Author: potus

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday handed down a unanimous ruling in a religious rights case, finding that a Catholic charity in Wisconsin can’t be required to pay unemployment taxes when other religious groups are exempt. The high court said the state’s tax decisions created an advantage for groups with a more overtly religious tone in their daily work, a violation of the First Amendment. “It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the opinion. ”There may be hard calls to make in policing that…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a $10 billion lawsuit Mexico filed against top firearm manufacturers in the U.S. that claimed the companies’ business practices were helping fuel cartel violence plaguing the country. In a victory for the firearm industry, the unanimous ruling tossed out the case under a U.S. law that largely shields gunmakers from liability when their firearms are used in crime.Congress passed the law two decades ago to halt a flurry of lawsuits against gunmakers that were similar to the case Mexico filed, Justice Elena Kagan wrote. Her opinion overturned a lower court…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to bring lawsuits over so-called reverse discrimination, siding with an Ohio woman who claims she didn’t get a job and then was demoted because she is straight.The justices’ decision affects lawsuits in 20 states and the District of Columbia where, until now, courts had set a higher bar when members of a majority group, including those who are white and heterosexual, sue for discrimination under federal law.Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote for the court that federal civil rights law draws no distinction between members of majority and minority groups.“By…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in some of the 12 countries whose citizens will be soon banned from visiting the United States denounced President Donald Trump’s move to resurrect a hallmark policy of his first term and vowed Thursday to push back against the U.S.The ban, which was announced Wednesday, takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, a cushion that may avoid the chaos that unfolded at airports nationwide when a similar measure took effect with virtually no notice in 2017. Trump, who signaled plans for a new ban upon taking office again in January, appears to be on firmer ground this…

A man reads a note placed on a memorial at the scene of an attack that injured multiple people, outside the Boulder County Courthouse, in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. June 2, 2025.Mark Makela | ReutersA federal judge on Wednesday temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting the wife and five children of Mohamed Soliman, the Egyptian national accused of attacking a group of demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, with a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails.The order blocking the removal of Soliman’s family came a day after they were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and as the Department…

(The Center Square) – Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a pair of maternal health bills this week that require hospitals and birthing centers to follow emergency safety protocols aimed at preventing complications during childbirth.The goal is simple: fewer tragedies, more standardized care and better odds for moms in every corner of the commonwealth.The new laws, Senate Bill 1279 and House Bill 2573, make it mandatory for all hospitals, licensed birthing centers and emergency departments to adopt “safety bundles,” which are proven checklists and procedures for handling obstetric emergencies.The rules apply to both inpatient and outpatient settings.“Virginia’s mothers bringing a new…

(The Center Square) – While updated cost estimates show Republicans’ multitrillion-dollar policy megabill could kick nearly 11 million people off Medicaid, a government watchdog says those recipients either have ways to retain healthcare coverage or were ineligible in the first place.The Congressional Budget Office released Wednesday a comprehensive fiscal analysis of the House-passed budget reconciliation bill, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, showing it would add an estimated $3 trillion to the national debt and $2.4 trillion to primary deficits over the next decade alone.The CBO report also estimates that the Medicaid reforms within the bill, such as adding…

On May 28, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] or studying in critical fields.” Without a doubt, this change will fundamentally reshape American higher education and global scientific competition. But because the criteria—critical fields and connections to the CCP—are deliberately vague, and because the administration has declined to offer further detail about how they will be determined, how many students will be targeted remains highly uncertain. However, by my own estimates, the policy could affect more than 150,000…

The ongoing diplomacy between Iran and the United States offers cautious hope for breaking the deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program. But if Iran refuses to abandon uranium enrichment and ship its stockpile abroad, as Washington demands, and talks collapse, many assume—and a growing number of news reports attributed to government sources attest—that the United States or Israel would resort to airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The logic of a “comply or get bombed” policy is seductive. It rests on a belief that Iran is currently weak and can thus be forced into accepting maximalist demands. Iran is portrayed as suffering…

(The Center Square) – New York’s abortion laws were upheld by a federal appeals court on Tuesday, which rejected a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of unborn fetuses in the state.The ruling by the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court judge’s dismissal of the constitutional challenge to New York’s Reproductive Health Act, a six-year old law that enshrines the right to abortion in the state.A lawsuit filed by a social worker, known only as Mary Doe in court filings, argued that the 2019 law created an “imminent danger” to unborn fetuses by making them vulnerable to…