Ohio judge strikes down state’s 6-week abortion ban as unconstitutional
An Ohio judge issued a permanent injunction on Thursday, striking down the state’s six-week abortion law as a whole while citing the state’s constitutional amendment. “Ohio voters have spoken,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins wrote in the filing. “The Ohio Constitution now unequivocally protects the right to abortion.” “This is a momentous ruling, showing the power of Ohio’s new Reproductive Freedom Amendment in practice,” Jessie Hill, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement. “The six-week ban is blatantly unconstitutional and has no place in our law.” PRO-LIFE GROUPS SLAM HARRIS FOR UNCOMPROMISING ABORTION POSITION: ‘CHRISTIANS ARE NOT WELCOME’ The suit was initially filed against Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood on behalf of abortion providers as a result of Ohio’s 2019 law banning abortions as early as six weeks. The law was allowed to briefly go into effect in 2022 after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. The court then issued a temporary restraining order on the law and later extended the order for two more weeks. Following a hearing in October 2022, the court issued a preliminary injunction order that remained in effect up until the permanent injunction order was issued on Thursday. HARRIS REFUSES TO MAKE CONCESSIONS TO REPUBLICANS ON ANY ABORTION LEGISLATION, INCLUDING RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS In 2023, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution. In light of the amendment, Yost conceded that parts of the law were unconstitutional — particularly the six-week provision — while arguing to uphold others. “For even after a large majority of Ohio voters — presumably both women and men — approved an amendment to the Ohio Constitution protecting the right to pre-viability abortion on November 7, 2023, the Attorney General urges this Court to leave ‘untouched’ all but one provision of the so called ‘Heartbeat Act’ clearly rejected by Ohio voters,” Jenkins wrote. SUPREME COURT RACES IN KEY STATES COULD TIP SCALES ON POLICY QUESTIONS Jenkins disagreed with Yost, writing that if the court were to adopt Yost’s argument, “Ohio doctors who provide abortion care would continue to be at risk of felony criminal charges.” Jenkins also stated that upholding certain provisions of the law would still require patients seeking abortions to “make two in-person visits to their provider, wait twenty-four hours to receive abortion care, review state-mandated information designed to discourage abortion and have the reason for their abortion recorded and reported.” “This dispels the myth that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. merely returns the issue of abortion to the states,” the filing read. “This is a very long, complicated decision covering many issues, many of which are issues of first impression,” Yost’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Yost’s office said the state has 30 days “to determine next steps” and would “review the Court’s order in accordance with that timeframe.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former Republican Rep. Fred Upton says he’s ‘proud’ he voted for Kamala Harris
Former Rep. Fred Upton, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump on the heels of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, has announced that he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential contest. Upton noted that he was “proud” to declare that he had already cast his vote for Harris. He said that he had never previously voted for a Democratic presidential candidate and had never thought he would. MORE THAN 100 FORMER GOP OFFICIALS FROM PAST ADMINISTRATIONS PUBLICLY ENDORSE HARRIS OVER TRUMP Upton asserted that Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he is “unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.” While the former lawmaker said that he does not agree with Harris on all policies, he said that Harris is committed to Americans’ best interests. “I invite every single person across the country, Republican or Democrat, to stand up against the hate and chaos of Donald Trump, and vote for Harris as the next President of the United States,” he declared. HARRIS ACCUSES TRUMP OF EMBRACING ‘DIVISION AND EXTREMISM’ FOR PAST DECADE Former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the two Republicans who served on the House Select Committee established to investigate the Jan. 6 episode, have both been supporting Harris in the 2024 contest. And like Upton, they also voted to impeach Trump in 2021. Trump has blasted Cheney on social media as “Crazed Warhawk Liz Cheney” and “a low IQ War Hawk.” HARRIS AND TOP ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN CHENEY TEAM UP IN BATTLEGROUND BLITZ CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Upton served in Congress for more than three decades, spanning from early 1987 to early 2023. He did not run in 2022.
‘BJP orchestrated this…’: Arvind Kejriwal attacked during ‘Pad yatra’ in Delhi, alleges AAP
Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Supremo Arvind Kejriwal was attacked during a ‘Pad Yatra’ in the national capital, the party has alleged.
In final days of senate race, Colin Allred bests Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 senate fundraising record
Colin Allred also continues to out raise Ted Cruz bringing in over $11.8 million in the first 16 days of October. Cruz raised $9.9 million in the same period.
Pentagon denies false claim that Biden-Harris admin authorized troops to use force against Americans
The Pentagon released an unusual statement Thursday debunking a rumor spread online that falsely claims U.S. troops are authorized to use force against American citizens during the election. Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others have spread inaccurate information that suggests a Defense Department policy revision in late September was timed to interfere with the Nov. 5 presidential election. “… Biden/Harris have just pushed through DoD Directive 5240.01 giving the Pentagon power — for the first time in history — to use lethal force to kill Americans on U.S. soil who protest government policies,” Kennedy posted on X to his 4 million followers. U.S. law prohibits federal troops on American soil from using force against U.S. civilians, except in cases of self-defense as outlined in the Posse Comitatus Act. US INVESTIGATING RELEASE OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ON ISRAEL’S PREPARATIONS FOR POSSIBLE IRAN STRIKE The cited revision, Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 5240.01, does not allow troops to use force on U.S. citizens. The timing of its release was not related to the election, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough told The Associated Press. “The policies concerning the use of force by DOD addressed in DoDD 5240.01 are not new, and do not authorize the DOD to use lethal force against U.S. citizens or people located inside the United States, contrary to rumors and rhetoric circulating on social media,” Gough said in a statement. BEWARE THE MOST COMMON TYPES OF ELECTION-RELATED SCAMS The Pentagon regularly updates its directives. This update, which happened on Sept. 27, was intended to align the language on use of force from other policies into 5240.01, which only applies to defense intelligence personnel. “Defense Intelligence Components may provide personnel to assist a Federal department or agency, including a Federal law enforcement agency, or a State or local law enforcement agency when lives are in danger, in response to a request for such assistance,” it says. The directive says the Secretary of Defense must sign off on “Assistance in responding with assets with potential for lethality, or any situation in which it is reasonably foreseeable that providing the requested assistance may involve the use of force that is likely to result in lethal force, including death or serious bodily injury.” Defense intelligence personnel are permitted to supply intelligence, analysis, training, equipment and weapons to civilian authorities. However, they cannot use force themselves. Fox News’ Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Caravan descending on border could preview migrant rush to sneak into US if Trump wins election
A group of 2,000 migrants making its way to the U.S. border could be the start of a wave of attempted crossings as the presidential election nears, according to one expert. “I think whatever deal we struck with the government of Mexico to slow the flow leading up to the election to make the numbers look better for Harris’ campaign ends the day after the election,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital, referring to the Biden administration’s coordination with the Mexican government earlier this year on executive action that allowed the president to temporarily suspend entry into the country. The comments come roughly 2,000 migrants departed from Mexico’s border on Sunday, according to a report from CBS Austin, with some admitting that they are making the journey now over fears about the result of the presidential election. BIDEN ADMIN FACES SCRUTINY OVER RESPONSE TO ‘SIGNIFICANT RISE’ OF ASSAULTS ON BORDER PATROL AGENTS “Whoever wins (in the United States election) should not close the doors to us, [they] should give us the support we need, because we are all really going through a bad time,” one of the migrants told the Associated Press. Ries expects that flow to intensify between election day and the inauguration if former President Donald Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris, noting that migrants will fear Trump will do more to close off the southern border. “We saw this for Trump’s first term, when numbers of people tried to get in before he came into office, because they knew he would be enforcement-minded,” Ries said, adding that a Trump victory this time would result in “quite the jump in numbers” for illegal crossings. WHAT VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS LEFT OUT ABOUT BIDEN ADMIN’S ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS: A TIMELINE Border security has been at the top of mind for voters ahead of this year’s election after a record-setting three years of illegal crossings under President Biden, an issue Harris has also had to confront after being appointed by Biden to help solve the root causes of migration in 2021. Republicans have continued to hammer Harris for her role as “border czar” since she took over at the top of the ticket, while she has vowed stricter enforcement measures on the campaign trail. “Those who cross our borders unlawfully will be apprehended and removed and barred from re-entering for five years,” Harris said during a September event in the border swing state of Arizona. Trump, meanwhile, has made border security and immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, which has included promises of the “largest mass deportation in the history of our country.” Neither the White House nor the Harris campaign responded to a Fox News Digital requests for comment. Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
US judge orders Virginia to restore voters removed from rolls, restoring access for thousands
A federal judge on Friday ordered Virginia to halt its removal of potential non-citizens from state voter rolls, a decision expected to restore the voting rights to some 1,600 residents ahead of Election Day. U.S. Judge Patricia Giles issued a preliminary injunction Friday to reinstate all voters that had been removed from state voter rolls in the state in the last 90 days, finding that the removals had been in fact “systematic,” not individualized, and were thus a violation of federal law. The news comes just weeks after the Department of Justice sued Virginia over its program, arguing the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violate the National Voter Registration Act– a federal law that requires states to halt all systematic voter roll maintenance for a 90-day “quiet period” before an election. Justice Department officials also cited concerns that eligible votes may have incorrectly been removed from the rolls without adequate notice, or enough time to correct the mistake. “States may remove names from official lists of voters in various ways and for various reasons, but they may not carry-on this kind of systematic removal program so close to a federal election,” DOJ officials wrote in filing their Oct. 11 lawsuit. The injunction upholds this line of thinking, and is likely to be met with fierce pushback from Gov. Glen Youngkin, who has insisted the voters were removed legally, and has himself objected to a court ruling less than two weeks before a federal election. BATTLEGROUND STATE’S HIGH COURT REJECTS GOP CHALLENGE TO PROVISIONAL BALLOT RULES At issue is an executive order signed by Youngkin in August that authorized the state to conduct “daily” updates to its voter rolls. The order allowed the state to compare its Department of Motor Vehicles non-citizens list against its list of registered voters. Those without citizenship were then informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has insisted the voters were removed legally and is based on precedent from a 2006 state law enacted by then- Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Youngkin defended the state’s system and insisted it is not “systematic.” Instead, he said, it uses an “individualized process” to determine and notify potential non-citizens that they had been included on the voter registration list, and without further action would be removed. “To be clear, this is not a purge,” he said. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Virginia school board silenced parents concerned with MS-13-affiliated student in school, lawsuit claims
A group of parents is suing the Loudoun County School Board in northern Virginia, claiming they were silenced by the board when attempting to raise concerns about a student who was allowed to return to school despite alleged ties to the notorious MS-13 gang. The group of parents at the center of the lawsuit claims that they were silenced by the board during a public meeting when trying to raise concerns about reports that a student who is allegedly in the country illegally and affiliated with MS-13 was allowed to return to school despite being arrested for carrying a gun and threatening to shoot another student. “Time and time again, the Loudoun County School Board has demonstrated through its actions an unwillingness to respect those rights exercised by community members and parents commenting concerned with the actions of their public schools. This latest constitutional violation is even more pronounced, given that the topic was related to the safety of students,” America First Legal Senior Advisor Ian Prior, whose organization is representing the parents, said in a statement. YOUNGKIN CONDEMNS LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD DENYING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES The parents, who are suing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claim that their First Amendment rights were violated during an Oct. 8 public school board meeting, where some of them attempted to raise concerns to the board about their decision to reinstate the student only for the board to cut off their microphones and end the public comment period. In a press release after the incident, the board claimed that the parents violated the rules of the public comment period and that they were attempting to prevent the spread of “misinformation.” “A number of individuals sought to discuss what was reported in the media and discuss a specific student despite repeated requests from the Board Chair not to do so. As a result, the Board Chair concluded public comment to restore order, in accordance with School Board public comment procedures,” the release said. “Misinformation is on the rise, and school divisions like LCPS must be vigilant in actively combating it. It is our responsibility to call out misinformation when allegations are incorrect, unsubstantiated, or deliberately used to create division within our community.” YOUNGKIN AD DECLARES ‘PARENTS STILL MATTER’ AMID 2024 SPECULATION The board also argued that the allegations against the student at the center of the controversy “are not facts,” and that naming the student or speaking about the student public would do a “disservice not just to the individuals involved” and “the entire community.” “This is particularly dangerous when it involves our children and their safety,” the release read. LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS NAMES NEW SUPERINTENDENT AMID CONTROVERSY OVER RESPONSE TO SEXUAL ASSAULTS The incident is not the first time the Loudoun County School Board has found themselves in the spotlight, having generated controversy over the last few years for its policies on transgender students and bathroom policies that allow transgender students and locker rooms based on their chosen, not biological, gender. In the board’s latest controversy, the parents argue that they have a right to voice their concerns about the district’s policy during public hearings. “While Loudoun County Public Schools may believe that it can deprive First Amendment rights based on its claims of so-called ‘misinformation,’ the Bill of Rights makes clear that in the United States, the government is not the arbiter of truth,” Prior said. The Loudoun County School Board did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
Gyanvapi case: Varanasi Court rejects Hindu side’s plea to conduct additional ASI survey at mosque complex
The Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Fast Track Court, Varanasi dismissed the Hindu side’s plea for an additional survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the Gyanvapi complex.
12 Dems join GOP lawmakers to threaten UN funding over ‘ongoing hostility’ to Israel
FIRST ON FOX: More than 100 bipartisan House lawmakers are warning that the United Nations’ funding could be on the line if the international entity retaliates against Israel over its war with Hamas. “We write to express our deep concern about prospective efforts of the Palestinian Authority to downgrade Israel’s status at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) and strip the State of Israel of its key privileges in the body,” a letter led by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla, read. “Any downgrade in Israel’s status or standing at the UNGA will result in a corresponding downgrade of U.S. financial, material and political support to the U.N.” The message, sent to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, was signed by 105 of their Republican and Democrat colleagues. BLINKEN ARRIVES IN ISRAEL AS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION FACES SCRUTINY OVER COMPROMISING JERUSALEM’S SECURITY Signatories include all the House Republican leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and 11 House Democrats, in addition to Moskowitz – a testament to the significant support Israel continues to receive from Congress, particularly in the House of Representatives. The lawmakers said they were “outraged” by the UNGA’s recent adoption of a resolution demanding Israel return all land and assets it settled in the Palestinian Territories since 1967. It also calls on nations to halt treaty and trade relations with Israel where Palestinian territories are involved. They warned the decision, particularly as it relates to forcing Israel out of the West Bank, is “undercutting Israel’s right to defend itself” from Hamas after the Oct. 7 terror attack by the Palestinian militant group “with no recognition or consideration of Israel’s legitimate security concerns.” ISRAELI WOMAN BRAVELY DESCRIBES HORROR AS HAMAS HOSTAGE: ‘THEY WERE TAKING PLEASURE IN HURTING ME’ “Congress has taken note of the numerous U.N. actions aimed to delegitimize Israel’s right to self-defense, raising serious questions over the future of U.S. funding to the U.N.,” the lawmakers wrote. “We remind you that the U.S. is the largest donor to the U.N. Our contributions account for one-third of the body’s collective budget.” The letter also accused the U.N. of having “definitively taken sides against Israel,” rather than remaining a “neutral body.” “We will not accept the U.N.’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel,” they wrote. BIDEN-HARRIS ENVOY ACCUSED OF PRESSURING ISRAELI LAWMAKERS TO DROP BILL BANNING TERROR-LINKED UN AGENCY It comes as cease-fire talks are expected to restart after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has enjoyed a level of steady support in Congress throughout its war in Gaza, even as a growing number of Democrats are criticizing the Middle Eastern nation for the scores of Palestinian deaths caused as it works to eradicate Hamas. Roughly half of congressional Democrats skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of the House and Senate earlier this year.