Tuesday, June 29 top stories
It is Tuesday, June 29. Here are today’s top stories.
William Barr, who was the 45th President Donald Trump’s attorney general, gave details to a reporter with “The Atlantic” about happened behind the scenes in December 2020 — when he told AP News that there was no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.
Barr said the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, after it was clear that Joe Biden won the election, urged him to speak out against Trump’s claims of fraud because he was the only one who could do this.
Barr said he already suspected that Trump’s claims were “bull——“ but gave federal investigators green light to look into allegations of voter fraud.
Barr said he checked the allegations that there were suspicious ballot dumps in Detroit but found that it was normal because ballots in Wayne County (Detroit area) are usually counted in one central counting place rather than in individual precincts.
Barr said he also checked allegations that voting machines across the U.S. were rigged to switch Trump votes to Biden votes. Barr said it was all “bull——,” explaining that the machine counts and hand recounts were reconciled without any discrepancies reported anywhere.
Barr said Trump was livid with him for telling AP News in December that there was no evidence of widespread fraud. He said that Trump’s face was red and that he said, “You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump.”
Barr said he met with Trump two weeks later to inform him that he would be resigning before the end of the year.
President Biden and First Lady Jill will visit Surfside, Florida on Thursday to meet with those involved with the condo collapse.
The death toll has increased to 11, and there are still 150 people missing. The search is now in its sixth day. Crews cut a wide and deep trench into the rubble to be able to quickly move in and out and try to find survivors.
The WNBA announced that 99% of its players have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. CBS News said the WNBA has a higher percentage of vaccinated players than any other major U.S. sports league that has announced its vaccination rates.
The MLB said 85% of its players are vaccinated. The NFL said 65% of its players have received at least one shot. The NBA said around 75% of its players have been vaccinated.
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On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take a case concerning Gavin Grimm, a transgender man who sued a school board in Virginia for its policy that prohibited him from using the boys restroom. A lower court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Grimm by ruling that the school board’s policy violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Law professor Michael Schwartz explained in an interview that the Title VII had historically been used in cases concerning discrimination based on sex or race, but a few years ago the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII also applies to sexual orientation. The 4th Circuit used that ruling to make their decision to side with Grimm’s rights. Here’s more insights from him.
Michael Schwartz:
The school violated federal law by forcing him to use the girls’ bathroom. Actually, the school offered to provide a bathroom in the nurse’s office. That is just humiliating for the young boy, for him to have to go to the nurse… So the Fourth Circuit Court said the school violated federal law using the previous, older Supreme Court case that supported LGTBQ individuals’ rights.
That’s why the Fourth Circuit, which is a lower court, when they saw that Title VII covers LGBTQ rights, determined that the school must abide by it by allowing transgender youths to use the bathroom that corresponds with their identities, not with what they were born as.
When the Supreme Court declines to review a case, it means that the case really only applies to the lower court’s jurisdiction. For example, in this transgender youth bathroom case, that applies to Virginia. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals covers Virginia and maybe a couple of other states, I’ll have to check. So in Virginia, it applies there. Not in California. Not in Texas. Not in Florida. However, courts in those jurisdictions, Florida, Texas, and California, will look to the Fourth Circuit case and maybe buy in — which means to accept the case to apply to their region. The courts can say (the ruling) is influential, and is important to the court’s decision. They can do that. But for the transgender youth bathroom decision, that applies only to the Fourth Circuit jurisdiction.
Alex: Thank you for your explanation, Michael. The Fourth Circuit of Appeals covers Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
Barr/Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/william-barrs-trump-administration-attorney-general/619298/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wnba-fully-vaccinated-covid-19/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/us/politics/supreme-court-transgender-bathroom-rights.html