Supreme Court tees up blockbuster final day of term
CNN
The Supreme Court will hand down its final decisions of the term on Friday, including an expected high-profile ruling on whether President Donald Trump may enforce his divisive executive order curtailing birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court will hand down its final decisions of the term on Friday, including an expected high-profile ruling on whether President Donald Trump may enforce his divisive executive order curtailing birthright citizenship. As is tradition, Chief Justice John Roberts announced the final day from the bench. The schedule sets up a blockbuster last day at the Supreme Court in which the justices will hand down six opinions in some of the biggest cases of the year, including those dealing with Trump’s birthright citizenship order, a challenge from religious parents who want to opt their children out of reading LGBTQ books in school and a First Amendment suit over a Texas law that requires people to verify their age before accessing porn online. Every year, the high court tries to finish its work by July, though it is unusual for the justices to bunch so many closely watched cases into the final day. Last year, the court handed down three opinions on the final day – including the decision granting Trump immunity from criminal prosecution. Two years ago, the court issued three opinions, including a ruling shutting down President Joe Biden’s student loan relief program. Among the cases still pending: the court will decide whether a school district in suburban Washington, DC, burdened the religious rights of parents by declining to allow them to opt their elementary-school children out of reading LGBTQ books in the classroom. The court will also decide the fate of a government task force that recommends which preventive health care services must be covered at no cost under Obamacare. And it will decide a challenge over Louisiana’s congressional districts that questions how far states may go in considering race when they draw maps to fix a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
A transparency law passed by Congress has forced the release of more Epstein files than ever before, but some lawmakers and victims are exploring ways to push the Justice Department to disclose even more information from the voluminous trove that’s being withheld.
Former US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent sat Wednesday for an extensive interview with former Fox News host and right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, his first public comments since he resigned from his post, citing concerns about the war with Iran.
When Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche arrived on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, they hoped to boost members’ confidence on their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Within half an hour, Democratic lawmakers had walked out.
Cuba is going dark under US pressure. How the crisis unfolded and why its troubles are far from over
Almost three months after the US effectively imposed an oil blockade on Cuba that worsened its energy crunch, nearly every aspect of Cuban society has been feeling the strain.
The Department of Homeland Security has been ensnared by a partial government shutdown as Congress did not act to fund the agency by the end of Friday. But nearly all DHS workers will remain on the job — even if many won’t get paid until the lapse ends — and the public probably won’t notice much of a change.
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is moving away from operations tied to the Iran war and sailing to the US Navy’s base in Crete for repairs after a fire broke out in the ship’s laundry area last week, a US official said.
An American college student visiting friends for spring break has gone missing in Spain, his family said, adding police have his phone.
A typically friendly setting for one of their own turned tense on Capitol Hill Wednesday with senators grilling Markwayne Mullin for roughly three hours as he vies to become President Donald Trump’s next Department of Homeland Security chief.
Top Trump administration officials testified publicly Wednesday for the first time since the launch of the Iran war three weeks ago.
The White House is temporarily lifting key limits on the shipping of oil, gas and other commodities throughout the US, in its latest effort to counter rising energy prices sparked by its war with Iran.
Any attempt by the United States to take control of Cuba would be met with “impregnable resistance,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Tuesday, as power returned to some parts of the island following a nationwide grid collapse.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and asserted it does not have new evidence to prosecute anyone for crimes related to the convicted sex offender, in an interview released Tuesday.
TSA workers face reality of working without pay as passengers unaware of the shutdown see long lines
More than a third of the security screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport didn’t show up to work Tuesday, the airport’s general manager said, causing passengers to have to wait in line for up to two hours.