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☆ Jake Kleinmahon: One of Louisiana's only pediatric cardiologists has left the state over anti-LGBTQ legislation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Nicquel Terry Ellis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

courtesy Jake KleinmahonBut this past spring the Republican-led state legislature passed a series of controversial bills that targeted the LGBTQ community. Many of the laws enacted have been met with legal challenges from advocacy groups and LGBTQ families. In Louisiana, Kleinmahon said he lobbied against the laws, calling state lawmakers and writing letters to the state’s senate education committee. “It really showed that they just don’t care,” Kleinmahon told CNN. courtesy Katherine SasserThe challenge of movingBut relocating across the country hasn’t been an easy decision, LGBTQ families told CNN.

Persons: Jake Kleinmahon, Tom, ”, Kleinmahon, “, ” Kleinmahon, John Bel Edwards, Edwards, Terry Schilling, Schilling, ” Schilling, Tony Rothert, Rothert, ” Rothert, Cathryn Oakley, hasn’t, Oakley, ” Oakley, ” Katherine Sasser, Sasser, ” Sasser, Katherine Sasser Organizations: CNN, Tulane University, “, Mardi Gras, Republican, Human Rights, ” Louisiana Democratic Gov, HB, American Civil Liberties Union of, Columbia, University of Missouri Locations: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, Missouri, Denver, Long, , New York

☆ Voice referendum: Australia sets date for historic referendum on its First Nations people
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —Australia has set the date for its first referendum in 24 years as polls suggest the government is on course for failure unless it can reverse declining support. As soon as the date was announced, the no campaign sent a text message calling for tax deductible donations that read: “It’s on! Votes in the territories – the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory will only be included in the national total. The Voice, if approved, would enshrine a body in the constitution made up of Indigenous people to advise the government on laws that relate to them. Tamati Smith/Getty ImagesNo vote strengthening in the pollsBut recent polling suggests if a vote was cast now, it would likely fail.

Persons: ”, Anthony Albanese, –, Richard Wainwright, Peter Dutton, they’d, ” Dutton, “, Anna Clark, Clark, ” Cedric Marika, Tamati Smith, Oscar, ” Oscar, she’s, Albanese, “ Don’t, don’t Organizations: Australia CNN —, Peoples of Australia, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Australian, Territory, Nations, WA Liberals, Reuters, Labor, Liberal Party, National Party, Australian Electoral Commission, Liberal, AEC, Sky News, Australian Centre for Public, University of Technology, Garma, Torres, Torres Strait Islander Social, Australian Human Rights, ”, Torres Strait Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Australia CNN — Australia, Nations, Northern Territory, Perth, University of Technology Sydney, East Arnhem, Torres Strait

REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 25 (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday blocked a Republican-backed state law banning so-called gender-affirming care including puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for transgender minors from taking effect while she hears a legal challenge to it. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed the law in June, making Texas one of at least 20 states to ban gender-affirming care. The offices of Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mainstream U.S. medical groups including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose the measure and maintain that gender-affirming care improves transgender patients' mental health and reduces risk of suicide. Several other similar state laws have been blocked by judges, though a federal appeals court this week revived Alabama's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Persons: Jonathan Drake, Judge Maria Cantu Hexsel, Greg Abbott, Brian Klosterboer, Ken Paxton, Brendan Pierson, Will Dunham Organizations: REUTERS, Republican, Texas, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, U.S, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Thomson Locations: Durham , North Carolina, United States, Texas, Travis County, Austin, Abbott, New York

The American Alliance for Equal Rights sued Perkins Coie in Dallas and Morrison & Foerster in Miami two months after the Supreme Court sided with another group founded by activist Edward Blum and rejected affirmative action policies used by many colleges to increase enrollment of racial minorities. The federal lawsuits accused both law firms of unlawfully discriminating against white candidates by limiting which law students could be considered for paid fellowships designed in part to help support the recruitment of people of color. "Excluding students from these esteemed fellowships because they are the wrong race is unfair, polarizing and illegal," Blum, who is white, said in a statement. Perkins Coie, founded in Seattle, offers "diversity fellowships" that provide stipends of $15,000 to $25,000 and paid positions as summer associates, a position that at major law firms can lead to full-time jobs with six-figure salaries. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham, Alexia Garamfalvi and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Edward Blum, Perkins Coie, Morrison, Foerster, " Blum, Perkins, Nate Raymond, Will Dunham, Alexia Garamfalvi, Alistair Bell Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Harvard University, University of North, Activision, American Alliance for Equal Rights, Activision Blizzard, Kellogg, Gannett, Civil, American, American Alliance for Equal, Atlanta, Thomson Locations: University of North Carolina, Washington , U.S, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, United States, Asia, San Francisco, Blum's Texas, Boston

☆ The Making of an Ivy League President: Two Women’s Stories
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Martha Southgate | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

One Black, one white. In 1995, Ruth J. Simmons, the elder of the two, became the first Black president of Smith, one of the largest of the Seven Sisters colleges. But that wasn’t her last first; in 2001, she left Smith to take the helm at Brown University, making history again by virtue of both her race and her gender — the first Black woman to lead an Ivy League institution, which she did until 2012. In 2007, Drew Gilpin Faust was named the first woman president of Harvard University, a post she held until 2018. As the youngest of 12 children, she had a comparatively easier time because she was the baby of the family.

Persons: Drew Gilpin, Ruth J, Simmons, —, Smith, Drew Gilpin Faust, She’s, ”, Read, “, ” Simmons Organizations: Seven, Brown University, Ivy League, M University, Harvard University, American Locations: Texas, East Texas

☆ Trump won't permanently lose his right to vote in Florida if he's convicted of any of the 91 felony charges he faces — and he can thank voting rights activists for passing a constitutional amendment t
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump is currently facing 91 felony charges in four different cases. Trump's 91 felony charges include:34 state charges in New York for falsifying business records in connection with the Stormy Daniels hush money payments. But that's no longer the case — thanks to the efforts of voting rights activists in the state. That could include prison time, making voting rights the least of Trump's worries. Florida also notably still does not automatically restore the voting rights of those convicting of murder or felony sexual assault.

Persons: Trump, would've, DeSantis, Donald Trump, Daniels, Ron DeSantis —, he'd, Koch, who've, you've, they've Organizations: Service, Southern District of, District of Columbia, Trump, Democrats, American Civil Liberties Union, Republican Locations: Florida, Wall, Silicon, New York, Southern District, Southern District of Florida, District, Georgia

☆ Montana AG asks court to reject TikTok challenge to state ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A separate lawsuit has been filed by TikTok users in Montana. Knudsen said in a legal filing that Montana can ban harmful products, saying it does not violate free speech rights. The law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok users. TikTok estimates 380,000 people in Montana use the video service, or more than a third of the state's 1.1 million people. The American Civil Liberties Union this month called TikTok's ban unconstitutional and "a direct restriction on protected expression and association."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, China's ByteDance, General Austin Knudsen, " Knudsen, Donald Trump, Knudsen, David Shepardson, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, Republican, HK, Biden, American Civil Liberties Union, Thomson Locations: Montana

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Florida on Thursday declined to block the state's law barring citizens of China and other "countries of concern" from owning homes or land in the state. Winsor, an appointee of Republican then-President Donald Trump, denied a bid by four Chinese nationals to block the law pending the outcome of their lawsuit filed in May. Florida's law prohibits individuals who are "domiciled" in China and are not U.S. citizens or green card holders from purchasing buildings or land in the state. The ACLU claims the law violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process and the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), which prohibits housing discrimination based on race and national origin. The Biden administration filed a brief last month agreeing that the Florida law violates the FHA.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, District Judge Allen Winsor, Winsor, Donald Trump, Ashley Gorski, general's, Ron DeSantis, Biden, Daniel Wiessner, Alexia Garamfalvi Organizations: REUTERS, District, Republican, American Civil Liberties Union, U.S, Chinese Communist Party, ACLU, Housing, Thomson Locations: U.S, Florida, China, Tallahassee , Florida, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, North Korea, Albany , New York

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 17 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to allow Idaho to enforce a first-in-the-nation ban on transgender women and girls from participating in female sports leagues, saying the measure likely was unconstitutional. That argument was pursued by the ACLU's client, Lindsay Hecox, a transgender athlete who sought to join the women’s track team at Boise State University. Wardlaw said the law also discriminates against all Idaho female student athletes on the basis of sex by subjecting only them and not male athletes to the "invasive" sex dispute verification process. The Biden administration's Department of Education in April proposed a rule change that would prohibit schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes from teams that are consistent with their gender identities while offering flexibility on exceptions for the highest levels of competition. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Chase Strangio, Brad Little, Christiana Kiefer, Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, Bill Clinton, Lindsay Hecox, Wardlaw, Nate Raymond, Alexia Garamfalvi, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Trump, City Hall, REUTERS, Circuit, Republican, American Civil Liberties Union, Christian, Alliance Defending, Democratic, U.S, Boise State University, Idaho, Biden administration's Department of Education, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Idaho, North Carolina, Constitution's, Boston

☆ Social Media Algorithms Control Us. It’s Time To Push Back. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Julia Angwin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which he renamed X, has shown what can happen when an individual pushes a political agenda by controlling a social media company. He has reinstated accounts that were banned because of the white supremacist and antisemitic views they espoused. To prevent those who would hijack algorithms for power, we need a pro-choice movement for algorithms. We, the users, should be able to decide what we read at the newsstand. In my ideal world, I would like to be able to choose my feed from a list of providers.

Persons: Elon, Musk, Tucker Carlson, Andrew Tate, Charlie Warzel, Susie’s curation Organizations: Twitter, American Civil Liberties Union, Heritage Foundation Locations: The, Belgrade

☆ With the Latest Trump Indictment, Mind These Lessons From the South - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Anthony Michael Kreis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With her sweeping indictment of former President Donald Trump and over a dozen co-conspirators, the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney Fani Willis is now set to prosecute her case in a court of law. The indictment should be situated in the broader arc of American political development, particularly in the South. That history justifies using the criminal justice system to protect the democratic process in Georgia — a critical swing state — for elections now and in the future. The period after the American Civil War entrenched many of America’s political ills. Suffering minimal political disabilities, they could muster enough power to “redeem” Southern governments from biracial coalitions that had considerable sway to remake the South.

Persons: Donald Trump, Fani Willis Locations: Fulton County ,, Georgia

REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoCompanies Starbucks Corp FollowAug 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday dismissed a conservative activist investor's lawsuit against Starbucks' (SBUX.O) board, opposing the company's diversity, equity and inclusion policies and calling it frivolous. The nonprofit, which holds around $6,000 in Starbucks stock, said those policies require the company to make race-baced decisions that violate federal and state civil rights laws. The lawsuit is similar to those recently by conservative activist groups opposing corporate diversity and inclusion efforts in the wake of a June Supreme Court ruling. The ruling declared unlawful the race-conscious student admissions policies used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. On Friday, Daniel Morenoff of The American Civil Rights Project argued that Starbucks policies seeking to increase racial diversity among its suppliers, vendors, and employees were discriminatory and that NCPPR's cause was in the corporate interest.

Persons: Carlo Allegri, District Judge Stanley Bastian, Daniel Morenoff, Bastian, Craig, Jody Godoy, Tom Hals, Chris Reese, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Empire, REUTERS, Companies Starbucks, Starbucks, National Center for Public Policy Research, Blacks, Chief U.S, District, Harvard University, University of North, American Civil Rights, Target Corp, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York, U.S, Spokane , Washington, America, University of North Carolina, Florida, Wilmington , Delaware

REUTERS/Quinn GlabickiA White House spokesperson said Biden "continues to support moving away from the use of private detention facilities in the immigration detention system." One facility evaluated as part of the Biden administration review was Stewart Detention Center, a Georgia lockup operated by the private prison company CoreCivic (CXW.N). The administration has scaled back immigration detention in some ways. ICE often pays to maintain a fixed number of beds at detention centers regardless of whether they are actually used. But just six months later, the company signed a contract to reopen the same complex as a 1,900-bed immigration detention center.

Persons: Quinn Glabicki PHILIPSBURG, Joe Biden, watchdogs, Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden, Donald Trump, Mayorkas, lockups, Quinn Glabicki, Stewart, Ryan Gustin, Winn, Quinn Glabicki Ruben Dario, didn't, Ryan Horvath, Richwood, BIDEN, Trump, Biden's, Jose Gordo, Angela Kelley, Kelley, Boy Sonkarlay, Erika Guadalupe Nunez, Ted Hesson, Mica Rosenberg, Kristina Cooke, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Processing, GEO Group, U.S . Immigration, Customs, REUTERS, Democratic, Immigration, Customs Enforcement, Biden, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, Reuters, ICE, Companies, Republican, Trump, White, U.S . Department of Homeland Security, Stewart Detention, Winn Correctional Center, LaSalle Corrections, Richwood Correctional, LaSalle, Reuters Graphics Reuters, BI, ICE Processing Center, GEO, Visitors, Thomson Locations: Philipsburg , Pennsylvania, U.S, Pennsylvania, Mexico, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, LaSalle, Argentine, Spanish, California, Liberian, Philadelphia, Philipsburg, Washington, New York

☆ In every reported case where police mistakenly arrested someone using facial recognition, that person has been Black
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

All six known reports of false arrests due to facial recognition technology were made by Black people. As activists have warned for several years, facial recognition technology and AI can exacerbate racial inequity in policing. Several police departments across the country use facial recognition technology to identify suspects in certain investigations. Wired reported that Deborah Levi, a Maryland public defender, said the Baltimore Police Department ran nearly 800 facial recognition searches in 2022. In 2020, Detroit's police chief said their facial recognition technology, when used alone, fails 96% of the time, Insider previously reported.

Persons: Porcha Woodruff —, Detroit , Michigan —, Thaddeus L, Johnson, Deborah Levi, Phil Mayor, Robert Williams Organizations: Baltimore, Morning, New York Times, Times, Detroit Police Department, Wired, Baltimore Police Department, The Detroit Police Department, The Baltimore Police Department, American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan Locations: Detroit , Michigan, Maryland, Detroit

☆ Appeals court allows Biden asylum restrictions to temporarily stay in place as case plays out
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty ImagesAn appeals court Thursday allowed a rule restricting asylum at the southern border to temporarily stay in place. The government had gone quickly to the appeals court asking for the rule to be allowed to remain in use while the larger court battles surrounding its legality play out. The new asylum rule was put in place back in May. The government said the new asylum rule was an important tool to control migration. One of the groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, noted in a news release Thursday that the ruling didn't weigh the legality of the asylum rule and that they were confident they'd ultimately prevail.

Persons: Patrick T, Fallon, Biden, William Fletcher, Richard Paez, Bill Clinton, Judge Lawrence VanDyke, Donald Trump, VanDyke, Trump, David Peinado, they'd, Eiland, John Moore Organizations: Customs, Border Protection, Border Patrol, AFP, Getty, U.S, Appeals, US Border Patrol, Bloomberg, Texas Governor, Texas National Guard, Ciudad Juarez, Anadolu Agency, CBP, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Rio Grande, Mexico, El Paso , Texas, U.S, Yuma , Arizona, United States, Rio, El Paso Texas, Matamoros , Mexico

☆ Federal Appeals Court Further Limits Abortion Access on Guam
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( David W. Chen | More About David W. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Though abortion is legal in Guam up to 13 weeks of pregnancy, and later in certain cases, the last doctor who performed abortions left the island in 2018. BackgroundAbortion has long been a taboo topic on the culturally conservative island where about 80 percent of the inhabitants are Catholic. A federal court ruled that the ban was unconstitutional and blocked the territorial government from enforcing it, but the attorney general is fighting to try to revive the ban. That law was then blocked by a federal judge, allowing the doctors to send abortion pills. But with the momentum of the Supreme Court decision last year that overturned the national right to abortion, the Guam attorney general’s office said the injunction should be lifted.

Persons: Douglas Moylan, Vanessa L, Williams, general’s, Donald J, Trump, George W, Bush, Alexa Kolbi, “, ”, Moylan, Roe, Wade, Guam’s Organizations: Republican, New York Times, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Guam, San Francisco, Hawaii, Honolulu, ”

July 31 (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Monday on behalf of Oklahoma residents asking a state judge to block the creation of the nation's first religious public charter school. Oklahoma's Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, one of the defendants in the suit, in June approved the Catholic Church's application to create the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would use millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to operate. Rebecca Wilkinson, the executive director of the statewide virtual charter school board, said in an email that the agency would not comment on pending litigation. Charter schools are publicly funded and independently run under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority. Listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging St. Isidore are nine Oklahoma residents and the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee.

Persons: Isidore of, Isidore, Brett Farley, Farley, Ryan Walters, Walters, St, Rebecca Wilkinson, Gentner Drummond, Brad Brooks, Donna Bryson, Bill Berkrot, Deepa Babington Organizations: American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, Charter School Board, Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Oklahoma, Catholic, Catholic Archdiocese of, Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, University of Notre Dame, The ACLU, Americans United, and State, Education Law Center, Religion Foundation, Thomson Locations: Isidore of Seville, Oklahoma, U.S ., Maine and Montana, St, Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma, Indiana, Lubbock , Texas

☆ What is Section 702? Congress is debating the controversial surveillance power
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Juhi Doshi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, allows the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign nationals living outside the U.S. without needing to obtain a warrant. As recently as this month, a court opinion disclosed that FBI employees wrongly searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator. But data on U.S. citizens is still collected when they interact with a foreign surveillance target — that's known as "incidental" collection. Lawmakers from both sides have said they won't vote to renew the provision unless major changes are made in how the FBI uses foreign surveillance data to investigate Americans. "And that means first and foremost addressing the warrantless surveillance of Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment."

Persons: Samuel Corum, Biden, they're, George Floyd, Joe Biden's, Jake Sullivan, Jon, Read, Trump, Ron DeSantis, Bush, Donald Trump, Dick Durbin, Sen, Mike Lee, they've, Patrick Toomey, Toomey, Christopher Wray, Wray Organizations: Getty, Foreign Intelligence, FISA, FBI, Social, American Civil Liberties Union, White, President's Intelligence, Board, National, NBC, Historically, Republicans, DOJ, ACLU's National Security, National Intelligence, Committee Locations: Washington , DC, reauthorize, U.S, China, Russia, Florida, Georgia, Fulton, Utah

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden's new regulation restricting asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border, upending a key tenet of his plan to deter migration after COVID-era Title 42 restrictions ended in May. California-based U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar stayed the order for 14 days, leaving the restrictions in place for now. The Biden administration within hours appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The number of migrants caught crossing the border illegally plummeted in recent months after the new regulation went into place. Whether the trend will continue if the new asylum restrictions are blocked remains unclear.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Jon Tigar, Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Tigar, prolongs, Katrina Eiland, Ted Hesson, Kristina Cooke, Mica Rosenberg, Chris Reese, Daniel Wallis Organizations: U.S, District, Appeals, Democrat, Republican, Trump, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, Reuters, U.S . Department of Homeland Security, White, Thomson Locations: U.S, Mexico, . California, Belize, Colombia, Washington, New York

☆ Missouri Supreme Court Allows Abortion Ballot Initiative to Move Ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Anna Betts | More About Anna Betts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against the state attorney general’s position on an abortion ballot initiative, a decision that allows an effort to restore abortion rights there to move forward. The court ruled that the attorney general, Andrew Bailey, who opposes abortion, had improperly held up his approval of a ballot initiative that would ask voters whether they want to change the constitution to include a right to abortion. Mr. Bailey, a Republican, disputed the assessment of the state auditor, also a Republican, regarding how much such a change would cost. The delay prevented proponents of the initiative from beginning to collect signatures to try to place the question on the ballot for next year’s election. “While today is a tremendous victory for Missourians and the right to direct democracy, it is clear that some who hold office will not hesitate to trample the constitution if it advances their personal interests and political beliefs,” said Luz María Henríquez, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.

Persons: general’s, Andrew Bailey, Bailey, ”, Luz María Henríquez Organizations: Missouri Supreme, Republican, “, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Locations: Missouri

☆ Iowa Judge Temporarily Suspends New Abortion Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Colbi Edmonds | More About Colbi Edmonds | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Friday, Iowa’s Republican governor signed a strict new abortion ban into law. Until Monday afternoon, when a district judge put the ban on hold. Joseph Seidlin, a district court judge in Polk County, said that the new ban would be suspended while the larger legal case against it moved forward. That means that abortion in Iowa is once again legal up to around 22 weeks of pregnancy, at least for now. “We are also acutely aware that the relief is only pending further litigation and the future of abortion in Iowa remains tenuous and threatened.”

Persons: Joseph Seidlin, ’ ’, Abbey, Emma Goldman, ” Organizations: Iowa’s Republican, American Civil Liberties Union, Abbey Hardy, Emma Goldman Clinic Locations: Iowa, Polk County, Fairbanks

Last month, U.S. District Judge David Hale found that the ban likely violated the U.S. Constitution. However, he said he had to put his order on hold because the federal appeals court hearing the case recently paused a similar order in Tennessee. The law is being challenged by families of transgender children who say they will be irreparably harmed by losing access to medical treatments. The now-reinstated Kentucky and Tennessee laws were both blocked by federal judges on June 28 in response to lawsuits by families of transgender children. The families say the laws discriminate against transgender people and take away parents' right to make medical decisions for their children.

Persons: David Hale, Daniel Cameron, Corey Shapiro, Hale, Brendan Pierson, David Gregorio Our Organizations: District, . Constitution, Republican, Civil Liberties Union, Kentucky, U.S, Circuit, Appeals, Thomson Locations: Kentucky, U.S, ., Tennessee . Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas , Alabama, Florida, Indiana, New York

☆ Opinion | Why We Shouldn’t Lose Faith in Organized Religion
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Tish Harrison Warren | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Stephen Prothero wrote the book “Religious Literacy,” about the absence of religious literacy in American civic life. I wonder how many people who are reading that have alarm bells going off about the state of American civil society. American religion has long been entrepreneurial, and American religion will likely adapt in ways that increase religious participation in the medium to long run. But I fear that American society and social services will suffer in the short run. This is my understanding of religion, of pluralism, of social change: If you tell an inspiring story, people will want to move in that direction.

Persons: Stephen Prothero, Jessica Grose’s, ”, — Organizations: Catholic Locations: America

CNN —Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors will now take effect after a federal appeals court lifted an injunction against the law. The appeals court granted a stay of a lower court injunction, which had been blocking enforcement of a part of the state’s ban. The ban prohibits health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries and administering hormones or puberty blockers to transgender minors, pending the duration of the appeal. In five states, providing gender-affirming care to minors is now a felony. The association says gender-affirming care creates “effective pathways to achieving lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, in order to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being and self-fulfillment.”CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to note that a part of the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors took effect on July 1.

Persons: CNN —, Bill, Jonathan Skrmetti, ” Organizations: CNN, Sixth Circuit, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child, Psychiatry, Professional Association for Transgender Health Locations: Tennessee

A recently discovered letter written by President Abraham Lincoln that offers a glimpse into his thinking during the early part of the Civil War sold this week in Pennsylvania for $85,000, according to an autograph dealer. “Discovering unpublished, unknown letters of Abraham Lincoln is increasingly rare,” Mr. Raab said in a statement about the document on the Pennsylvania collection’s website. The letter, which measures 5 by 8 inches, was sold to a private collector in the southeastern United States on Wednesday, Mr. Raab said. Dated Aug. 19, 1861, the short letter is addressed to Charles Ellet Jr., an American civil engineer and Union Army colonel, who had met the president and lobbied him for the creation of a civil engineering corps. Colonel Ellet had insisted that immediate action be taken to understand the South’s infrastructure because he felt that Washington was vulnerable.

Persons: Abraham Lincoln, Nathan Raab, Raab, Mr, Charles Ellet Jr, Ellet Organizations: Pennsylvania, Union Army Locations: Pennsylvania, United States, American, Washington

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