Tennessee Secretary of State Says State Democrat Lawmakers are Trying to ‘Weaponize’ DOJ

TN DOJ

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett stated that state Democrat lawmakers are trying to “weaponize” the United States Department of Justice against the state.

“Tennesseans should not be surprised that some want to weaponize the Department of Justice against the state ranked number one in election integrity,” Hargett said in the statement obtained by The Tennessee Star on Friday.

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Trans Activists May Have Found a Backdoor to Force Hospitals to Provide Sex-Change Surgeries

Surgery Doctors

A lawsuit filed against a hospital for not providing transgender medical procedures could signal a new approach for LGBTQ activists to try to force medical professionals to affirm gender transitions, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Feb. 14 on behalf of 18-year-old Caden Kent, a biological female patient identifying as transgender, arguing that the hospital’s policy violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by not providing a sex-change mastectomy. Legal experts who spoke to the DCNF said this argument may come up in more cases as hospitals are penalized for refusing to provide sex-change procedures, and may make it as high as the Supreme Court in time.

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Biden Pushes Inmate Voting with Help from Interest Groups

Inmate

A federal agency is working with left-of-center nonprofits to increase voting among prisoners and former prison inmates under an executive order from President Joe Biden designed to increase election turnout. 

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has partnered with and regularly consults on voting issues with the League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee. 

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‘It Will Not Stand’: Trump Says He Will Appeal After Judge Reimposes Gag Order In Overnight Decision

Former President Donald Trump promised to appeal a gag order reimposed on him Sunday night by the judge overseeing his 2020 election case.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, reimposed a gag order that prevents Trump from making public statements “targeting” Special Counsel Jack Smith or his staff, the defense counsel or their staff, court staff and witnesses after temporarily suspending it. Trump said Monday morning that the order “will not stand” and promised to appeal.

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ACLU Suing Tennessee over Law That Punishes People Who Knowingly Spreading HIV

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on X, formerly Twitter, that it is suing the State of Tennessee over a law meant to prevent people from knowingly spreading HIV.

“BREAKING: We’re suing Tennessee for their ‘aggravated prostitution’ statute that targets people with HIV with harsh punishment and lifetime sex offender registration. This law is unconstitutional and disproportionately affects Black and transgender women,” the group said Tuesday afternoon. “The law elevates engaging in sex work from a misdemeanor to a felony based on someone’s HIV status – a protected disability.”

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Federal Judge Again Rejects Dem Claims that Georgia Voter ID Law is Racist

A federal judge has upheld Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, marking the second time in a year that a court affirmed the law in the face of Democrat allegations the state’s voter ID requirement is racist.

U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee, a Trump appointee for the Northern District of Georgia, last week rejected an effort by the U.S. Justice Department to stop portions of the state’s Election Integrity Act, which Georgia passed in 2021, from being enforced.

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Commentary: ‘See You at the Pole’ Is Protected by the First Amendment

Stefi Outlaw, the president of the local NEA affiliate in Clarksville, Tennessee, emailed the chairman of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools chairman Kent Griffy, and Mark Nolan an attorney regarding board member Aron Maberry.  The claim she made was he used his official capacity as a board member to promote a “See You at the Pole“ prayer rally.

This raises a few interesting points. As a public official, using your public account probably provides more transparency to taxpayers. How much public business gets conducted behind the scenes with private emails? The use of private email for public business can be controversial and legally problematic in some cases.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Reinstates Kentucky Ban on Child Sex Change Procedures

A federal judge ruled Friday that Kentucky can enforce its state law which prohibits sex change treatments for minors, according to Reuters.

U.S. District Judge David Hale, an Obama appointee, decided that Kentucky can prohibit the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors after ruling in June that the state law likely violated the U.S. Constitution, according to Reuters. The decision was made because a federal appeals court reinstated a similar ban in Tennessee ahead of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing both state’s cases together.

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Court Strikes Down Florida Law Barring Non-Citizens from Collecting Voter Registration Forms

A U.S. District court judge has blocked a Florida election law that criminalized noncitizens from collecting voter registration forms, a statute some say was aimed at Hispanic migrants and asylum seekers.

The law, which was overruled last week would have gone into effect this month, resulting in fines for as much as $50,000 against non-citizens “collecting or handling” voter registration forms.

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Nearly Half of U.S. States Now Have Measures Limiting Transgender Surgery for Minors, but Lawsuits Abound

At least 20 states have either restricted or banned transgender procedures for minors, with many of them facing lawsuits and temporary blocks by courts as a result, while future litigation is possible in states considering adopting such laws. 

The states that have enacted legislation against such procedures are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – essentially all conservative-leaning.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Offers Legislation to Count Provisional Ballots in Cases of Defective Mail-In Votes

Pennsylvania state Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is drafting a bill to ensure voters have their in-person votes counted in cases when their defective mail-in ballots were tossed. 

Boscola sponsored Act 77, the 2019 law that legalized no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, and her emerging bill seeks to clarify a part of that statute. A provision in that law led the Delaware County Board of Elections to vote unanimously on May 23 to throw out six of its eligible voters’ ballots cast in the May 16 primary. Three of those voters are now suing the board in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas to have their votes tallied and to guarantee those in similar situations have their ballots counted in the future. 

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Protect Women Ohio Launches New Ad to Defeat Amendment Ending Parental Consent for Abortions

A pro-woman parental rights coalition has launched a new digital advertisement highlighting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and President Joe Biden’s attack on parental rights.

The ad, entitled “All Our Kids,” is the third 60-second digital advertisement released in a series by Protect Women Ohio, aimed at defeating Ohio’s pro-abortion, anti-parent amendment, championed by the leftist organization the ACLU.

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Conservative Commentator Fires Back at Deirdre Nansen McCloskey for Cancelling University of Pittsburgh Debate

Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles on Wednesday responded to Deirdre Nansen McCloskey’s withdrawal from their scheduled University of Pittsburgh debate, calling the libertarian economist “scared” and “not honest.” 

The event, sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), was to take place next Tuesday and Knowles said he and ISI are looking for a replacement for McCloskey. Knowles, a traditionalist Catholic, and McCloskey, a transgendered woman and professor emerita at the University of Illinois-Chicago, planned to argue over the nature of womanhood and current gender-policy issues. 

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ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Pennsylvania School District That Banned After-School Satan Clubs

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Thursday against a Pennsylvania school district after they allegedly revoked permission for The Satanic Temple (TST) to host an After-School Satan Club on the district’s property, according to a press release.

Saucon Valley School District (SVSD) reportedly denied a request by TST’s club to use school facilities after receiving calls and messages from concerned members of the district, according to the lawsuit. TST argues in the lawsuit that denying its club is a violation of the First Amendment when another religious club is allowed to use school facilities but the After-School Satan Club is not.

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Ohio Pro-Life Group Announces First Wave of 48 Coalition Members to Fight for Parental Rights

An Ohio pro-woman and pro-parent group said that their large group of Ohio-based coalition members is a testament that Ohioans refuse to sit back and watch as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood bring a war on parental rights to Ohio.

Protect Women Ohio (PWO), a new group dedicated to defeating a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion throughout the state, released a list of it’s first wave of Ohio-based coalition members on Wednesday.

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Politically Diverse Groups Back Free Speech at Pitt After Pennsylvania Lawmakers Urge Event Cancellation

After two Pennsylvania lawmakers last week called for cancelling upcoming conservative appearances at the University of Pittsburgh, a politically diverse array of voices are responding in favor of free speech. 

Representatives Jessica Benham (D-Carrick) and Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia), who co-chair the state House LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, denounced the state-related university for permitting the presence of speakers who oppose liberal views of transgenderism. The guests they find objectionable include Cabot Phillips, senior editor of the The Daily Wire news organization, who is scheduled to speak this Friday; Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer and critic of biological males competing in women’s sports, who will appear on March 27; and Michael Knowles, a Daily Wire commentator, who will debate transgender economist Deirdre McCloskey on April 18. All speakers are being sponsored by student-led associations. 

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Ohio Ballot Board Certifies Amendment to Enshrine Abortion in State Constitution

On Monday, the Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified that the proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion throughout the state called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporates only one constitutional amendment and therefore advances.

The Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, must now gather over 413,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 44 counties, which equals 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election before July 5th. The amount of signatures must equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race in each county.

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Wisconsin Representatives Introduce Victims’ Rights Measure

Two state legislators from Wisconsin are urging colleagues to back their bill to strengthen crime victims’ rights to restitution in their state. 

The bill authored by State Representatives Shae Sortwell (R-Gibson) and Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) would halt the restoration of felons’ voting rights until after the perpetrators pay all fines, court fees, and victim restitution. In the Badger State, a convict loses his or her right to vote until he or she serves all prison time and completes any parole or probation that a court imposes. But that person may again vote before meeting his or her legal monetary obligations. 

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Arizona’s Democratic Attorney General Defends Maintaining Database Tracking International Money Transfers

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ is defending her administration’s decision to keep in place a money transfer surveillance program that paves the way for a growing number of law enforcement agencies across the country to keep tabs on the dealings of potentially illegal activity.

With the database originally set up nearly a decade ago under the stewardship of a Republican attorney general, the so-called Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC) act was billed as a voluntary agreement with Western Union aimed at combating drug trafficking that has now expanded to touch more than 600 law enforcement agencies.

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The City of Minneapolis Reaches $600,000 Settlement with BLM Protesters Who Sustained Injuries During the 2020 George Floyd Riots

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to a settlement involving a dozen people who were allegedly injured during the protests and riots after the death of George Floyd in 2020.

In a Wednesday press release, the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that Minneapolis will pay $600,000 to be split among the 12 plaintiffs, meaning they each will get $50,000. ACLU was one of three firms who banded together in a class action lawsuit on behalf of the demonstrators. The case stems from two separate lawsuits that were consolidated.

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decides Against Counting Undated Ballots

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court this week ordered counties to decline to count any absentee or mail-in ballot delivered in an undated envelope.

State law, which has permitted no-excuse absentee voting since 2020, requires those not voting in person to place their ballot into a secrecy envelope before placing it into a return envelope. Voter must sign and date that outer envelope for their ballot to be valid under state statute. 

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Some Ohio Political Institutions Refused to Acknowledge Columbus Day

On Columbus Day 2022, the disconnect between institutions over whether to commemorate Christopher Columbus persisted, with many organizations aligned with progressives and the Democratic Party making no mention of America’s discoverer and celebrating “Indigenous People’s Day” instead.

Conservative politicians and candidates happily celebrated the holiday. 

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Judge Grants Injunction Against Ohio Abortion Law

On Friday, the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas sided with Ohio abortionists in granting a preliminary injunction against a law forbidding termination of pregnancies in cases when the unborn child has a detectible heartbeat.

Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed the Heartbeat Act in 2019, though the statute could only take effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision this June. Judge Christian Jenkins (D) placed a freeze on the law pending a determination. The state of Ohio is expected to appeal the injunction.

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Hold on Ohio Abortion Restriction to Last at Least Two More Weeks

Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins (D) this week indicated he will extend his hold on a significant Ohio abortion-restricting law for two additional weeks. 

Jenkins’s decision prolongs the effect of a decision he made last week to obstruct the Heartbeat Act’s implementation, with the initial freeze to last two weeks. The state General Assembly passed and Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed the bill (SB 23) in 2019. The legislation, which prohibits aborting unborn children who have detectable heartbeats, could not take effect until this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. 

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Ohio State Board of Education Considers Resolution Against Gender Ideology

Ohio’s State Board of Education on Tuesday heard public comment on a proposed resolution treating biological sex as an “objective, scientific fact” and opposing school policies that seek to blur the lines on this subject.

Board member Brendan Shea (District 5) introduced the measure, which balks at regulations recently proposed by President Joe Biden. If finalized, the federal Department of Education rules would effectively force schools to call gender-dysphoric K-12 students by their preferred names and pronouns rather than their given names and biological pronouns. They would also require school athletic programs to assign children to teams based on avowed gender identity rather than physiological sex. 

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Democrat Judge Temporarily Blocks Ohio Heartbeat Abortion Ban

A Hamilton County judge temporarily halted Ohio’s ban on abortions once a fetal heartbeat has been detected, a law that has been in effect since the U.S. Supreme Court returned the issue of abortion to the individual states.

Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins, a Democrat, paused Ohio’s Heartbeat Act (SB 23) Wednesday for 14 days with a temporary restraining order.

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Hamilton County Judge Temporarily Halts Ohio Abortion Restriction

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian A. Jenkins this week imposed a two-week suspension on the Ohio law banning abortions for women whose unborn children have detectable heartbeats. 

Effectively, the statute, known as the “Heartbeat Law,” generally prohibits terminating pregnancies that have gone on for longer than six weeks. Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed the legislation in 2019 but agencies could not enforce it until this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion nationwide. 

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‘Find Another Job’: Oklahoma Officials Respond to Teacher Quitting over CRT Ban

Oklahoma officials are calling for teachers pushing Critical Race Theory (CRT) to leave the classroom after an Oklahoma teacher spoke out against the states’ education law following her resignation.

Summer Boismier quit her high school teaching position at Norman Public Schools in Norman, Oklahoma, after she shared a QR code in her classroom linking students to “Books Unbanned,” a program through Brooklyn Public Library, that allowed students to access books prohibited from being taught by a state law. The law, HB 1775, prohibits teaching that one race or sex is superior to another, with the intent to prevent the teaching of CRT and certain elements of gender ideology.

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Pennsylvania Toughens DUI Sentences

Pennsylvania state Reps. Craig Williams (R-Chadds Ford) and Chris Quinn (R-Media) on Friday lauded area lawmakers and activists for their work toward enactment of “Deana’s Law” which toughens drunk-driving sentences.

The new act is named after Deana DeRosa Eckman, a 45-year-old Delaware County resident who died in a February 2019 car collision caused by six-time Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) offender David Strowhouer in Upper Chichester Township. Strowhouer had a blood-alcohol content of 0.199, more than twice the level the commonwealth permits, and was driving 80 miles per hour before striking Eckman’s vehicle head-on. 

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Arizona ACLU Sues to Block ‘Personhood’ Abortion Law After Roe Is Overturned

The Arizona affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a motion Saturday that seeks to block the state’s “personhood” law which, they argue, could make all abortions illegal in the state.

The abortion rights groups filed an emergency motion one day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, returning decisions about abortion to the states.

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Commentary: ACLU Features Man Who Says the Words ‘Girl,’ ‘Woman,’ and ‘Wife’ Were Historically Used to Demean Women as ‘Sluts’

The American Civil Liberties Union hosted a podcast earlier this month in which a man who identifies as non-binary, Alok Vaid-Menon, argued that society should discard the “gender binary.” People who do not affirm transgender and non-binary identity, the mixed-media artist and activist argued, are acting out of grief over being forced by society to be either masculine or feminine.

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Washington Post Publishes Straight-Up Propaganda Piece Outing ‘Libs of TikTok’

Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz exposed the identity behind the “Libs Of TikTok” Twitter account in an article that widely characterized exposure of questionable school policy and problematic teacher-student interactions as “anti-LGBT.”

Rather than grapple with the issues the account brought to light — some of which resulted in discipline of teachers — Lorenz drew on interviews from left-wing activists at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the left-wing organization Media Matters, who predictably supported the narrative that exposing controversial classroom instruction to the public at large essentially amounts to bigotry for the transgender and gay community.

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Federal Court Considers Whether to Count Undated Ballots in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Election

Pennsylvania Judicial Center

A federal appeals court this week blocked certification of the election results for the contest between Republican David Ritter and Democrat Zachary Cohen for Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge.

Currently, Ritter is 74 votes ahead of Cohen, but the win would flip to the Democrat should the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decide to count 257 absentee ballots that lack handwritten dates on their return envelopes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania is litigating on behalf of five of the voters who cast those ballots.

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Border Patrol Testing Robot Dogs to Police Southern Border

The U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is looking into the viability of autonomous robots resembling man’s best friend to traverse the Mexican border.

The department is working with the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to expose the Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles (AGSVs) to climate and terrain consistent with the southern border. In its Feb. 1 blog post, the department said initial testing in Lorton, Virginia, moved to El Paso, Texas, to give the machines a better taste of its potential work environment.

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Commission Wants New Ohio Legislative Maps to Stay At Least Through General Election

The Ohio Redistricting Commission wants the Ohio Supreme Court to allow a second round of state legislative district maps to stand at least through this year’s elections.

The request comes as part of the commission’s response to challenges to the new maps that were forced to be redrawn after the court ruled the original maps illegally favored Republicans.

The commission asked for a decision by Feb. 11 or stay the issue until after the 2022 general election, allowing the revised plan to stay in effect until then.

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Groups File Objections to Ohio’s Second Attempt at Legislative Maps

Several groups filed objections to the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s second attempt at redrawing state legislative maps, saying the commission failed to live up to reforms passed in 2018 and orders from the Ohio Supreme Court.

An 11:59 p.m. Tuesday deadline was in place to file legal claims with the Ohio Supreme Court, which declared the state’s first legislative district maps unconstitutional Jan. 12 and gave the commission 10 days to submit new ones.

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Capitol Police Is Surveilling Americans’ Social Media Feeds: Report

The U.S. Capitol Police is running background checks and examining the social media histories of people meeting with lawmakers, Politico reported Monday.

Following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, the Capitol Police adopted a new policy to dig into the social media feeds of individuals meeting members of Congress, Politico reported, citing three people familiar with the matter as well as internal Capitol Police documents and communications. Targets of the surveillance included congressional staffers as well as lawmakers’ constituents, donors and associates.

Julie Farnam, acting director of intelligence for the Capitol Police and former Department of Homeland Security official, directed analysts to run “background checks” on donors and associates of lawmakers, including instructions to “list and search all political opponents to see if they or their followers intend to attend or disrupt the event,” according to documents reviewed by Politico.

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Ruling in Pennsylvania Election-Investigation Lawsuit Expected to Come Soon

exterior of Pennsylvania Judicial Court

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court is expected to soon issue a decision on whether the state Senate Republicans’ 2020 election probe may continue.

Specifically, the judges must determine whether delivery of information subpoenaed by the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee would breach voters’ privacy rights as state Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) and other plaintiffs maintain.

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Virginia ACLU Sues Hanover School Board to Enforce Transgender Bathroom Law

Claiming that transgender children are “unsafe” using school bathrooms of their sex assigned at birth, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLUVA) has filed a lawsuit against the Hanover County School Board.

“Today, the ACLU of Virginia filed a lawsuit in Hanover County Circuit Court against the Hanover County School Board on behalf of five families, due to the school board’s failure to adopt policies protecting transgender students in accordance with state law and the Virginia Department of Education’s model policies,” the group said in Thursday statement. “All plaintiffs have transgender children who attend public schools in Hanover County.”

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