Appeals court revives Native American challenge to $10B SunZia energy transmission project
The Tohono O'odham Nation — along with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity and Archaeology Southwest — sued the U.S. Interior Department and then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2024. They argued that the agency failed to properly consult with the tribes on a historic property designation for southern Arizona's San Pedro Valley.
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Fed court of appeals grants Trump admin pause on protections for 60K immigrants
A federal appeals court in San Francisco granted the Trump administration an emergency stay, halting a lower-court order that preserved Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 60,000 immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal. The National TPS Alliance, which represents people with TPS in the U.S., as well as those from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal who challenged the decision to terminate TPS, argue the action was unlawful and at least partially motivated by racial bias. Judge Trina Thompson, a federal judge in California, delayed the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) decision to terminate protections for immigrants from the three countries on July 31, adding to legal hurdles for the Trump administration as it pushes out its deportation agenda. In her decision, Thompson said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's terminations of TPS were likely "preordained decisions" that violated the Administrative Procedure Act. She also agreed with the National TPS Alliance, noting Noem's motives were driven by racial animus. "The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek," Thompson, a Biden-appointee, wrote in an order. "Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood. The Court disagrees." The appeals court panel was made up of three judges appointed by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as President Donald Trump. In its decision the panel paused Thompson's decision while the appeal proceeded. It also suspended the existing briefing schedule and requested all parties to propose new schedules after a related case – National TPS Alliance v. Noem – is decided. But the panel also refused to put a freeze on any activity in the district court related to this case, stressing the docket management is up to the trial judge. The lawsuit was brought by a group representing TPS holders, including some who have lived in the country for more than two decades. Attorneys wrote in court papers on behalf of the immigrants that they were "laborers, health care workers, artists, and caretakers" who have "relied on TPS to provide the most basic forms of human security — a stable place to live and a chance to work for a living during a time of severe crisis in their home countries." They argued that Noem declining to extend their TPS status was, by law, supposed to be reached based on an individualized analysis of each country. The judge found that Noem likely failed to condition TPS termination on factors specific to the immigrants' countries of origin. They also said Noem had given the immigrants a historically short notice period of 60 days before they would lose their TPS status. And she and other Trump administration officials have normalized using "racist invective" to explain their TPS decisions, the attorneys said. The TPS program gives the DHS authority to permit immigrants who might otherwise have no legal status to temporarily reside in the United States because of extraordinary circumstances in their home countries, such as wars or natural disasters. The plaintiffs argued that roughly 61,000 people would lose their TPS as a result of Noem's decision, which would end the immigrants' legal status and work authorizations and make them eligible for deportation.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Let People Vote on District Maps: California AG Rob Bonta
Rob Bonta (D) California Attorney General talks about how he is preparing to fend off California Republicans who are preparing a legal challenge of their own against Governor Newsom's attempt to redistrict the state in an attempt to block Texas' redistricting map efforts. He speaks with Tyler Kendall and Michael Shepard on the late edition of Bloomberg's 'Balance of Power.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Trump urges Texas Republicans to swiftly pass redistricting maps while Newsom, California Dems counter
Major votes are on tap this week in the Texas and California legislatures in the high-stakes battle between Republicans and Democrats over congressional redistricting ahead of next year's midterm elections. In Austin, Texas, the GOP-dominated state House of Representatives on Wednesday resumes meeting amid a second straight special session called by conservative Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. At the top of their to-do list as they return to work is passing a GOP-crafted redistricting map that would create up to five Republican-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats. Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 U.S. House seats. "Please pass this Map, ASAP. THANK YOU TEXAS," President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday. Texas Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows strikes the gavel as the House calls a special session with a quorum, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Austin. (AP Photo - Eric Gay) The Republican push in Texas, which comes at Trump's urging, is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans in red state Texas enjoy a supermajority in the legislature and the state Senate passed the new congressional maps last week, during the first special legislative session. But dozens of Texas Democratic state representatives fled the state to prevent a quorum in the Texas House, effectively preventing Abbott and Republicans from moving forward with new maps. Many of the Democrats who had fled the state returned on Monday, and made it to the state Capitol building as the House reconvened. They were cheered by supporters as they arrived. Supporters for the returning Texas democrats chant as members enter the House at the Capitol in Austin, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman) But with Republicans outnumbering Democrats 88-62 in the state House, the new maps are expected to pass when lawmakers return on Wednesday. "Let me also be clear about where we go from here. We are done waiting, and we have quorum. Now is the time for action," Republican Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said on Monday. During the walkout, Abbott and Republican state attorney general Ken Paxton sued to try and remove some of the absent Democratic lawmakers from office. Meanwhile, GOP Sen. John Cornyn worked to get the FBI's help in tracking down the AWOL lawmakers. And Burrows issued civil arrest warrants and also pledged to fine the lawmakers $500 per day. The fleeing Democrats, who set up camp in the blue states of Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, late last week signaled that they would return to Texas after the adjournment of the first special session, and after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other top California Democrats unveiled their playbook to counter the push by Trump and Republicans to enact rare – but not unheard of – mid-decade congressional redistricting. The end of the walkout by the Democrats will lead to the passage of the new maps, but Texas Democrats vow they'll fight the new state maps in court and say the moves by California are allowing them to pass "the baton." While the Republican push in Texas to upend the current congressional maps doesn't face constitutional constraints, Newsom's path in California is much more complicated. The governor is moving to hold a special election this year, to obtain voter approval to undo the constitutional amendments that created the non-partisan redistricting commission. A two-thirds majority vote in the Democrat-dominated California legislature would be needed to hold the referendum. Democrats in Sacramento on Monday unveiled a bill to move forward with the referendum. California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announces a legislative package to advance a partisan effort to redraw the state's congressional map at a press conference on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Sacramento. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen) "California and Californians have been uniquely targeted by the Trump Administration, and we are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power — pursuing more extreme and unpopular policies," Newsom said Monday in a statement. The Democrat-dominated legislature is expected to approve the referendum on Thursday. The maps the Democrats unveiled late last week would create up to five more left-leaning congressional districts at the expense of the Republican minority in heavily blue California. "Here we are in open and plain sight before one vote is cast in the 2026 midterm election and here [Trump] is once again trying to rig the system," Newsom charged on Thursday. Last week's appearance by Newsom, who is considered a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, also served as a fundraising kickoff to raise massive amounts of campaign cash needed to sell the redistricting push statewide in California. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event on Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli ) The nonpartisan redistricting commission, created over 15 years ago, remains popular with most Californians, according to public opinion polling. That's why Newsom and California Democratic lawmakers are promising not to scrap the commission entirely, but rather replace it temporarily by the legislature for the next three election cycles. But Republican former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who represented a congressional district in California's Central Valley for 17 years, argued in an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that "when you think about how they drew these lines, there wasn't one hearing. There is no debate. There's no input. Even the legislature in California doesn't have input. The DCCC is just ending it. That is why we need to stop Newsom's power grab." McCarthy, who is helping to lead the GOP fundraising effort to counter Newsom and California Democrats leading up to the likely referendum this fall, said that "November 4th will be the election that people could actually have a say," as he pointed to polls showing strong support for the current nonpartisan redistricting commission. Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher speaks in opposition to Democrats' plan to advance a partisan effort to redraw California congressional map at a press conference on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Tran Nguyen) A handful of California Republican state lawmakers on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court to stop the proposed redistricting reform. The lawsuit was filed as the California Assembly Elections Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the push for the referendum. GOP lawmakers on the committee and Republicans who submitted comments to the panel heavily criticized the Democrats' redistricting effort. The state Republican Party, which hosted the lawsuit news conference, said that "Californians voted to put redistricting in the hands of the people, not politicians. What Democrats are doing is a blatant power grab, and the California Republican Party will fight it at every opportunity to protect voters' voices." "Their scheme would tear apart communities, silence public input, and erase the transparency that voters demanded when they created the Citizens Redistricting Commission," California Republican Party chairwoman Corrin Rankin added in a statement to Fox News. The push to temporarily replace the commission is also being opposed by other high-profile Republicans. Among the most visible is former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican elected governor in Democrat-dominated California. Hollywood movie star and former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California opposes the push to temporarily replace the Golden State's nonpartisan redistricting commission. (Tristar Media/WireImage) The longtime Hollywood action star says he's mobilizing to oppose the push by Newsom to temporarily scrap the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission. "I'm getting ready for the gerrymandering battle," Schwarzenegger wrote in a social media post Friday, which included a photo of the former professional bodybuilding champion lifting weights. Schwarzenegger, who rose to worldwide fame as the star of the film "The Terminator" four decades ago, wore a T-shirt in the photo that said "terminate gerrymandering." Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico earlier this month that "he calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people." "He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing," Ketchell added. Schwarzenegger, during his tenure as governor, had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission.
