Current Events

A federal judge clears border wall construction across the Tohono O'odham reservation

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied a preliminary injunction against 62 miles of construction, ruling that a 60-foot strip of border land set aside by a 1907 presidential proclamation lets the government build without changing the reservation's boundaries.

3 min read2026-08-15

Border wall

Judge Leon denies the Tohono O'odham Nation's injunction request¹

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied the Tohono O'odham Nation's motion to block construction of a border wall across 62 miles of its reservation, ruling in an opinion dated Thursday that the Nation is "unlikely to succeed on the merits."¹ A 60-foot strip of border land, which President Theodore Roosevelt set aside by proclamation in May 1907, a decade before the reservation itself was created, lets the government build there without changing the reservation's boundaries.¹ Leon wrote that "the Government's interests in securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and ensuring public safety outweigh any surviving irreparable harms at this juncture." The government told the court it does not expect construction to begin before October 12.¹ Tribal Chairman Verlon M. Jose said the Nation, which spans 2.8 million acres and counts more than 37,000 members, disagrees: "Too many critical issues were not adequately addressed, such as inevitable impacts construction will have on the Nation's land."²³

Prediction markets

The CFTC orders Kalshi to keep operating despite a $36 billion New York suit⁴

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission invoked emergency authority Tuesday to order Kalshi to keep operating as a federally regulated exchange, after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the company July 31 seeking more than $36 billion in damages and a court order barring it from offering event contracts nationwide.⁴ The damages figure is triple Kalshi's alleged gains plus $100,000 for every sports-wagering offer the state says Kalshi made improperly.⁵ CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said New York "intends to make event contract derivatives waste away under its iron curtain of state gaming laws" before courts can rule; the agency has separately sued nine states, including New York, to defend what it calls its exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts.⁴

Hemp law

Virginia's 2-milligram THC limit takes effect⁶

Virginia hemp products sold at retail may no longer exceed 2 milligrams of total THC per package as of Saturday, replacing the previous 25-to-1 CBD-to-THC ratio exception, under House Bill 30, the state's agriculture department said.⁶ U.S. District Judge Robert S. Ballou refused Friday to pause the law for seven hemp businesses that sued to block it, finding they had not shown they were likely to succeed on the merits or suffer irreparable harm. He called it a regulatory exercise of the state's police power rather than a compensable taking, even as he called lawmakers' 45-day compliance window "rushed."⁷ Cody Moorefield, an owner of one of the businesses that sued, said a product that was legal Friday could expose him to a felony charge by midnight. Virginia's hemp-derived cannabinoid sales were estimated at $1.17 billion in 2022, according to a Whitney Economics study cited in the litigation.⁸

Retail sales

U.S. retail sales post their steepest drop in a year⁹

U.S. retail and food-service sales fell 0.6% in July, to $763.6 billion, the sharpest one-month drop since May 2025, though sales were still up 5.0% from a year earlier, the Census Bureau's advance estimate showed Friday.⁹¹⁰ Excluding gas and autos, sales fell 0.2% after a revised 0.2% gain in June. Motor-vehicle and parts dealers led the pullback, down 1.8%, and online sales fell 2.2%, as gas prices climbed to $4.08 a gallon from $3.85 a month earlier.¹⁰ "It's not lights out for the economy, but new risks are emerging if the consumer pulls their support for economic growth," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.¹⁰

Judge Leon denies the Tohono O'odham Nation's injunction request1

The CFTC orders Kalshi to keep operating despite a $36 billion New York suit4

Virginia's 2-milligram THC limit takes effect6

U.S. retail sales post their steepest drop in a year9

Sources

Judge Leon denies the Tohono O'odham Nation's injunction request¹

The CFTC orders Kalshi to keep operating despite a $36 billion New York suit⁴

Virginia's 2-milligram THC limit takes effect⁶

U.S. retail sales post their steepest drop in a year⁹