department released a large trove of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, including allegations about the late financier's ties to Trump.

The release, by far the Justice Department's largest in its effort to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, revealed a lot of previously unknown information, along with claims about Trump that the department said are "unfounded and false."

One of the newly released emails claimed that flight logs show Trump flew on Epstein's plane at least eight times in the 1990s, including once with an unnamed 20-year-old woman.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, appears to have sent an email to Ghislaine Maxwell asking if she could set him up with "some new inappropriate friends," according to documents.

Read the full story.

The national redistricting fight will expand in 2026

The 2026 midterm elections are approaching, but for some states, their congressional boundary lines are far from settled.

After six states enacted new congressional maps this year, a handful of others could join the mid-decade redistricting fight next year that could help determine which party controls the House. The redrawing of district lines typically happens at the start of each decade after new census results.

Trump started an unusually frenzied midcycle redistricting battle when he called on Republican-controlled states across the country to draw new maps to shore up the GOP's narrow House majority. Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina all enacted new maps, which in total could net Republicans as many as seven seats. But Republicans were not able to build as robust of an advantage as they initially hoped. California Democrats responded with a map, approved by voters last month, that could allow the party to gain up to five seats and effectively cancel out Texas' effort.

Read the full story.

Experts who backed 'shaken baby' science reverse their stance

Thousands of caregivers have been arrested since the early 1980s based on the medical belief that young children hospitalized with three symptoms — brain swelling, bleeding in the brain and bleeding at the back of the eyes — must have been forcefully and deliberately shaken. Many doctors and pediatric associations remain steadfast in the view that those symptoms help prove that a child has suffered what is now often called "abusive head trauma."

But a growing number of medical and forensic experts say the diagnosis is too definitive, particularly in the absence of other signs of abuse. Accidental falls from changing tables can similarly jostle the brain. Clotting disorders and other illnesses can also cause brain bleeding. While some babies are undoubtedly shaken by overwhelmed caregivers, which can cause life-threatening brain damage, some scientists say it isn't enough to look only at three symptoms before they draw conclusions.

In a major victory for shaken baby syndrome skeptics, New Jersey's Supreme Court recently agreed, affirming a lower court ruling that likened the diagnosis to unreliable "junk science" and barring expert testimony about it from two upcoming trials. The 6-1 ruling, closely watched by accused caregivers and their attorneys nationwide, could shift how courts weigh shaken baby evidence.

Read the full story.

▼ Read All About It

British comedian and actor Russell Brand was charged with one count each of rape and sexual assault after two new women came forward.

Melodee Buzzard's mother was arrested and accused in the death of her 9-year-old daughter after the girl's body was found in a rural area of Utah more than two months after she disappeared in California.

A man was killed with an arrow in an apparently random attack on a New Jersey sidewalk — as newly released video of the deadly strike stuns the community.

The National Women's Soccer League announced it was introducing a rule to allow teams to circumvent the league's salary cap, despite the players' union having rejected the proposal.

After having two Christmas games last season, the NFL will have three games tomorrow. Combined with a whopping five NBA matchups, the sports slate is a gift of its own.

▼ Staff Pick

Life changing rulings

Dozens of federal judges have found themselves at the center of a political maelstrom as they have ruled against President Donald Trump or spoken up in defense of the judiciary. With Trump administration officials vilifying judges who rule against the government, a wave of violent threats and harassment has often followed.

As a result of the various threats and intimidation, judges have had to adapt their daily lives.

Senior Supreme Court reporter Lawrence Hurley interviewed six sitting judges, as well as former judges and others familiar with the current threat landscape to find out what types of threats the judges are facing.

— Christian Orozco, newsletter and platforms editor

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