• Shutdown winding down: After 40 days, the Senate advanced a clean continuing resolution. Debate has been cut off and a formal vote is expected within days—Democrats get promises of future votes, but no policy wins.
• ATC pay fight: President Trump threatens to dock pay for air traffic controllers who didn't report during the shutdown. Supporters call it accountability; critics argue controllers were unpaid and took other work to keep families afloat.
• SCOTUS docket moves: The Court refused to revisit Obergefell via the Kim Davis case, signaling no appetite to re-litigate same-sex marriage. At the same time, justices agreed to hear a Mississippi case that could require absentee ballots to be received and counted by the close of Election Day nationwide.
• Preemptive pardons: President Trump issued preemptive pardons to Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and others tied to 2020 election litigation, framing it as closing the book on years of legal warfare.

Erick Erickson breaks down the four major stories you need to know before the day ends. From political power plays in Washington to breaking developments the mainstream media is ignoring, this rapid-fire update cuts through the noise.

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