Trump loses ruling on DACA move
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration had been “arbitrary and capricious” in its bid to eliminate an Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit partially reversed an earlier ruling in the case brought by the immigrant advocacy organization CASA de Maryland.
In a 2-1 decision, the court said the government had failed to “give a reasoned explanation for the change in policy, particularly given the significant” interests involved, according to the majority opinion written by Judge Albert Diaz and joined by Judge Robert King.
The decision is similar to one reached by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene. But the request has been pending for months, and the justices have stopped putting the cases on their weekly discussion list.
It is expected that the Supreme Court will have to deliver the final word on the program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, most likely in the term that begins in October. It could be that the justices are waiting for all of the appeals courts considering the issue to weigh in; another case challenging the administration’s DACA decision has been argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Justice Department declined Friday to comment on the ruling.
Missouri abortion ban
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Republicanled House on Friday passed sweeping legislation, designed to survive court challenges, that would ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy.
If enacted, the ban would be among the most restrictive in the U.S. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Doctors would face five to 15 years in prison for violating the eight-week cutoff. Women who receive abortions wouldn’t be prosecuted.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson pledged to sign the bill , but it’s unclear when he’ll take action. When pressed on the lack of exceptions for rape or incest, he told reporters that “all life has value.”
“I’m going to stand up for the people that don’t have a voice,” Mr. Parson said. “Everybody should have a right to life.”
Mastodon bone found
A teen searching for arrowheads in southern Iowa found something much bigger: the prehistoric jawbone of a mastodon.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the 30-inch bone belonged to a juvenile mastodon, an elephant-like animal believed to have roamed Iowa some 34,000 years ago.
Officials with the University of Iowa Paleontology Repository, which now has possession of the bone found last week, say the mastodon might have stood around 7 feet tall.
The farmers who donated the jaw and related bones to the repository did so anonymously, saying they didn’t want to encourage people to trespass on their property looking for fossils.
There likely are more fossils on the land, as the owners found other mastodon remains there decades ago.