WASHINGTON — Good morning. This is the Morning Wire for Tuesday, August 11, 2026 — a sourced read on what moved overnight across government, the courts, and international affairs. The overnight picture: the White House ordered a far-reaching revision of the federal childhood vaccine schedule, the Justice Department opened a new front in its litigation over state tuition benefits, a federal judge closed the criminal case against Gautam Adani with sharp words for the government, and Tehran hardened its terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Ahead today: primaries in four states, and tomorrow morning, the July inflation report.
Government
White House orders overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing federal health agencies to narrow and space out the recommended childhood immunization schedule. The order, titled “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans,” recommends universal childhood immunization against 11 diseases — down from the 18 covered by the CDC’s 2024 schedule — according to the accompanying White House fact sheet, and calls for splitting the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine into three separate shots given at separate visits.
Under the order, immunizations no longer recommended for all children — reports cite RSV and hepatitis A and B among the examples — would move to high-risk or “shared clinical decision-making” categories, Roll Call reported. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended the Oval Office signing, and CBS News reported that the order is expected to draw court challenges. Major medical organizations pushed back within hours, pointing to decades of studies supporting the safety and efficacy of the existing schedule. The action builds on a May presidential directive on “realigning” core childhood vaccine recommendations with peer countries, making Monday’s order the administration’s most consequential vaccine policy step to date.
Justice Department sues New York, Connecticut and Vermont over tuition benefits
The Justice Department on Monday filed complaints against New York, Connecticut and Vermont challenging state laws that extend in-state tuition rates — and, in some cases, financial aid and scholarships — to students without lawful immigration status. According to the department’s release, the suits seek to enjoin enforcement of those laws on the grounds that they conflict with federal immigration law and discriminate against U.S. citizens from other states who do not receive the same rates.
The filings extend a litigation campaign that, by one count, now spans 17 lawsuits nationwide targeting state tuition provisions, UPI reported; several states — including Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois — halted their policies after earlier suits. Coverage from VTDigger notes the Vermont complaint targets policies at the state’s public colleges. The complaints are allegations at this stage; no court has yet ruled on the new filings.
Senate begins long recess after clearing stopgap and nominations
The Senate has left town for an extended recess and is not scheduled to return until September 14, per the chamber’s 2026 legislative schedule. Before departing, senators approved a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open past the November elections and moved a package of 74 nominations en bloc — including TSA, FEMA, deputy OMB director, judicial and ambassadorial posts — NPR reported. The chamber also confirmed Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, according to that report.
The practical effect: the next government funding deadline is pushed beyond the midterms, and the administration heads into the fall with a substantially fuller bench of confirmed officials. Expect executive action, not floor votes, to drive Washington news for the next five weeks.
Courts
Judge dismisses Adani prosecution — and criticizes how it ended
U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York on Monday granted the Justice Department’s request to dismiss criminal fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and several co-defendants, while refusing to dismiss two counts against five other co-defendants, CBS News reported. Department leadership moved in May to end the case, which was brought in 2024 over an alleged scheme to bribe Indian officials in connection with solar energy contracts while giving U.S. investors reassuring statements about the company’s anti-corruption practices. Adani and his company have consistently denied the allegations.
In a 47-page ruling described by CBS News, the judge wrote that the dismissal decision rested with a senior political appointee in the deputy attorney general’s office and was reached largely in collaboration with defense counsel — seemingly without input from the FBI and SEC personnel who investigated the case or the line attorneys who brought it. The ruling closes the criminal chapter for Adani himself while leaving a portion of the case, and pointed questions about the department’s process, on the docket.
TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians is formally over; discovery continues
Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals has formally ended after Judge Ana C. Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia confirmed that her earlier order blocking the termination is void, following the Supreme Court’s June ruling in the government’s favor, Bloomberg Law reported. The change affects an estimated 350,000 Haitians who had held work authorization and deportation protection, according to The Hill.
The case is not finished. Filings indicate the remaining litigation centers on plaintiffs’ claim that the designation was terminated with unconstitutional racial animus — an allegation, not a finding — and Judge Reyes denied the government’s request to halt discovery on those claims, per UPI. The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that the termination was lawful, a position the Supreme Court’s June decision allowed to take effect.
Mifepristone access holds for now as Fifth Circuit fast-tracks Louisiana case
Mail-order access to mifepristone remains in place under the Supreme Court’s May 14 emergency stay order in Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana, which — by a 7-2 vote, according to case trackers — preserved the FDA’s current rules while litigation over Louisiana’s challenge proceeds. An explainer from KFF lays out the stakes in Louisiana v. FDA, which contests the agency’s telehealth-and-mail dispensing framework.
The Fifth Circuit granted Louisiana’s motion to expedite and oral argument is expected in late August or early September, filings indicate. A scheduling order could land any day — worth flagging for court watchers as the next inflection point in the most significant abortion-medication case since 2024.
International
Iran sets steep terms for reopening the Strait of Hormuz
Tehran has attached sweeping conditions to any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, even as Iranian officials describe a technical arrangement with Oman on managing the waterway as nearly complete. A senior Iranian security official, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, said in a statement that the United States must lift its naval blockade, end sanctions, release frozen Iranian assets, end the war and pay restitution for damages, NBC News reported. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday there are no ongoing negotiations with Washington, and cautioned that progress with Muscat “does not mean the reopening” of the strait.
Axios reported last week that Washington believed a reopening deal was near, and NOTUS has detailed the Omani channel. The gap widened Monday when President Trump said the United States would demand reparations from Iran — including for damages in Lebanon and Gaza — according to The Times of Israel’s live coverage. With both capitals now claiming compensation from the other, the standoff over the world’s most important oil chokepoint shows no near-term resolution.
Israel rejects the Board of Peace’s 15-point Gaza plan
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected the 15-point Gaza framework proposed by the U.S.-backed Board of Peace, which would have paired Hamas disarmament with an Israeli withdrawal from the territory, The Washington Post reported. “The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” Netanyahu said, specifying that disarmament must cover “the heavy weapons, the less heavy weapons — all the weapons,” per The Times of Israel.
The rejection is a setback for a plan the president had recently touted as a breakthrough toward ending the conflict, NBC News noted. Netanyahu also restated his opposition to a Palestinian state. The White House had not announced a formal response as of early Tuesday; the president fielded questions on the impasse in the Oval Office on Monday.
Odesa’s port hit as strikes continue on both sides of the line
Russian drone and missile strikes damaged Odesa’s seaport over the weekend, wounding about a dozen people and prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Moscow of waging war “with the world’s food security,” according to Reuters reporting. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said the attacks also hit electricity infrastructure in the region, with power later restored to roughly 90,000 customers. In Kharkiv, a strike on an apartment block killed three people and wounded 37, authorities said.
Across the border, officials in Russia’s Belgorod region said a Ukrainian drone attack killed at least five people and wounded about 25. Russia’s Defense Ministry separately claimed its forces took two villages in the Donetsk region — a battlefield claim carried by Russian state media that has not been independently verified. The exchange underscores that, with U.S.-brokered diplomacy stalled, both sides are still pressing for position along the front and deep behind it.
Worth Watching
Primary day in four states. Voters in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Connecticut and Vermont head to the polls today, along with runoff contests in four Alabama congressional districts, per NBC News’ primary calendar. Wisconsin’s ballot is headlined by a wide-open race for governor with incumbent Tony Evers not seeking a third term, according to WUWM; Minnesota features both an open governor’s race and a contested primary for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith. Guidance from Votebeat suggests results in the closest races may not be known until late tonight or Wednesday.
July inflation data lands Wednesday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the July Consumer Price Index at 8:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, per the BLS schedule — the first of two CPI prints before the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, and a reading with added weight given energy-price volatility tied to the Hormuz closure.
Mifepristone scheduling. Watch the Fifth Circuit docket for an argument date in Louisiana v. FDA, expected in the late-August-to-early-September window.
Hormuz diplomacy. Any follow-through on the Oman-Iran strait-management arrangement — or a formal U.S. response to Tehran’s demands — would move oil markets quickly.
Vaccine order fallout. Expect implementation guidance from HHS and possible early court filings challenging Monday’s executive order.
The Morning Wire is compiled from official statements, court records and wire reporting; every claim above is linked to its source. Officials and parties named are welcome to respond, and responses will be noted in future briefings. — Eduardo Bacci, The Investigative Journal