WASHINGTON—Conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appear likely to vote in favor of asking respondents if they are U.S. citizens on the 2020 census after hearing oral arguments in Department of Commerce v. New York on Tuesday. The case seeks to block the Trump administration from adding the question to the once-a-decade survey of all U.S. residents.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Thursday ordered a new vote in the 9th Congressional District because of an illegal absentee ballot operation that skewed the results. Republican Mark Harris, who garnered the most votes in November, told the board at a Thursday hearing that he thought a new election was necessary. “It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the 9th District seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted,” he said.

Florida’s gubernatorial candidates have faced a slew of political storms along with a literal hurricane in their closely watched contest to lead the nation’s third largest state.

The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily protected Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from facing legal questions about the 2020 U.S. census amid an ongoing battle over a question about respondents’ citizenship.

The Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Department, plans to ask all U.S. residents about their citizenship as part of the once-a-decade population survey of every household in the United States.

WASHINGTON—U.S. voters are split ahead of November’s midterm elections on whether the faith of political candidates matters. More Americans said the religious faith of candidates was at least somewhat, if not very important, than those who thought it wasn’t very important or not important at all, but only by a very small margin, a poll released this week by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.

WASHINGTON—At a gathering with representatives from more than 80 nations this week in the nation’s capital, the U.S. State Department pushed other countries to advance religious freedom. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo still has not answered questions about whether the issue came up during closed-door talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki.

President Donald Trump is trying to mend relationships with lawmakers on Capitol Hill after his efforts to improve relations with Russia backfired at home. Trump faced backlash this week from members of his own party and drew cries of treason from some Democrats for his approach to Russia at talks Monday in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which Trump publicly questioned U.S. intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S.