Analysis: John Roberts leads the charge to uphold bans on trans care
CNN
As Chief Justice John Roberts set the tone for what appears to be a Supreme Court majority to uphold state bans on gender-affirming care, his remarks Wednesday recalled his attitude nearly 10 years ago when the court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
As Chief Justice John Roberts set the tone for what appears to be a Supreme Court majority to uphold state bans on gender-affirming care, his remarks Wednesday recalled his attitude nearly 10 years ago when the court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. “Just who do we think we are?” Roberts said in the memorable 2015 dissent, when he similarly argued against judges intervening to protect individual rights. This time, however, Roberts is likely to seize the majority. Colleagues echoed his sentiment over the gripping two-and-a-half hours of oral argument Wednesday, and he stands poised to control the outcome of this historic test of transgender rights. While the cases differ significantly – beginning with this new one’s focus on children – the 2015 same-sex marriage dispute (Obergefell v. Hodges) and current transgender rights controversy (US v. Skrmetti) involved challengers arguing that the usual legislative process has failed them, and the court should help vindicate their constitutional rights. Roberts brushed aside arguments that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care amounted to sex discrimination and said decisions regarding medical treatment were best left to state legislatures. “We might think that we can do just as good a job with respect to the evidence here as Tennessee or anybody else, but my understanding is that the Constitution leaves that question to the people’s representatives rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor,” the chief justice said.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
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