Up First from NPR - Gaza Ceasefire Tested, Shutdown Stalemate, SCOTUS Voting Rights

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Hamas hands over more bodies of deceased hostages as tensions rise in Gaza over the next phase of the ceasefire deal. The government shutdown stretches into its third week with no negotiations underway, as pressure builds on both parties to break the stalemate. And the Supreme Court takes up a major case on Louisiana’s congressional map that could weaken the Voting Rights Act nationwide.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Jason Breslow, Anna Yukhananov, Mohamad ElBardicy and Martha Ann Overland.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher ThomasWe get engineering support from Carleigh Strange. And our technical director is Stacey Abbott.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel says it will retaliate if Hamas does not hand over more bodies of deceased hostages. Trump is demanding that the Palestinian militant group put down their weapons. If they don't disarm, we will disarm them. I'm Michelle Martin with Laila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. It's day 15 of the government's shutdown and lawmakers on both sides aren't even talking about how to end it. So when asked what negotiation, there's nothing to negotiate. Federal workers are bracing for missed paychecks. What will it take to break the deadlock?

And Supreme Court justices hear a case that could weaken what's left of the Voting Rights Act. The case is about Louisiana's congressional map, but the outcome could reshape districts across the country. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply. This message comes from Rinse. Who knows that mastering the perfect house party table spread takes time. But so does laundry. So Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned.

And you can take the time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing to finally pursue your real power. Rolling delicate roses of capicola alongside meandering ribbons of Amon Serrano, transforming a humble plank of weathered barnwood into a show-stopping charcuttery spread. Rinse, it's time to be great. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors. On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. The ceasefire in Gaza is being put to the test. So far, Hamas and Israel have exchanged surviving hostages and prisoners. Now, Israel says it will retaliate if Hamas does not hand over more bodies of deceased hostages. Also, President Trump is warning there could be more violence if Hamas does not give up its weapons. If they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it'll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But they will disarm.

Do you understand me? We have NPR's Daniel Estrin on the line from Tel Aviv to walk us through all this. Good morning. Good morning, Lila. So Daniel, what is the issue over the bodies of hostages? There were 28 bodies of hostages in total in Gaza. And they're not being released as quickly as Israelis expected. Hamas handed over seven hostage bodies so far.

They handed over an eighth body that the Israeli military says was not a hostage. Israel has been considering sanctions on Gaza as pressure to speed up the handover of bodies. The United Nations says they were told by Israel that Israel would be limiting humanitarian aid until the body issue is resolved. But this is a very sensitive issue because Israel does not want to be blowing up the ceasefire deal now before it gets the bodies back, but we just simply don't know how many bodies are in Hamas' possession and how many are under rubble or missing. Israel is conducting autopsies on the bodies that have been returned. One family says an autopsy revealed that their son was killed by Israeli bombardment

while he was in captivity in Gaza. Wow. So really a very fragile moment. What more can you tell us about the Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the Israeli hostages who were released this week and what they're saying about how they were treated? Well, NPR's Anas Baba met some of the detainees, released to Gaza. He met one journalist Islam Ahmed, who said that he was beaten, insulted as the prisoners were moved out of prison on the way to be released. He said he lost about 30% of his body weight during the 10 months he had been held in Israel. We've also been speaking to medical staff in Israel about the freed Israeli hostages. So far, they're in mostly good health. One has had a significant eye injury. Some of their families said that they had been starved in captivity,

held in shackles, in chains, in tunnels. One family said their son almost didn't make it out alive that in the final days of the war, the Israeli military bombarded very close to where he was being held. And we heard at a press conference, a former hostage, Yairhorn. He saw his brother get freed now, and he told reporters he was thanking President Trump.

Thanks to you, I'm standing here today. And thanks to you, my little brother, is finally home. You know, we've heard family after family of hostages thanking President Trump and his envoys, none of them, have thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Most of the hostage families blame him for sabotaging deals that could have released their loved ones a lot earlier.

It's only day six of the ceasefire in Gaza, and as we said earlier, it's not exactly going smoothly. Could this deal unravel? I'd say it's being tested greatly. There have been reports of Israeli. fire yesterday, killing at least six people, fire as well today. Israel said yesterday it was firing on militants trying to cross out of the ceasefire zone. We're also seeing this power battle with Hamas fighting in the streets, shooting up rival clans in this battle for power.

We have seen that Egypt says that a committee of Palestinian technocrats vetted by Israel has been selected to take care of daily life in Gaza. Hamas won't be involved. They haven't gotten to work yet. There's also the issue of how Hamas will this. arm a lot yet to work out. NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Daniel. You're welcome. The federal government is now shut down for a 15th day, and Republicans and Democrats appear no

closer to an agreement to reopen it. The Trump administration says it is prepared to ride out an extended stalemate, and congressional leaders say no one is actively negotiating. a way out. MPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass joins us now to discuss this. Good morning, Sam. Good morning. So Sam, is anything changing on Capitol Hill? Not really. There have been, you know, some informal, bipartisan conversations among a few senators, but they haven't really produce much. And last night, the Senate failed to advance a short-term funding bill for an eighth time. Democrats are holding out to negotiate an extension for expiring health care subsidies,

but top Republicans, like Representative Lisa McLean of Michigan, say that there's just nothing to bargain over. So when you ask what negotiation, there's nothing to negotiate. And meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget says it is making every preparation to batten down the hatches to ride out a long shutdown. The White House says that includes repurposing other funds to pay U.S. troops who would have missed a paycheck this week,

though the plan to cover the next one is unclear. Okay, the possibility of troops going without pay has put pressure on Congress to act in the past during shutdowns, but now that's off the table. So what else could break the impasse? The White House also says it's found money to fund WIC. That's the food aid program for women, infants, and children. That may have been another pressure point, but there are still others. Those health insurance subsidies are expiring soon. Plus, there will be more shutdown consequences. Here's House Majority Whip, Tom Emmer. Americans won't see a paycheck at the end of this month. Benefits like Snap will be put at risk.

Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time to travel all year. And then there are the layoffs. President Trump pledged to fire more federal workers during the shutdown. And on Friday laid off some 4,200 people. Though some of those were walked back, Trump said more layoffs may be on the way. Okay. And Republicans are suggesting that the threat of those layoffs could pressure Democrats to back down. Are they right? Well, Democrats say their stance is still resolute, even those whose constituents may stand to feel the impacts most. Lawmakers who represent the D.C. area spoke outside the OMB on Monday and behind them were dozens of federal workers. This is Democratic Senator Chris Van Holland of

Maryland. When they tell you that the shutdown is making them fire these. federal employees, do not believe it for a moment. That is a big lie. The Trump administration has been slashing the federal workforce for months. A hearing is happening in federal court today over the legality of those layoffs. Van Hollen says Trump will keep making cuts, whether the government is open or closed. Trump did tell reporters Tuesday he plans to continue closing Democrat programs. But even if the impacts of a shutdown and Layla become more severe, an end to this stalemate may not come soon. On PR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass, thank you, Sam.

Thank you. Thank you. Today, the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that challenges the last major part of the Voting Rights Act that's still standing. The case centers on Louisiana's congressional map. A lower court had ruled that the old version of the map, illegally diluted black voting power. So the state edit a second majority black district. The new map is being challenged by critics who say race played too big a role. Joining us now to talk about this is NPR legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg. Good morning, Nina. Good morning. Okay, so this law was enacted 60 years ago. It was repeatedly strengthened by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court.

So what's going on now? Since 2013, the increasingly conservative court, has time and again gutted key provisions of the law. The one big exception has been the provision aimed at ensuring that minority voters are not shut out of the process of drawing new congressional districts. When the law was passed in 1965, there were just 12 minorities in the House of Representatives, and today there are 134. Much of that change has been driven by the Voting Rights Act, but all of that could change if the court removes the guardrails to redistricting, that it endorsed just two years ago. Indeed, if the Supreme Court either nullifies this part of the Voting Rights Act or makes it much more difficult to enforce, recent studies indicate that

Democrats could lose as many as 19 congressional seats in the process, putting control of the House effectively out of reach for the foreseeable future. So, Nina, if the Supreme Court, just two years ago, upheld the existing voting rights framework for drawing congressional lines, why is this issue back? Well, the case from two years ago was from Alabama. Today's case is from Louisiana with a nearly identical fact pattern, a 30% black population, but just one out of six congressional districts where African Americans stand a realistic chance of electing a candidate of their choice. So the Louisiana state legislature saw the outcome in the Alabama case and saw the handwriting on the wall, and it created a second majority minority district.

And that should likely have been the end of the case, but a group of 12 self-described non-African-American voters intervened to challenge the redistricting as racially discriminatory. And just seven months ago, some of the conservative justices seemed to be having an attack of buyer's remorse. Here, for instance, is Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the decision requiring a second majority black district in Alabama two years ago, but was clearly unhappy with the Louisiana legislature's line drawing. You think the drawing of this district was not predominantly based on race. It's a snake that runs from one end of the state to the other. Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguenaaga replied that this was not a racial gerrymander. It was an explicitly partisan gerrymander and that the lines were drawn to protect three key incumbents in the House, including the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

It's an election year. We're talking about the Speaker of the House. No rational state gambles with those high-stake seats in that situation. Amazingly, though, the justices didn't decide the case yet last year. Instead, on the last day of the term, they ordered re-argument, which is happening today. Okay, so what's different now from last year? This time, the court added this question. Does the state's intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district, violate the 14th and 15th Amendment's guarantee of the right to vote and the authority of Congress to enforce that mandate. On that question, Louisiana has now flipped positions and maintains that the redistricting provision of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutionally discriminatory. As for the court, well, there's no telling what it's going to do. That's NPR's Legal Affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg. Thank you, Nina. Thank you.

And that's Up First for Wednesday, October 15th. I'm Leila Faldon. And I'm Michelle Martin. Thanks for waking up with NPR. Your NPR station makes Up First possible each morning. Support their work and hours at donate.nepr.org slash Up First. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Maciel Massius, Jason Breslo, Anna Yukoninov, Mohammed Del Redisi, and Martha Ann Overland. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zach Coleman and our technical director. Stacey Abbott, join us again tomorrow. You care about what's happening in the world.

Stay informed with NPR's State of the World podcast. In just a few minutes, we take you to stories around the globe. You might hear the latest developments in world conflicts or about what global events mean for the price of your coffee. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR.