WASHINGTON – Tom Kean Jr., the New Jersey Republican who’s been away from Congress for almost four months with an unspecified medical condition, has returned to say he had been treated for depression. He reappeared at Congress on Tuesday. Kean represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club, and he’s facing a challenge from Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett. He’s missed more than 100 votes and hadn’t been publicly in Washington or his district. Kean had promised to finally be transparent about why he was away for so long without explanation.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, striking down a federal election law that’s more than 50 years old. Prodded by a Republican-led Ohio lawsuit, the court’s conservative justices Tuesday were again in the majority of the latest decision that upended congressionally enacted limits on raising and spending money to influence elections. The court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited independent spending in federal elections. The party spending limits stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate. Democrats had wanted the court to uphold the law.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar for meetings with mediators working to negotiate an end to the war with Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, flew to Qatar on Tuesday following a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships. A spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry says the U.S. delegation won’t have any direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats. But Iran is sending representatives to the Qatari capital of Doha this week. That opens the possibility for Qatari mediators to pass messages between the two sides.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is upholding state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, in another setback for transgender people. The court’s conservative majority has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year. It rules Tuesday that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don’t violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education. More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes. Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity.
– The Associated Press
