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EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Ted Cruz and two dozen Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, filed an amicus brief Tuesday in a Second Amendment case the Supreme Court is set to hear this fall, arguing that New York gun law violates the right to bear arms under the Constitution.

Cruz and his GOP colleagues filed a brief in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which the Supreme Court granted cert for in April.

The high court, in its October 2021 term, is set to consider whether the Second Amendment allows the government to prohibit ordinary law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside the home for self-defense.

New York law prohibits carrying a firearm outside the home without a license and then makes it extremely difficult to get a license. New York requires people to show cause why they should get a license.

The Republican senators argued that the New York law violates the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, arguing that the point of including this right in the Constitution was so that the decision would be taken out of the hands of state and federal legislators.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Samantha Power to be the next Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tuesday, March 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

"Legislatorswhether in Albany or Washington D.C.have neither the power nor the authority to second-guess the policy judgments made by the Framers and enshrined in the Constitution," Cruz and his Republican colleagues wrote in the amicus brief.

"Firearms policy can be complex, and members of Congress, like state and local officials, may disagree vehemently," they wrote. "But elected officials swear to support and defend the Constitution and so much respect when the Framers took a decision out of their hands.

"The Second Amendments guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms cannot be second-guessed by legislators across the country who simply disagree with the choice the Framers made," they wrote.

Cruz and McConnell were joined by GOP Sens. John Barrasso, Marsha Blackburn, John Boozman, Mike Braun, John Cornyn, Tom Cotton, Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Steve Daines, Josh Hawley, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Jim Inhofe, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Jerry Moran, Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and Thom Tillis in their brief.

New York is among eight states that limit who has the right to carry a weapon in public. The others are: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

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Cruz and 24 Senate Republicans file amicus brief defending Second Amendment right to carry - Fox News

Media top headlines July 20

In media news today, reporters hit President Biden for walking back sharp criticism of Facebook, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell made eyebrow-raising remarks about crime in Washington, D.C., and the Washington Post lightheartedly mocked Hunter Biden's art.

"The View" co-host Meghan McCain on Tuesday slammed the "factually inaccurate" narrative that Republicans are the main drivers behind low coronavirus vaccination rates across the country.

During a discussion with her co-hosts about vaccinations and recommendations for children to wear masks in schools, McCain ripped into the Biden administration for placing blame on Republicans as the reason it failed to meet its vaccination goal, while citing statistics showing high levels of vaccine hesitancy among traditionally non-Republican demographics.

FAUCI SUPPORTS MEDICAL GROUP'S CALL TO MASK 3-YEAR-OLDS AND OLDER IN SCHOOL: REASONABLE THING TO DO

"I think that were all playing whack-a-mole right now in trying to figure out where were at and whats going on. Theres different news coming out of different countries about mask mandates being put in place. I dont think its too far off to think that possibly in like a few months that we could even go back to lockdowns if something like this happens," McCain told co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who asked if she was worried about new recommendations concerning children wearing masks in schools.

"Look, Im really angry because I did every single thing that everyone asked me to do: wear a mask, get vaccinated," McCain added. "When were talking about statistics about people who aren't getting unvaccinated, I think there is this narrative coming out of the White House that its just Republicans, which is just factually inaccurate."

McCain cited official statistics from the state of New York that showed one-third of its hospital workers had still not been vaccinated, expressing astonishment at the number.

MEGHAN MCCAIN'S OFFER TO HELP BIDEN WITH REPUBLICAN VACCINE OUTREACH FALLS ON DEAF EARS: THEY DONT CARE'

"So if youre a hospital worker in New York, one of the most liberal states in the country, and youre not listening to science but you've gone into a field of science, what is not being processed here? What narrative is not going down to you because, Im sorry, hospital workers should not be able to work in hospitals around immunocompromised people if youre not vaccinated," McCain said.

She went on to cite other statistics from the CDC that showed Blacks and Hispanics taking coronavirus vaccines at lower rates compared to the percentage of cases and deaths each demographic made up. The numbers McCain cited specifically related to California and Washington, D.C., two heavily Democratic regions with large minority populations.

"So there are a lot of demographics that are still vaccine hesitant. I dont understand. Conservatives, Hispanic people, Black people, hospital workers What is going on? Why are so many people in so many different places still unvaccinated and still vaccine hesitant?" she asked.

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"Its not just Republicans that are causing this problem. And, yes, some Republicans are, but when you see people like Sean Hannity going on TV last night, doing what he can to say I believe in science and Im vaccinated, like there are those of us that are trying," McCain added. "Im sorry, Dr. Fauci, but if you cant get your hospital workers in New York in line, how are we supposed to do it in any other demographic in the country?"

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Meghan McCain slams 'factually inaccurate' narrative that Republicans are driving low vaccination numbers - Fox News

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states that hold regularly scheduled gubernatorial and state legislative elections in 2021, and both states had primaries on June 8. Those elections were something of a test between competing parts of each party and potentially a preview of the kinds of candidates who will run in 2022.

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the crew discusses the results as well as the broader debate playing out between the two parties over how much wealthy Americans and corporations should be paying in taxes. They also consider whether a new poll showing a rebound in Americas reputation abroad is a good or bad use of polling.

You can listen to the episode by clicking the play button in the audio player above or bydownloading it in iTunes, theESPN Appor your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts,learn how to listen.

The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast is recorded Mondays and Thursdays. Help new listeners discover the show byleaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for good polling vs. bad polling? Get in touch by email,on Twitteror in the comments.

Link:
Politics Podcast: The Republican Establishment Has Had Trouble Swaying Its Voters. The Democratic Establishment Keeps Winning. - FiveThirtyEight

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State Rep. James White, R-Hillister, will not seek reelection, a decision he first announced to East Texas TV station KLTV.

Hes considering a statewide run, as long as the people want me to pursue that, he told the Texas Tribune on Sunday.

Though he did not disclose which state-level seat he would run for, he said we believe that were qualified, and were competitive. We will definitely consider joining the statewide field.

For now, he says his focus will be on the upcoming special election this summer which Gov. Greg Abbott has said he plans to order and when White expects to bring back a GOP priority bill that would tighten Texas election laws.

White is the chairman of the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, and is the only Black Republican in the Texas House. He represents solidly Republican House District 19 in East Texas.

The Texas House doesnt have term limits, but White suggested his longevity in the lower chamber impacted his decision. He was first elected in 2010. During his time as a state representative, he said he has lost three of the four counties in his original district, and gained four new counties because of redistricting.

White reminisced about his first race for state House representative, recalling being called crazy for running in East Texas.

But we took our message directly to the people, and the people lifted me up and sent me to Austin, he said. ... And that message was that we believe everyone in Texas, especially in our house district, is a child of God, and that means they deserve good representation, they deserve good service.

White said in his time as a representative, he is most proud of serving in the House Corrections Committee, which deals with state criminal justice measures.

The Texas House doesnt have term limits, but White said his longevity in the lower chamber is the reason for his decision to not seek reelection. He suggested that the state legislature adopt term limits, and for the House to uphold a limit between 10 and 14 years for representatives.

We did 12 years, White said, counting the couple of years prior to being elected he spent running for office. We think thats good enough.

Read more from the original source:
Texas Rep. James White, a Hillister Republican, won't run for reelection - The Texas Tribune

The Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert has asked a senior US government official if changing the moons orbit around the Earth, or the Earths orbit around the sun, might be a solution for climate change.

Bizarrely, the question was not posed to anyone from Nasa or even the Pentagon. Instead it was asked of a senior forestry service official during a House natural resources committee hearing on Tuesday.

Speaking with Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the US Forest Service, Gohmert asked if it was possible to alter the orbits of the moon, or the Earth, as a way of combating climate change.

I understand from whats been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change, Gohmert said, adding that a past director of Nasa had once told him that orbits of the moon and the Earth were indeed changing.

We know theres been significant solar flare activity, and so is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moons orbit, or the Earths orbit around the sun? Gohmert asked. Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.

Eberlien said she would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr Gohmert.

Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, Id like to know, Gohmert added.

Though he seemed to be entirely earnest, some observers have posited that Gohmert was seeking to express a belief that climate change was a phenomenon of natural changes in the orbits of celestial bodies, and so any other efforts to address it would be futile.

Gohmerts question comes three years after a congressional science, space and technology committee hearing, focused on how technology could be deployed for climate change adaptation, heard from the Alabama Republican Mo Brooks on the subject of sea-level rise.

Brooks posited a theory that erosion from land plays a significant role in sea-level rise, including silt from the worlds major rivers, and rocks along the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover falling into the sea.

Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up, Brooks said.

Read more:
Texas Republican asks: can we fix the moons orbit to fight climate change? - The Guardian