National Roundup

Texas
High court allows law banning gender-affirming care for minors to take effect
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court will allow the new state law banning gender-affirming care for minors to take effect on Friday, setting up Texas to be the most populous state with such restrictions on transgender children.

Legal advocates who sued on behalf of the families and doctors, including the American Civil Liberties Union, called the law and the high court’s decision “cruel.”

Last week, a state district judge ruled the pending law violated the rights of transgender children and their families to seek appropriate medical care. The judge issued a temporary injunction to block the law.

State officials immediately appealed to the state’s highest court for civil cases.

The Supreme Court order allowing the law to take effect did not explain the decision. The order did not address whether the law is unconstitutional, and a full hearing is expected.

More than 20 states have adopted laws to ban some gender-affirming care for minors, although some are not yet in effect or have been put on hold by courts.

The Texas law would prevent transgender minors from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, even though medical experts say such surgical procedures are rarely performed on children. Children who already started the medications being banned are required to be weaned off in a “medically appropriate” manner, the law said.

The Texas Supreme Court is all Republican.

The lawsuit argued the Texas law will have devastating consequences for transgender teens if they are unable to obtain critical treatment recommended by their physicians and parents.

Several doctors who treat transgender children said they worry their patients will suffer deteriorating mental health, which could possibly lead to suicide, if they are denied safe and effective treatment.

The Texas ban was signed into law in June by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who was the first governor to order the investigation of families of transgender minors who receive gender-affirming care.


Washington
Justice Thomas reports taking 3 trips on GOP donor’s plane
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is acknowledging that he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.

It’s the first time in years that Thomas has reported receiving hospitality from Crow. In a report made public Thursday, the 75-year-old justice said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel.

The filing comes amid a heightened focus on ethics at the high court that stems from a series of reports revealing that Thomas has for years received undisclosed expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow, a wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes. Crow also purchased the house in Georgia where Thomas’s mother continues to live and paid for two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Thomas and his wife, Ginni.

The Associated Press also reported in July that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, aided by her staff, has advanced sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

One trip Thomas reported was to Crow’s lodge in the Adironack Mountains in upstate New York, where the investigative news site ProPublica has reported that Thomas visits every year.

The other two trips were to Dallas, where he spoke at conferences sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thomas noted that court officials recommended that he avoid commercial travel for one of the trips, in mid-May, because of concerns about the justices’ security following the leak of the court’s draft abortion opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.

The justice also belatedly acknowledged that Crow had purchased the home in Savannah, Georgia, where Thomas’ mother still lives. Thomas and other family members owned the house, along with two neighboring properties. The sale was completed in 2014, but Thomas said he erroneously thought he didn’t have to report it because “this sale resulted in a capital loss.”

In reporting that he and his wife have assets worth $1.2 million to $2.7 million, Thomas also corrected several other mistakes from earlier reports. These include the omission of accounts at a credit union that last year were worth $100,000 to $250,000 and a life insurance policy in his wife’s name that was valued at less than $100,000.

Thomas is considering whether to amend prior reports to include more private plane travel, he noted.

The annual financial reports for Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito were released Thursday, nearly three months after those of the other seven justices. Thomas and Alito were granted 90-day extensions.

Alito reported assets worth $2.8 million to $7.4 million. While most of his holdings are in mutual funds, Alito retains shares of stocks in energy and other companies that sometimes force his withdrawal from Supreme Court cases.

Iowa
Trial underway for teenager accused of killing two students
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Lawyers outlined their cases Thursday in the trial of a Des Moines teenager accused of murdering two students at an alternative school for at-risk youth.

Preston Walls, 19, is the first of two teens to go on trial for the shooting at the Starts Right Here school on Jan. 23 that also seriously wounded program founder Will Keeps, who recovered but still has lingering injuries.

The shooting killed students Gionni Dameron, 18, and Rashad Carr, 16.

After jury selection that stretched for more than three days, prosecutors outlined their case against Walls. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and criminal gang participation. Bravon Tukes, 19, is set to stand trial on the same charges on Oct. 2.

Prosecutors initially sought to try Walls and Tukes together but the judge separated the proceedings at the request of Tukes’ lawyer, who plans to seek Walls’ testimony in his client’s defense. The trial for Walls is expected to last about a week.

Police arrested Walls less than an hour after the shooting at the school on the edge of downtown Des Moines. Prosecutors alleged the shooting was prompted by a dispute between rival gangs but the families of Dameron and Carr denied they were involved in gangs.

The alternative program, which is affiliated with the Des Moines public schools, closed immediately after the shooting but reopened within a few weeks. About 30 students now attend the program.