7. SCOTUS redistricting case detailed
- State Rep. Chris Pringle (R-Mobile) has discussed the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court setting to hear Alabama’s case on redistricting, which was previously challenged as violating the Voting Rights Act. Pringle discussed the state’s plan on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.”
- “We followed what we assumed was the law to the T. The three-judge panel told us that we did not rely enough on race in order to draw the districts. We were told you couldn’t rely on race,” he said. “You had to rely on compactness, contiguity and communities of interest, and get deviations down to a zero, which has been traditional reapportionment standards. But the last two lines of the Voting Rights act clearly says, ‘nothing in this law should be misconstrued so that you’ll have representation based on the percentage of your population.’ So that’s the question. What’s more important – Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act or the 14th Amendment of Equal Protection for the citizens?”
6. Moore wants to send IRS agents to the southern border
- Some new Internal Revenue Service agents could be sent to the southern border if U.S. Rep. Barry Moore’s (R-Enterprise) new legislation is successful, which would require agents to spend at least 30 days at the border.
- Moore said, “The American people are worried about their families’ future and safety, but the only solutions Democrats have to offer them are bureaucracy and Big Brother. Instead of spending billions to come after taxpayers, Washington should take action to stop the influx of drugs and crime overwhelming our borders.”
5. The VA will start offering abortion services
- Abortion access will now be available through the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans and their families. Abortion access will also be available in states where abortions have been made illegal but with more limited access to only cases of rape and incest or where the mother’s life is at risk.
- In the document announcing the change, it said, “VA is taking this action because it has determined that providing access to abortion-related medical services is needed to protect the lives and health of veterans…veterans in many States are no longer assured access to abortion services in their communities, even when those services are needed.”
4. The mayor of Birmingham ask gangs if they would please stop being gangs
- Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has recently addressed the violence that took place in the city over the weekend, saying, “In less than 24 hours between 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, three people were killed. Last night, five more people were shot, with at least two losing their lives.”
- Some of the violence was connected to gangs, and Woodfin suggested, “Ask them to call a truce, ask them to lay low, ask them to chill and put the guns down.” Woodfin has also said, “Too many lives have been lost, and none of this is worth the cycle of retaliation and death that’s crippling our community and literally snatching your sons’ lives.”
3. Montgomery County sheriff says fewer gun permits are defunding the police
- Since the Alabama Legislature passed the constitutional carry bill, sheriffs across the state have been bringing up how there has already been a drop in pistol permit requests and it could create a heavy decline in revenue for some law enforcement. Some of the declines in revenue have been around 40%, and it’s expected that there will be more revenue lost.
- Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said, “This is just another way of defunding law enforcement at a time when violent crime is on a rise. I don’t think we will ever see funding from this come back and we need to look at other areas to get revenue to make sure we keep our officers trained and keep the latest equipment in our offices to help protect our communities.”
2. Biden goes after Republicans again in his Labor Day speech
- During his Labor Day speech, President Joe Biden criticized “MAGA” Republicans but clarified that “not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans in my whole career.”
- Biden later said, “the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division.” Biden called out U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for his comments on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, saying he “said it was a by and large a peaceful protest. Have you seen the video of what happened that day?” Biden later said, “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
1. Federal judge agrees to grant Trump a “special master” to look at docs
- On Monday, a federal judge announced that she would appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI during the raid on Mar-a-Lago. This move is expected to delay any investigations ongoing with the Justice Department’s criminal investigation but the DOJ has already stated they have identified material they should not have.
- The special master could determine what documents are part of attorney-client privilege and what files could be covered by executive privilege. The investigation appears to be focusing on whether former President Donald Trump was allowed to have certain documents, the impact on national security of those documents and whether or not the Trump team obstructed justice while DOJ was trying to recover them.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.