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A federal judge has ordered parents fighting an Alabama ban on gender-affirming care to turn over their children's medical records.
Five parents who filed a lawsuit challenging a 2022 state law they say deprives them of the right to make important decisions about their own children's health care, which prompted state attorney general Steve Marshall to ask for medical and mental health records related to their children's treatment for gender dysphoria, and U.S. District Court judge Liles Burke ruled Monday those records were relevant to the case, reported AL.com.
“The Parent Plaintiffs claim that any disruption in their children’s care, whether it is the care they are currently receiving or the care they intend to seek in the future, would have devastating effects on their mental health, possibly including self-harm and suicide,” Burke wrote in the ruling. “Ultimately, the Plaintiffs have the burden to prove the allegations in their complaint.”
The Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (SB184) bans puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries for minors, and outlines felony charges and 10-year jail terms for doctors or "any other individual" who “prescribes or administers” those treatments, and the plaintiffs noted that the records Marshall requested could be used as evidence against them.
READ MORE: Oversight GOPer's history of grand jury leaks casts shadow over his investigations
Burke ruled that all records that are turned over would remain confidential, and the plaintiffs and Marshall entered into a protective order last year that restricts access to the children's personal health information.
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An admission by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) that he helped publicize a 2015 leak of a journalist’s private emails is casting a cloud over his investigations into President Joe Biden's administration but also his desire to question Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
As the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger wrote, Comer "'confirmed, for the first time' that he had helped orchestrate the 2015 leak of a journalist’s private emails. His campaign then used the leak -- unsuccessfully -- to combat domestic abuse allegations during Comer’s ill-fated Kentucky gubernatorial run."
That, in turn, has raised questions about Comer's ethics, to say nothing of the hypocrisy, as he attempts, as he did on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday to make his case that he wants to investigate the Manhattan grand jury proceedings looking at Donald Trump.
According to the Beast report, "During the 2015 primary, the Comer campaign tied those leaked emails to a grand jury investigation into local blogger and erstwhile attorney Michael J. Adams, who had been publishing rumors of the abuse allegations since the early stages of Comer’s run. But the Comer campaign was itself responsible for putting that grand jury into motion in the first place, when Comer’s running mate, Chris McDaniel, passed other emails he’d received from the blogger to a county prosecutor, Rob Sanders—who also happened to be a political ally."
READ MORE: Trump might be forced to shut up if he's finally charged with a crime
Congressional Integrity Project president Kyle Herrig is now questioning Comer's use of his committee and said an investigation into his prior activities is warranted.
“While Comer may have grown accustomed to leading political stunts that don’t pack much of a punch, a law enforcement investigation in Kentucky into his apparent admission that he illegally hacked a server and leaked documents would have serious consequences,” he told the Beast.
You can read more here.
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Donald Trump has been hurling ominous warnings and racist insults against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ahead of a possible indictment, and legal experts fear those threats could provoke violence in the same way his rhetoric fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The former president has attacked state and federal prosecutors "thugs," claimed two Black districts attorney are "racist" and used anti-Semitic tropes to suggests he's the victim of a "globalist" conspiracy and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the prosecutors who are investigating him, reported The Guardian.
“Trump cannot stop the judicial process, although he can try to slow it," said Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor. "But he can undermine its credibility through his charges and by mobilizing his supporters. I see what he’s doing now as aimed at them, just as he tried to discredit the election returns in their eyes and anger them with baseless charges over the 'steal.'"
Trump's legal defenses have recently weakened after federal courts required some of his top aides, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, to testify in the Jan. 6 grand jury investigation, and compelled the testimony of his current lawyer Evan Corcoran in the classified documents case, and prosecutions in Manhattan and Georgia also appear to be nearing conclusion.
“If I were on the prosecution teams in Manhattan or Georgia, I would expect Trump to assert every defense he can think of, including accusing the prosecutors of misconduct,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan.
“None of these accusations about the motives of prosecutors, however, will negate the evidence of Trump’s own crimes," McQuade added. "A jury will focus on the facts and the law, and not any of this name calling. The Trump strategy may work in the court of public opinion, but not in a court of law."
Trump's lawyers are using his trusted stalling tactic by raising "specious" objections in Georgia, according to former Watergate prosecutor Phlip Lacovara, and Trump is “trying to pollute the jury pool” with attacks on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
“All he needs is one juror who believes this is all a concocted plot,” Lacovara said.
Trump used many of the same tactics in his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss, which ultimately led to the deadly U.S. Capitol attack.
“This is more of what we saw during the election,” said Donald Ayer, who served as deputy attorney general in the George HW Bush administration. “He throws up gibberish and obstruction.”
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