Alabama and Georgia settle long-running Chattahoochee river water lawsuit
On Tuesday, Governors Kay Ivey (R-Alabama) and Brian Kemp (R-Georgia) announced that they have reached an agreement with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected to finally settle a lawsuit brought by Alabama while assuring both states’ citizens who live and work in the Mid- and Lower Chattahoochee River Basin of sufficient minimum water flows during times of drought. “This agreement is a win-win for our states, with neither side sacrificing what is important to them,” said Governor Kemp. “The Chattahoochee River is the lifeblood of southwest Georgia, and this proposal would give citizens and businesses certainty about the flow of water they need for business and leisure alike. Just as significant, adoption of this proposal would end the current issues related to water supply for metro Atlanta at Lake Lanier, which is crucial to the future of our State. As we put this chapter behind us, I’m thankful for the diligent efforts of Attorney General Chris Carr; my Executive Counsel David Dove; John Allen, Shelly Ellerhorst, and the entire team at KMCL Law; and so many others whose work has made our State proud.” “I agree with Governor Kemp that this is a win-win solution for both Alabama and Georgia,” said Governor Ivey. “Alabama and Georgia have a lot in common. But we have spent a lot of time — and a lot of money on attorney fees — fighting in court over water. This proposal is a big deal for Alabama as the Corps has never before set minimum water-flow objectives in the parts of the Chattahoochee that affect us. It would provide Alabama with long-term assurances that, in times of drought, our citizens will be protected, and our stakeholders will know how much water is coming their way.” Under the agreement, the Corps of Engineers will begin formally considering a first-of-its-kind proposal to operate its dams and reservoirs to achieve minimum water-flow objectives at Columbus, Georgia, and Columbia, Alabama, on the Chattahoochee River along the States’ border. The proposal also provides that the Corps would continue to maintain the necessary minimum elevation at Lake Seminole, located in southwest Georgia, approximately twenty miles southwest of Bainbridge. The parties hope the proposal will resolve litigation Alabama brought challenging the Corps’ operations in the region. This agreement will allow Georgia to make water-supply withdrawals near Atlanta. Although this specific case was filed in 2017, litigation between the parties over these issues has been in the courts since 1990. The Corps’ consideration of the proposal will be subject to a public comment period and environmental review that could last several months. If the Corps adopts the proposal, Alabama will dismiss its appeal following a one-year review period, and the litigation will end. If the Corps does not adopt the proposal, Alabama’s lawsuit will resume. This agreement represents a spirit of cooperation between the two Southern Republican Governors. The U.S. Supreme Court has found in favor of Georgia in a similar lawsuit that Florida brought against them. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Judge blocks Georgia ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender minors
A federal judge has blocked the state of Georgia from enforcing part of a new law that bans doctors from starting hormone therapy for transgender people under the age of 18. In a ruling issued Sunday, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Geraghty granted a preliminary injunction sought by several transgender children, parents, and a community organization in a lawsuit challenging the ban. “The imminent risks of irreparable harm to Plaintiffs flowing from the ban — including risks of depression, anxiety, disordered eating, self-harm, and suicidal ideation — outweigh any harm the State will experience from the injunction,” the judge wrote. Geraghty said her ruling will block enforcement of the ban on hormone replacement therapy until a further court order or a trial. “We are disappointed in the judge’s decision and plan to immediately appeal to protect the health and well-being of Georgia’s children,” said Kara Richardson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. The Georgia law, Senate Bill 140, allows doctors to prescribe puberty-blocking medications, and it allows minors who are already receiving hormone therapy to continue. But it bans any new patients under 18 from starting hormone therapy. It also bans most gender-affirming surgeries for transgender people under 18. It took effect on July 1. Geraghty’s ruling was an “incredible victory for Georgia families,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement. The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and the law firm O’Melveny & Myers are representing the plaintiffs. “This law unapologetically targets transgender minors and denies them essential health care,” they said. “The ruling restores parents’ rights to make medical decisions that are in their child’s best interest, including hormone therapy for their transgender children when needed for them to thrive and be healthy.” At least 22 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama and Indiana as well. The plaintiffs in the Georgia lawsuit did not ask to immediately block the surgery ban, which remains in effect. Doctors typically guide kids toward therapy or voice coaching long before medical intervention. At that point, puberty blockers and other hormone treatments are far more common than surgery. They have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are standard treatments backed by major doctors’ organizations including the American Medical Association. During two days of hearings earlier this month, Geraghty heard conflicting testimony about the safety and benefits of hormone therapy to treat adolescents with gender dysphoria — the distress felt when people’s gender expression does not match their gender identity. Experts for the families said the benefits of gender-affirming care for adolescents are well-established and profound. State government experts raised concerns about the risks of hormone treatment and the quality of studies establishing its effectiveness. In her ruling, Geraghty said witnesses for state health officials set a very high bar for evidence of hormone therapy’s benefit and a low bar for evidence of its risks. She noted that experts agreed that prolonged use of puberty blockers was harmful to a person’s health and inadvisable. For the transgender children in the suit, “time is of the essence,” she wrote, and SB 140 could cause them to suffer heightened gender dysphoria and unwanted and irreversible puberty. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
State attorneys general ask Department of Justice to investigate violence against pro-life groups
The attorneys general of 19 states want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what they say is growing violence targeting pro-life groups nationwide. Last month, Politico published a leaked draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion, apparently revealing the nation’s highest court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, which established abortion as a constitutional right, and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. The leaked opinion, purportedly penned by Justice Samuel Alito, comes in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Since then, groups have protested nationwide, including outside the homes of Supreme Court justices. Additionally, authorities arrested a California man who they say planned to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and abortion advocates have firebombed or vandalized at least two dozen pregnancy centers nationwide. “Inaction is intolerable in our nation of laws, and it violates your oath of office,” the attorneys general wrote. “Yet, in recent weeks, you have continued to allow illegal actions seemingly because they advance (in the minds of some) the pro-abortion cause.” The letter added: “Intentional or not, budding domestic terrorists have apparently received the message: the Department of Justice is going easy on those who use violence in furtherance of favored viewpoints.” According to officials, the attacks began about a month ago, and the FBI said it planned to investigate last week. “President [Joe] Biden’s Department of Justice yet again has its priorities absolutely backward,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in an announcement. “They did not hesitate to investigate parents who spoke out at school board meetings but are now dragging their feet to address the violent crimes committed against pro-life organizations,” Carr added. “Public safety should not be a partisan issue, and it is past time for the U.S. Attorney General to take strong, uniform, and decisive action to hold accountable those who are responsible for these attacks.” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent the letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. In addition to Georgia and Ohio, attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia co-signed the letter.
Mounting losses show limits of Donald Trump’s power
Donald Trump opened May by lifting a trailing Senate candidate in Ohio to the Republican nomination, seemingly cementing the former president’s kingmaker status before another possible White House run. He’s ending the month, however, stinging from a string of defeats that suggests a diminishing stature. Trump faced a series of setbacks in Tuesday’s primary elections as voters rejected his efforts to unseat two top targets for retribution: Georgia’s Republican governor and secretary of state, both of whom had rebuffed Trump’s extraordinary pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But the magnitude of defeat in the governor’s race — more than 50 percentage points — was especially stunning and raised questions about whether Republican voters are beginning to move on from Trump. Nearly six years after the one-time reality television star launched what seemed to be an improbable campaign for the White House, the “Make America Great Again” movement Trump helmed isn’t going anywhere. But voters are increasingly vocal in saying that the party’s future is about more than Trump. “I like Trump a lot, but Trump is in the past,” said David Butler of Woodstock, Georgia, who voted for Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday and said Trump’s endorsements had “no” impact “whatsoever” on his thinking. It was the same for Will Parbhoo, a 22-year-old dental assistant who also voted for Kemp. “I’m not really a Trumper,” he said after voting. “I didn’t like him to begin with. With all the election stuff, I was like, ‘Dude, move on.’” One thing Parbhoo liked about the current governor? “Kemp is focused on Georgia,” he said. Trump sought to play down the losses by his favored candidates, saying on his social media platform Wednesday that he had a “very big and successful evening of political Endorsements” and insisting some races “were not possible to win.” Still, the pattern of high-profile defeats is hard to ignore. After JD Vance vaulted from third to first place following Trump’s late-stage endorsement in the Ohio Senate primary, the dynamics took a turn. Trump’s pick in Nebraska’s primary for governor, Charles Herbster, lost his race after allegations surfaced that he had groped women. In Idaho a week later, the governor beat a Trump-backed challenger. In North Carolina, voters rebuffed Trump’s plea to give a scandal-plagued congressman a second chance. And in Pennsylvania, a marquee Senate primary featuring Trump-endorsed celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz remains too close to call. But his biggest upset was in Georgia, a crucial swing state, where former Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump had lobbied to run and helped clear the field for, lost to Kemp. The governor was among Trump’s top targets after he refused to overturn the results of the 2020 White House election in his state. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who defied Trump’s call to “find” the votes to change the outcome two years ago — a call that is now under investigation — also won his party’s nomination. Attorney General Chris Carr and Insurance Commissioner John King — all opposed by Trump — were also successful in their primaires. In Alabama, Rep. Mo Brooks, whose Senate endorsement Trump rescinded as he struggled to gain traction, made it to a runoff, having gained support after Trump dropped him. Trump has endorsed in nearly 200 races, from governor to county commissioner, often inserting himself into contests that aren’t particularly competitive and helping bolster his compilation of wins. Some of his work, even in races with multiple candidates, has paid off. His early support helped football great Herschel Walker and Rep. Ted Budd sail to their respective Senate primary nominations in Georgia and North Carolina. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, easily won the GOP nomination for governor in Arkansas. And even in Georgia, all of the candidates Trump endorsed in open races won or will head to runoffs. Some allies say Trump’s endorsement tally is a poor measure of his influence, even if Trump constantly promotes that record. They argue that voters may support the former president and be eager for him to run again but may not be persuaded by his selections, especially in races with governors such as Kemp, who have long histories with voters. And even without Trump on the ballot, the party has been transformed in Trump’s image, with candidates adopting his “America First” platform, mimicking his tactics, and parroting his lies about a stolen election. But with Trump out of office and relegated to posting on his own social media platform, other voices are beginning to fill the void. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the most-watched personality on cable television, has become a driving ideological force in the party. Republicans such as the conspiracy-embracing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won her party’s nomination for reelection Tuesday, have taken up his mantle in Washington. Meanwhile, potential presidential rivals to Trump are waiting in the wings for 2024. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has been distancing himself from Trump, rallied with Kemp in suburban Atlanta on Monday evening and told the crowd that “elections are about the future” — an implicit knock on his former boss. Trump has also spawned a new generation of candidates who have channeled his “MAGA” brand but who have done so independent of his support and see themselves as its next iteration. “MAGA doesn’t belong to him,” Kathy Barnette, the Pennsylvania Senate candidate whose late-stage surge stunned party insiders, said in an interview. “Trump coined the word. He does not own it.” While the left, she said, may see the “MAGA movement” as a “cult of Trump voters,” she said it goes far beyond one man. She argued that Trump had succeeded in 2016 because he aligned himself with voters’ concerns and said out loud what people were already thinking, particularly on immigration. She said she tried in her race to do the same. “I do believe Trump has an important voice still,” she added, but “he needs to get better advisers, and in addition to that, he needs to do better himself in remembering why we aligned with him. And it wasn’t because we were aligning with his
Georgia jury finds 3 men guilty in Ahmaud Arbery killing
A jury convicted three Georgia men of felony murder Wednesday for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in a case that led to historic legislative reform in the state. Travis McMichael, who was seen on viral video wrestling with Arbery over his shotgun before Arbery was killed, was found guilty on nine charges that range from malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony. McMichael’s father, Gregory McMichael, who started the pursuit of Arbery that led to his death, was absolved from one of the nine charges. Their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, who also chased Arbery and recorded a video of the event, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault and, false imprisonment. All three men face life sentences without parole. “The loss of Ahmaud Arbery was a tragedy that should have never occurred,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said. “Today’s verdict brings us one step closer to justice, healing, and reconciliation for Ahmaud’s family, the community, the state, and the nation.” Attorneys for the McMichaels, who are white, argued the pair tried to detain Arbery, who is Black, under Georgia’s preexisting citizen’s arrest law in February 2020. The father and son followed Arbery after seeing him running from a house under construction in a neighborhood near Brunswick. The men had seen video footage of Arbery on the property before and suspected him of burglary. The McMichaels, however, told the court they never saw Arbery take anything from the property. The state prosecutor said they had no grounds to detain Arbery since the law required them to witness a crime or reasonably believe a crime was committed. “Ahmaud Arbery was the victim of a vigilantism that has no place in Georgia,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “As legal efforts continue to hold accountable all who may be responsible, we hope the Arbery family, the Brunswick community, our state, and those around the nation who have been following his case can now move forward down a path of healing and reconciliation.” Kemp signed legislation in May that revamped Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law. The measure had received unanimous support in the House and overwhelming support in the Senate. The new law eliminates the right for civilians to arrest other people except for retail business owners and restaurant owners in certain situations. Weight inspectors, licensed private security guards, and private investigators can detain someone while on duty, and law enforcement officers can make the arrests outside of their jurisdiction. The measure allows Georgians to retain their right to protect their home and property. It allows a private person to defend themselves against someone in the home or to “prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” The Arbery case also led to a new hate crime law, which enhanced sentencing for crimes that target victims based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability. While the three men convicted in Arbery’s death won’t face the new hate crime sentencing in Georgia, they were indicted on federal hate crime charges. The federal trial is set for February. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama AG asks review of his GOP group’s rally involvement
Alabama’s attorney general is calling for an investigation into who may have authorized a branch of the Republican Attorneys General Association to promote the pro-Donald Trump rally in Washington, D.C., that preceded a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. The investigation comes on the heels of a report in Documented, a liberal watchdog group, that said the RAGA’s policy arm authorized and paid for a robocall that called on “patriots” to march on the Capitol as Congress was voting to certify the Electoral College results that declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential race. “We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections,” said the recording of the robocall obtained by The Associated Press. It closed by saying that the RAGA’s Rule of Law Defense Fund had paid for and authorized the call. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who heads the fund, on Friday said he was asking for an internal review. “I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this week’s rally. Despite currently transitioning into my role as the newly elected chairman of RLDF, it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions,” Marshall said. “As I’ve previously stated, I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of those who attempted to storm the U.S. Capitol, a place where passionate but peaceful protestors had gathered and lawmakers debated inside,” Marshall said. RAGA chairman Chris Carr, who is also Georgia’s attorney general, said he didn’t have any knowledge of the decision to be involved and is trying to find out what happened. The Republican Attorneys General Association issued a statement saying it was not involved in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of Wednesday’s event. “We strongly condemn and disavow the events which occurred. Wednesday was a dark day in American history and those involved in the violence and destruction of property must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and held accountable,” the statement said. The Democratic Attorney General’s Association accused top Republican law enforcement officials of enabling efforts to undermine the 2020 election results. “The continued peddling of conspiracy theories and pandering to President Trump’s dangerous lies by the Republican Attorneys General Association, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, and some current and former Republican Attorneys General has gone unchecked for too long,” said a statement by DAGA’s co-chairpersons, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. “Current and former Republican AGs have been directly involved with efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, and now the party of so-called ‘law and order’ played a role in recruiting the domestic terrorists who breached the U.S. Capitol to attack Vice President Mike Pence for doing his Constitutionally-mandated job to certify the Electoral College,” the statement said. The chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party on Saturday questioned Marshall’s statement. “Your organization called people and told them ‘we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal’ You’ve been in charge since Nov. 10. You really expect us to believe that you didn’t know anything about it?” Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Chris England tweeted. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center in a Saturday statement calling for an investigation. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Sidelined by pandemic, Trump campaign turns to digital shows
Trump’s reelection team is airing live programming online to replace his trademark rallies made impossible for now by the coronavirus pandemic.
