Connect with us

INTERNACIONAL

Alabama AG makes Supreme Court play that could deal decisive blow in redistricting war

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Alabama’s top law enforcement officer filed a Supreme Court challenge aimed at overturning a prior ruling that limited Republicans in decennial redistricting, after a recent Louisiana case raised questions about how the court previously ruled there.

Advertisement

Louisiana’s «Callais» ruling struck down the state’s map, including districts centered on New Orleans and a narrow majority-minority corridor from Baton Rouge. Alabama leaders said the decision conflicts with or calls into question Supreme Court precedent affecting their state by requiring racial factors to be considered when drawing congressional districts.

«Now they have a framework for Alabama to directly defend what the legislature did both in 2021 and 2023,» said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, telling Fox News Digital he was «thrilled» to see where the court came down on Callais at the end of April.

«And that is, drawing maps based on historical redistricting principles that now I think Callais makes clear were constitutional exercises of that authority,» Marshall said, highlighting SCOTUS’ analysis that race should not predominate when drawing congressional districts.

Advertisement

SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR

«And then unlike Louisiana, which was able to get direct relief through that decision, we now have to be removed from the injunction [against Alabama’s prior map] by the three-judge panel in order to either go back to the map that is being challenged or give the legislature the authority to draw a new map.»

A previous Supreme Court ruling, Allen v. Milligan, invalidated Alabama’s prior redistricting effort, with critics saying the decision wrongly weighted racial factors in creating what became a second Democratic-favored district in the ruby-red state.

Advertisement

If Alabama is able to get out from under Milligan, it could have national implications for Democrats’ attempts to gain enough seats in the slim GOP-majority U.S. House this fall, as Montgomery’s so-called Livingston map, originally struck down in the 2023 case, would see new life.

Marshall, who is also running to succeed retiring Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., this fall, said urgency before the court is important with the May 19 primary approaching.

«Because the lower court’s injunction cannot stand in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, we have asked the court to lift the injunction. Alabama deserves the right to use its own maps, just like every other state.» 

Advertisement

The AG said he is working separately from state lawmakers, who are in special session through Friday to address the legislative side of the fight, and that his office is «singularly focused» on getting legal relief from the Supreme Court.

GOP SPEAKER CLAPS BACK AFTER BOOKER STUMPS AGAINST BID TO ERADICATE RED STATE’S LONE DEMOCRAT-HELD DISTRICT

He also said that, regarding race, the Alabama of the 2020s is not the Alabama of the 1960s and that there are few, if any, barriers to minority suffrage in the Yellowhammer State.

Advertisement

«You saw some of that sentiment from Justice Kavanaugh in a concurrence in the [Milligan] case that Alabama had there a few years ago, saying there’s a point in time in which we have to acknowledge that circumstances have changed,» he said, as the prior case forced Alabama to draw a second district where Black voters have a meaningful opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

The YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama – one of the state’s premier attractions. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

For Democratic critics like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who descended on Alabama to push back — as he did at a counter-redistricting forum in Birmingham with the city’s Mayor Randall Woodfin and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones — Marshall suggested they get their own house in order up north.

Advertisement

«[They’re] arguing for proportional representation, which is basically what they are saying, they make that same argument in Maine, in Rhode Island, in New Hampshire — where you don’t see a single congressional member there from the Republican Party.»

Underlining that New England states have large blocs of «unaffiliated» or independent voters, gerrymander critics often point to the region because those who are Republican essentially have no voice in Washington.

Maine is considered the most moderate of the states, with an estimated Republican bloc of about 30%, while Vermont’s more vague registration system resulted in about the same percentage of vote share going to President Donald Trump in 2024.

Advertisement

VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN SAYS SPANBERGER WANTS TO ‘TURN US INTO NEW ENGLAND’

Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts all have between 10% and 40% Republican vote share, presuming a bloc of the «unaffiliated» group votes at times for Republican candidates. Those states have more than 40% of their people registered unaffiliated or similar.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker earlier this week on similar criticism but did not receive a response.

Advertisement

Marshall said his work is not necessarily in concert with the legislature, but the two are on similar tracks.

«While we’ll obviously watch what the legislature is doing, our job is to secure the relief from the [2023 redistricting] injunction as quickly as possible.»

«And the other thing, not only are we working on the state congressional map, but it’s also, we have a state Senate district [map] likewise that was subject to redrawing based upon a [Voting Rights Act] Section 2 challenge,» he said.

Advertisement
Steve Marshall on Capitol Hill for SCOTUS

Steve Marshall, Alabama’s attorney general, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

His office is also involved in the New Orleans-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the state’s senatorial map while seeking Supreme Court review on the congressional front.

While Marshall spoke to Fox News Digital before the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the Democratic-led redistricting map there, he called Richmond’s move «clearly [done] for hyper-political reasons that kept none of the traditional principles in mind.»

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Alabama’s redistricting efforts have aimed to follow the letter and spirit of the law, and the attorney general said he hopes to have a real chance of receiving favorable corrective action from the nation’s highest court and remedying a fight the Yellowhammer State previously lost.

Secretary of State Wes Allen indicated the May 19 primary will go on as expected, meaning Marshall’s motions may come just in time to give Republicans another incremental advantage in a nationally relevant electoral landscape.

Advertisement

supreme court oral arguments, state and local primaries, alabama, appeals, republicans elections

Advertisement

INTERNACIONAL

What does ‘Never Forget’ mean for a generation with no memory of 9/11?

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Twenty-five years after a generation promised to «Never Forget,» that pledge now relies on education for the more than 100 million Americans with no memory of 9/11.

Advertisement

The Pentagon is preparing to help address that challenge by breaking ground this weekend on a long-awaited Visitor Education Center at the only one of the three 9/11 attack sites still without a dedicated museum or education center.

The new center is intended to fill the gap that has grown more pronounced with each passing year by helping Americans who never experienced the attacks understand not only what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but why it continues to matter. 

Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, told Fox News Digital that nearly one-third of the country was either not alive that day or has no recollection of it and therefore lacks the «personal connection» shared by those who watched the attacks unfold.

Advertisement

NEW 9/11 MUSEUM EXHIBIT AIMS TO CONNECT YOUNGER AMERICANS TO THE ATTACKS THROUGH POWERFUL ARTIFACTS

Members of the military and first responders watch as an American flag is unfurled on the side of the Pentagon to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on September 11, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. The United States is marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when a group of al-Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people.  (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

«That’s what we’re trying to provide with the visitor education center experience,» Kornhoff said in an interview with Fox News Digital, explaining that the goal is to give visitors a personal connection that allows them to «start to understand the gravity of that day.»

Advertisement
9/11 Pentagon Memorial

Flowers lay on a bench at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, adjacent to the Pentagon, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2026.  (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly 230 miles north, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York is confronting the same generational divide.

Beth Hillman, president and CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said the passage of time has only made the annual vow to «Never Forget» more important as the number of Americans with firsthand memories of the attacks declines.

«Many in my generation remember exactly where we were on that horrific day,» Hillman said during an Aug. 31 press preview outlining the museum’s plans for the 25th anniversary. «Yet, 100 million Americans were not even born or are too young to remember that day for themselves today.»

Advertisement

BROOKLYN TEACHERS WHO WITNESSED 9/11 AS CHILDREN REVEAL WHAT THEY WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO REMEMBER

Noah Rauch, the museum’s senior vice president for education and public programs, said he has watched that transition unfold firsthand through the museum’s work with students and teachers. «I’ve seen this line creeping up between memory and history, between those who remembered the attacks and those who didn’t,» Rauch said during the Aug. 31 press event.

9/11 Memorial NYC

The United States is marking the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when a group of al-Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people. (Jeenah Moon – Pool/Getty Images)

That transition from memory to history also raises a more modern challenge. Americans too young to remember the attacks are increasingly learning about an event they never experienced firsthand, while conspiracy theories and false narratives about 9/11 run rampant online.

Advertisement

Kornhoff said that makes factual education increasingly important, pointing specifically to conspiracy theories surrounding the attack on the Pentagon and narratives suggesting that America «deserved 9/11.»

«That’s the need for the education center,» Kornhoff told Fox News Digital. «As a nation, we need to really take a step back, look at how we’re educating our young children to make sure that we’re providing them with the facts of the situation … and not these conspiracy theories and entertaining wild ideas that just simply are not true.»

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: 9/11 IS JUST A HISTORY CHAPTER FOR A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS

Advertisement
Flowers and American flags rest at 9/11 Memorial reflecting pool.

Flowers and American flags rest beside inscribed names at a reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Sept. 11, 2026, in New York City, as the nation commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Jeenah Moon – Pool/Getty Images)

The Pentagon center will include 10 exhibits telling the human stories of the attack, including the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the first responders who rushed to the scene and the military and civilian personnel who aided the wounded.

«We are going to address the facts of the day,» Kornhoff said. «We are going to address the entire Pentagon story.»

The renewed focus on 9/11 education has also reached Capitol Hill. Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., introduced bipartisan legislation ahead of the 25-year anniversary, which aims to direct the Department of Education to examine how 9/11 is taught in schools nationwide and identify gaps in instruction.

Advertisement

Kornhoff praised the effort during his interview with Fox News Digital, saying the legislation reflects a growing recognition of the need to educate generations with no firsthand connection to the attacks.

Pentagon 9/11 memorial

Stainless-steel benches dedicated to victims are seen at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Washington, DC, on September 10, 2026, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  ((Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images))

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Visitor Education Center is expected to open by the end of 2029 near the existing Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The project received $12 million in federal funding this year, along with $1 million from Virginia and additional private donations raised by the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Once completed, the center is expected to include interactive exhibits, historic artifacts and firsthand accounts from survivors and victims’ families while providing visitors with additional context about the attack and its aftermath.

Advertisement

september 11, pentagon, politics, washington dc, historic sites, education

Advertisement
Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

El Niño amenaza con encarecer alimentos, energía y logística en Centroamérica y República Dominicana durante 2027

Published

on



El fenómeno de El Niño podría trasladar sus efectos a la economía de Centroamérica y República Dominicana, a través de un aumento en los precios de los alimentos y la electricidad, restricciones para el transporte marítimo y presiones sobre la actividad productiva.

El reporte “Perspectivas económicas de Centroamérica, Panamá y República Dominicana”, elaborado por Deloitte, advierte que el impacto más marcado puede concentrarse en 2027.

Advertisement

El fenómeno de El Niño comenzó oficialmente el 11 de junio de 2026. En julio, el Centro de Predicción Climática de la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica de Estados Unidos estimó en 81% la probabilidad de que alcance una intensidad “muy fuerte” entre octubre y diciembre. Si se confirma, estaría entre los eventos más intensos registrados desde 1950.

El fenómeno de El Niño podría trasladar sus efectos a la economía de Centroamérica y República Dominicana con alzas en alimentos, electricidad y presión sobre la actividad productiva. (Imagen Ilustrativa Infobae)

La principal consecuencia climática prevista para la región es la sequía. La fase cálida del fenómeno ENOS, sigla de El Niño-Oscilación del Sur, suele asociarse con menores lluvias, temperaturas más altas y estrés hídrico, sobre todo en la vertiente del Pacífico y el Corredor Seco.

La menor disponibilidad de agua puede afectar tanto a la agricultura como a la generación de energía y la operación logística de Panamá.

Advertisement

Menor oferta de granos básicos

El reporte identifica a la producción agropecuaria como una de las primeras vías de consecuencias del fenómeno hacia los hogares.

La sequía puede reducir la oferta de granos básicos en el Corredor Seco, mientras que el encarecimiento de fertilizantes y diésel puede elevar los costos de producción y trasladarse a los precios finales de los alimentos.

El impacto sobre la canasta alimentaria podría extenderse hasta 2027, de acuerdo con las proyecciones incluidas en el estudio. El café también aparece entre las actividades expuestas a los efectos del menor régimen de lluvias y las temperaturas más elevadas.

Advertisement

La menor oferta de granos básicos en el Corredor Seco puede impulsar el precio de los alimentos y afectar la canasta alimentaria hasta 2027. (Marvin RECINOS / AFP)

El informe incluye entre los temas a seguir la persistencia de aumentos en alimentos y energéticos, junto con la evolución del conflicto en Medio Oriente y su incidencia sobre los precios internacionales del petróleo.

La sequía amenaza la energía hidroeléctrica y la operación del Canal de Panamá

La sequía también amenaza la generación hidroeléctrica. Si caen los niveles de agua disponibles para las plantas, los países deberán compensar parte de esa producción con fuentes térmicas, que implican mayores costos por el uso de combustibles.

El documento señala que una menor generación hidroeléctrica puede presionar las tarifas eléctricas al alza. El aumento de ese costo tendría efectos sobre los presupuestos familiares y sobre empresas que dependen de electricidad para sus procesos productivos.

Advertisement

A la vez, los gobiernos podrían enfrentar una mayor carga fiscal si aplican subsidios energéticos o programas de apoyo para contener el impacto de las tarifas. El reporte considera esos desembolsos como uno de los factores que podrían modificar el escenario económico de la región durante 2026 y 2027.

La menor generación hidroeléctrica por la sequía puede elevar las tarifas eléctricas y aumentar los costos de hogares, empresas y gobiernos. (Imagen Ilustrativa Infobae)

En Panamá, las condiciones de sequía pueden afectar los niveles de agua necesarios para la operación del Canal. El análisis contempla posibles restricciones de calado y dificultades logísticas como una de las cuatro vías principales por las cuales El Niño puede repercutir en la economía regional.

Las limitaciones sobre el calado de los buques podrían incidir en la actividad del Canal de Panamá y en las cadenas de suministro. El reporte sitúa a la logística y al transporte entre los sectores que deben monitorearse ante una eventual profundización del fenómeno.

Advertisement

La advertencia adquiere relevancia para una economía en la que el comercio y el transporte figuran entre las actividades que lideran el crecimiento.

En Panamá, la sequía puede afectar la operación del Canal de Panamá con restricciones de calado y presión sobre la logística y el transporte marítimo. (REUTERS/Enea Lebrun)

El reporte diferencia dos etapas. Durante 2026 prevé la consolidación del fenómeno, alertas para el sector agrícola, ajustes tarifarios y las primeras posibles restricciones al tránsito marítimo. Para 2027, en cambio, anticipa que los efectos más fuertes pueden manifestarse sobre los embalses, las cosechas y el Canal de Panamá.

En todos los casos, el documento plantea que los efectos del clima se combinarán con otros factores económicos, como la evolución de las remesas, los precios de los combustibles, el desempeño de Estados Unidos y la trayectoria de la inflación.

Advertisement

sequía,Canal de Panamá,agricultura,energía hidroeléctrica,transporte marítimo

Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

White House unloads on violent ‘criminal alien’ nabbed after investigators uncover election offense

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A Bahamian national who arrived in the U.S. during President Gerald Ford’s administration and was living with a green card while racking up a violent rap sheet before investigators found he voted illegally in the 2020 election, sparking the deportation process, officials say.

Advertisement

The case of Anthony Tyrone Higgs is only the latest in a slew of arrests connected to illegal votes cast in recent elections, as the Trump administration engages in a broader crackdown on election integrity-related crimes.

«This alien was a guest in our country who forfeited his right to be in the U.S. when he committed these violent crimes and voted in the 2020 election,» White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis exclusively told Fox News Digital on Friday.

ICE ARRESTS PERUVIAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2024 ELECTION AS DHS CITES SIMILAR CASES

Advertisement

ICE agents assemble in Minnesota, left; Anthony Tyrone Higgs, inset right. (Charly Triballeau/Getty Images; DHS)

«Any non-citizens who vote illegally in our elections will be arrested and removed. American elections are only for Americans.»

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of DHS, confirmed in a statement that Higgs had illegally voted in the 2020 election.

Advertisement

FORMER KANSAS MAYOR WHO PLEADED GUILTY TO ILLEGAL VOTING TURNS HIMSELF IN TO ICE

HSI’s Atlanta office arrested Higgs in Decatur, Georgia on September 3, and he is currently in the custody of ERO, the ICE subdivision that handles migrant removal operations.

Higgs was admitted into the U.S. in October 1976 as a Lawful Permanent Resident – commonly dubbed a Green Card holder. The Trump DHS has since placed him in proceedings to revoke his immigration status due to his lengthy rap sheet.

Advertisement

TRUMP DOJ UNLEASHES LARGEST DENATURALIZATION EFFORT IN DEPARTMENT HISTORY — AND SAYS IT’S ‘ONLY THE BEGINNING’

Sen. Markwayne Mullin speaking to reporters at the Capitol.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

«This criminal alien from the Bahamas has a rap sheet for multiple violent crimes, including armed robbery, domestic violence, and assault on a police officer,» DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

«On top of all of that, he illegally voted in the 2020 election,» he added.

Advertisement

MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION NONCITIZENS MAY BE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN 4 KEY STATES, DHS ALLEGES

Homeland Security Investigations logo displayed during security preparations for Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans

A Homeland Security Investigations logo is displayed ahead of Super Bowl LIX security operations in New Orleans on Feb. 5, 2025. An HSI special agent has since been indicted on multiple felony charges in Alabama. (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

Higgs’ record also includes resisting arrest, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Of the voting-related charge, Mullin said that just one noncitizen casting a ballot is enough to cancel out an American citizen’s vote.

Advertisement

«Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again,» he continued.

DHS also provided several other recent cases of illegal immigrants or ineligible voters committing or being charged with election-related crimes.

In August, Colombian illegal immigrant Carlos Jaramillo-Grajales was sentenced to three years in prison following an ICE investigation that led to a guilty plea in a case where he was found to have committed identity theft to illegally vote in elections for more than 20 years, according to the agency.

Advertisement

«Federal immigration laws serve to safeguard our nation’s borders and protect the integrity of our government,» said Gregory Kehoe, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.

«Those who seek to circumvent, exploit, or break these laws will be prosecuted fully,» he said in an August statement.

In New Jersey, a Slovakian national was found to have illegally voted in the 2022 midterms, according to HSI – which also cited the case of an Australian national accused of illegally casting ballots in both 2022 and 2024 in Louisiana.

Advertisement

Mauritanian national Mahady Sacko was busted by an ICE and FBI partnership in Democrat-run Philadelphia, and charged with voter fraud.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Sacko allegedly voted illegally multiple times going back to 2008. He was already under an order of removal, DHS said in a statement, stating that he «exhausted all appeals» and an immigration board upheld his removal order as of 2002 but he remained in the country.

Advertisement

Returning to the case of Higgs, Mullin added in a statement: «Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again.»

voter fraud concerns, deportation, illegal immigrants, migrant crime, politics, voting, immigration, donald trump, white house

Continue Reading

Tendencias