Biden pivots away from old court battles, helps ignite new ones

[webfact]

Biden pivots away from old court battles, helps ignite new ones

By Lawrence Hurley

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden swears in presidential appointees in a virtual ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, after his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States, U.S., January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden in his short time in office already has turned the page on some major legal battles that consumed former President Donald Trump's administration while also taking actions certain to ignite new ones likely headed toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

The Democratic president, sworn in on Wednesday, quickly signed a flurry of executive orders that wound down some of his Republican predecessor's actions or set new priorities for his administration on issues ensnared in legal disputes such as immigration, the U.S.-Mexican border wall and LGBT rights.

 

Much as Trump overturned many of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama's policies, Biden has begun to do the same to Trump's actions.

 

"As all the Trump administration's reversals of Obama policies generated litigation, the shift back to a Democratic president will too," said John Elwood, a Washington lawyer who argues cases at the Supreme Court, which has 6-3 conservative majority that includes three justices appointed by Trump.

 

Biden ended Trump's travel ban on people entering the United States from 13 countries, most of which are Muslim-majority, a policy that the court upheld in 2018 as a legitimate exercise of presidential power after a vigorous legal fight.

 

Biden also terminated Trump's intention to exclude immigrants who live in the United States illegally from the 2020 census count, a plan that critics said was intended to cost Democratic-leaning states seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to the benefit of Republicans. The justices in December threw out litigation challenging Trump's plan, but his administration missed deadlines and failed to put the policy in place.

 

Some of Biden's executive actions are sure to prompt fresh court battles or reignite existing ones including orders bolstering LGBT rights and buttressing a program that the Supreme Court blocked Trump from rescinding that protects hundreds of thousands of immigrants dubbed "Dreamers" who had lived in the United States illegally after entering the country as children.

 

On both issues, the Supreme Court is likely to have the final say absent the passage of legislation by Congress that cements the policies into law.

 

'A MAJOR CHECK'

Republican-led states and conservative advocacy groups are poised to pursue legal challenges.

 

"I will fight against the many unconstitutional and illegal actions that the new administration will take, challenge federal overreach that infringes on Texans' rights, and serve as a major check against the administration's lawlessness," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, wrote on Twitter soon after Biden's inauguration.

 

Last June, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling found that a federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment protects gay and transgender people. The ruling left open the question of whether other federal laws that bar sex discrimination, including in education, also protect LGBT people.

 

Trump's administration had argued that LGBT people were not included within the definition of sex discrimination. Biden's executive order made it clear his administration is steering a new course.

 

Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group that has challenged similar policies, criticized Biden's order, in particular as it applied to transgender people.

 

"As federal agencies begin to implement the order, Alliance Defending Freedom will keep watch and is prepared to file lawsuits if necessary to protect our constitutional freedoms," said Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer with the group.

 

The Supreme Court last June decided that Trump's plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program - which protects eligible Dreamers from deportation and provides them work permits - ran afoul of a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act.

 

But the court has never ruled on whether DACA itself, which Obama created by executive action in 2012 after bypassing Congress, represented a lawful exercise of presidential power. Three of the Supreme Court's conservative justices have deemed DACA "substantively unlawful" and a challenge brought by Paxton is pending in federal court in Texas.

 

Biden's executive actions could also make some existing cases at the Supreme Court vanish. In one order, Biden stopped construction of the border wall, one of Trump's signature projects. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on Feb.

 

22 on whether Trump overstepped his constitutional powers by diverting military funds to pay for the wall.

 

Biden is also seeking to end Trump's "remain in Mexico" policy that barred thousands of migrants at the U.S.-Mexican border from entering the United States while their asylum claims were being assessed. The justices are due to hear litigation over the matter on March 1 but could end up dismissing it in light of the policy reversal.

 

"Courts know that a change of administration often means a change in policy and don't want to decide things unnecessarily," said Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland.

 

The Supreme Court is also weighing whether to hear appeals launched by Trump of lower court rulings against his regulation that barred immigrants deemed likely to require government benefits from obtaining legal permanent U.S. residency. Biden's Justice Department could withdraw those appeals, leaving the rulings against the policy in place.

 

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-22

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Mama Noodle]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

LGBT rights.

 

I have no issue with the LGBT crew, no issue with anyone sexual orientation or what they do in their bedroom, or what anyone as an adult does. 

 

I draw a very firm line when it involves children, federally funded schools, and biological sex. One of Joe Bidens EO's involves forcing federally funded schools to treat transgender people 100% as the gender of their choice. 

 

This includes allowing biological males to compete in biological female sports, get womens scholarships, and more. 

And this needs to be fought tooth and nail in the courts as it puts women and girls at a disadvantage, especially during their formative years when sports provides a pathway for scholarships to higher education. 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

[herfiehandbag]

If this litigation intended to prevent Mr Biden's various actions, and entrench Mr Trump's legacy are as masterfully presented as the spectacular groundbreaking series of cases brought by the crack legal task force who worked to overturn the election results then we are in for some entertainment!

[Tug]

Just the normal push and pull in politics imo let’s hope most can be resolved in the Congress and not the courts 

[Jeffr2]

Gotta love it.  Trump circumvented the process by using executive orders.  Biden is getting rid of them....using executive orders.  Too funny.

 

But many of Trump's EOs were terrible.  Glad they are now gone.

 

The LGBT issue is going to be interesting....

[Cory1848]

11 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

I have no issue with the LGBT crew, no issue with anyone sexual orientation or what they do in their bedroom, or what anyone as an adult does. 

 

I draw a very firm line when it involves children, federally funded schools, and biological sex. One of Joe Bidens EO's involves forcing federally funded schools to treat transgender people 100% as the gender of their choice. 

 

This includes allowing biological males to compete in biological female sports, get womens scholarships, and more. 

And this needs to be fought tooth and nail in the courts as it puts women and girls at a disadvantage, especially during their formative years when sports provides a pathway for scholarships to higher education. 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

It’s a tricky issue, particularly as it relates to sports competition, as you mention. I do think that Western (Judeo-Christian) society in general has been locked into thinking of gender as purely binary (thanks at least partly to scriptures written by men millennia ago), but thinking of gender as more of a spectrum is not something new or “feminist” or “liberal” -- Native American, Hindu, and likely other cultures have long traditions of doing so.

 

There’s plenty of room to accommodate transgender people without resorting to a strictly “biological male/biological female” binary; that said, finding a solution to ensuring fair sporting competitions is among the bigger difficulties ...

[Chomper Higgot]

13 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

I have no issue with the LGBT crew, no issue with anyone sexual orientation or what they do in their bedroom, or what anyone as an adult does. 

 

I draw a very firm line when it involves children, federally funded schools, and biological sex. One of Joe Bidens EO's involves forcing federally funded schools to treat transgender people 100% as the gender of their choice. 

 

This includes allowing biological males to compete in biological female sports, get womens scholarships, and more. 

And this needs to be fought tooth and nail in the courts as it puts women and girls at a disadvantage, especially during their formative years when sports provides a pathway for scholarships to higher education. 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

Since when did you care about women and girls being at a disadvantage?

 

 

[TKDfella]

1 hour ago, Cory1848 said:

It’s a tricky issue, particularly as it relates to sports competition, as you mention. I do think that Western (Judeo-Christian) society in general has been locked into thinking of gender as purely binary (thanks at least partly to scriptures written by men millennia ago), but thinking of gender as more of a spectrum is not something new or “feminist” or “liberal” -- Native American, Hindu, and likely other cultures have long traditions of doing so.

 

There’s plenty of room to accommodate transgender people without resorting to a strictly “biological male/biological female” binary; that said, finding a solution to ensuring fair sporting competitions is among the bigger difficulties ...

With regard to your second paragraph, people often get confused. Gender and Biological are completely different, in the clinical sense that is. The chromosomes determine whether one has female or male body parts while Gender refers to state of mind in which one favours inclination to the opposite sex or not. Having sex reassignment surgery doesn't and cannot change chromosome type but it can can add to the well being of one's mind. Yes I know, it isn't as simple as that.

As far as sports are concerned the male body is structured differently to a female one in many ways, generally speaking. For example, the female Femur has a bigger slant than that of the male and of of course the female pelvis is generally larger than the male's. So actual vector magnitude and direction will be different and this could be important in say, running events. A transgender person with a male structure could, theoretically, have an advantage on say, sprint events and a transgender person with a female structure could have an advantage in non sprint track events. But again it isn't that simple.

So one might ask that as there are separate Games for disabled people would it be fair to start thinking about having separate transgender Games? Tricky one, that's for sure.????

[Salerno]

For the sake of equality just have "sports" 

[Cory1848]

13 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

With regard to your second paragraph, people often get confused. Gender and Biological are completely different, in the clinical sense that is. The chromosomes determine whether one has female or male body parts while Gender refers to state of mind in which one favours inclination to the opposite sex or not. Having sex reassignment surgery doesn't and cannot change chromosome type but it can can add to the well being of one's mind. Yes I know, it isn't as simple as that.

As far as sports are concerned the male body is structured differently to a female one in many ways, generally speaking. For example, the female Femur has a bigger slant than that of the male and of of course the female pelvis is generally larger than the male's. So actual vector magnitude and direction will be different and this could be important in say, running events. A transgender person with a male structure could, theoretically, have an advantage on say, sprint events and a transgender person with a female structure could have an advantage in non sprint track events. But again it isn't that simple.

So one might ask that as there are separate Games for disabled people would it be fair to start thinking about having separate transgender Games? Tricky one, that's for sure.????

I agree with most of what you say (transgender games is certainly worth thinking about), and I'm no scientist, but I think even the chromosomes don't always indicate what we've been taught to think of as biological sex. There's tons of stuff online; here's something I just found from Scientific American that I've just skimmed through for now, but it provides quite a detailed assessment:

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

[Proboscis]

14 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

I have no issue with the LGBT crew, no issue with anyone sexual orientation or what they do in their bedroom, or what anyone as an adult does. 

 

I draw a very firm line when it involves children, federally funded schools, and biological sex. One of Joe Bidens EO's involves forcing federally funded schools to treat transgender people 100% as the gender of their choice. 

 

This includes allowing biological males to compete in biological female sports, get womens scholarships, and more. 

And this needs to be fought tooth and nail in the courts as it puts women and girls at a disadvantage, especially during their formative years when sports provides a pathway for scholarships to higher education. 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

I think that you will find that those born male or mosaic (you can look it up - not everyone is biologically divisible into a phenotype that is strictly male or female) need to jump through a bunch of hoops when competing outside their individual school setting. In many cases it is quite strict, involving hormone testing. In fact, there was a case last year where an international sports body found that a woman, not trans, not intersex, but a woman who produced above normal male hormone was told to either take hormone blockers to bring the male hormone down or not compete. So it is not in the hands of your government.

[TKDfella]

11 hours ago, Cory1848 said:

I agree with most of what you say (transgender games is certainly worth thinking about), and I'm no scientist, but I think even the chromosomes don't always indicate what we've been taught to think of as biological sex. There's tons of stuff online; here's something I just found from Scientific American that I've just skimmed through for now, but it provides quite a detailed assessment:

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

Yep, no question about it things can get weird way down where micro doesn't match the macro. Maybe quantum biology can sort it out.????

[Stargeezr]

Yes Joe Biden has cancelled many of Trumps projects and other Trump induced

items.  One of his school boy promises of shutting down a pipeline, or 2 does not make

any sense as Pipelines are a lot safer for transporting oil and gas to and from the

refineries., than say Railways or trucking the stuff over vast miles. Railways are not a great alternative, considering how often they derail  and have other problems.  I wonder how many Americans are now out of work from shutting down pipelines?    If President Biden wants to be a greener guy, he could do many

other green projects to show that he is making an effort to try other systems that are

not oil driven. However if you look around almost everything in your houses, vehicles

and clothes have oil products as part of their make up. Oil will be needed by the USA and other

countries for all our lifetimes and longer as so much of what we use would not exist if

not for oil. The insides of your cell phones, computers, tablets, or cazrs and truck just to name a 

few items.  I am relieved that the Donald is now golfing in Florida and working on his

new digs, 555.  I just hope the next 4 years are better all around than the last year has been.

Geezer