Panel clears way for Tenn. law blocking transgender youth care
A federal appeals panel on Saturday said a Tennessee law that would ban hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender youth could go into effect, marking the first time a federal court has allowed a law banning transition care to fully take hold in the United States.
The ruling, issued by a divided three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, comes less than two weeks after a district court judge temporarily blocked the ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The judges, who will now consider a broader appeal on the temporary hold on the law, said a final decision would come before Sept. 30.
The decision is a notable blow to transgender youth, their families, and their allies, who have leaned on the nation’s judiciary as a last resort to block a series of sweeping laws that target transition care, legislation they say would be harmful to young people’s health.
Until the ruling Saturday, judges had been compelled by the argument that the laws are discriminatory against transgender people and violated the Constitution, ruling to either temporarily or permanently block their enforcement.
The decision also underscores how tenuous and uncertain the medical and political landscape is for transgender youth and their families, as conservative-led states have enacted a series of laws designed to curb LGBTQ+ rights and access to health care.
In Tennessee, the Legislature’s Republican supermajority rallied around such a law, calling it SB 1 as a sign of its importance to the lawmakers’ agenda. Once in effect, the law prevents doctors from beginning transition care for new patients and ends existing care for current patients by March 2024.
But just days before the law was set to go into effect on July 1, Judge Eli J. Richardson of the Middle District of Tennessee had decided to temporarily preserve access to hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
But the appeals panel, led by Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, found that Richardson had overstepped by issuing a statewide ruling and questioned whether the challengers would prevail with their argument that the law violated constitutional rights.
Sutton did, however, offer a caveat, particularly since several other judges decided to rule against similar bans in other states. He wrote that “these initial views, we must acknowledge, are just that: initial. We may be wrong.”
NEW YORK TIMES
Iowa caucuses will be held on Jan. 15, GOP says
DES MOINES — Iowa Republicans announced Saturday that the party’s presidential nominating caucuses will be held Jan. 15, on the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., putting the first votes of the 2024 election a little more than six months away as the GOP tries to reclaim the White House.
White House candidates have campaigned in Iowa since last winter, but there has been some uncertainty about the date for the caucuses that have by tradition kicked off the Republican selection process for a nominee. What’s changed is the Democratic National Committee’s election calendar, dropping Iowa as its first contest.
The Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee voted unanimously for the third Monday in January — a date that is earlier by several weeks than the past three caucuses, though not as early as 2008, when they were held just three days into the new year.
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, during a call with reporters later, reported that the vote was unanimous and that he “never sensed that there was anyone even thinking about voting no” to the proposed date.
“As Republicans, we can, I, we see this as honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King in terms of having a caucus here,” Kaufmann said, noting also that committee members hadn’t considered the possibility of the contest falling on the federal holiday before arriving at the date.
Caucuses, unlike primary elections, are contests planned, financed, and carried out by the parties, not state election officials. The Iowa announcement Saturday allows New Hampshire, which has not inked a primary election date but has circled Jan. 23 as its preference, to protect its first-in-the-nation status, which is codified in state law that requires the contest be held at least seven days ahead of any other primary.
The decision could have implications for both parties. Iowa Democrats had been waiting for the GOP to set a date as they try to adjust to new DNC rules on their primary order.
Democrats have proposed holding a caucus on the same day as the Republicans contest and allowing participants to vote for president via mail-in ballot. But Iowa Democrats have said they may not immediately release the results.
That could allow the state party to still hold the first-inthe-nation caucus without defying a new election-year calendar endorsed by President Biden and approved by the DNC that calls for South Carolina to replace Iowa in the leadoff spot and kick off primary voting on Feb. 3.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tab is rising on Trump investigations
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of former president Donald Trump’s retention of classified records and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election have cost more than $9 million over the first several months, according to documents released Friday.
The special counsel’s office spent more than $5.4 million on things like employees’ salaries, travel, and transportation, rent, supplies, and materials from Smith’s appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 through the end of March, Justice Department statement of expenditures show.
Justice Department agencies spent another $3.8 million to support the special counsel.
Trump was indicted last month on 37 felony counts alleging he illegally kept classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and refused government demands to give them back. Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta — who was charged alongside the former president — have both pleaded not guilty.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and slammed the prosecution as an attempt to hurt his bid to reclaim the
White House in 2024.
Smith has also been digging into efforts by Trump and his allies to undo President Biden’s election victory.
Since Smith’s appointment, he has cast a broad net in demanding interviews and testimony related to fund-raising, Trump’s rally that preceded the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and communications between Trump associates and election officials in battleground states.
In December, Smith subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving Trump, his 2020 campaign aides, and a list of allies who were involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election.
ASSOCIATED PRESS