Transgender military recruit ban to go on
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday directed the Pentagon to extend indefinitely a ban on trans-gender individuals joining the military.
In the directive, Trump also gave Defense Secretary James Mattis the authority to decide the matter of openly transgender individuals already serving, and he said that until the Pentagon chief makes that decision, “no action may be taken against” them.
President Barack Obama’s administration in June 2016 had changed long-standing policy, declaring that troops could serve openly as transgender individuals. And it set a July 2017 deadline for determining whether transgender people could be allowed to enter the military. Mattis delayed that to Jan. 1, and Trump has now instructed Mattis to extend it indefinitely.
But there was uncertainty about what will happen to those transgender individuals who already are serving openly. A White House official who briefed reporters on the order would not say whether Trump would permit any exceptions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump gave Mattis six months to come up with a policy on those currently serving, the official said.
Dana White, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said Mattis had received the guidance.
Hold senator to trial dates, court hears
NEWARK, N.J. — Prosecutors said Friday that they oppose U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s bid to have the judge in his corruption trial alter the trial schedule so he can be present for important votes in Washington.
The New Jersey Democrat made the request Thursday in a filing that mentions potential votes in September on raising the federal debt limit and approving a spending deal to avoid a government shutdown. Opening statements in his trial are scheduled for Sept. 6.
“As the recent vote on whether to repeal the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act demonstrated, the Senate is divided by razor-thin margins on consequential legislation, making Senator Menendez’s absence from any particular vote potentially determinative,” his motion stated.
In a response filed Friday, the government accused Menendez of using his position to “pick and choose the dates on which his criminal trial will be conducted.”
“The political consequences of defendant Menendez’s trial or criminal conviction should not be considered in the courtroom,” prosecutors wrote.
Justices will hear prisoner-bill dispute
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has agreed to resolve a dispute among lower courts over how much prisoners must pay their lawyers when they win civil-rights lawsuits against their jailers.
The justices said Friday that they would review a ruling by the federal appeals court in Chicago that required a prisoner to pay his lawyers a quarter of the $308,000 judgment he won after being beaten by corrections officers at an Illinois prison. Other appeals courts have held that prisoners must pay up to a quarter of the judgment, giving trial judges discretion to settle on a lower percentage.
The defendants in the suits pay the rest of the lawyers’ costs.
Federal law says a portion of the judgment “not to exceed 25 percent” must go to attorney’s fees.
N.C. school district bans Reb flag gear
DURHAM, N.C. — A North Carolina public school system has revised its dress code to prohibit the Confederate flag, Ku Klux Klan symbols and swastikas.
Local news outlets reported that the board of Durham Public Schools voted unanimously Thursday to make the change. The Herald-Sun of Durham reported that board members had expressed support for the change during a work session last week.
Durham, home to Duke University, is where protesters toppled a Confederate statue in front of the old county courthouse Aug. 14 after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., ended in deadly violence.
“These things, historically, were meant for hate, or at some point in history, meant hatred,” board Chairman Mike Lee said.