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Supreme Court to review Tennessee ban of puberty blockers, transgender surgery for minors

Supreme Court to review Tennessee ban of puberty blockers, transgender surgery for minors

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to review the Biden administration’s “equal protection” challenge to Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and transgender surgeries for minors.  The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, will be argued in the term that starts in October. It is the first time the high court will consider restrictions on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors. Tennessee is one of 22 states that has measures banning such medical intervention for minors.  6 STATES HALT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S TITLE IX REWRITE AFTER WEST VIRGINIA ATHLETE’S LAWSUIT A federal appeals court had allowed the law in Tennessee and Kentucky to go into effect pending the outcome of ongoing litigation. “Tennessee adopted a law that said, if you’re under 18, a doctor can’t provide you with hormone treatments or puberty blockers or gender reassignment surgery, for gender purposes. And we were sued by the DOJ, the ACLU and Lambda Legal,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in an interview with Fox News last month. “We won in the Sixth Circuit, and now they’re trying to get the US Supreme Court to address that. But the bottom line is the Court of Appeal saw it was states have the authority to decide whether or not these treatments should be legal within their boundaries. And some states authorize them. Some states don’t. That’s the way our system works.” Among those filing amicus briefs opposing the state law is actor Elliot Page, one of 57 transgender people who joined in supporting the Biden administration’s suit. And the administration in their filing with the high court says 25 states have laws restricting or banning “gender-affirming medical care” for transgender youth. South Carolina last week passed its law.  “The future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this Court adhering to the facts, the Constitution, and its own modern precedent,” Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said in a statement on Monday. “These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country and their Constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They are the result of an openly political effort to wage war on a marginalized group and our most fundamental freedoms.” “This Court has historically rejected efforts to uphold discriminatory laws, and without similar action here, these punitive, categorical bans on the provision of gender-affirming care will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth and their families,” Tara Borelli, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal, added.  “We are grateful that transgender youth and their families will have their day in the highest court, and  we will not stop fighting to ensure access to this life-saving, medically necessary care.” This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. 

Anna Paulina Luna to force vote on Garland’s arrest this week after DOJ refuses criminal referral

Anna Paulina Luna to force vote on Garland’s arrest this week after DOJ refuses criminal referral

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is planning to force a vote on directing the House Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest Attorney General Merrick Garland sometime this week. Luna is sending a letter around to fellow House Republicans on Monday arguing that the Department of Justice (DOJ) undermined Congress by refusing to act on the contempt resolution passed by the GOP majority earlier this month. “The only option to ensure compliance with our subpoena is to use our constitutional authority of inherent contempt,” Luna said. “In the next few days, I will call up my resolution holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress, and I look forward to each of you voting in favor of it.” “Our ability to legislate effectively and fulfill our constitutional duties is at stake. We must act now to protect the integrity and independence of the legislative branch.” JOHNSON FLOATS DEFUNDING SPECIAL COUNSEL’S OFFICE AMID JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE Inherent contempt differs from the criminal contempt resolution passed on June 12. The latter referred Garland to his own department for criminal charges. However, inherent contempt, if passed, could force Garland to stand trial before the House of Representatives and, if found guilty, would lead to his detention by the House Sergeant-at-Arms. “This is a broad power that courts have recognized as necessary for Congress to fulfill its legislative functions. Under inherent contempt, the individual is brought before the bar of the House by the Sergeant at Arms, tried by the body, and can then be detained either in the Capitol or in D.C.,” Luna wrote.  She said it “demonstrates the seriousness with which Congress views non-compliance and the potential consequences for those who refuse to cooperate.” House Republican leaders moved to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Biden, despite a congressional subpoena. HILL AID INTERFERES WITH FOX NEWS CAMERA CREW DURING TLAIB INTERVIEW Republicans seeking the audio recording argued it would provide critical context about Biden’s state of mind. Democrats, meanwhile, have dismissed the request as a partisan attempt to politicize the DOJ. The DOJ said it would not prosecute Garland because he was acting on Biden’s own executive privilege claims over the interview tapes. “The Department of Justice and the attorney general cannot be the ultimate deciders of whether or not a congressional subpoena is enforced. If Congress allows this to happen, we risk being subordinated to the attorney general and being completely neutered in our ability to legislate,” Luna argued. “Why would anyone from the executive branch comply with our demands for information if the enforcement of those demands relies on the actions of another department in its own branch?” Congress has not invoked its inherent contempt power since 1934, when it resulted in Washington lawyer William MacCracken getting a 10-day jail sentence for not sufficiently complying with a Senate subpoena. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which backed Congress’ right to exercise its inherent contempt powers in its February 1935 decision in Jurney v. MacCracken. TRUMP GUILTY VERDICT REVEALS SPLIT AMONG FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY OPPONENTS To force a vote on her resolution, Luna will have to deem it “privileged” – meaning House leaders will have two legislative days to act on it.  It is not immediately clear if the effort will succeed, however. The resolution will likely get no support from Democrats, and only a few Republicans would need to vote to table the measure, which would kill it before a House-wide vote.  The House-wide vote on holding Garland in contempt got support from every Republican save Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, who opposed it over concerns it would politicize the justice system. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment on Luna’s letter.

NY Dem slams ‘Squad’ member’s profanity-laced rant at rally with AOC: ‘Unhinged’

NY Dem slams ‘Squad’ member’s profanity-laced rant at rally with AOC: ‘Unhinged’

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., slammed “Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s profanity-laced rant at a rally he hosted with fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as “unhinged.”  “The level of profanity here is so shocking as to be unbecoming of a Member of Congress,” Torres, who departed the Congressional Progressive Caucus earlier this year over differences on Israel, wrote on X. “There is nothing in Jamaal Bowman’s unhinged tirade that remotely resembles the decency of the people I know and represent in the South Bronx.”  During a speech in the Bronx riddled with expletives, Bowman lashed out against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Political Action Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel advocacy group supporting his Democratic primary challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer. “We are going to show f—ing AIPAC, the power of the motherf—ing South Bronx!” Bowman said at Saturday’s rally held in St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven. “People ask me why I got a foul mouth. What am I supposed to do? You’re coming after me! You’re coming after my family! You’re coming after my children! I’m not supposed to fight back?” REP. BOWMAN SAYS AIPAC WILL SEE ‘POWER OF THE MOTHERF—ING BRONX’ DURING RALLY SPEECH “We’re going to show them who the f— we are!” he added, jumping around the stage. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., rallied for Bowman in a show of progressive support, as the incumbent Democrat lags behind Latimer by double digits ahead of Tuesday’s primary to represent New York’s 16th congressional district, which includes Westchester County and portions of the Bronx. Viral clips also showed fellow “Squad” member Ocasio-Cortez forcefully letting her hair down as she emphatically banged the podium, knocking over her microphones at one point. The congresswoman shouted over sexually explicit lyrics from the Cardi B song “Enough” that sounded over a speaker system during her remarks.   AOC SLAMMED FOR SAYING ‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS’ OF ANTISEMITISM ARE ‘WIELDED AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR’ At another point, Bowman, wearing a yellow T-shirt with his sleeves rolled up, waved a wooden stool up and down on the Bronx stage, before leading the crowd in a chant of, “Cease-fire now, cease-fire now.”  Bowman risks losing his seat amid divisions between progressives and moderates in the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war.  Latimer’s more high-profile supporters include former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and Hillary Clinton.  Torres has not officially made an endorsement in the race, telling Axios last week he had a “general rule of not weighing in against a Congressional Democrat who has not weighed in against me.” “But Bowman’s gratuitous attack on my character might cause me to rethink that rule. Stay tuned,” Torres said.