Supreme Court reverses lower court decision on challenge to Illinois mail-in voting rules
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that federal candidates have the right to challenge state election laws that govern the counting of ballots in their states, clearing the way for an expected flurry of new lawsuits in the run-up to this year’s midterm elections.
Justices ruled 7-2 that candidates running for federal office have the standing to sue state election boards over their counting of ballots – including challenging laws that allow for the counting of late-arriving mail-in ballots.
“Candidates, in short, are not ‘mere bystanders’ in their own elections,” Chief Justice John Roberts said, writing for the majority. “They have an obvious personal stake in how the result is determined and regarded.”
“We need not resolve whether respondents are right, because winning, and doing so as inexpensively and decisively as possible, are not a candidate’s only interests in an election.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The ruling from the high court is expected to be hailed as a victory for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, even as it did not explicitly address the merits of allowing states to count late-arriving mail-in ballots. (The Supreme Court is slated to consider a case more directly involving the counting of late-arriving mail-in ballots later this year.)
But it comes as Republicans have filed a flurry of state lawsuits in recent years targeting laws that allow for the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive late, so long as they are postmarked by, or on, Election Day.
EXCLUSIVE: DNC JOINS SUPREME COURT VOTING CASE, BLASTS RNC EFFORTS AS ‘WHOLLY UN-AMERICAN
At issue before the court was a lawsuit Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., filed against the Illinois State Board of Elections in 2022 challenging its mail-in ballot policy, which allows for the counting of ballots received up to 14 days after Election Day.
A U.S. district court had originally concluded that Bost, who had won re-election to his House seat, lacked the standing under Article III to challenge the election law.
Federal courts require candidates to show that they have been individually harmed by the law, prompting his case to be dismissed.
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The lower court ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which concluded it also lacked jurisdiction, prompting Bost to appeal the case to the Supreme Court for intervention.
Bost and Republican plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court during oral arguments to allow candidates to sue even in cases where they cannot cite an individual grievance, or that the voting procedure caused them “concrete and particularized injury in fact.”
Bost’s lawyer, Paul Clement, urged the Supreme Court to also allow plaintiffs to consider broader, more general grievances that expand their view of “harm.”
Candidates, he said, are not “mere bystanders” in a federal election. Clement noted they spend “untold time and energy” on their campaigns, thus adding untold additional amounts of money needed to cover the 14-day time period.
“If the campaign is going to be two weeks longer, you’ve got to keep the campaign staff together for two weeks longer, and that’s going to be more expensive,” he said.
Clement also told the high court that preventing the case from moving forward risked turning “federal courts into federal prognosticators.”
Still, some of the justices had cited concerns during oral arguments about the timing of the case — noting that it is one of several election-related lawsuits it has been tasked with reviewing.
Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited similar concerns about postponing any court ruling from taking force until after an election, which Kavanaugh noted could result in “chaos.”
“We faced this in 2020 in some of our many cases pre-election,” Kavanaugh said during oral arguments. “What’s the remedy?”
Roberts agreed. “What you’re sketching out for us is a potential disaster,” he said.
FLURRY OF PRE-ELECTION LEGAL CASES IS NOW ‘STANDARDIZED’ STRATEGY, EXPERTS SAY
Though the ruling itself is somewhat narrow, it comes as the Supreme Court is slated to consider other, more consequential cases this year — including a case centered squarely on the issue of mail-in voting.
That case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, which centers on states’ ability to count mail-in ballots that are received within five days of an election.
The RNC and state GOP have argued that these laws break with federal voting laws — a point vehemently disputed by other states and the DNC, which noted the widespread use of mail-in votes across the country, and the fact that similar laws are in place in some 31 states, including the District of Columbia.
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Both the Republican and Democratic national parties filed more than 165 combined lawsuits in the run-up to the 2024 election, a record-high number of challenges involving everything from poll worker access, citizenship standards, and adding new requirements for mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.
US freezes all visa processing for 75 countries, including Somalia, Russia, Iran
FIRST ON FOX: The State Department is pausing immigrant visa processing for 75 countries in an effort to crack down on applicants deemed likely to become a public charge.
A State Department memo, seen first by Fox News Digital, directs consular officers to refuse visas under existing law while the department reassesses screening and vetting procedures.
The countries include Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, Yemen and more.
The pause will begin Jan. 21 and will continue indefinitely until the department conducts a reassessment of immigrant visa processing.
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Somalia has drawn heightened scrutiny from federal officials following a sweeping fraud scandal centered in Minnesota, where prosecutors uncovered massive abuse of taxpayer-funded benefit programs. Many of those involved are Somali nationals or Somali-Americans.
In November 2025, a State Department cable sent to posts around the globe instructed consular officers to enforce sweeping new screening rules under the so-called “public charge” provision of immigration law.
The guidance instructs consular officers to deny visas to applicants deemed likely to rely on public benefits, weighing a wide range of factors including health, age, English proficiency, finances and even potential need for long-term medical care.
Older or overweight applicants could be denied, along with those who had any past use of government cash assistance or institutionalization.
“The State Department will use its long-standing authority to deem ineligible potential immigrants who would become a public charge on the United States and exploit the generosity of the American people,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said in a statement.
“Immigration from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REVOKES MORE THAN 100,000 VISAS IN FIRST YEAR BACK
While the public charge provision has existed for decades, enforcement has varied widely across administrations, with consular officers historically given broad discretion in applying the standard.
Exceptions to the new pause will be “very limited” and only allowed after an applicant has cleared public charge considerations.
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A 2022 version of the public charge rule under the Biden administration had limited the scope of benefits considered — primarily to cash assistance and long-term institutional care — excluding programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC, Medicaid or housing vouchers.
The Immigration and Nationality Act has long permitted consular officers to deem applicants inadmissible on public charge grounds, but President Donald Trump in 2019 expanded the definition to include a broader range of public benefits. That expansion was challenged in court, with portions ultimately blocked before being rescinded by the Biden administration.
The full list of countries comprises of Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
President Trump has ‘most unhinged eating habits’ of his Cabinet, RFK Jr says
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. jokingly marveled at President Donald Trump’s fast-food eating habits, saying he doesn’t “know how he’s alive” during an interview published Tuesday.
While appearing on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” host Katie Miller asked Kennedy which member of the president’s Cabinet had the “most unhinged eating habits” in his opinion.
“The president,” Kennedy responded plainly, causing Miller to laugh.
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He continued, “Oh, you know, the interesting thing about the president is that he eats really bad food, which is McDonald’s, and then, you know, caffeine and Diet Coke. He drinks Diet Coke all the time. He has the constitution of a deity. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is.”
Kennedy clarified that Trump eats “really good food” when he’s at Mar-a-Lago or the White House and only eats fast-food while traveling.
BROOKE ROLLINS, ROBERT KENNEDY JR: NEW DIETARY PLAN RECOMMENDS REAL FOOD FOR ALL AMERICANS
“I think you get this if you travel with him, you get this idea that he’s just pumping himself full of poison all day long, and you don’t know how he’s walking around, much less being the most energetic person, you know, any of us have ever met. I think he actually does eat pretty good food usually,” Kennedy said.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said, “Secretary Kennedy is right: as his golf championships and flawless physical report results indicate, President Trump has the constitution and energy levels most young people could only dream of having.”
Kennedy has been open about his thoughts on Trump’s love of fast food in the past, conceding that “the stuff that he eats is really, like, bad.”
TRUMP ADMIN’S NEW NUTRITION GUIDELINES TARGET ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS, EASE UP ON RED MEAT AND SATURATED FATS
“Campaign food is always bad, but the food that goes onto that airplane is, like, just poison,” Kennedy said in 2024. “You have a choice between – you don’t have the choice, you’re either given KFC or Big Macs. That’s when you’re lucky, and then the rest of the stuff I consider kind of inedible.”
Trump’s health has drawn fresh scrutiny in recent months, including after reports said he underwent an MRI during an October visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. The October checkup was Trump’s second of 2025, after an April visit in which the White House physician, Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, said the president “remains in exceptional health.”
Trump later clarified that he had received a CT scan and not an MRI during his medical checkup.
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Trump’s health and age have been a subject of increased media scrutiny in his second term, particularly after predecessor Joe Biden was forced to abandon his re-election bid over concerns about his mental and cognitive fitness.
Trump, who turns 80 in June, broke Biden’s record as the oldest elected president in history when he won his second term in 2024 at age 78.
According to the New York Times, Trump weighed 244 pounds in 2020, which classified him as obese given his 6-foot-3-inch frame. This year, Trump’s physician reported he weighed 224 pounds.
Trump also spoke with the Wall Street Journal for a report published Jan. 1 about his health habits, which include taking high doses of aspirin for cardiac prevention.
Racing world unites in grief after painful losses continue to shake the NASCAR family
The NASCAR world suffered two tragedies just before the turn of the calendar with the shocking deaths of Greg Biffle and Dennis Hamlin, the father of current driver Denny Hamlin.
Biffle, along with his wife and two children, was among seven people killed when his plane crashed near a North Carolina airport runway in early December. Less than two weeks later in the state, the elder Hamlin died in a house fire that also left Hamlin’s mother injured.
The Daytona 500 will be run next month to kick off the 2026 NASCAR season, but it will certainly be with heavy hearts.
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“Yeah, NASCAR and motorsports in general is, you could say big, but it’s a small family,” 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. “It’s a massive footprint, but everybody’s really integrated, really close, and everybody feels that no matter what happens.
“You know, Greg and his family, super sad, super tragic, and then you have Denny, who, it’s very public that he was trying to win that championship for his dad, didn’t think his dad was going to make it that much longer. But who knows, he may have won the championship this year and his dad could have made it. But the tragic fire that took his dad and has his mom in the hospital, like, man, it’s just, it’s been a crazy, devastating offseason.
“And I think we’re all just ready to get back on track, to get things that kind of let’s see if it’ll calm down a little bit. Just a tough offseason, for sure. But I think everybody has rallied around each other, rallied around those affected with the families, and we pick each other up.”
Dennis Hamlin and Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, were found outside their two-story home near Stanley suffering from what officials called catastrophic injuries. Dennis Hamlin later died from his injuries at a hospital, while his wife was transferred to a specialty hospital in Winston-Salem for treatment of her burns.
EX-NASCAR STAR GREG BIFFLE, FAMILY MEMBERS KILLED IN NORTH CAROLINA PLANE CRASH
Just last month, Denny Hamlin spoke of his father and the financial sacrifices he made to help him reach his dream of becoming one of NASCAR’s marquee drivers. In an interview with The Associated Press, Hamlin revealed that his father was dying from a serious illness.
“I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it. I don’t want him going and never getting to see the moment,” Hamlin said of his father seeing him win a championship, a goal he later fell short of after this season’s final race in Arizona.
According to the AP, Dennis Hamlin took out multiple mortgages on his Virginia home, maxed out every credit card, and nearly left himself in financial ruin to give his son a chance at becoming a NASCAR driver. His sacrifice paid off, as Hamlin built a legendary career that featured 60 wins, including three Daytona 500s.
Biffle had 19 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, six of them coming in 2005 when he finished second in the Cup standings. He won three consecutive Ford 400s from 2004 to 2006 at Homestead. He also earned 20 wins in the Xfinity Series, capturing the 2002 title, and 17 victories in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won the championship in 2000.
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After his racing days, Biffle used his flying skills for good. In 2024, he helped victims of Hurricane Helene by delivering supplies and internet service to those in need. He even located a stranded family while flying after they used a mirror against the sun.
What the alleged ‘sonic weapon’ used in Venezuela may actually have been
Claims that a mysterious “sonic weapon” was used in Venezuela have fueled speculation about exotic U.S. military technology and its potential effects on the human body.
One eyewitness account from a Venezuelan guard, shared on social media by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, claimed the weapon brought Venezuelan and Cuban security forces to their knees, “bleeding through their nose” and vomiting blood.
While the Trump administration has not confirmed what weapon, if any, may have been used, defense experts point to a well-known acoustic device that has been in use for years.
US USED SONIC WEAPON ON VENEZUELAN TROOPS, REPORT SHARED BY LEAVITT CLAIMS
Known as a long-range acoustic device (LRAD), it’s been described as the “voice of God,” according to Mark Cancian, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The device deploys a directed, short-range “cone of sound.”
“It’s not like a microphone, you know, where everybody’s neighborhood, it’s only within this cone,” said Cancian.
U.S. operators may have deployed it as they were landing on the ground in Caracas, Venezuela, as a way to disorient security forces and warn them to drop their weapons.
LRADs can project spoken commands at intense volumes or emit a loud, piercing tone designed to get attention and deter movement. At close range, the sound can be painful and disorienting, and in extreme cases can damage hearing or rupture eardrums, but the devices are not designed to cause lasting physical harm.
It can cause pain and temporary disorientation, and can cause ruptured eardrums, but is not designed to inflict long-term damage.
U.S. forces used them for crowd control in Iraq when Iraqis got too close to U.S. military installments, according to Cancian.
The devices can reach up to 140 decibels of sound. The intensity drops quickly with distance and angle. This is why operators can stand nearby but outside the beam.
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Other defense analysts say the account raises questions that go beyond conventional acoustic devices.
For decades, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has studied nonlethal technologies intended to temporarily incapacitate adversaries without causing permanent injury. Publicly available research has explored acoustic and electromagnetic effects designed to overwhelm the senses, disrupt balance or motor control, and render targets briefly unable to fight or maneuver.
Can Kasapoglu, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, said such research has fueled speculation about more advanced incapacitation systems, but stressed there is no public evidence any experimental DARPA technology was used in Venezuela.
“There are some non-lethal technologies that DARPA has been working on, including acoustic weapon systems, sound waves, and also some neurological weapon systems that do not kill, but cause an unbearable sensation that you feel that you simply become inoperable in the battlefield,” he said.
While the symptoms described in the post shared by Leavitt are unverified, “they align closely with examples of DARPA research.”
The White House and Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the reported sound offense, the U.S. launched a cyberattack that knocked out communications systems as operators were landing in Caracas, Venezuela.
“It was dark, the lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have, it was dark, and it was deadly,” Trump previously said.
“We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,” the local guard said in the account shared by Leavitt. “The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.”
SEVEN US SERVICE MEMBERS INJURED IN VENEZUELA RAID TO CAPTURE MADURO, OFFICIAL SAYS
Once operators were on the ground, “At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.”
The effects were extreme, according to the guard.
“We all started bleeding from the nose,” he said. “Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was.”
The physical effects described by the guard go well beyond what experts say LRADs are known to cause.
Vomiting blood, in particular, is not a typical reaction to acoustic exposure, raising questions about whether the account exaggerates the effects, misattributes their cause, or reflects a different factor entirely.
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Experts caution that while directional acoustic devices are real and widely used, there is no publicly known “sonic weapon” capable of producing the extreme injuries described — and no official confirmation that any such system was used in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s interior minister Diosdado Cabello said 100 people were killed in the Maduro operation. Cuba has said 32 members of its security forces, which were guarding Maduro, were killed in the operation.
Seven U.S. service members were injured in the operation, but none were killed.
Trump issues stern warning to NATO ahead of Vance’s high-stakes Greenland meeting
President Donald Trump sent a warning to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ahead of Vice President JD Vance’s high-stakes meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials.
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of national security,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. He added that the acquisition was “vital for the Golden Dome that we are building.” The “Golden Dome” is a cutting-edge missile defense system meant to intercept threats targeting the American homeland, similar to the Iron Dome used in Israel.
“NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent — not even close! They know that, and so do I. NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” Trump added.
JOHNSON: ‘NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND’ FOR TRUMP’S GREENLAND ACQUISITION PLANS AMID MILITARY SPECULATION
Trump and his administration’s push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland has caused tension with NATO allies who assert that the semiautonomous Danish territory should determine its own future.
The post comes ahead of Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s meeting with the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers at the White House on Wednesday morning.
Vance and Rubio will be meeting with Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS ‘RANGE OF OPTIONS,’ INCLUDING US MILITARY, ON TABLE AS TRUMP RENEWS PUSH TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND
In a follow-up post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, Trump shared a report by Just The News stating that the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) issued a warning regarding Russian and Chinese military ambitions toward and expansion around Greenland in a recent assessment.
“NATO: Tell Denmark to get them out of here, NOW! Two dogsleds won’t do it! Only the USA can!!!” Trump wrote. “Danish intel warned last year about Russian and Chinese military goals toward Greenland and Arctic.”
“In recent years, the United States has significantly increased its security policy focus on the Arctic, while Russia continues its military build-up, and China continues to develop its capacity to operate both submarines and surface vessels in the region,” DDIS reportedly said in its Intelligence Outlook 2025. The DDIS noted that, “Neither the war in Ukraine nor the increased US focus on Greenland and the Arctic has altered Russia’s long-term interests and objectives in the region.”
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Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU,” the AP reported.
Trump later responded to Nielsen, saying “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him,” according to the AP.
Vance’s office and the Embassy of Denmark in the U.S. did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
How the ‘Save Women’s Sports’ SCOTUS defense uncovered a game-changing legal attack
WASHINGTON – Trained military snipers stood on the roof of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday standing guard over a verbal battle between an alliance of women donning shirts that read XX-XY, against a hoard of pink, white and blue-painted activists, some wearing costumes, and some barely wearing anything.
At one point, the convergence descended into harrowing cries of “Stop cutting off the breasts!” while the other side tried to drown it out with a blunt and repetitive chant of “Trans! Trans! Trans!”
But inside the court chambers, one side was constantly in full retreat.
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Attorneys for transgender athlete Lindsay Hecox argued to have the very lawsuit that they originally filed, Hecox v Little, dropped as moot now that it was being reviewed by the nation’s highest court. The suit, which was filed in 2020, blocked Idaho’s law to protect women’s sports and allowed Hecox to compete on Boise State’s women’s cross-country team.
And in a defining moment for the trans athlete legal team, it even had to retreat from one of the very arguments it used to try to get the case dropped. Cooley Legal attorney Kathleen Hartnett admitted that Hecox was “unlikely” to graduate in May after the firm previously argued that the athlete’s May graduation would render a ruling about Hecox’s athletic eligibility unnecessary.
“She’s unlikely to graduate by May, as my friend said, but is hoping to make, through summer credits, to graduate in the fall,” Hartnett said just months after the firm filed a suggestion of mootness, in which Hecox stated, “I am currently enrolled in classes that may allow me to graduate as early as May 2026.”
Earlier in the hearing, Idaho Solicitor General Alan Hurst called out Hecox’s claimed graduation date of May as “not possible” after the state’s leadership did some back-door digging to discover Hecox’s status.
“[Boise State] is a client of Idaho, we asked, and the university confirmed that it’s unlikely to happen in the spring,” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) legal counsel John Bursch, who has worked with the Idaho and West Virginia AGs on the Supreme Court case, told Fox News Digital. “It just shows that throughout the case, Hecox has flipped back and forth.”
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said that exposing the discrepancy was “important” to their arguments Tuesday.
“I think it’s important. I don’t think it’s the main issue in the case, but I think it’s important,” Labrador told Fox News Digital. “They could have made that argument when we filed the petition for review … but they didn’t. They only did that after cir was granted.”
The plaintiffs appeared to retreat again during oral arguments for the second case.
In that case, over a West Virginia trans teen who also sued to block a state law meant to keep males out of girls’ sports, American Civil LIberties Union (ACLU) attorney Joshua Block suggested that “sex” should not be defined.
“I really urge the court not to do it on the definition of sex argument,” Block said, later adding. “I don’t think the purpose of Title IX is to have an accurate definition of sex. I think the purpose is to make sure that sex isn’t being used to discriminate by denying opportunities.”
But after grilling from Chief Justice John Roberts, who insisted sex “must mean something,” Block conceded that sex should be defined by biology for the sake of this case, but this case only.
“I think for this case, you can accept, for the sake of this case, that we’re talking about what they’ve termed to be biological sex,” he said.
Fox News Digital asked Block what his definition of “sex” is, and he declined to give a definition.
“I don’t think that’s what, that’s what’s at issue in this case. What’s at issue in this case is fair treatment for all people, including cis people and trans people, and that’s what we’re hear to talk about to today,” Block answered.
Fox News Digital attempted to ask Block why sex should not be defined in the case, but the attorney walked away and did not take any further questions.
Unlike the ADF, Idaho and West Virginia attorneys who stood in the courtyard of the Supreme Court and took multiple questions from reporters, and even kept offering questions when the press had nothing left to ask, Block and his ACLU colleagues only answered the singular question about defining sex after offering preprepared statements.
Hartnett, whose previous claim to fame was helping a San Francisco man get a second-degree murder conviction vacated, said she was “proud” of her legal team’s efforts on Tuesday.
“I was particularly proud here today to be able that the court understood the serious discrimination the transgender community has faced,” Hartnett said.
Just then, Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings, who has co-counseled both cases, jumped in to loudly declare the West Virginia trans athlete “an American hero!”
“Because she stood up for millions of other kids today and said ‘we belong, we matter, we are equal!’” Jennings shouted.
Jennings’ hesitation-less declaration of the West Virginia teen a hero came amid the backdrop of sexual harassment allegations that were leveled against the athlete prior to the hearing by former teammate Adaleia Cross.
The ACLU denied the allegations in a previous statement to Fox News Digital.
“Our client and her mother deny these allegations, and the school district investigated the allegations reported to the school by A.C. and found them to be unsubstantiated. We remain committed to defending the rights of all students under Title IX, including the right to a safe and inclusive learning environment free from harassment and discrimination,” the statement read.
The trans athlete then denied the allegations to The New York Times in a story that was published Monday, saying “I was not raised like that.”
Still, West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey acknowledged the allegations at a press conference just one day before the hearing on Monday.
“Any time you think of a child being harassed, it gives you pause as a parent. And it isn’t really part of our case, but harassment of any child of any kind in this country is inappropriate. And it’s wrong, and we all need to stand up to ensure that children aren’t being harassed in any of their venues, particularly athletics,” McCuskey said.
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When Fox News Digital attempted on Tuesday to ask Block about McCuskey’s statement, the attorney walked away, ignoring multiple questions.
But the allegations would surface in greater and more emotional detail hours later.
On Tuesday night, during the ADF Gala in Washington, D.C., to celebrate oral arguments, Cross’s mother Abby Cross took the stage and became visibly emotional as she recounted the details of the trans athlete’s alleged sexual harassment against her daughter.
Several individuals in attendance were seen crying, wiping tears from her eyes during the dialogue.
Former San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, who unknowingly shared changing spaces and sleeping spaces with a biological male teammate in the 2023 season, was there and admitted she was one of those in attendance who shed tears during Abby Cross’s speech.
“It tugged at my heart. I mean, a lot of these things do, but it was hard to hear from a mother especially,” Slusser told Fox News Digital. “It’s awful. It brought tears to my eyes.”
Former North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb, who suffered permanent brain injuries after being spiked in the head by a trans opponent, said the alleged story made her “physically sick.”
“Hearing that story honestly made me physically sick. This is exactly why we are fighting, because this is what is happening to young girls. It’s not a secret. People know this is happening, yet girls are being told to be quiet, to be inclusive, to accept harassment,” McNabb told Fox News Digital.
“No girl, especially no child, should ever experience that. The fact that some people excuse it or even celebrate it is pure evil.”
But the mood of the event shifted as the night progressed amid optimistic messages by the “Save Women’s Sports” activists and attorneys, many of whom believed they walked away from Tuesday’s hearing with a definitive win.
The consensus among pundits is that the Supreme Court justices and its conservative majority appear prepared to allow Idaho, West Virginia and other states across the U.S. to uphold its laws to keep biological males out of women’s and girls’ sports.
Labrador shared in that optimism.
“I think the arguments are on our side,” Labrador said.
“I was actually surprised how the judges, who I assume are not going to be as friendly to our side, were really struggling with the questions that we’re going before the court, and they were trying to find a way to articulate the other side’s position, and even they were having a hard time articulating the other side’s position.”
A decision is expected by this summer.
McCuskey has said he is optimistic that the court will rule 9-0 in favor of West Virginia and Idaho. Labrador expects a win, but believes 9-0 is too optimistic.
In addition to a potential new legal precedent, the culture movement around the issue only appeared to gain more fuel on Tuesday.
XX-XY Athletics co-founder Jennifer Sey told Fox News Digital that the brand is now getting more than 30 brand ambassador applications per week from college athletes — a dramatic turnaround from the brand’s first year in 2024 when Sey had to be the one pursuing endorsers.
Nowhere was the growing cultural movement more visible than the protest outside the court, which saw women from across the country who have spoken out about their experiences with transgender athletes, led by the likes of Slusser, McNabb and Riley Gaines.
“It was definitely surreal,” Slusser said of the rally, who is eagerly awaiting resolution on the case, saying “the unknowing of what’s going to happen next and not getting an answer yet,” is hard for her.
Women’s fencer Stephenie Turner, who went viral for kneeling in protest of a trans athlete and getting disqualified for it last spring, was refreshed to be surrounded by so many people who agreed with her on the issue.
“It was amazing to be in a room with people who are in agreement on common sense for the first time. Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy on this issue when I talk to people who are on the fence about men and women’s sports, it’s nice to be in a room with people who are clear decisive language and know what, this is a zero-sum game and that we must be on the side of protecting women and girls,” Turner told Fox News Digital.
When looking at the pro-trans protesters they were clashing with, McNabb couldn’t help but wonder how they got to that point.
“I didn’t interact with them directly, but watching from a distance was honestly sad,” McNabb said. “What stood out most to me was the number of women over there actively opposing their own rights — it’s completely bizarre.”
Pro women’s golfer Lauren Miller, who spoke out against transgender golfer Hailey Davidson and helped prompt the first rule change in major pro women’s sports to protect the sport from biological males in late 2024, also felt mixed emotions seeing the other side on Tuesday.
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“I’ve never seen anything like that before…. to face it directly and to see it, it really made me understand the weight of what we’re doing,” Miller told Fox News Digital.
“I feel for them because they’ll never have the peace and the joy and the purpose that we have on our side… I really hope they can see the light because their world will be a lot better.”
Surgeon charged with murder faced multiple lawsuits before Ohio couple’s deaths
Separate court filings show that Dr. Michael McKee was facing several allegations of medical malpractice and negligence in the months prior to being charged in the deaths of an Ohio dentist and his wife.
Federal court records reveal that McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon, was named as a defendant in a civil rights and medical negligence lawsuit filed June 7, 2024, in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. In a separate matter, state court records in Clark County show that McKee is also the primary defendant in an active medical malpractice lawsuit slated for a jury trial.
According to Las Vegas-based lawyer Dan Laird, McKee managed to evade legal justice before he allegedly killed his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, 39, and her husband, Spencer Tepe, 37.
“They tend to be highly responsible people,” he told WSYX. “They’re not the kind of people who just disappeared suddenly, and this was very surprising to us.”
FAMILY ‘QUICKLY BELIEVED’ SURGEON EX WAS INVOLVED IN OHIO DENTIST COUPLE’S MURDER AS CO-WORKER DETAILS MISHAPS
Laird told WSYX that in a 2023 lawsuit, reviewed by Fox News Digital, McKee allegedly failed to train a physician’s assistant, leading to a patient being injured during treatment and needing emergency surgery.
The lawyer said that he was duped when McKee allegedly gave fake addresses and “questionable” state-issued phone numbers.
“Interestingly, the address that was given to us by the surgery group that he worked for turned out to be a fake address,” Laird told the local outlet, referencing Las Vegas Surgical Associates LLP. “It was an address that doesn’t exist.”
Laird shared that he repeatedly, for years, made efforts to contact McKee, even going to former colleagues, including Dr. Peter Caravella, who is also listed in the malpractice suit. Fox News Digital has reached out to Laird for additional details.
“He said he has no idea where Dr. Michael McKee is now,” Laird said. “He just disappeared.”
He just disappeared.
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In the first press conference following McKee’s arrest, Columbus Division of Police Chief Elaine Bryant and Mayor Andrew Ginther said that this was a “domestic violence related attack.”
Rob Misleh, Spencer’s brother-in-law, told NBC News that their family “quickly believed” that McKee was somehow involved in their deaths. Misleh also told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield last week that McKee threatened her life while the two were married.
“He was an emotionally abusive person when they were together, that is all I know,” Misleh said.
Chief Bryan also said that multiple weapons were taken from McKee’s apartment in Chicago following his arrest, including, according to police, a preliminary link to a weapon.
“We can also say that multiple weapons were taken from the property of McKee. And there’s a preliminary link from our NIBIN to one of the weapons that ties it to the homicides.”
Bryant did not specify what kind of weapons were recovered. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Columbus Police Department.
Attorney Lindsay Richards, a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that while the civil lawsuit provides context since it appears that “his life was certainly spiraling out of control.”
“The prosecutor will likely only look to the civil cases to see if there is any overlap in behavior or if it caused mounting pressure or stress for this suspect. It puts his life in context to paint a picture for a jury. Likely this won’t have much influence, if any, on the criminal case beyond just understanding circumstances.”
“It does look like his life was certainly spiraling out of control, which is likely the only reason the prosecution would use these civil cases,” she said.
McKee was arrested after allegedly killing the couple on Dec. 30, according to records. Police officers responded to a house located in Columbus’ Weinland Park neighborhood around 10 a.m. Dec. 30 and found the couple, both dead with gunshot wounds.
FRANTIC 911 CALLS DETAIL MOMENTS BEFORE COLUMBUS DENTIST AND WIFE FOUND DEAD: ‘THERE’S A BODY’
In the Nevada lawsuit, an incarcerated man alleges that McKee, while serving on the Nevada Department of Corrections’ Medical Review Panel, knowingly delayed medical care for a serious condition.
According to the complaint, reviewed by Fox News Digital, the plaintiff experienced ongoing pain and complications over an extended period and underwent multiple procedures that were allegedly ineffective.
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The lawsuit claims approval for appropriate specialist care was repeatedly delayed despite the plaintiff’s worsening condition. As a result, the complaint alleges, the plaintiff ultimately suffered permanent injury, including the loss of a testicle. McKee and the other defendants named in the federal case deny the allegations. The claims have not yet been ruled on by the court.
Neither the federal civil rights lawsuit nor the state malpractice case has reached a resolution.
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Both Nevada cases were active during roughly the same period that McKee would later be charged in Ohio in connection with the deaths of his ex-wife and her husband. Authorities in Ohio have charged McKee with two counts of murder.
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McKee was booked at the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois just before noon Saturday.
He’s facing upgraded premeditated aggravated murder charges in Ohio in relation to Spencer and Monique’s deaths.
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According to a document obtained by Fox News’ Bryan Llenas, McKee will not be transported to Franklin County, Ohio, by Monday, Jan. 19. The document said that the transport “will not be feasible,” and the court date previously set for Monday, Jan. 19, at 2 p.m. is canceled. A new date has been tentatively set for Jan. 23 at 2 p.m.
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NYC Mayor Mamdani breaks silence on Iranian crackdown on protesters
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani noted that he does not support Iran’s deadly crackdown against protesters.
“I absolutely do not support the way the Iranian government has responded to that,” he said during a press conference on Tuesday when asked about Iran.
“I think that the Iranian government and every government should respect the right of people to express their political opinions, and for people to be able to do so safely,” he stated.
HOCHUL, AOC, MAMDANI SLAM ‘WE SUPPORT HAMAS’ CHANTS AT QUEENS PROTEST: ‘DISGUSTING AND ANTISEMITIC’
Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist, was sworn in at the start of this year.
Last year he met with President Donald Trump after winning the mayoral contest.
MAMDANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP HAVE BEEN TEXTING AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK — AS UNLIKELY BROMANCE BLOSSOMS: SOURCES
“I’ve exchanged a handful of texts with the president since we met in the Oval Office,” Mamdani said on Tuesday.
“And those texts, the conversations that we’ve had, they always come back to New York City and the importance of delivering for the people who call this city home,” he noted.
Trump has been signaling that the U.S. will take action to support Iranian dissidents.
IRAN REGIME OPENED FIRE WITH LIVE AMMUNITION ON PROTESTERS, DOCTOR SAYS: ‘SHOOT-TO-KILL’
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“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!” he declared in a Tuesday Truth Social post, using the acronym that stands for “Make Iran Great Again.”