A5
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2019
Senate fails to limit Trump war powers
By LISA MASCARO and
DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Polit-
ical unease over the White
House’s tough talk against
Iran is reviving questions
about President Donald
Trump’s ability to order mil-
itary strikes without approval
from Congress.
The Senate fell short Fri-
day, in a 50-40 vote, on an
amendment to a sweep-
ing Defense bill that would
require congressional support
before Trump acts. It didn’t
reach the 60-vote thresh-
old needed for passage. But
lawmakers said the majority
showing sent a strong mes-
sage that Trump cannot con-
tinue relying on the nearly
two-decade-old war authori-
zations Congress approved in
the aftermath of the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks. The House is
expected to take up the issue
next month.
“A congressional vote is a
pretty good signal of what our
constituents are telling us —
that another war in the Middle
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Activists gather last week in Washington, D.C., to call for regime change in Iran.
East would be a disaster right
now, we don’t want the presi-
dent to just do it on a whim,”
said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a
co-author of the measure with
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.
“My gut tells me that the
White House is realizing this
is deeply unpopular with the
American public.”
The effort in the Sen-
ate signals discomfort with
Trump’s approach to for-
eign policy. Four Republi-
cans joined most Democrats
in supporting the amend-
ment, but it faces steep resis-
tance from the White House
and the Pentagon wrote a let-
ter opposing it.
Trump’s approach to the
standoff with Iran and his
assertion earlier this week that
he doesn’t need congressional
approval to engage militarily
has only sparked fresh ques-
tions and hardened views in
Congress.
Trump tweeted last week
that the U.S. came within
minutes of striking Iran in
response to its shooting down
of an unmanned U.S. drone
until he told the military to
stand down. He said he was
concerned over an Iranian
casualty count estimated at
150.
“We’ve been keeping Con-
gress abreast of what we’re
doing ... and I think it’s some-
thing they appreciate,” Trump
told The Hill website. “I do
like keeping them abreast, but
I don’t have to do it legally.”
As the popular Defense
bill was making its way
through the Senate, Dem-
ocrats vowed to hold back
their support unless McCon-
nell agreed to debate the war
powers. The defense bill was
roundly approved Thursday
on a vote of 86-8.
Top Senate Democrat
Chuck Schumer of New
York assembled his caucus
earlier this week. In a series
of closed-door meetings he
argued that Congress had
ceded too much authority to
presidents of both parties,
according to a person granted
anonymity to discuss the pri-
vate sessions. Schumer said
the amendment would pro-
hibit funds to be used for hos-
tilities with Iran without the
OK of Congress.
Schumer also said that the
American people are wor-
ried that U.S. and Iran are on
a dangerous collision course
and that even though Trump
campaigned on not wanting to
get the U.S. embroiled in wars
he “may bumble us into one.”
“It is high time that Con-
gress re-establishes itself as
this nation’s decider of war
and peace,” Schumer said on
the Senate fl oor.
To counter the Democrats’
effort, Republican Sen. Mitt
Romney of Utah pushed for-
ward an alternative to Udall’s
amendment that reaffi rmed
the U.S. can defend itself
and respond to any attacks.
But Romney said his version
is not an authorization to use
force against Iran.
Supreme Court keeps citizenship House sends Trump $4.6B border bill
question off 2020 census, for now
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a
surprising move, the Supreme
Court on Thursday kept the
Trump administration from
adding a citizenship question
to the 2020 census for now,
and the question’s opponents
say there’s no time to revisit
the issue before next week’s
scheduled start to the printing
of census forms.
But President Donald
Trump said on Twitter after
the decision that he’s asked
lawyers if they can “delay
the Census, no matter how
long” until the “United States
Supreme Court is given addi-
tional information from which
it can make a fi nal and deci-
sive decision” on the issue.
Under federal law the cen-
sus must begin on April 1,
2020. A former director of
the Census Bureau said he
believed Congress would
have to change the law for the
count to be delayed.
The issue of whether to add
the citizenship question to the
census is a politically charged
one. Democratic cities and
states who oppose adding it
argue that they’d get less fed-
eral money and fewer repre-
sentatives in Congress if the
question is asked because it
would discourage the partici-
pation of minorities, primarily
Hispanics, who tend to sup-
port Democrats.
During arguments in the
case at the Supreme Court in
April, it seemed as though the
Trump administration would
win because Chief Justice John
Roberts and other conserva-
tives appointed by Republican
presidents did not appear to
see anything wrong with Com-
merce Secretary Wilbur Ross’
decision to add the question.
Ultimately, however, Roberts
joined the court’s four more
liberal members in saying the
administration’s current justifi -
cation for the question “seems
to have been contrived.”
The Trump administra-
tion had said the question was
being added to aid in enforce-
ment of the Voting Rights Act,
which protects minority vot-
ers’ access to the ballot box.
But the Justice Department
had never previously sought
a citizenship question in the
54-year history of the land-
mark voting rights law.
“Altogether, the evidence
tells a story that does not
match the explanation the sec-
retary gave for his decision,”
Roberts wrote.
Justice Clarence Thomas
said in dissent that “the court’s
erroneous decision...unjustifi -
ably interferes with the 2020
census.” Trump’s two appoin-
tees, Justices Neil Gorsuch
and Brett Kavanaugh, joined
Thomas’ opinion. Justice
Samuel Alito wrote separately
in partial dissent.
What will happen next is
unclear. The decision came on
the last day the court was issu-
ing opinions before a summer
break.
Justices defer
on partisan
gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — The
Supreme Court ruled Thurs-
day that partisan gerryman-
dering of congressional and
legislative districts is none of
its business, a decision that
leaves state offi cials free from
federal court challenges to
their plans to shape districts to
blatantly help their parties.
The court’s conservative
majority, including the two
justices appointed by Presi-
dent Donald Trump, prevailed
in a 5-4 ruling that dealt a huge
blow to efforts to combat the
redrawing of district lines to
benefi t a particular party.
The decision has no
effect on racial gerrymander-
ing challenges. Courts have
barred redistricting aimed at
reducing the political repre-
sentation of racial minorities
for a half-century.
But the outcome brings an
immediate halt to lawsuits that
sought to rein in the most par-
tisan districting plans that can
result when one party controls
a state’s legislature and gover-
nor’s offi ce.
In the short term, Republi-
cans are the prime benefi cia-
ries of the ruling. They made
dramatic political gains in the
2010 election just before the
last round of redistricting, so
they have controlled the pro-
cess in many states. Demo-
cratic voters had persuaded
lower courts to strike down
districting plans in Michigan,
North Carolina, Ohio and
Wisconsin. The one Repub-
lican suit came in Maryland,
against a single congressional
district.
Redistricting will next take
place in 2021, once 2020 cen-
sus results are available.
Chief Justice John Rob-
erts wrote the majority opin-
ion. Although he often seeks
broader coalitions for rela-
tively narrow decisions, he
ended up writing a sweeping
redistricting opinion that drew
an impassioned dissent from
the liberal justices.
Voters and elected offi -
cials should be the arbiters
of what is a political dispute,
Roberts said in his opinion for
the court. Federal courts are
the wrong place to settle these
disputes, he said.
The court rejected chal-
lenges to Republican-drawn
congressional districts in
North Carolina and a Demo-
cratic district in Maryland.
In a dissent for the four
liberals, Justice Elena Kagan
wrote, “For the fi rst time
ever, this court refuses to rem-
edy a constitutional viola-
tion because it thinks the task
beyond judicial capabilities.”
Court to rule on
‘dreamers’ program
WASHINGTON — Add-
ing a high-stakes immigra-
tion case to its election-year
agenda, the Supreme Court
said Friday it will decide
whether President Don-
ald Trump can terminate an
Obama-era program shield-
ing young migrants from
deportation.
The justices’ order sets up
legal arguments for late fall
or early winter, with a deci-
sion likely by June 2020 as
Trump campaigns for re-elec-
tion. The president ordered
an end to the program known
as DACA in 2017, sparking
protests and a congressional
effort to salvage it.
That effort failed, but fed-
eral courts in California, New
York, Virginia and Washing-
ton, D.C., have blocked him
from ending it immediately.
A federal judge in Texas has
declared the program is ille-
gal, but refused to order it
halted.
The program — Deferred
Action for Childhood Arriv-
als — protects about 700,000
people, known as dreamers,
who were brought to the U.S.
illegally as children or came
with families that overstayed
visas.
The DACA protections
seem certain to remain in
effect at least until the high
court issues its decision.
By ANDREW TAYLOR
and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
The Democratic-controlled
House voted Thursday
to send President Donald
Trump a bipartisan, Sen-
ate-drafted, $4.6 billion mea-
sure to care for migrant refu-
gees detained at the southern
border, capping a Washing-
ton skirmish in which die-
hard liberals came out on the
losing end in a battle with
the White House, the GOP-
held Senate and Democratic
moderates.
The emergency legisla-
tion, required to ease over-
crowded, often harsh con-
ditions at U.S. holding
facilities for migrants seek-
ing asylum, mostly from
Central American nations
like Honduras and El Sal-
vador, passed by a biparti-
san 305-102 vote. Trump
has indicated he’ll sign it
into law.
“A great job done by all!”
Trump tweeted from his
overseas trip.
House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., reluctantly
brought the Senate bill to
a vote by after her plan to
further strengthen rules for
treatment of migrant ref-
ugees ran into intractable
opposition from Republican
lawmakers and Vice Pres-
ident Mike Pence. Many
moderate Democrats split
with Pelosi as well, under-
cutting her earlier efforts,
which faded shortly after
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,
said he would swiftly reject
them.
The legislation con-
tains more than $1 billion
to shelter and feed migrants
detained by the border
patrol and almost $3 billion
to care for unaccompanied
migrant children who are
turned over the Department
of Health and Human Ser-
vices. It rejects an adminis-
tration request for additional
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement detention beds,
however, and contains pro-
visions designed to prevent
federal immigration agents
from going after immigrants
living in the country ille-
gally who seek to care for
unaccompanied children.
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