The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it will seek to expedite proceedings before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in order to restore a permanent block on border wall construction using unauthorized military funds. The announcement comes after the Supreme Court temporarily granted the administration’s request to unfreeze up to $2.5 billion in military funds for wall construction while the Ninth Circuit considers the merits of the government’s appeal. The decision comes in an ACLU lawsuit on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition challenging the president’s abuse of emergency powers for border wall funds Congress denied. “This is not over. We will be asking the federal appeals court to expedite the ongoing appeals proceeding to halt this irreversible and imminent damage from Trump's border wall. Border communities, the environment, and our Constitution’s separation of powers will be permanently harmed should Trump get away with pillaging military funds for a xenophobic border wall Congress denied,” said Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, who successfully argued the case at the district and appellate court levels. Despite tonight’s Supreme Court order, which is temporary and limited to the $2.5 billion in military funds, the matter will go back to the Ninth Circuit, where the government had initially appealed a district court order blocking wall construction using the military funds. The Ninth Circuit denied the government’s motion to temporarily lift the block, but had not completed consideration of arguments on the merits of the government’s appeal when the government asked the Supreme Court to temporarily lift the block.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-comment-supreme-court-order-border-wall-lawsuit
Late Friday evening, the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration a temporary green light to begin construction of the border wall using military funds Congress denied. The order, while temporary and limited to specific wall projects where fencing already exists, threatens to permanently damage border communities, the environment, and our Constitution’s separation of powers. But it’s not the “big victory” President Trump quickly declared. The fight continues. Most importantly, the Supreme Court has not yet decided the case. The case — which we filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) — now goes back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. There, we’ll be asking the court to further expedite ongoing appeal proceedings. It’s important to be clear on what the 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court actually said on Friday. The Supreme Court didn’t give Trump’s abuse of emergency powers the stamp of approval, or say anything about whether the wall construction was lawful. Nor did the Supreme Court say that our clients lack standing — even the government concedes that Sierra Club and SBCC members face harm from the construction of a 30-foot wall on the lands they use and treasure. Instead, in temporarily granting the administration’s request to begin wall construction, the majority’s brief, one-paragraph order stated that “the Government has made sufficient showing at this stage that the plaintiffs have no cause of action to obtain review.” The words “at this stage” are key. To receive a temporary stay, which the government was asking for here, the bar is lower than for normal review. The government has to show only a “fair possibility” in prevailing on the cause of action issue. At the next stage, when our case is given full consideration, the government would have to actually establish that our clients, who are indisputably harmed by Trump’s abuse of powers, still can’t call on the courts to stop the president’s illegal power grab. That’s a much higher bar, and one the government has failed to meet in lower courts. Moreover, there are centuries-old precedents empowering courts to halt lawless executive action, and the Supreme Court has long recognized those precedents. There is a strong reason to believe it will do so again in a case where the illegality is as blatant as the president taking funds Congress deliberately and expressly denied.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/supreme-court-order-no-big-victory-trumps-border-wall-fight-continues
Alaska defunds scholarships for thousands of university students ahead of fall semester
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-defunds-scholarships-thousands-university-students-ahead-fall-semester-n1035231
India achieves target of doubling tiger count 4 years before deadline
https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/tiger-census-india-achieves-target-four-years-before-deadline/story/368716.html
Human body ‘close to thermal limits’ due to extreme heatwaves caused by climate change, scientist says | Recordbreaking heat has swept through Europe this week with temperatures topping 40C - in places such as South Asia & the Persian Gulf, people are already enduring temperatures reaching up to 54C | Despite all the body's thermal efficiencies, these areas could soon be uninhabitable, according to Loughborough University climate scientist Dr Tom Matthews in The Conversation.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/exteme-global-temperatures-heatwave-human-body-limits-a9023421.html
https://theconversation.com/heatwave-think-its-hot-in-europe-the-human-body-is-already-close-to-thermal-limits-elsewhere-121003
A teenager who accused a prominent local politician of rape in India has been involved in a fatal car crash, with the family and prominent opposition leaders calling foul play. The 19-year-old alleged rape victim was travelling with her lawyer and two female relatives when their car was rammed by a truck in a head-on collision. The two female relatives, one of whom was also a witness in a related case, died in the crash, while the alleged rape victim and her lawyer are in critical condition in hospital. The woman, from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh state, says she was raped in 2017 by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a member of the state’s legislative assembly for Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP party. The case came to prominence in April 2018 when the woman attempted to set herself on fire outside the residence of Yogi Adityanath, the BJP chief minister of the state, accusing police of failing to act. A day later, her father – who had brought the case to police on her behalf – died in hospital after he was beaten, allegedly by a group of men including Mr Sengar’s brother.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/unnao-rape-case-death-woman-india-politician-truck-lawyer-kuldeep-sengar-a9025116.html
U.S. judge blocks Medicaid work requirements in New Hampshire
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-medicaid-new-hampshire/u-s-judge-blocks-medicaid-work-requirements-in-new-hampshire-idUSKCN1UO21R
New Documents Show Corporate and Foreign Interests Seek to Influence U.S. Nuclear Policy | “Today’s report reveals new and extensive evidence that corroborates Committee whistleblowers and exposes how corporate and foreign interests are using their unique access to advocate for the transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. The American people deserve to know the facts about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President’s personal friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.” | New documents and communications show that IP3, the private company lobbying the White House to transfer U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, repeatedly sought a $120 million investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It is unclear if the company ultimately received the investment. | New documents show that IP3 officials have had unprecedented access to the highest levels of the Trump Administration, including meeting directly with President Trump, Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, KT McFarland, and Cabinet Secretaries Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, Mike Pompeo, Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, and Wilbur Ross. IP3 described the Trump Administration as “an extended team member.” | New documents show that Thomas J. Barrack, Jr.—a longtime personal friend, campaign donor, and inaugural chairman—negotiated directly with President Trump and other White House officials to seek powerful positions within the Administration—including Special Envoy to the Middle East and Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates—at the same time he was (1) promoting the interests of U.S. corporations seeking to profit from the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia; (2) advocating on behalf of foreign interests seeking to obtain this U.S. nuclear technology; and (3) taking steps for his own company, Colony NorthStar, to profit from the same proposals he was advancing with the Administration. | The White House has completely refused to cooperate with the Committee’s investigation and has not produced a single document in response to the Committee’s requests. For the most part, the federal agencies involved have followed suit. As a result of the White House’s actions, it may be necessary for the Committee to seek compulsory process to obtain information from the White House, federal agencies, and individual Trump Administration officials. |
https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/new-documents-show-corporate-and-foreign-interests-seek-to-influence-us-nuclear
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Trump%20Saudi%20Nuclear%20Report%20July%202019.pdf
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Trump%20Saudi%20Nuclear%20Report%20July%202019%20-%20Appendix%20A.pdf
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