US Supreme Court allows Yeshiva University to bar LGBTQ student club

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-supreme-court-blocks-ruling-requiring-yeshiva-university-recognize-lgbtq-club/

The US Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling requiring Yeshiva University in New York City to recognize a campus LGBTQ pride group.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted an emergency request on Friday filed last week by the modern Orthodox university that cited its rights under the First Amendment, which protects the free exercise of religion. The university argued that such recognition would be contrary to its beliefs.

The decision puts on hold a ruling issued by a New York state judge in June that the school must recognize the group. It comes amid a lengthy legal battle between the university and an LGBTQ Pride Alliance Club hinging on whether the university is a religious or secular institution.

Israel Will Cover ‘Voice Surgery’ for Transgender People

 https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/israel-will-cover-voice-surgery-for-transgender-people/

Biology can be a nuisance for transgender people. For instance, it is an inconvenient truth that biological males and females sound different, have different tones of voice.

Modern medicine can help with that, but it’s expensive. The State of Israel thinks its taxpayers should cover the cost.

Trump special master ruling ‘troubling,’ legal experts say

 https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3633170-trump-special-master-ruling-troubling-legal-experts-say/

The ruling in favor of Trump by federal district court Judge Aileen Cannon has been a head-scratcher for many attorneys, who say the court left behind many unanswered questions while also blocking an unprecedented investigation of a former president.

“It does seem to reflect a fair amount of bending and stretching of the law in numerous different respects,” said Jeff Robbins, a former federal prosecutor and congressional investigative counsel.

U.S. reveals more classified records may be missing in Trump probe

 https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-prosecutors-seek-judges-ok-continue-reviewing-trump-documents-2022-09-08/

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's team may not have returned all the classified records removed from the White House at the end of his presidency even after an FBI search of his home, U.S. prosecutors warned on Thursday, calling it a potential national security risk that needs investigation.

That revelation came in a Justice Department court filing asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to let it continue reviewing about 100 classified records seized by the FBI at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate while it investigates whether classified documents were illegally removed from the White House and improperly stored there.

‘Deeply Problematic’: Experts Question Judge’s Intervention in Trump Inquiry

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/trump-special-master-aileen-cannon.html

Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee who sits on the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, also blocked federal prosecutors from further examining the seized materials for the investigation until the special master had completed a review.

In reaching that result, Judge Cannon took several steps that specialists said were vulnerable to being overturned if the government files an appeal, as most agreed was likely. Any appeal would be heard by the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, where Mr. Trump appointed six of its 11 active judges.

Republicans dodge national security implications of Trump having classified documents at Mar-a-Lago

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/08/politics/republicans-trump-national-security-implications-classified-docs/index.html

The Mar-a-Lago drama placed Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio in a delicate spot between his fall reelection and his position as the top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In an interview with NBC 6, a Miami TV station, he downplayed the entire affair by diminishing the seriousness of the Department of Justice's investigation.

"This is really, at its core, a storage argument that they are making," said Rubio, adding, "I don't think a fight over storage of documents is worthy of what they have done, which is a full scale raid."

DOJ appeals special master ruling in Trump documents probe

 https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3634802-doj-appeals-special-master-ruling-in-trump-documents-probe/

The filing digs into District Judge Aileen Cannon’s logic on a number of areas, pointing to many of the same issues in a ruling legal scholars largely panned as troubling.

Donald Trump Rages as DOJ Appeals Special Master Decision

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rages-doj-appeals-special-master-decision-1741317

"So now the FBI & Biden Department of 'Justice' leakers are going to spend Millions of Dollars, & vast amounts of Time & Energy, to appeal the Order on the 'Raid of Mar-a-Lago Document Hoax,' by a brilliant and courageous Judge whose words of wisdom rang true throughout our Nation, instead of fighting the record setting corruption and crime that is taking place right before their very eyes," Trump said in the post.

Israel advances plan to build 700 units in new east Jerusalem settlement

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-716500

Israel’s government advanced a plan to build as many as 700 new apartment units in a suburb of Jerusalem that opponents say encroaches on a Palestinian village that straddles the country’s contested pre- and post-1967 lines.

The Jerusalem planning and building committee on Monday approved a plan for a new neighborhood called Givat Shaked, which would include high-rise buildings that come right up to the edge of Beit Safafa — a village that was split from 1948 until 1967, when Israel captured east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War.

Republicans Want Donald Trump for 2024, Even if He's Indicted: Poll

 https://www.newsweek.com/poll-shows-republicans-want-donald-trump-2024-even-if-indicted-1740831

Approximately 61 percent of Republicans said they'd support the former president if he were indicted, compared to 20 percent of independents and 8 percent of Democrats. The survey of 1,236 adults was conducted between August 29 and September 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 points.

"Former President Trump is losing the battle with public opinion over whether he did anything wrong by taking government documents to Mar-a-Lago," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. "But his core support remains intact regardless of the results of the investigation."

Senate Republicans point fingers as majority hopes slip

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3631583-senate-republicans-point-fingers-as-majority-hopes-slip/

More broadly, Senate Republicans are concerned that Trump’s legal troubles are consuming too much of the national spotlight, diverting public attention from what they want to make the 2022 midterm election about: President Biden’s economic record.

Barr says DOJ ‘getting very close’ to having enough evidence to indict Trump

 https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3632614-barr-says-doj-getting-very-close-to-having-enough-evidence-to-indict-trump/

Former Attorney General William Barr said on Wednesday that he believes the Justice Department is “getting very close” to having enough evidence to indict former President Trump. 

He said on Fox News that government investigators need to consider if they will be able to make a “technical” case against Trump for his handling of sensitive documents the FBI found at his Mar-a-Lago home last month. 

“I think they’re getting very close to that point, frankly,” Barr said. 

A Ruling Untethered to the Law

 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/judge-cannon-trump-mar-a-lago-special-master/671349/

Cannon’s opinion, by contrast, is so deeply flawed that it’s hard to know where to begin a critique. Let’s start with the unequal application of the law. Although Trump wallows in feigned claims of persecution, in fact he has been privileged by the Justice Department, and now Cannon, in a manner unheard of for any other defendant. Every defendant would relish the opportunity to delay a criminal investigation by having a court enjoin the government from investigation, but that never happens. The time-honored recourse for someone aggrieved by a search is not to have an unelected judge unilaterally decide to enjoin the constitutionally delegated power of the executive branch to investigate and prosecute. The defense remedy is in a post-indictment motion to suppress evidence from a search.

Arizona Republican secretary of state candidate wrong about ‘fake’ mail ballots

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/30/mark-finchem/arizona-republican-secretary-state-candidate-wrong/

Finchem said, "In Arizona, we have flood the zone with fake ballots."

Although he did not explain his definition of "fake ballots," Finchem’s description suggests that ballots are mailed out en masse to voters that did not request them. But that’s now how it works — and there’s no evidence of pervasive fraud or fakery.

Arizona voters must take steps to receive a mail ballot, whether it’s for a specific election or a continuing basis.

Finchem’s statement is an inaccurate and ridiculous summation that could discourage voter participation in a legitimate process. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!