Headlines for Friday, April 28, 2023
đ˝A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
đ˝A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
đ˝There is no power greater than a community discovering the truth and taking action to ensure it never happens again
Newsweek: Donald Trump Suffers Blow in Indictment Battle: majority of Americans support ongoing investigations into Donald Trump's behavior, and think he should be barred from running for the presidency again if convicted and imprisoned, according to a new survey conducted exclusively for Newsweek. Polling indicates Trump is the current Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election, ahead of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Earlier this week, President Biden announced he is seeking a second term, warning against "MAGA extremists" in the GOP.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Fulton DA drops clues about indictments in Trump probe: We finally know when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will announce her charging decisions in her investigation of possible criminal meddling with the 2020 election. Even though Willis said in January those decisions were âimminent,â it hasnât turned out that way. In letters to local law enforcement, Willis said there will be a need for heightened security and preparedness due to this pending announcement. Her letters were also written in a way that it seems certain Willis will seek an indictment against former President Donald Trump.
NBC News: Donald Trump embraces Jan. 6 defendant who wants Mike Pence executed:Â Former President Donald Trump embraced a Jan. 6 defendant at a diner during a campaign stop Thursday night, calling the woman, who served prison time for her actions during the Capitol attack and wants former Vice President Mike Pence executed for treason, "terrific." The appearance came the same day Pence testified before a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and keep himself in power.
AP News: Pence testifies before election probe grand jury: AP source: Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
K-12 Dive: Staffed Up: How would an affirmative action repeal impact teacher diversity? If the U.S. Supreme Court repeals race-conscious admissions â a decision expected to drop in late June â some higher education experts fear a worsening of the already disproportionate representation of teachers of color in K-12 schools. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in October for the two cases weighing affirmative actionâs fate, stemming from lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over the institutionsâ race-conscious admissions practices. Should the conservative-majority Supreme Court rule to cease considering race in higher ed admissions, as is expected by legal experts, it will end decades of legal precedent.
The Hill: Kansas enacts sweeping transgender âbathroom billâ: Republican legislators in Kansas on Thursday enacted what LGBTQ rights groups have characterized as one of the most sweeping and restrictive transgender bathroom bills in U.S. history, overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kellyâs veto of the measure. The Kansas House voted 84-40 Thursday to override Kellyâs veto of Senate Bill 180, which defines sex in state law to mean an âindividualâs biological sex, either male or female, at birth.â The Senate voted 28-12 on Wednesday to do the same.
NPR: A North Carolina court overrules itself in a case tied to a disputed election theory: North Carolina's highest court has overruled its earlier decision in a congressional redistricting lawsuit, throwing into question the case's status at the U.S. Supreme Court and whether that court's justices will rule on a contentious elections issue. In an opinion released Friday, the majority of the state court said that there is "no judicially manageable standard by which to adjudicate partisan gerrymandering claims" and courts "are not intended to meddle in policy matters."
Bloomberg Law: Supreme Court Election Case in Doubt With State Court Ruling: The North Carolina Supreme Court backed a Republican-drawn congressional map in a ruling that could scuttle a major US Supreme Court elections case. The state court on Friday overruled its 2022 decision that had said the districts were so partisan they violated the North Carolina Constitution. The US Supreme Court has been reviewing that ruling in a case centering on which parts of state governments have authority to shape federal election rules.
CNN: GOP-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court reverses rulings that struck down partisan gerrymanders by Republican lawmakers: The Republican-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court â reversing previous rulings that were handed down when the state Supreme Court leaned Democratic â said Friday that North Carolinaâs constitution gave state courts no role to play in policing partisan gerrymanders. The ruling is a victory for the GOP state legislature, which brought the case back to the state Supreme Court after Republicans flipped seats on the court in the midterms, giving them the majority. The GOP legislature had also taken the case to the US Supreme Court â where Republicans were pushing an aggressive theory that would limit the role state courts can play in election disputes â and it is unclear whether Fridayâs ruling prompts the US Supreme Court to dismiss the case that is before it.
Slate: Why I Canât Root for Disneyâs Lawsuit Against Ron DeSantis: On Wednesday, Disney escalated its battle with Ron DeSantis by filing a lawsuit to attempt to stop the Florida governorâs efforts to revoke the companyâs control over the district it self-governs. The lawsuit is styled as yet another noble effort in Disneyâs battle with DeSantis, and specifically as a fight for freedom of speech against DeSantisâ anti-LGBTQ censorship. The complaint leans heavily on First Amendment rhetoric, but free expression is not its lead theory of the case. Rather, Disney centers a claim that Florida violated its rights under the Constitutionâs contracts clause by voiding agreements that wouldâve preserved its right to self-governance as its main argument for retaining the right to its land and properties.
The Hill: The Memo: Republicans worry DeSantis has erred in Disney feud: Whispers are growing louder among Republicans that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has miscalculated in his battle with Disney â a struggle that has already gone on for more than a year and has no end in sight. There are real dangers, they say, of his fight with the corporation becoming a distraction from his likely presidential campaign â and one that could make him seem petty and vindictive rather than strong or decisive.
MSNBC News: Team Trump begs Congress to derail DOJâs classified docs probe: Donald Trump has already been indicted by a grand jury in New York, but with several other ongoing criminal investigations underway, the former president seems awfully nervous about the possibility of additional charges. On the investigation into his retention of classified documents, for example, the Republican published an item to his social media platform two weeks ago, calling the scandal a âhoax.â (Itâs not.) The missive came just days after Trump, giving a post-arraignment speech at Mar-a-Lago, peddled a series of related falsehoods about the case.
Reuters: Trump vows to investigate prosecutors, says Biden represents anarchy: Donald Trump said on Thursday that if he wins the 2024 presidential election, he will order the Justice Department to investigate "radical" county and state prosecutors whom he accused, without evidence, of targeting conservatives.
The Hill: Trump legal team asks House Intel for âlegislative solutionâ amid Mar-a-Lago probe: President Trumpâs legal team again turned to Congress in an ongoing criminal investigation, penning a letter to the House Intelligence Committee asking it to âformalize procedures for investigationsâ that would make such matters civil rather than criminal cases. The 10-page letter to Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) obtained by The Hill suggests the investigation into Trump should not face criminal charges in connection with the case; it lays out three pathways for committee involvement in the matter and asks for a âlegislative solution.â
ABC News: As special counsel nears decision in Trump cases, who are the lawyers working with him: Special counsel Jack Smith is nearing a decision over whether to recommend charges for former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents and any role he may have played in efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Smith will make those politically charged decisions with guidance and information provided by a team of prosecutors and FBI agents. While much has been written about Smith -- a veteran federal prosecutor tapped late last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland to take over those federal probes -- much less has been written about the people on his team.
The New York Times: Who is Lewis Kaplan, Judge in Carroll Case Against Trump?: When former President Donald J. Trump asked a Manhattan judge to delay a civil trial over allegations that Mr. Trump raped the writer E. Jean Carroll decades ago, his lawyer cited a âdeluge of prejudicial media coverageâ of Mr. Trumpâs recent indictment. But the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, denied the request, saying that there was no justification for a postponement and that many of the news stories were âinvited or provoked by Mr. Trumpâs own actions.â
Los Angeles Times: Pence testifies before grand jury in 2020 election probe, AP source says: Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person requested anonymity to discuss the private hearing before the grand jury.
Fortune: Dominion settlement could bolster shareholder lawsuit against Fox board membersâand encourage more challenges: As a reporter, Iâm naturally interested in Fox Newsâ recent legal troubles. But corporate directors might also want to pay attention. Hereâs a refresher: Dominion Voting Systems charged that Fox News anchors defamed the company when they repeatedly aired lies about Dominionâs voting machines, blaming the technology for Donald Trumpâs defeat in 2020. Through sworn testimonies with Fox executives, it became clear that the news empireâs top brass did not believe the machines were rigged to steer the election. Rather than go to trial, Fox paid Dominion a stunning $787 million.
The Washington Post: Black voting rights under threat in GOP supermajority states, lawmakers say: State Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson was standing in front of the Florida House of Representatives, recounting being spat on for sitting at Whites-only lunch counters during the civil rights movement. The 75-year-old was trying to impress on her Republican colleagues how hard she and others had fought for voting rights and how a plan to eliminate a congressional seat held by a Black Democrat would again seriously diminish the political power of Black Floridians.
The New York Times: A Transgender Lawmaker Is Exiled as Montana G.O.P. Flexes New Power: As Montana lawmakers entered the critical final days of their legislative session on Thursday, one of the stateâs only transgender lawmakers, Zooey Zephyr, was left exiled from the House chamber, monitoring the debate and casting votes on a laptop as she sat on a hallway bench near a bustling snack stand. Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle. She spent much of the day on the bench, working with headphones in her ears to block the sound of chattering lobbyists, the hiss of a milk foamer and the voices of lawmakers ordering coffee.
NBC News: Poll: Support increases for affirmative action programs: Fifty-three percent of Americans agree that affirmative action programs are still needed, according to a new NBC News poll. Respondents were asked whether they believed that "affirmative action programs are still needed to counteract the effects of discrimination against minorities and are a good idea as long as there are no rigid quotas." Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed felt "strongly" that this statement is true, while an additional 16% agree with the statement but not as strongly."
CNN: The 150-year-old chastity law that may be the next big fight over abortion: A law passed 150 years ago that banned the mailing of contraceptives, lewd materials and drugs that induce abortions could provide a pathway for effectively banning abortion nationwide â even in states where the procedure is legal. When the Supreme Court last summer reversed Roe v. Wade and eliminated constitutional protections that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide, the conservative majority fashioned its ruling as returning the matter of abortion policymaking to elected officials, particularly in state legislatures.
Fortune: Biden student loan relief plans would be âannihilatedâ by House Republican debt ceiling bill: President Joe Bidenâs student loan agenda would be all but obliterated by the U.S. debt legislation passed by House Republicans, dooming his mass cancellations, scrapping a more generous loan repayment option and permanently barring future regulation around student debt. Republicans see it as a victory for taxpayers. Democrats say it would hurt the economy and block college students who need financial aid.
Business Insider: DeSantis loses his cool with a reporter after being challenged over claims he witnessed torture while working at Guantanamo Bay: Flordia Gov. Ron DeSantis was involved in a tetchy exchange with a reporter after being questioned about whether he witnessed detainees being tortured in Guantanamo Bay. During a press conference in the Museum of Tolerance in West Jerusalem Thursday, DeSantis was questioned about a former detainee's claim that he watched as he was force fed while working as a naval attorney at the base.
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