White House Lists Its Fight Against Arkansas’ SAFE Act Among Its Pro-LGBT Work

LGBT, ,

Over the weekend the Biden-Harris Administration released a report “Memorializing Transgender Day of Remembrance” and touting the White House’s pro-LGBT activism.

Among other things, the report highlight’s the administration work to undermine Arkansas’ Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act in federal court, calling the SAFE Act “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

The SAFE Act is a 2021 law that protects children in Arkansas from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

The law passed with overwhelming support in the Arkansas Legislature. However, the ACLU filed a lawsuit to have the SAFE Act struck down, and the law currently is tied up in federal court.

In June President Biden’s U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest opposing Arkansas’ SAFE Act in federal court.

The DOJ’s statement of interest calls sex-reassignment procedures “life-saving care” and argues that the SAFE Act violates the U.S. Constitution.

It also claims that Arkansas’ reasons for supporting the SAFE Act are “mere pretext for animus against transgender minors” — in other words, that Arkansas’ lawmakers passed the SAFE Act because they secretly hate transgender children.

The fact of the matter is researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have on kids. Doctors are giving these hormones to children off-label, in a manner the FDA never intended.

That is why many experts agree that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children is experimental, at best.

That’s also why a major hospital in Sweden announced last spring that it would no longer administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

It is deeply disappointing that the federal government would continue using taxpayer resources to oppose a state law that protects children from experimentation. Fortunately, Arkansas is fighting back, and we believe the federal courts ultimately will uphold this good law.

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Biden Administration to Nominate Federal Judge for Western District of Arkansas

Current Events, Judicial Confirmations,

The Biden-Harris Administration will soon nominate a federal district judge to fill a vacancy in Arkansas’ Western District.

U.S. District Judge Paul Holmes, III, of Fort Smith took Senior Status effective November 10, 2021.

Senior Status is a form of semiretirement for federal judges. It means the president will need to nominate a new judge to fill the position full time.

There are currently some 77 judicial vacancy in America and more than two dozens nominees pending before congress.

As of last week, President Biden has not nominated anyone to fill Judge Holmes’ position on the court.

U.S. District Court nominations rarely receive very much attention, but they are critical judicial positions.

When a state law is challenged in federal court, district judges are the first to hear the case. Right now many of the district judges in Arkansas — including U.S. District Judges Paul Holmes, James Moody, and Kristine Baker — are Obama appointees.

Because our district courts lean to the left, Arkansas often loses court cases over abortion and other social issues at the lower level, but we get better rulings from the more conservative judges on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

It doesn’t look like those dynamics are going to change under President Biden. However, it will be interesting to see who he nominates to replace Judge Holmes in the coming weeks.

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