WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Monday that the Supreme Court risks being seen as political in the wake of a major voting rights decision.
She spoke after writing a solo dissent from the court's decision allowing Louisiana to move quickly to use new maps after the court's conservative majority struck down a majority-Black district and weakened the Voting Rights Act.
“Public confidence is really all the judiciary has,” she said at a talk before the American Law Institute in Washington, D.C.
“Everyone believes the court system is outside the political sphere. I think that means it's incumbent on us to do things, to act in ways, that shore up public confidence,” she said.
Polling has shown public trust in the Supreme Court at historic lows in recent years, and Chief Justice John Roberts has separately bemoaned a perception that the justices are “political actors," calling it a misunderstanding.
Jackson has become a frequent dissenter on the Supreme Court, joining her liberal colleagues last month to oppose the 6-3 decision that hollowed out the Voting Rights Act and later writing for herself to protest an order allowing Louisiana to use new maps even though early primary voting had already begun. She said the court had “spawned chaos” amid a fierce nationwide redistricting battle.
Three of her conservative colleagues on the court forcefully disagreed, calling her criticism “baseless" and saying accusations of partisanship aren't justified. The alternative, they wrote, would have been to allow an election under a map found to be unconstitutional.
FILE- Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks to the 2025 Supreme Court Fellows Program, Feb. 13, 2025, at the Library of Congress in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, File)
File - Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks to the 2025 Supreme Court Fellows Program, Feb. 13, 2025, at the Library of Congress in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, File)
The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
NEW YORK (AP) — Negotiators on Monday reached a deal to end the strike that stalled service on the Long Island Rail Road, the busiest commuter rail system in North America.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the deal won't increase fares or taxes and will give employees fair wages. She said she's not at liberty to disclose specific details while the new contract terms are considered and voted on by union members.
“Negotiations are rarely easy, but I have a lot of respect for the collective bargaining process that unfolded over the last few days,” she said during a news conference Monday evening.
The deal comes years after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and leaders of the five labor unions started bargaining for a new contract. The unions went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, stalling service for roughly 250,000 commuters who use the rail system that connects New York City to its eastern suburbs every weekday.
Robert Free, LIRR’s president, said that the system’s major commuter lines will begin running trains by noon Tuesday, with full service to all branches by the afternoon rush hour.
“Time to get back to work,” he said.
Kevin Sexton, the vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said the unions believe this is a fair deal, but he wouldn’t disclose any specifics about what the railroad promised its workers. Union officials said later that more details would be shared soon with rank and file members.
“We are looking forward to our members getting back to work doing what they do best, which is serving the region,” Sexton said at a news conference.
The unions, representing about half the train system’s workforce, had demanded raises they said were needed to help workers keep up with inflation and rising living costs. The MTA argued that the unions’ initial demands would lead to fare increases.
Gerard Bringmann, chair of the rider advocacy group Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council, said he’d reserve judgement until he sees more details about the deal and how it might impact future fare hikes.
“This will be a relief to our daily riders who experienced a very difficult day today getting to work and home,” he said.
The LIRR urged riders to work from home again Tuesday if possible.
Unionized workers had picketed in front of major LIRR hubs, chanting slogans and holding up signs that read: “No contract. No work,” and “Equal work. Equal pay.”
The MTA, which runs the railroad, offered free but limited shuttle buses during the morning and evening rush hours starting Monday, leaving most commuters to navigate the gauntlet of car, bus and subway routes. Hochul had urged LIRR riders to work from home, if possible.
Union officials and the MTA negotiated Sunday afternoon into the early morning hours Monday after prodding from the National Mediation Board, which is the federal agency that governs labor relations for railroads and airlines.
The two sides had been negotiating a new contract since 2023. The Trump administration got involved in September after the unions asked for the appointment of a panel of experts. The move temporarily averted a strike, but the two sides still couldn’t reach a deal after months passed.
The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long (190-kilometer-long) land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous near its eastern tip.
Most of its riders live outside New York City in two Long Island counties populated by nearly 3 million people.
Before this latest walkout, LIRR workers last went on strike in 1994.
Ridership was lighter than expected on the free but limited shuttle buses the MTA provided from a handful of locations on Long Island to New York City subway stations.
During the morning commute, more than 2,000 people took advantage of the shuttle service, the agency said. It had prepared for about 13,000 riders.
Hallie Kessler, a 24-year old speech therapist, had expected her usual one-hour commute home from a public school in the New York City borough of Queens to double in length because of the strike.
Instead, it tripled. And rather than just one LIRR train, she took two trains and then a shuttle bus.
“I’m tired. I’m ready for a nap,” Kessler said as she stepped off the bus at the Hicksville LIRR station where she parked her car. “Not thrilled about having to do it again tomorrow.”
The first impacts of the walkout were felt over the weekend as baseball fans had to find other ways to get to Citi Field in Queens to see the New York Mets take on their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees.
Hochul said the deal ensures the same fate won’t befall basketball fans looking to catch the New York Knicks continue their playoff run on Tuesday. Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks play their home games, is located directly above the railroad’s Penn Station hub in Manhattan.
This story has been corrected to show that the body in charge of the LIRR is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, not the Metropolitan Transportation Agency.
McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Ted Shaffrey and Joseph Frederick in New York, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
Signs for free Long Island Rail Road shuttle buses hang at the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Long Island Rail Road workers walk on the picket line outside of Penn Station on the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
A pedestrian walks along an empty track at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Tracks are empty at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
People exit and board buses at the Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Commuters sit on a shuttle bus as Long Island Rail Road workers strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Visitors look out at the trains at the West Side Yard from the Vessel on the first day of a Long Island Rail Road workers' strike, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Tracks are empty at Mineola train station as Long Island Rail Road workers enter the third day of their strike, Monday, May 18, 2026, in Mineola, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
