Summary: the day so far
This has been another busy day in US politics; here are some of the highlights of the afternoon:
Donald Trump has announced nominees for several top administration roles, including army secretary, Nasa administrator and advisers dealing with trade and hostages held overseas. Among those selected was Peter Navarro, who served four months in prison earlier this year after being convicted of contempt of Congress.
Supreme court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. No decision is expected for several months, but how the conservative-dominated court rules could have impacts nationwide.
Kenneth Chesebro, a little-known lawyer who played a key role in developing the fake electors scheme, is asking a Georgia judge to withdraw his guilty plea in the wide-ranging election interference case filed by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney.
Several people close to Donald Trump, including some he has chosen to serve in his cabinet, are encouraging the president-elect to pardon Edward Snowden, the Washington Post reports. A former National Security Agency contractor, Snowden fled to Hong Kong in 2013 and handed over tens of thousands of top-secret documents to media outlets, including the Guardian. He has since been in exile in Russia. Trump almost pardoned Snowden before leaving office in 2021, but ultimately decided not to.
In an op-ed published in the Wall street journal on Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News and Trump’s nominee to run the department of defense vowed not to “back down” amid reports that his nomination is at risk of going to Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. And in an interview with Megyn Kelly on the same day, he vowed not to drink while being secretary of defense.
Conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch is recusing himself from a case that is set to be argued in front of the high court next week, NBC news has reported. His recusal came after calls from officials to step down over his longtime relationship with billionaire Philip Anschutz. The case centers on the environmental review process for a railroad in Utah that would ship crude oil out of the Uinta Basin to existing railroads.
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Trump nominates Billy Long to lead the Internal Revenue Service
Donald Trump nominated former congressman Billy Long to be commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service tax body on Wednesday.
In a post on Truth social Trump said: “I have known Billy since 2011 – He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle.”
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Conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch is recusing himself from a case that is set to be argued in front of the high court next week, NBC news has reported. His recusal came after calls from officials to step down over his longtime relationship with billionaire Philip Anschutz. The case centers on the environmental review process for a railroad in Utah that would ship crude oil out of the Uinta Basin to existing railroads.
“The letter from Supreme Court Clerk Scott Harris did not explain why Gorsuch was recusing himself, saying only that “consistent with the code of conduct” he had decided not to participate,” NBC reported on Wednesday
For 10 years from 1995, Gorsuch worked at a Washington law firm that represented Anschutz.
In January, officials and environmentalists called on Gorsuch to recuse himself from Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo, which led to the overturning of the Chevron doctrine which called on courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws, for the same reason.
Read the full NBC story here.
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In an op-ed published in the Wall street journal on Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News and Trump’s nominee to run the department of defense vowed not to “back down” amid reports that his nomination is at risk of going to Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. And in an interview with Megyn Kelly on the same day, he vowed not to drink while being secretary of defense.
In both the op-ed and interview, Hegsteh emphasized his military background as motivation for the decision not to withdraw from consideration and to stop drinking.
“I have never backed down from a fight and won’t back down from this one. I am grateful President-elect Trump chose me to lead the Defense Department, and I look forward to an honest confirmation hearing with our distinguished senators—not a show trial in the press,” Hegseth wrote for the Wall street journal.
His nomination faced swift backlash over allegations of white supremacy, sexual impropriety, and drinking too much. Earlier this week, the New Yorker reported whistleblower accusations that he was forced out of leadership roles in two military veteran organizations following allegations of financial mismanagement, aggressive drunkenness,s and sexist behavior
On Megyn Kelly’s show, Hegseth said that his decision to stop drinking after his confirmation was because he viewed the secretary role as a type of deployment and since he couldn’t drink in combat zones, he wouldn’t in his potential role in Trump’s cabinet either.
“I need to make sure the senators and the troops and President Trump and everybody else knows when you call me 24/7, you’re getting fully dialed-in Pete, just like you always did in Iraq and Afghanistan. So this is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he told Kelly.
Trump to face interview on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday
Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, for an interview that will air on 8 December, NBCUniversal announced in a press release on Wednesday. The interview will be filmed this Friday and will be the president-elect’s first network interview since the election, NBC’s press release added.
Trump has been notoriously antagonistic toward mainstream American news networks like NBC in the past. In September 2023, he threatened to sue Comcast, NBC’s parent company, over what he described as “Country Threatening Treason”.
In a post on Truth Social on 24 September 2023, Trump said:
I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and event.
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Trump cabinet picks push for pardon of Edward Snowden – report
Several people close to Donald Trump, including some he has chosen to serve in his cabinet, are encouraging the president-elect to pardon Edward Snowden, the Washington Post reports.
A former National Security Agency contractor, Snowden fled to Hong Kong in 2013 and handed over tens of thousands of top-secret documents to media outlets, including the Guardian. He has since been in exile in Russia. Trump almost pardoned Snowden before leaving office in 2021, but ultimately decided not to.
Here’s more on his latest thinking on the matter, from the Post:
“I decided to let that one ride, let the courts work it out,” Trump said 10 months after leaving office, when asked about pardons for Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “I was very close to going the other way.”
But advocates for clemency for Snowden, including several of Trump’s picks for top Cabinet posts, are hopeful that Trump is now closer to pardoning the former spy, who has been living in Moscow for more than a decade to avoid a 2013 Justice Department indictment.
Matt Gaetz, the former congressman who withdrew last month as Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said the Snowden pardon has been a topic of discussion among people working on Trump’s presidential transition since the election, though he said he had not spoken about it with Trump during that time. Gaetz is hopeful that the future president will deliver.
“I advocated for a pardon for Mr Snowden extensively. That did not give Mr Trump any apprehension in his nominating me. I would have recommended that as attorney general,” Gaetz said Monday. “I have discussed the matter with others in and around the transition, and there seemed to be pretty broad support for a pardon.”
Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary pick, Robert F Kennedy Jr., campaigned for president on the promise of a “day one” pardon of Snowden and building a Washington monument in his honor. Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard sponsored a 2020 House resolution with Gaetz calling for the government to drop charges against Snowden.
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Kenneth Chesebro, a little-known lawyer who played a key role in developing the fake electors scheme, is asking a Georgia judge to withdraw his guilty plea in the wide-ranging election interference case filed by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney.
Chesebro pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to file false documents, agreeing to serve five years of probation, serve 100 hours of community service, pay $5,000 in restitution and write an apology to the citizens of Georgia. He also agreed to turn over all evidence in his possession and serve as a witness in the case.
But in September, Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee threw out the charges that Chesebro had pleaded guilty to, which were related to filing false statements in federal court. State-level prosecutors did not have the authority to file those charges, McAfee ruled in September.
“In Georgia, a defendant cannot plead guilty to a charge that does not constitute a crime,” Chesebro’s lawyer wrote in a court filing on Wednesday.
The Georgia case has been on hold since earlier this year when the defendants in the case sought to have Willis removed from it over her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the case’s lead prosecutor. McAfee ruled that Willis could continue as long as Wade resigned, which he did. Trump and other defendants appealed that ruling.
The case is not expected to go to trial any time soon and it is unclear whether it will be dismissed entirely after Trump won the presidency.
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Pete Hegseth’s chances of becoming defense secretary will likely be determined by Joni Ernst, a Republican senator from Iowa who is also the first female combat veteran to serve in the chamber, the New York Times reports.
Hegseth is expected to meet today with Ernst, a victim of sexual assault who has supported a bill to change how the military handles such attacks.
The former Fox News host was investigated in connection with a sexual assault in Monterey, California, in 2017. Though no charges were brought, it has been reported that he reached a financial settlement with his female accuser. Hegseth has also faced allegations of creating a hostile workplace environment for women when he was involved in veterans non-profits.
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Hegseth reportedly vows not to drink if confirmed as defense secretary
Pete Hegseth is back on Capitol Hill as he seeks to reassure Republican senators of his ability to lead the defense department despite a steady trickle of troubling reports about his personal conduct.
Over the weekend, the New Yorker reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, was known to drink excessively. It quoted a former staffer at a veterans non-profit that he led saying: “I’ve seen him drunk so many times. I’ve seen him dragged away not a few times but multiple times. To have him at the Pentagon would be scary.”
The Hill reports that Hegseth told Roger Wicker, a Republican senator who will chair the armed services committee, that he will stay sober if he gets the defense secretary job. Speaking to reporters, Wicker said: “I think that’s probably a good idea.”
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Trump picks Paul Atkins to lead the SEC, signaling friendliness to cryptocurrency
Donald Trump has nominated cryptocurrency lobbyist Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a sign that his administration will take a friendlier approach to the digital assets that have boomed in value in recent years despite concerns about their financial risks.
In a post on Truth Social announcing the appointment, Trump wrote:
Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations. He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.
Atkins served as an SEC commissioner during George W Bush’s presidency, and currently co-chairs the Token Alliance, an initiative of the Chamber of Digital Commerce intended to inform policymakers about digital assets. He also runs Patomak Global Partners, a risk management firm.
Under Joe Biden, the SEC has been chaired by Gary Gensler, a critic of cryptocurrencies who will step down when Trump is inaugurated – a day the digital asset industry is very much looking forward to.
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Trump switches up choice for top White House lawyer without explanation
Donald Trump announced Bill McGinley as White House counsel only three weeks ago, but today assigned him the new position in the “department of government efficiency”, swapping him for David Warrington instead. No reason was given for the switch-up.
Warrington, a partner at Dhillon Law Group, represented Trump on cases such as those involving the effort to remove him from the ballot due to the role he played in the 6 Jananuary 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Warrington is the latest of Trump’s personal attorneys to take up a role in the administration. The veteran marine also led the Republican National Lawyers Association and worked on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“He is an esteemed lawyer and Conservative leader,” Trump said.
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Trump appointed William “Bill” Joseph McGinley as counsel to a newly created non-government agency, the “department of government efficiency” (“Doge”), headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Doge, named after the Dogecoin meme cryptocurrency, is meant to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies”, according to Trump.
McGinley was White House cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term, a role meant for coordinating policy and communications strategy.
“Bill will play a crucial role in liberating our Economy from burdensome Regulations, excess spending, and Government waste,” Trump said in a statement announcing the new appointment. “He will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to provide advice and guidance to end the bloated Federal Bureaucracy. Bill is a great addition to a stellar team that is focused on making life better for all Americans. He will be at the forefront of my Administration’s efforts to make our Government more efficient and more accountable.”
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Adam Boheler will serve as lead hostage negotiator for the administration, a role which will come into focus during future conversations with Israel and Hamas.
Trump said yesterday on Truth Social there will be “HELL TO PAY” if the hostages in Gaza are not released by the time of his inauguration.
Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza have not been met with success. At least 44,466 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Gaza health ministry, many of whom are women, children and elderly people.
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Donald Trump nominated healthcare executive Adam Boehler as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, “with the personal rank of Ambassador”.
“Adam worked for me as a Lead Negotiator on the Abraham Accords team. He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader. Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME,” Trump said in a statement.
“Adam was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first CEO of the United States Development Finance Corporation. He went to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Congratulations to Adam, his wife, Shira, and their four beautiful children, Ruth, Abraham, Esther, and Rachel!”
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The day so far
The supreme court spent two and a half hours hearing oral arguments over Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care, which members of the court’s six-justice supermajority appear inclined to uphold. An attorney for the state argued that the law protects “minors from risky, unproven medical interventions”, while the Biden administration’s top lawyer said: “Tennessee made no attempt to tailor its law to its stated health concerns.” The American Civil Liberties Union also spoke against the law, with its lawyer Chase Strangio making history as the first openly transgender person to argue before the supreme court. A decision is expected in the coming months.
Here’s what else has gone on today so far:
Pete Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary is reportedly teetering amid reports of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and a sexual assault allegation. Donald Trump is said to be considering Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, to replace him for the job of leading the Pentagon, but has announced no decision yet.
Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, defended her son in an interview with his former employer Fox News, saying: “He doesn’t misuse women.”
Trump announced a slew of new appointments to top administration jobs, including army secretary and Nasa administrator. Among those picked was former federal inmate Peter Navarro, who will be a top White House trade adviser.
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Supreme court conservatives signal support for Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors
Members of the supreme court’s conservative supermajority appeared willing to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors in just-concluded oral arguments.
Biden administration solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar as well as American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio argued that the Tennessee law, known as SB 1, ran afoul of constitutional protections against sex discrimination, and that it jeopardizes the mental health of minors by forcing them to go through puberty before they can access gender-affirming care once they turn 18.
But conservative justices questioned whether by rejecting the law, they would create a situation whereby a young person would use the care to transition genders, then regret it later on. They also questioned whether the constitution addressed the sort of situation that the Tennessee law deals with.
“You say there are benefits from allowing these treatments, but there are also harms, right, from allowing these treatments, at least the state says so, including lost fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later change their mind and want to detransition, which I don’t think we can ignore,” said Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative justice.
Other members of the six-justice conservative bloc made similar points, which is more than enough to issue a ruling upholding Tennessee’s law, and likely those of the more than two dozen other states with similar measures on the books.
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As the arguments wrapped up, conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh asked Tennessee solicitor general Matthew Rice about how the state’s law should be viewed in the context of state’s rights.
“You are not arguing that the constitution take sides on this question … you are arguing that each state can make its own choice on this question. So, from your perspective, as I understand it, it’s perfectly fine for a state to make a different choice, as many states have, than Tennessee did and to allow these treatments,” Kavanaugh asked.
“That’s correct,” Rice replied, arguing that the question of how to regulate such care is one best left to legislatures to determine, not the courts.
“We think that’s because of what your honor has pointed out, that no matter how you draw these lines, there are risk and benefit, potential benefits and harms to people on both sides, and the question of how to balance those harms is not a question for the judiciary, it’s a question for the legislature,” he said.
Liberal supreme court justices were openly skeptical of the Tennessee law.
The state’s solicitor general Matthew Rice began by arguing that there are risks to gender-affirming care, leading justice Sonia Sotomayor to cut in: “I’m sorry, councilor, every medical treatment has a risk, even taking aspirin. There is always going to be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that’s going to suffer a harm.”
Sotomayor argued that the law creates a “sex-based difference” in who can receive medical care, but Rice said he disagreed, arguing that the law is instead regulating different medical procedures.
“We do not think that giving puberty blockers to a six-year-old that has started precocious puberty is the same medical treatment as giving it to a minor who wants to transition. Those are not the same medical treatment,” he said.
Currently before the court is Tennessee’s solicitor general, Matthew Rice, who is arguing in favor of the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
“Tennessee lawmakers enacted SB 1 to protect minors from risky, unproven medical interventions. The law imposes an across-the-board rule that allows the use of drugs and surgeries for some medical purposes, but not for others. Its application turns entirely on medical purpose, not a patient’s sex. That is not sex discrimination,” he began.
“The challengers try to make the law seem sex-based this morning by using terms like masculinizing and feminizing, but their arguments can … conflate fundamentally different treatments, just as using morphine to manage pain differs from using it to assist suicide, using hormones and puberty blockers to address a physical condition is far different from using it to address psychological distress associated with one’s body.”
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Back at the supreme court, liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she was concerned that if the court upheld the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care, it would undermine decisions that outlawed forms of racial discrimination.
She specifically cited the landmark Loving v Virginia decision of 1967, which found laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
“We’re just sort of doing what the state is encouraging here in Loving, where you just sort of say, well, there are lots of good reasons for this policy, and who are we, as the court, to say otherwise? I’m worried that we’re undermining the foundations of some of our bedrock equal protection cases,” Jackson said.
“I share your concerns,” ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio replied. “If Tennessee can have an end run around heightened scrutiny by asserting at the outset that biology justifies the sex-based differential in the law, that would undermine decades of this court’s precedent.”
Trump announces army, Nasa chiefs, names former federal inmate Navarro as trade advisor
Donald Trump has announced nominees for several top administration roles, including army secretary, Nasa administrator and advisers dealing with trade and hostages held overseas.
Among those selected was Peter Navarro, who served four months in prison earlier this year after being convicted of contempt of Congress. Trump appointed Navarro as senior counsel for trade and manufacturing, a role similar to one he held during the first Trump administration. Here’s what the president-elect said in making the appointment:
I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarro, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing. During my First Term, few were more effective or tenacious than Peter in enforcing my two sacred rules, Buy American, Hire American. He helped me renegotiate unfair Trade Deals like NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and moved every one of my Tariff and Trade actions FAST …
The Senior Counselor position leverages Peter’s broad range of White House experience, while harnessing his extensive Policy analytic and Media skills. His mission will be to help successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas.
The president-elect announced three other appointments:
Daniel Driscoll to serve as army secretary. An Iraq war veteran, Driscoll was most recently serving as an adviser to vice-president-elect JD Vance.
Adam Boehler as special envoy for hostage affairs. Boehler was involved in negotiating the Abraham accords that normalized relations between Israel and some Arab states, and Trump said he “will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME”.
Jared Isaacman as Nasa administrator. The billionaire was earlier this year the first private citizen to perform a spacewalk from a capsule from Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX.
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Transgender attorney makes historic first argument before supreme court
The justices are now hearing from Chase Strangio of the American Civil Liberties Union, who is also the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the supreme court.
Strangio said that the court should rule against the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Here’s his opening statement:
On its face, SB 1 bans medical care only when it is inconsistent with a person’s birth sex. An adolescent can receive medical treatment to live and identify as a boy if his birth sex is male, but not female, and an adolescent can receive medical treatment to live and identify as a girl if her birth sex is female, but not male.
Tennessee claims the sex-based line drawing is justified to protect children, but SB 1 has taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the … plaintiffs, and, critically, Tennessee’s arguments that SB 1 is sex-neutral would apply if the state banned this care for adults too, by banning treatment only when it allows an adolescent to live, identify or appear inconsistent with their birth sex. SB 1 warrants heightened scrutiny under decades of precedent because the sixth circuit failed to apply that standard, this court should vacate and remand.
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Conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh brought up the possibility that minors who receive gender-affirming care could later regret doing so.
“You say there are benefits from allowing these treatments, but there are also harms, right, from allowing these treatments, at least the state says so, including lost fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later change their mind and want to detransition, which I don’t think we can ignore,” Kavanaugh said.
Solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar replied that the alternative is to force young people with gender dysphoria to receive care only after they go through puberty – which can have long-lasting and negative psychological impacts:
The record evidence demonstrates that the rates of regret are very low for the population that has access to this treatment. So these are adolescents who have marked and sustained gender dysphoria that has worsened with the onset of puberty. They are very likely to persist in their gender identity. But if you’re thinking about this from the standpoint of, there’s no harm in just making them wait until they’re adults, I think you have to recognize that the effect of denying this care is to produce irreversible physical effects that are consistent with their birth sex, because they have to go through puberty before they turn 18.
So, essentially, what this law is doing is saying we’re going to make all adolescents in the state develop the physical secondary sex characteristics consistent with their gender or with their sex assigned at birth, even though that might significantly worsen gender dysphoria, increase the risk of suicide, and, I think, critically, make it much harder to live and be accepted in their gender identity as an adult. Because if you’re requiring someone to undergo a male puberty, and they develop an Adam’s apple, that’s going to be hard to reverse, and they’re more likely to be identified as transgender and subject to discrimination and harassment as adults.
So, I think the relevant question is, you have this population of adolescents, and there are documented very essential benefits for a large number of them, and maybe a small number that will regret this care, just like with any other medical care, but for the state to come in and just say, across the board, you can’t have the medication because of your birth sex – we don’t think that’s a tailored law.
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The court’s conservatives, including the chief justice, John Roberts, appeared to suggest that this particular case differed from other cases related to sex discrimination because of its medical ramifications.
“It seems to me that the medical issues are much more heavily involved than in many of the cases that you look to,” Roberts told solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar.
“And if that’s true, doesn’t that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to the legislative bodies rather than try to determine them for ourselves?”
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The first questions were from conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, who signaled skepticism with Elizabeth Prelogar’s arguments.
The solicitor general got a more understanding reception from liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor, who focused on the law’s impacts on transgender youths.
“One of the petitioners in this case describes throwing up every day, going almost mute … because of their inability to speak in a voice that they could live with. These are physically challenging situations as well, too,” Sotomayor said.
The observation gave Prelogar an opening to state that the Biden administration doesn’t disagree with the need to regulate gender-affirming care, but rather objects to the blanket nature of Tennessee’s ban on minors:
We don’t think that that means the states are entirely barred from regulating in this space. Obviously, they are grappling with these issues in a variety of contexts, but you’re right to say that when the state is using sex-based line drawing, a court needs to look at that. And the problem with Tennessee’s law here is not that it’s just a little bit over-inclusive or a little bit under-inclusive, but that it’s a sweeping, categorical ban where the legislature didn’t even take into account the significant health benefits that can come from providing gender-affirming care, including reduced suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and where the state leaves unregulated entirely access to these treatments in all of their pediatric contexts, where there’s a similar risk-benefit trade-off and for the families affected by this, Justice Sotomayor, these are difficult decisions.
Obviously, anytime you’re thinking about a medical intervention, you need to weigh risks and benefits, but the state has come in here, and in a sharp departure from how it normally addresses this issue, it has completely decided to override the views of the parents, the patients, the doctors who are grappling with these decisions and trying to make those trade-offs.
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Arguing for the Biden administration, solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar began by saying the Tennessee law, known as SB 1, unfairly singles out gender-affirming care in a way similar procedures do not face.
“To be clear, states have leeway to regulate gender-affirming care, but here, Tennessee made no attempt to tailor its law to its stated health concerns. Rather than impose measured guardrails, SB 1 bans the care outright, no matter how critical it is for an individual patient, and that approach is a stark departure from the state’s regulation of pediatric care in all other contexts,” Prelogar said.
“SB 1 leaves the same medications and many others entirely unrestricted when used for any other purpose, even when those uses present similar risks.”
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Supreme court begins hearing major case on trans youth healthcare ban
The supreme court just started hearing oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
No decision is expected for several months, but how the conservative-dominated court rules could have impacts nationwide. Twenty-six states have passed laws limiting access to the care used by transgender people. Here’s more on the case:
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Top Senate Republican says Hegseth is 'going to have to answer some hard questions'
The incoming Senate majority leader, John Thune, said Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, can expect to face “hard questions” as he meets with senators today.
“At the end of the day, these nominees need to have the opportunity to make their case,” said Thune, who is one of the senators Hegseth is scheduled to meet with today.
“And I think the readouts from these meetings are, he’s very smart, and he’s got, you know, great experience, obviously, as a combat veteran. So, we’re going to give him the chance to make his argument, make this case. Clearly, he’s going to have to answer some hard questions, which he is, based on the reports I’m getting from the meetings he’s attended so far, but that that is part of our process.”
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At one point in her interview on Fox News, Penelope Hegseth directly addressed Donald Trump, who is known for watching the network.
“I want to say thank you for your belief in my son. We all believe in him. We really believe that he is not that man he was seven years ago. I’m not that mother, and I hope people will hear that story today and the truth of that story,” she said.
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Despite email being one of the more traceable forms of communication, Penelope Hegseth said she did not know how the New York Times obtained her message to her son criticizing his treatment of women.
“You know, I haven’t been able to track that, like, like my blind copy or my copy,” Hegseth replied, when asked who else received the email. “I don’t think that’s important right now. I think what’s important is that the truth be told about that email and that we look at Pete today, not then.”
She also repeatedly criticized the New York Times for contacting her for comment about the email, which is something typical of journalists to do:
I want to say something about the media, and part of today is to discredit the media and how they operate. When they contact you, I let a few phone calls go, but then they call you and say, they threaten you. That’s the first thing they do. They say, unless you make a statement, we will publish it as is, and I think that’s a despicable way to treat anyone. Threats are dangerous and they’re hard on families.
Pete Hegseth's mother defends son, saying 'he doesn't misuse women'
In an interview with Fox News, Pete Hegseth’s mother said she stood by her son, as he faces allegations of mistreatment of women and excessive drinking that could derail his nomination for the role of defense secretary.
“He doesn’t misuse women,” Penelope Hegseth told the network, where her son worked as a host until recently. “He’s been through some difficult things. I’m not going to list them by name, but I would just say that some of those attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially any more.”
Last week, the New York Times reported that Penelope Hegseth had sent her son an email in 2018 criticizing his treatment of women, saying: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”
Speaking to Fox, Penelope Hegseth said she sent that email in the midst of her son’s divorce and retracted it hours later:
Pete and his wife at the time were going through a very difficult divorce. It was a very emotional time, and I’m sure many of you across the country understand how difficult divorce is on a family. There’s emotions. We say things, and I wrote that in haste. I wrote that with deep emotions. I wrote that as a parent, and about two hours later … my husband tells me I should think through things a little bit more, but Pete and I are both very passionate people. I wrote that out of love, and about two hours later I retracted it with an apology email. But nobody’s seen that.
Asked about reports that her son is known for drinking excessively, cheated on his partners, mismanaged the finances of two charities and faced an allegation of sexual assault, Hegseth replied:
I don’t believe any of that is true.
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Hegseth faces pivotal day of interviews as defense secretary nomination reportedly teeters
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Things are not looking great for the prospect of the Senate confirming Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to the job. The former Fox News host was one of the first picks Trump made after winning re-election, but in the weeks since, news broke that Hegseth was accused of sexual assault, which he denies, is known to drink excessively and allegedly financially mismanaged two charities. Over the past few hours, reports have emerged that it’s all becoming too much for the Republican senators tasked with confirming him, and that Trump is considering pulling the nomination and instead asking Florida’s governor and one-time rival Ron DeSantis to lead the Pentagon.
But it’s not over yet for Hegseth. His mother, who wrote an email criticizing him for his treatment of women, gave an interview to Fox News this morning billed as setting the record straight, while Hegseth will today be on Capitol Hill for further meetings with lawmakers who will decide his fate. We’ll see if his nomination survives the day.
Here’s what else is going on:
The supreme court will at 10am ET begin hearing arguments in a case concerning Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming treatment for minors, which could have implications nationwide.
The precise balance of power in the House of Representatives has been determined. With ballot counting finally finished in a tight race in central California, Republicans will control the chamber with 220 seats to the Democrats’ 215 – but the GOP’s majority will immediately shrink as several lawmakers head for jobs in Trump’s cabinet.
Joe Biden continues his trip to Angola, and will be heading back to the US later today.
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