Judge rules Trump’s use of US National Guard in Los Angeles illegal

A federal judge has ruled that US President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard during Los Angeles immigration protests violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military enforcement of domestic laws.
Protests are being held in Washington, DC, against Trump’s administration as Congress returns from summer break.DOJ targets Illinois higher education policies for undocumented students
The US Department of Justice has challenged Illinois policies granting in-state tuition and scholarship opportunities to undocumented students.

The move comes as the Trump administration has vowed to surge federal immigration enforcement in the state and its largest city, Chicago.

Trump signed an executive order in April ordering federal agencies to go after states that offer in-state tuition to residents without documentation, arguing they were granted more privileges than out-of-state US citizens.

Advocates have long argued that those without documentation should not have to pay more than their neighbours for public higher education.Appeals court allows Trump admin to cleave climate grants
The Trump administration has been handed another win in its effort to cut funding to counter climate change, with an appeals court ruling that it can freeze billions of dollars and terminate contracts aimed at financing green projects.

A district judge had earlier blocked Trump from taking the actions on the funding, which was slated to create a so-called “green bank” for climate-friendly projects.

However, a split appeals panel in DC ruled the challenge had been brought in the wrong jurisdiction, and should be made in federal claims court.If you’re just joining us
Let’s get you up to speed on the most recent developments:

A US court has ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles in June was illegal, as Trump mulls additional deployments in Democrat-led cities such as Chicago and Baltimore over the objections of state and local officials.
The World Trade Organization has called the Trump administration’s aggressive push to reshape global trade through a series of tariffs the “largest disruption to global trade rules” in the last 80 years.
About 1.2 million immigrants have left US labor force amid Trump crackdown, according to preliminary Census Bureau data analysed by the Pew Research Center.
The US Congress faces the looming possibility of a government shutdown at the end of September as lawmakers return from an August break, raising the possibility of a fight to extend government funding that will require a handful of votes from Democratic lawmakers.Revamped CDC vaccine panel to meet on September 18
A revamped vaccine advisory committee for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is scheduled to meet on September 18 and could vote on shots for hepatitis B, measles-mumps-rubella-varicella and respiratory syncytial virus, according to the Federal Register.

The meeting announcement comes after a major upheaval last week at the CDC, whose director, Susan Monarez, was fired after resisting changes to vaccine policy that were advanced by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Three top officials at the health agency also resigned in the wake of the firing, citing antivaccine policies pushed by Kennedy, including the firing of the entire expert vaccine advisory panel – the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices – in June and replacing them with like-minded antivaccine activists and other hand-picked advisers.

The newly revamped seven-member vaccine panel had met in June and voted to recommend seasonal influenza shots free from the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

The head of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has called for a delay of the meeting of vaccine advisers this month after chaos erupted at the CDC.

Kennedy has made sweeping changes to the nation’s vaccine policies, including the withdrawal of federal recommendations for COVID-19 shots for pregnant women and healthy children.Rudy Giuliani leaves hospital after car crash
Trump’s political ally and former lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been released from a hospital in the state of New Hampshire, with a spokesperson saying he is “progressing well” after being injured in an auto accident over the weekend.

The US president announced on Monday that he would award Giuliani, a central figure in Trump’s schemes to overturn the results of the 2020 election through false claims that voting had been “rigged” against him, with the country’s highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.About 1.2 million immigrants have left US labor force amid Trump crackdown
The loss in immigrants in the US workforce accounts for those immigrants in the country with and without documentation, according to preliminary Census Bureau data analysed by the Pew Research Center.

Immigrants make up almost 20 percent of the US workforce, including a whopping 45 percent of workers in farming, fishing and forestry; about 30 percent of all construction workers, and 24 percent of service workers, according to Pew senior researcher Stephanie Kramer.

Trump entered office initially saying only violent criminals would be targeted in his deportation drive, but immigration authorities have increasingly targeted those with no criminal record.

Critics have also said Trump’s policies, including targeting permanent residents for their speech, has made the US less appealing for some foreign workers.Over 80 scientists rebut Trump report downplaying climate change
Leading climate scientists have issued a withering 440-page rebuttal of a Trump administration report in July that downplayed the threat caused by climate change.

The initial report had been published on the Department of Energy’s website to support overturning the so-called “Endangerment Finding” on climate change, which has served as the bedrock of the US government’s authority to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The rebuttal, published by 85 climate scientists, said the initial report had “pervasive problems with misrepresentation and selective citation of the scientific literature, cherry-picking of data, and faulty or absent statistics”.

In a statement, Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University and one of the co-authors, said the Trump administration report “makes a mockery of science”.

“It relies on ideas that were rejected long ago, supported by misrepresentations of the body of scientific knowledge, omissions of important facts, arm waving, anecdotes, and confirmation bias,” he said.