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US onAir- 1/24/22

US onAir- 1/24/22

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Pentagon Placing Units On ‘Heightened Preparedness’ As Ukraine Tensions Build
MSNBCJanuary 24, 2022
US places up to 8,500 troops on alert for possible deployment to Eastern Europe amid Russia tensions
CNN, Barbara Starr and Jeremy HerbJanuary 24, 2022

As many as 8,500 US troops have been put on heightened alert for a possible deployment to Eastern Europe as Russian troops mass on Ukraine’s border, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued the prepare to deploy orders at the direction of President Joe Biden, the latest step the US has taken to prepare for a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine that officials have warned could be imminent.

Kirby said that the “bulk of” US troops placed on heightened alert were intended to bolster NATO’s quick response force, but added they would be “postured to be ready for any other contingencies as well.”

As of Monday afternoon, no final decision to deploy the troops had been made, Kirby emphasized.

Are the legal walls closing in on Donald Trump?
The Hill, Kimberly WehleJanuary 24, 2022

As the legal walls close in on Donald Trump, the Supreme Court’s Jan. 19 order rejecting his bid to keep secret a trove of official documents related to Jan. 6, 2021 despite President Joe Biden’s waiver of executive privilege bodes poorly for the former president.

Trump asked the court for an emergency stay preventing disclosure of White House records to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Trump roundly lost the case in the lower courts, which rejected his claims “under any of the tests [he] advocated,” without regard to his status as president. In an unsigned decision, the Supreme Court sided with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as it had “concluded that President Trump’s claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent.” Translated, the Supreme Court did not even bother with Trump’s argument that a former president can compete with a sitting president when it comes to the assertion of executive privilege.

This outcome is much like when President Richard Nixon failed to persuade the court to keep the Watergate tapes secret on executive privilege grounds (it held in 1974 that the president does not have absolute, unqualified immunity from subpoenas under executive privilege). The modern Court signaled that Congress might have gotten the Jan. 6 documents even if Trump were still the president today.

PBS NewsHour live episode, Jan. 24, 2022
Associated Press, January 24, 2022 – 6:00 pm (ET)

https://apnews.com/article/college-admissions-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-religion-affirmative-action-5fd79b529db78daee370de22ae17909f

Justices to hear challenge to race in college admissions
Associated Press, Mark ShermanJanuary 24, 2022

The conservative-dominated Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the consideration of race in college admissions, adding affirmative action to major cases on abortion, guns, religion and COVID-19 already on the agenda.

The court said it will take up lawsuits claiming that Harvard University, a private institution, and the University of North Carolina, a state school, discriminate against Asian American applicants. A decision against the schools could mean the end of affirmative action in college admissions.

Lower courts rejected the challenges, citing more than 40 years of high court rulings that allow colleges and universities to consider race in admissions decisions. But the colleges and universities must do so in a narrowly tailored way to promote diversity.

The court’s most recent pronouncement was in 2016, in a 4-3 decision upholding the admissions program at the University of Texas against a challenge brought by a white woman. But the composition of the court has changed since then, with the addition of three conservative justices who were appointed by then-President Donald Trump.

Two members of that four-justice majority are gone from the court: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, and Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018.

Biden Briefed On Military Options In ‘Advance’ Of Potential Russian Ukraine Invasion
MSNBCJanuary 24, 2022

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