Major US Domestic News: Gun Laws, Defense Policy, and Political Milestones

Recent US domestic news includes the Supreme Court's rejection of a bump stock ban, the House's approval of a defense policy bill with divisive provisions, the DOJ's decision on Merrick Garland contempt charges, Trump's 78th birthday highlighting age in the 2024 race, and other significant events.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US Supreme Court rejects federal ban on gun 'bump stocks'

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declared unlawful a federal ban on "bump stock" devices that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns, rejecting yet another firearms restriction - this time one enacted under Republican former President Donald Trump. The justices, in a 6-3 ruling authored by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, upheld a lower court's decision siding with Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner and gun rights advocate from Austin, Texas, who challenged the ban by claiming that a U.S. agency improperly interpreted a federal law banning machine guns as extending to bump stocks. The conservative justices were in the majority, with the liberal justices dissenting.

US House approves defense policy bill with divisive provision on abortion, transgender troops

The U.S. House Of Representatives on Friday passed its version of the annual defense policy bill that included measures taking aim at abortion rights and treatment of transgender service members, divisive social issues which threaten to derail the must-pass legislation. The Senate Armed Services Committee will now work with the House to form a compromise version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.

US Justice Dept won't pursue contempt charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday told Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that it would decline to pursue criminal contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The letter comes just two days after the Republican-controlled House voted along party lines to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of a special counsel interview with Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump turns 78, spotlighting age as central issue in 2024 race

Donald Trump turns 78 on Friday, a milestone that will remind voters that the two major-party candidates running for U.S. president this year are the oldest ever to seek the office.

Age and mental sharpness have been at the center of the contest between the Republican Trump and his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden, often getting more attention than substantive policy issues in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election.

Six years after US mass shooting, demolition starts on Parkland school building

More than six years after a gunman massacred 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in one of the worst U.S. school shootings, crews began tearing down the abandoned building on Friday. The three-story school about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Fort Lauderdale has stood as an empty reminder of the attack on Feb. 14, 2018, with bullet holes and bloodstains still visible. Video from an ABC affiliate on Friday morning showed construction vehicles starting to rip into one corner of the structure as dozens of onlookers watched.

Alex Jones' assets to be liquidated as his company exits bankruptcy

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday ordered a court-supervised liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' personal assets, but he dismissed the bankruptcy of Jones' company Free Speech Systems without ordering it to be liquidated. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez appointed a Chapter 7 trustee to sell Jones' assets, including his ownership stake in Free Speech Systems, the parent company of his Infowars website. Proceeds would go to pay Jones' creditors, relatives of 20 students and six staff members killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

US Catholic bishops apologize to Native Americans for abuses, promise new outreach

U.S. Catholic bishops offered an apology to Native Americans on Friday for the church's role in inflicting trauma on their communities and adopted new guidelines for ministering to indigenous Catholics. The new policies, approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, call on church leaders to set up listening sessions with local Native leaders, incorporate tribal customs into sacred rites and improve access to Catholic universities and other educational opportunities for Native Americans, among other directives.

Biden poised to announce immigration relief for spouses of US citizens, sources say

U.S. President Joe Biden could soon announce a new effort to allow immigrants in the U.S. illegally to obtain legal status if they are married to U.S. citizens, three sources said, an election-year move that could energize some liberal voters. Biden is expected to unveil the effort as soon as Tuesday at a White House event, two of the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal plans still subject to change.

Biden administration loses bid to revive legal protections for LGBTQ students

A U.S. appeals court on Friday rejected a bid by President Joe Biden's administration to revive its directive that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms and to join sports teams that align with their gender, which has been blocked in 20 Republican-led states. A panel of the Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling agreed with the states that the 2021 U.S. Department of Education guidance improperly imposed new legal duties on public schools that do not exist in federal law.

Hunter Biden agrees to drop lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, court records show

U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, agreed to drop a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani's former lawyer Robert Costello in which he accused the pair of violating his privacy over data allegedly taken from his laptop, court records showed on Thursday. Hunter Biden had accused Giuliani, who has served as a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump, and Costello of being responsible for the "total annihilation" of his digital privacy in the lawsuit filed in September last year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)