Connect with us

Lambda Legal Waited Months for the DOJ and DoED to Hand Over Documents on Transgender Students. Now They’re Suing.

Published

on

‘An Estimated 150,000 Youth Between Ages 13 and 17 Are Transgender’

Lambda Legal is suing the Dept. of Education and the Dept. of Justice after waiting five months for documents it requested on their joint revocation of Obama-era guidance to schools for transgender students. In February Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions jointly decided to revoke the Obama-era guidance to protect the civil rights of transgender students.

In March Lambda Legal, an LGBT civil rights organization, filed Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) to obtain records relating to the federal government agencies’ “rescission of two guidance documents pertaining to schools’ Title IX obligations with respect to transgender students.”

Having received no response for more than five months, Lambda Legal announced on Wednesday it had filed suit Tuesday against both agencies to obtain the requested documents. The federal government is legally obligated to provide the requested documents, or provide a reason why it believes it cannot.

“The Departments of Education and Justice pulled the rug out from under transgender students, leaving them even more vulnerable to harassment and abuse. We need to know why,” says Susan Sommer, Lambda Legal’s Associate Legal Director and Director of Constitutional Litigation, in a statement.

“Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of our country’s democracy, and the Freedom of Information Act is a vital part of citizens’ ability to understand how the government works and hold politicians accountable,” Sommer adds. “The Departments of Education and Justice cannot be allowed to flout those ideals, to devise policies behind closed doors with terrible consequences for transgender schoolchildren nationwide.”

In its lawsuit, Lambda Legal notes the decision to withdraw the 2016 guidance “created confusion for schools across the country and eliminated an important resource for ensuring that schools meet their Title IX obligations.”

Lambda Legal also notes the decision to revoke the guidance to protect transgender students’ civil rights “leaves these children even more vulnerable to abuse and discrimination in their schools. It sends the troubling signal that Defendants [the DOJ and DoEd] will not follow through on their responsibility to enforce Title IX for transgender children. It sends the false message that schools may not be obligated under Title IX to respect and protect their transgender students, including when it comes to access to sex-segregated facilities consistent with students’ gender identities.”

“An estimated 150,000 youth between ages 13 and 17 are transgender,” the lawsuit notes. “These transgender students, along with younger transgender children, experience alarming rates of harassment, bullying, and discrimination in their schools, which often goes unaddressed by school administrators. Many are denied access to sex-segregated facilities, such as school restrooms and locker rooms, in accordance with their gender identities.”

Lambda Legal is also suing President Trump for his ban on transgender service members. 

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page. 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

FBI Told to Flag Mentions of Trump in Epstein Files, Dem Says in Scathing Letter to Bondi

Published

on

One thousand employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation sifting through thousands of pages of the Epstein files were instructed to flag any mentions of President Donald Trump, according to Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee.

“According to information my office received,” Senator Durbin wrote in a letter (below) to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday, “you…pressured the FBI to put approximately 1,000 personnel…on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in order to produce more documents that could then be released on an arbitrarily short deadline.”

“My office was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned,” Durbin charged.

The files are from the criminal investigation into the notorious Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of child sex offenses.

RELATED: ‘He’s So Frustrated’: Johnson Defends Trump Over Explosive Epstein Birthday Letter

In his letter, Senator Durbin also posed a series of more than a dozen questions to Bondi. Among them:

“Have you personally reviewed all files in DOJ’s possession related to Jeffrey Epstein?”

“The records DOJ released on February 27 did not include a client list. Why did you
publicly claim on February 21 that the client list was ‘sitting on my desk right now to review’?”

“Why were personnel told to flag records in which President Trump was mentioned?”

“Please list all political appointees and senior DOJ officials involved in the decision to flag records in which President Trump was mentioned.”

“What happened to the records mentioning President Trump once they were flagged?”

CNBC reported that “Durbin asked the Justice Department and FBI to explain what his office called ‘apparent discrepancies’ regarding handling of the Epstein files and findings from a Justice Department memo.”

In his four-page letter, Durbin also wrote, “in 2002, Mr. Trump said of Mr. Epstein, ‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy, He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’ Just yesterday, it was reported that the Department previously reviewed a ‘leather-bound album’ comprised of dozens of letters from Mr. Epstein’s friends in celebration of his 50th birthday in 2003.”

READ MORE: ‘War Is Peace’: White House’s Navarro Mocked Over Claim Tariffs Are ‘Tax Cuts’

“The letters were collected by Mr. Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell and included one from President Trump that allegedly ‘contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker … and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist.'”

“Despite tens of thousands of personnel hours reviewing and re-reviewing these Epstein- related records over the course of two weeks in March, it took DOJ more than three additional months to officially find there is ‘no incriminating ‘client list,’ and the memorandum with this finding includes no mention of the whistleblower or additional documents, the existence of which you publicly claimed on February 27.”

Read a copy of Senator Durbin’s letter below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Trust in Trump’: White House Touts ‘Incredible’ Economy as Inflation Jumps

Image via Reuters

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Would the President Say This?’: Rubio Demands Diplomats Echo Trump

Published

on

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after cutting 1,300 employees last week, is now ordering diplomats to not comment on foreign elections and internal affairs—limiting official communications to congratulating the declared winner.

“Rubio has instructed U.S. diplomats not to comment on the legitimacy or fairness of foreign elections, breaking with decades of American diplomatic practice,” The Daily Beast reports. In a memo, the Secretary stated that U.S. missions will no longer issue election-related statements unless there is a “clear and compelling” foreign policy reason for doing so.

“Diplomatic personnel writing official messages are instead instructed to ask themselves: ‘Would the President say this?'”

The memo, seen by Reuters, says the messages “should be brief, focused on congratulating the winning candidate and, when appropriate, noting shared foreign policy interests.”

READ MORE: ‘He’s So Frustrated’: Johnson Defends Trump Over Explosive Epstein Birthday Letter

The memo makes clear, based on President Trump’s remarks, that the U.S. will “pursue partnerships with countries wherever our strategic interests align,” regardless of democratic values.

U.S. promotion of human rights, democracy, and press freedoms has traditionally been a “core foreign policy objective,” Reuters reported.

“Under Trump, the administration has increasingly moved away from the promotion of democracy and human rights, largely seeing it as interference in another country’s affairs.”

The Washington Post adds that for “decades, the United States has offered judgments on whether elections were conducted in a free or fair matter [sic], a judgment that can have significant impact in countries.”

“Scholars have accused the United States of democratic backsliding since Trump, who refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, returned to office this year.

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have defended right-wing and far-right political groups, including Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which reportedly has ties to right-wing extremists.

Secretary Rubio in May ignited a “spat” with Germany’s foreign ministry when it “hit back…after he criticized the decision to classify the Alternative for Germany party as a ‘right-wing extremist’ organization,” the Associated Press reported at the time.

READ MORE: ‘War Is Peace’: White House’s Navarro Mocked Over Claim Tariffs Are ‘Tax Cuts’

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘He’s So Frustrated’: Johnson Defends Trump Over Explosive Epstein Birthday Letter

Published

on

After weeks of mounting scrutiny and days of growing scandal surrounding President Donald Trump—culminating Thursday night with a bombshell Wall Street Journal exposé revealing a “bawdy,” innuendo-laced letter he reportedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday—the White House appears to be circling the wagons, as allies hit the airwaves in his defense.

On Friday, Republican former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy appeared on Fox News, where he twice defended Donald Trump as “the most transparent president.” But it was his successor’s remarks that drew the most attention.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made a rare appearance on CNBC Friday morning (video below), defending Donald Trump and telling viewers he had just spoken with the President, whom he said denied the Wall Street Journal’s report.

“The President and I talked about that ridiculous allegation this morning,” Johnson told “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen. “He said, it’s patently absurd. He’s never drawn such a picture. He’s never thought of drawing such a picture.”

READ MORE: ‘War Is Peace’: White House’s Navarro Mocked Over Claim Tariffs Are ‘Tax Cuts’

Johnson relayed that Trump told him, “Did you see the language of this bogus supposed communication or card or something I supposedly sent to Epstein?”

“I don’t talk like that, I don’t think like that,” Trump told him.

“They’re literally making things up,” Johnson insisted, despite the Journal reporting that Trump had threatened to sue if it published the damning missive—a threat he has now made public.

“And he’s so frustrated by it, and he’s gonna wind up, I think, suing some of the media outlets that, uh, that have put all this out there because they informed them that it was totally contrived,” Johnson continued.

He called Trump “the most maligned and attacked political figure in the history of American politics,” before adding, “he’s also the most resilient.”

Then Johnson slipped in a startling claim.

“And you see at the same time, his approval ratings are skyrocketing — CNN had a story, I think, a day or two ago. He was at 90% approval rating. There’s never been a president that high,” Johnson said.

Only one president has ever received an overall approval rating of 90%: George W. Bush, just after the 9/11 terror attacks. Johnson may have been claiming 90% among the GOP base, but if so, he did not say that.

According to CNN, the outlet Johnson cited, Trump’s approval rating is less than half the number he quoted.

“In the CNN poll, Trump’s approval rating was largely unchanged from the spring, at 42%. But less than a year after an election that turned in part on frustration about the cost of groceries and housing, only 37% of those polled say Trump is concentrating on the right issues — down 6 points from March.”

READ MORE: ‘Divine Providence’: Johnson Paints Trump as ‘Miraculously’ Spared by God

CNN added that Trump “seems to be doing the opposite of what most voters want. His biggest-ever domestic triumph — the just-passed ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ which contains much of his second-term domestic agenda — is opposed by 61% of Americans. And his approval among independents is an anemic 32%.”

Critics blasted Johnson.

Author James Surowiecki, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, responded to Johnson’s “90%” remark:

“The ease with which Johnson lies is staggering. The 90% is Trump’s approval rating with Republicans, not with voters as a whole. (And no, 90% is not even an all-time high approval rating for a president with his own party – Obama hit 95% with Dems.)”

Michael A. Cohen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS), also responded to Johnson’s “90%” claim, writing that Johnson is “telling obvious lies to soothe the ego of our child-like President …. The lack of self-respect with these guys never ceases to amaze.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Trust in Trump’: White House Touts ‘Incredible’ Economy as Inflation Jumps

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.