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Year: 2025

Supreme Court flare ups grab headlines as justices feel the heat

Supreme Court flare ups grab headlines as justices feel the heat

Tensions on the Supreme Court have flared this term as justices have clashed with each other and with lawyers at oral arguments amid a wave of Trump-era emergency appeals.  These exchanges at any other forum would hardly even raise an eyebrow. But at the Supreme Court, where decorum and respect are bedrock principles and underpin even the most casual cross-talk between justices, these recent clashes are significant.  After one particularly acrimonious exchange, several longtime Supreme Court watchers noted that the behavior displayed was unlike anything they’d seen in “decades” of covering the high court. Here are two high-profile Supreme Court spats that have made headlines in recent weeks. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT Last month, Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor quarreled briefly during oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case focused on LGBTQ-related books in elementary schools and whether parents with religious objections can “opt out” children being read such material.  The exhange occurred when Sotomayor asked Mahmoud attorney Eric Baxter about a book titled “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” a story that invoked a same-sex relationship. Sotomayor asked Baxter whether exposure to same-sex relationships in children’s books like the one in question should be considered “coercion.” Baxter began responding when Alito chimed in. “I’ve read that book as well as a lot of these other books,” Alito said. “Do you think it’s fair to say that all that is done in ‘Uncle Bobby’s Wedding’ is to expose children to the fact that there are men who marry other men?” After Baxter objected, Alito noted that the book in question “has a clear message” but one that some individuals with “traditional religious beliefs don’t agree with.” Sotomayor jumped in partway through Alito’s objection, “What a minute, the reservation is – “ “Can I finish?” Alito said to Sotomayor in a rare moment of frustration.  He continued, “It has a clear moral message, and it may be a good message. It’s just a message that a lot of religious people disagree with.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE “There is a growing heat to the exchanges between the justices,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley observed on social media after the exchange.  The Sotomayor-Alito spat made some court-watchers uncomfortable. But it paled in comparison to the heated, tense exchange that played out just one week later between Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Lisa Blatt, a litigator from the firm Williams & Connolly. The exchange took place during oral arguments in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, a case about whether school districts can be held liable for discriminating against students with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Gorsuch scolded Blatt, an experienced Supreme Court litigator who was representing the public schools in the case, after she accused the other side of “lying.”  What played out was a remarkably heated exchange, if only by Supreme Court standards. Several court observers noted that they had never seen Gorsuch so angry, and others remarked they had never seen counsel accuse the other side of “lying.” “You believe that Mr. Martinez and the Solicitor General are lying? Is that your accusation?” Gorsuch asked Blatt, who fired back, “Yes, absolutely.”  Counsel “should be more careful with their words,” Gorsuch told Blatt in an early tone of warning. “OK, well, they should be more careful in mischaracterizing a position by an experienced advocate of the Supreme Court, with all due respect,” Blatt responded. Several minutes later, Gorsuch referenced the lying accusation again, “Ms. Blatt, I confess I’m still troubled by your suggestion that your friends on the other side have lied.” “I’d ask you to reconsider that phrase,” he said. “You can accuse people of being incorrect, but lying, lying is another matter.” He then began to read through quotations that she had entered before the court, before she interrupted again.  “I’m not finished,” Gorsuch told Blatt, raising his voice. “Fine,” she responded. Shortly after, Gorsuch asked Blatt to withdraw her earlier remarks that accused the other side of lying. “Withdraw your accusation, Ms. Blatt,” Gorsuch said. “Fine, I withdraw,” she shot back. Plaintiffs said in rebuttal that they would not dignify the name-calling. The exchange sparked some buzz online, including from an experienced appeals court litigator, Raffi Melkonian, who wrote on social media, “I’ve never heard Justice Gorsuch so angry.” “Both of those moments literally stopped me in my tracks,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. “You might want to listen somewhere where you can cringe in peace.” ‪Mark Joseph Stern‬, a court reporter for Slate, described the exchange as “extremely tense” and described Blatt’s behavior as “indignant and unrepentant.”

Dems promoting AOC, Sanders falls flat with young voters as Gen Z sees through false promises: RNC youth chair

Dems promoting AOC, Sanders falls flat with young voters as Gen Z sees through false promises: RNC youth chair

The Democratic Party will be the “Titanic at the bottom of the ocean” come 2028, according to Gen Z political commentator Brilyn Hollyhand, who is on a mission to continue building conservative support among the youth vote following President Donald Trump‘s strides with the demographic in 2024.  “They’ve actually put up figures like Jasmine Crockett and AOC and Bernie Sanders as their leaders. None of those people are inspiring Gen Z. None of those people are bringing more voters into the party. It’s just making this weird, radical wing of the party be the vocal voices. So, by all means, let Jasmine Crockett, AOC and Bernie Sanders be the voice, the future of the DNC. It’ll make our job easier come the midterms and come 2028,” Hollyhand told Fox News Digital in an exclusive Zoom interview this week.  “It’s a really weird position that they’ve taken to go more radical than Kamala Harris. And that’s why Kamala lost, because she was too radical,” he said.   Hollyhand, 18, is a political commentator and chair of the RNC’s Youth Advisory Council who was invited to meet one-on-one with Trump in Alabama on Thursday, when the president delivered the University of Alabama’s commencement speech. Hollyhand said that he and Trump discussed how to keep momentum among young voters following the 2024 election, when Gen Z voters swung to the right as Trump courted young people on TikTok and in podcasts. The youth vote, he explained, had long been in the Democrat Party’s court before Trump upped the ante on youth outreach during last year’s election cycle.  The 18-year-old activist does not graduate high school until later this month, but he has met Trump five times as of Thursday. The pair discussed how the Trump White House can continue expanding on the strides the Trump campaign made with young people, including Hollyhand suggesting Trump tweak former President Ronald Reagan’s famed 1980 campaign question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” DEMOCRATS ACCUSED OF BEING ‘OUT OF TOUCH’ AS NEW POLL SHOWS DROP IN SUPPORT FROM YOUNG VOTERS “A comment I made to him was, ‘Mr. President, I’m a huge history nerd. And so I loved when you talked about that famous Reagan quote of, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ And that’s something he echoed on the campaign trail a bunch himself. But something I specifically pointed out to the president is, ‘We can tweak that a little bit.’ And he said, ‘What do you mean? What can we do?’ I said, ‘Well, now all you have to do is walk out on that stage and ask Gen Z, ’Are you’re better off then you were 100 days ago?’” Hollyhand recounted.  “The resounding answer every single time is going to be, ‘Yes.’ I mean, gas is cheaper, the border’s secure, and the president performed CPR on the American dream. So, I think everybody in my generation can agree, whether you love Trump or hate Trump, he is improving the nation and making life better for us,” he added.  The political activist said that he floated to Trump that he could hold a 2025 version of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats to talk directly to voters in a virtual setting, and he also told Trump that he has a “secret weapon” going into the 2026 midterms.  “I said, ‘Mr. President, you’re doing this crazy novel concept in politics called actually doing what the people elected you to do in office and actually keeping your promises. I know we never see politicians doing that, but you’re doing that and Gen Z loves it,’” Hollyhand said.  On the flip side, Democrats have dangled promises of free college and cheaper costs of living to young people, while comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler and Elon Musk to a king, he argued. Hollyhand said such messaging has swayed some youths to rally around left-wing Democrats, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but that many Gen Zers are able to see through the “false bill of goods from the Democrats.”  DEMOCRATS’ IDENTITY CRISIS: YOUTH REVOLT ROCKS PARTY AFTER TRUMP COMEBACK The Democrat Party is in the midst of finding its footing and platform on a swath of issues ranging from transgender ideology to immigration and the economy after voters poured out in support of Trump and his policies in 2024 in an election that was viewed as a rebuke of left-wing policies. High-profile Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have amplified their positions within the party in recent months, including hosting anti-Trump rallies and speculation mounting that Ocasio-Cortez could make a Senate or presidential run.  Hollyhand said that Trump could use his “secret weapon” ahead of the midterms and publish bullet-point lists of his accomplishments, which he argued Democrats will struggle to campaign against.  DEMOCRATS’ VICE CHAIR IGNITES CIVIL WAR, TARGETING ‘ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL’ INCUMBENTS IN PRIMARIES “I think that’s going to be a really hard thing to campaign against come the midterms. I think it’s going to be super hard to campaign against this list of accomplishments come 2028. Where the Democrats are trying to … scare Gen Z with these emotions and dangle free things in front of them and say, ‘oh, well, they’re Nazis and they’re Hitler and Elon Musk is trying to be a king.’ And then we come out and just say, ‘Hey, here’s a bullet point list of the things we’ve accomplished in the first 100 days.’ That’s a really hard thing to campaign against,” he said. Hollyhand underscored that his meeting with Trump backstage at the commencement speech was relaxed and stood in stark contrast with how the media portrays the president.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This guy is genuine. Like the first thing he said was, ‘You’ve been killing it.’ He took the time to say, ‘Hey, I actually watched your hit on Fox News this morning.’ He could have been saying,

Experts sound the alarm over ‘shocking’ study showing significant risks to women who take abortion pills

Experts sound the alarm over ‘shocking’ study showing significant risks to women who take abortion pills

A new study exposing a significant number of “serious adverse events” occurring among women who have taken mifepristone, also known as the “abortion pill,” has sparked an outcry from the pro-life community, including experts who spoke to Fox News Digital about what the study means for women in the United States.  “The biggest thing that will shock most readers of this report is just how different the findings in this study are from what the FDA claims on the abortion drug label,” Katie Glenn Daniel, SBA Pro Life America director of legal affairs, told Fox News Digital about the recently released study.  “What they found is that more than one in ten women will go to the emergency room seeking follow-up care after taking the abortion drugs. The FDA claims that’s more like one in 20 women, which is still concerning, right? If you’ve got a one in twenty chance of something happening, you might take that seriously, but one in 10. It is shocking,” she continued. “This means hundreds of thousands of American women have gone to the hospital for complications from abortions through these abortion drugs and the FDA was not collecting information about those situations. So this study shines a light on what has been happening, what ER doctors certainly know is happening. But what our public health institutions have turned a blind eye to.” Mifepristone is a “pregnancy blocker” that is used in combination with another medication, misoprostol, to terminate pregnancies, according to Mayo Clinic. It is also used to manage early miscarriages, as it helps prepare the body to empty the uterus.  ROE V. WADE IS GONE, BUT ABORTION STILL THE NUMBER 1 KILLER WORLDWIDE Research by the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., has revealed that the rate of serious side effects is 22 times higher than what is indicated on the FDA-approved drug label. After going through an abortion assisted by mifepristone, nearly 11% of women — more than one in 10 — reported experiencing “infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious or life-threatening adverse event,” according to the study summary. “These reports, which analyzed the largest known data set of real-world mifepristone use, confirm what physicians like me and our members are seeing in our clinical practice: that abortion drugs pose significant dangers to women,” Dr. Christina Francis, a board-certified OB/GYN, told Fox News Digital.  “I have had patients face life-threatening hemorrhage, infection, and more after taking these drugs, which are now available to order online without an in-person physician visit to confirm the age of the pregnancy and rule out risk factors. The fact that these data show a serious complication rate that is 22 times higher than what the FDA states reveals the urgent need for further investigation into complications of drug-induced abortions and for policymakers and agencies to reprioritize women’s safety over the interests of the abortion industry. Women and their children deserve better care than these dangerous drugs.” SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL Mifepristone, which the Biden administration took steps to ensure was made available to women through the mail, is the most well-known abortion pill in the United States, and approximately 63% of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023 were medication abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute.  This was an increase from 53% in 2020. “We knew that the Biden administration’s changes to the abortion drug prescribing, which included allowing these drugs to be sent through to mail. We knew that that was harmful for women and girls because there is no medical oversight,” Daniel told Fox News Digital. “You don’t even know if a pregnant woman’s getting these drugs. There have been cases where men order these drugs, to slip them to somebody. The state of Louisiana has a case right now where a mother ordered them and forced her daughter to take them, even though the pregnancy was wanted. So you really lose a lot of the safeguards that are in place when somebody actually physically goes to a doctor’s office.” Daniel told Fox News Digital she hopes this report will encourage the Trump administration’s FDA to take action to ensure that women and unborn children are protected.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “A drug that puts one in ten women in the hospital is certainly not a drug that is quote unquote good for women or caring for women and I think we need to be realistic about that,” Daniel said.  Daniel also explained that the true harm from the pill is likely even worse than the study only includes certain years and only women who used insurance. “So there are tons of women, including those who are the most vulnerable, who are left out of this data,” Daniel pointed out.  “There is a lot more to look out here,” Daniel continued. “We see this as the starting point of what the FDA, the CDC, our public health institutions, and our physicians need to be looking at. And we need to have an honest conversation about the fact that 20 years of data shows that these drugs are deadly for children, but they’re also very dangerous for in girls.” Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report

Will other forms of transportation require passengers to have REAL ID after May 7 deadline?

Will other forms of transportation require passengers to have REAL ID after May 7 deadline?

Americans will need a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, passport or other approved federal identification document to fly on an airplane starting tomorrow. However, there are ways around it. Obtaining a REAL ID includes more stringent requirements for verifying a person’s identity than has been used in the past with non-REAL ID driver’s licenses. The switch to this new form of identification has caused a lot of chaos and confusion, with many travelers expressing fear they won’t be able to get a REAL ID before the Wednesday deadline.  However, lucky for these folks, there will be alternative ways that can help people get around if need be. MARRIED WOMEN FACE REAL ID DOCUMENTATION HURDLES: ‘I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS’ To begin, driving will not be impacted by the new requirement, so road trips are still fair game for anyone without a REAL ID. Just ensure you’re not traveling to any secure federal facilities though, because you won’t be able to get in if you don’t have one.  Buses would be an option as well as there are no federally owned or operated bus lines. But you still subject to any rules the company you are traveling with may have. While Amtrak is federally chartered, a REAL ID will not be required to take their trains after the deadline. If you buy a ticket from Amtrak conductors, the train line’s policy does state that passengers must present a valid form of photo identification, and passengers over 18 must have a valid photo ID while riding, but Amtrak’s policy does not say it must be REAL ID compliant. REAL ID REJECTION BY AMERICANS MAY COME DOWN TO ONE SURPRISING FACTOR  Cruise lines are also unaffected by the new REAL ID requirement, but most people have to fly to the ship’s port, so that could pose potential problems. Travelers without a REAL ID can use their passport, but even without that there are still alternatives to the new requirement, though they just might add delays to your trip and aren’t guaranteed to work. Passengers will be required to fill out a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Form 415, also known as a Certification of Identity form, and if the TSA officials are able to confirm the details given to them, passengers will be allowed to go through the security checkpoint and board their flight. Passengers who go this route may be subject to additional pat-downs, questioning or other extra security screening. Even if you get denied, you may still be able to take advantage of airline policies that allow passengers to re-book their flight the following day, providing those without the proper identification time to get it. 

Vance, conservatives blast Omar over resurfaced ‘fearful of White men’ clip: ‘Genocidal language’

Vance, conservatives blast Omar over resurfaced ‘fearful of White men’ clip: ‘Genocidal language’

A resurfaced clip of Dem. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, sparked a frenzy on social media this week with conservatives blasting the congresswoman over her comments regarding the “radicalization of White men.” “I would say our country should be more fearful of White men across our country, because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,” Omar said in a 2018 interview with Al-Jazeera while discussing the domestic terrorism threats in the United States and responding to a question on how much concern “jihadism” poses to the United States.   “And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of White men.” The clip, posted by conservative influencer accounts including Laura Loomer and LibsofTikTok with millions of impressions, sparked outrage from conservatives on social media, including from inside the White House.  OMAR SLAMS TRUMP, MUSK FOR CHANGES AT USAID, ACCUSES PRESIDENT OF RUNNING DICTATORSHIP “This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language,” Vice President JD Vance posted on X. “What a disgrace this person is.” “This is blatant racism,” GOP Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. “Who condemns it?” ILHAN OMAR BLASTS HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN FOR COURTING LIZ CHENEY: ‘HUGE MISSTEP’ “@ilhanMN never ceases to be an embarrassment for Minnesota,” GOP Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, posted on X.  “There’s never been a more anti-American member of Congress than Ilhan Omar,” conservative influencer Paul Szypula posted on X.  Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for comment.  The social media firestorm comes shortly after Omar sparked controversy for telling Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Myles Morell to “f— off” after he asked her a question about fellow Democratic Party figures traveling to El Salvador to defend illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the country by the Trump administration. Omar later responded to the clip being shared on X, stating, “I said what I said. You and all your miserable trolls can f— off.”