The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to enforce its policy to restrict transgender people from serving in the military nationwide, while several lower court challenges continue.
The justices split 5-4 based on ideological lines with the court’s five conservatives, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, greenlighting Trump’s plan, while its four liberal members objected to allowing the ban to go ahead.
Transgender service members were previously banned from the military until former President Barack Obama lifted the ban in 2016, and, the military was also ordered to pay for the medical costs incurred for hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery.
President Trump tweeted on July 26, 2017: “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Kentucky School Closes After Student and Native American Encounter Goes Viral
Covington Catholic High School, now known nationwide after its students were involved in an encounter with Native American and Black Hebrew activists in Washington on Jan. 18, closed for safety reasons on Jan. 22.
In a letter to parents and students, Covington Principal Robert Rowe said the decision to close the school was made “in order to ensure the safety of our students, faculty, and staff.”
After video of the encounter went viral, a number of activists, media figures, and many others on social media encouraged violence and retribution against the students, including a Disney producer who said any kids wearing so-called “MAGA” hats should be killed.
But when the full video footage of the incident began circulating widely, after initially being ignored or overlooked by the media outlets, journalists, analysts, activists, and authorities, many deleted their initial musings en masse and issued apologies.
On Jan. 21, President Trump tweeted: “Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgments proving out to be false—smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback!”
U.S. Will Seek Extradition of Huawei CFO from Canada
The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it will pursue the extradition of the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, arrested in Canada in December.
The United States has accused Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou of misrepresenting the company’s links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran, despite U.S. sanctions.
The United States must file a formal request for extradition by Jan. 30. Once a formal request is received, a Canadian court has 30 days to determine whether there is enough evidence to support extradition and the Canadian Minister of Justice must issue a formal order.
