The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision today limiting the Voting Rights Act could reshape voting across the South and boost Republicans' House majority, Axios' Josephine Walker reports.

• Writing for the majority in Louisiana v. Callais, Justice Samuel Alito found that Louisiana's use of race in creating a new majority-minority district was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander."

🙅 The ruling effectively narrows Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits gerrymandering along racial lines.

• The Court rewrote the Section 2 test in such a way that protects gerrymandering along partisan lines.

🗳️ VRA opponents have argued that using it to remedy racially discriminatory maps is itself a form of racial gerrymandering limited by the 14th Amendment.

• Partisan gerrymandering was already a shield in racial gerrymandering cases: Republican lawmakers have argued that their maps are pro-GOP, not anti-Black.
• The Callais decision goes further, saying that outright partisan goals can protect maps from VRA challenges.

📝 Alito writes in his opinion: "Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to enforce the Constitution — not collide with it."

• "Unfortunately, lower courts have sometimes applied this Court's precedents in a way that forces States to engage in the very race-based discrimination that the Constitution forbids."

👩‍⚖️ Justice Elena Kagan dissented, arguing that the ruling "threatens a half-century's worth of gains in voting equality."

🎰 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was betting on the court's decision to aid his own redistricting push.

• Almost immediately after SCOTUS' decision came down, the Florida House approved a new congressional map that could add four more Republicans to the U.S. House.

Go deeper ... Dems react: "Devastating blow."

President Trump will maintain his Iran blockade until the regime agrees to address U.S. concerns about its nuclear program, he told Axios' Barak Ravid in a phone interview today — Day 61 of the war.

• Trump is rejecting an Iranian proposal to first open the Strait of Hormuz, then talk nuclear later.

📱 Trump told Barak: "The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can't have a nuclear weapon."

• "They want to settle. They don't want me to keep the blockade. I don't want to [lift the blockade], because I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon."

💥 The Pentagon has prepared a plan for a "short and powerful" wave of strikes in hopes of breaking the negotiating deadlock, three sources with knowledge said.

• For now, Trump still sees the blockade as his primary source of leverage.
• But he would consider military action if Iran doesn't cave, according to the sources. Go deeper.

💰 NEW: The Iran war has cost taxpayers an estimated $25 billion so far, the Pentagon's top financial official told lawmakers today. Get the latest.

1. 🧑‍⚖️ Federal prosecutors released a selfie today that they say was taken by Cole Tomas Allen on Saturday before his alleged attempt to assassinate President Trump. They say the image shows an ammunition bag (item 1), shoulder holster (2), knife (3) and tools (4) "consistent ... with those later recovered from his person." Read the filing.
2. 🏛️ The Senate Banking Committee voted along party lines to approve Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair. He'll replace longtime Trump target Jerome Powell if approved by the full Senate. Go deeper.
3. 🚫 Fidelity is barring customers from donating to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which faces federal fraud and money-laundering charges. N.Y. Times gift link.
4. 💽 Brookfield's Compass Datacenters is pulling out of a massive data center project in Northern Virginia's Prince William County after intense local pushback, Bloomberg reports. (Gift link)
5. 🏨 Uber is adding hotel bookings and new travel features amid its biggest push yet to become an "everything app." More from Kelly Tyko.

Border collies named Hercules and Ned are keeping birds and other wildlife clear of West Virginia International Yeager Airport's runways, The Washington Post reports.

• Handler Chris Keyser tells the paper that bird strikes have fallen over 70% since the dogs started working at the field.

🐕 Keyser says of the breed: "They are full of energy and they like doing their job, because they're herding dogs. It's born in them."

• Gift link.