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The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a high-profile case involving the right of transgender minors to receive gender transition care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, in one of the most closely watched, potentially impactful cases slated to come before the high court this year.

The case, United States v. Skrmetti, centers on a Tennessee law that bans gender-transition treatments for adolescents in the state. The law also takes aim at health care providers in Tennessee who continue to provide gender-transition treatments to transgender minors, opening them up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.  

The petitioners in the case are the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued to overturn the Tennessee law on behalf of parents of three transgender adolescents, and a Memphis-based doctor who treats transgender patients. The petitioners were also joined by the Biden administration earlier this year under a federal law that allows the administration to intervene in certain cases certified by the attorney general to be of “general public importance.” 

The petitioners argue the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The state has responded by insisting the law does not discriminate based on gender, arguing it sets parameters on age- and use-based restrictions on certain drugs and is therefore not a violation of the Constitution.

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Pro-transgender protesters rally for inclusion. Petitioners in U.S. v. Skrmetti will argue before the Supreme Court that transgender individuals have all the hallmarks of a “quasi-suspect class” under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.   (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

According to the U.S. Supreme Court website, the key question posed in the case is “whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SBl), which prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,’ Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-33-103(a)(1), violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Wednesday’s oral arguments mark the first time the Supreme Court will consider restrictions on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors, giving the case importance in Tennessee and in other states across the country. 

Tennessee passed its law, Senate Bill 1, in March 2023. But it is just one of at least 25 U.S. states that has banned gender transition care for transgender adolescents, making the case — and Wednesday’s oral arguments — one of the most high-profile cases to be heard this session.  

The oral arguments have been anticipated for months. The controversial case comes at a time in Washington when Republicans will regain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress next month, giving them heavy influence and, some fear, more control over the federal judiciary. 

Here’s what you need to know ahead of Wednesday’s oral arguments.

Who’s arguing the case?

The petitioners will be represented by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and Chase Strangio, an ACLU attorney who represented the original parties in the lawsuit.

Strangio, the deputy director for transgender justice for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, will be the first openly transgender person to argue before the Supreme Court.

The respondents in the case, namely the state of Tennessee, will be represented in court by Tennessee Solicitor General J. Matthew Rice and the state attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti. 

In a court filing submitted ahead of Wednesday’s oral arguments, Prelogar’s office argued the Tennessee law has a deliberate focus on “sex and gender conformity,” asserting Senate Bill 1 “declares that its very purpose is to ‘encourag[e] minors to appreciate their sex’ and to ban treatments ‘that might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex.'”

“That,” the federal government wrote, “is sex discrimination.”

Counsel for the petitioners will argue that the Tennessee law imposes “differential treatment based on the sex an individual is assigned at birth,” triggering a higher level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

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They will also argue that upholding the ban will represent a “dangerous and discriminatory affront” to transgender minors not just in Tennessee, but across the country, a point that has been emphasized by Strangio.

The state argued in a court filing that the law “contains no sex classification” warranting the heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. Rather, it said, it “creates two groups: minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes.”

The question of scrutiny 

The Supreme Court has determined three different levels of scrutiny that help determine whether a law is permissible under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution: Strict scrutiny, heightened scrutiny and rational basis. The highest level, strict scrutiny, requires a law be passed to serve a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to minimize harm. 

The second level of scrutiny, or “heightened scrutiny,” requires the governmental body to prove its actions further an “important government interest” by using means “substantially related to that interest.” 

The lowest bar, rational basis, is the most deferential of the tests and requires the law only serve a legitimate interest with a “rational connection” to the means and goals of the statute.

The U.S. Supreme Court at sunset (Aaron Schwartz/SIPA USA)

Overview of the arguments

Wednesday’s oral arguments will center on whether banning gender transition care for minors violates protections under the Equal Protection Clause, either via gender discrimination or discrimination against their transgender status.

The petitioners in the case will argue that the Tennessee law discriminates against individuals and their right to receive the same medical treatments based on their sex. Under the law, the petitioners argued in their court filing, “an adolescent assigned female at birth cannot receive puberty blockers or testosterone to live as a male, but an adolescent assigned male at birth can.”

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Separately, they will argue that discriminating against individuals based on their transgender status is also sufficient to trigger higher scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause, noting that transgender individuals “satisfy all of the hallmarks of a quasi-suspect class,” including being subject to discrimination, representing a “discrete and identifiable minority” and other components outlined by the Supreme Court, thereby necessitating that heightened scrutiny be applied.

The respondents will argue that Senate Bill 1, places age- and use-based restrictions on certain drugs and, therefore, is not an example of unconstitutional discrimination. 

Further, they will argue that the law easily passes even the test of heightened scrutiny. The state contends it has “compelling interests” to protect the health and safety of minors in the state and “in protecting the integrity and ethics of the medical profession.”

The U.S. Supreme Court (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Case history

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson, a Trump appointee, granted a preliminary inunction for part of the Tennessee ban in June, siding with the petitioners’ assertion that “parents have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children, which naturally includes the right of parent[s] to request certain medical treatments on behalf of their children[.]”

He said the ban on most types of gender care for transgender minors would likely not survive the heightened scrutiny test under the Equal Protection Clause, since the same treatments were not banned for their non-transgender peers. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit later overturned the district court’s decision and reinstated the full ban, using the lowest test of rational basis. The petitioners appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which agreed in June to review the case.

The petitioners have asked the Supreme Court to remand the case to the 6th Circuit Court to hear it again, this time using the test of heightened scrutiny.

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Strangio has repeatedly stressed the wide-ranging impact the Supreme Court decision could have on “countless transgender youth” of current and future generations and has described the bans as a “dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country.”

Next steps

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on United States v. Skrmetti by July 2025. The Supreme Court typically issues summer decisions on cases argued during the October term.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a former medical doctor, is expected to introduce legislation that would ban gender-related medical procedures on minors and impose a penalty for professionals who perform such treatments, Fox News Digital has learned.

The bill, titled the Safeguarding the Overall Protection (STOP) of Minors Act, aims to prohibit youth gender transition treatment and “castration procedures” by banning “the use of interstate commerce to perform, attempt to perform, conspire to perform, or provide referral for any gender mutilation procedures on a minor.”

“Americans resoundingly rejected the Left’s dangerous transgender agenda. Let’s call it exactly what it is: child abuse,” said Marshall. 

Marshall is expected to introduce the bill on Capitol Hill on Wednesday: “The days of demented doctors and activists getting rich off of mutilating, sterilizing, and castrating children are over.”

The STOP Act, if passed, would call on Health and Human Services (HHS) to impose a civil penalty of at least $100,000 on those “providing transgender mutilation services and treatments” for minors. Secretary Xavier Becerra currently heads HHS under President Biden. However, he will soon be succeeded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. 

GOP LAWMAKERS REVEAL A HEIGHTENED LEGISLATIVE FOCUS AGAINST ‘IRREVERSIBLE’ GENDER SURGERY ON MINORS

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. (Tom Williams/File)

The Republican senator’s bill also seeks to provide assistance to people who no longer want to continue the gender transition process, commonly referred to as detransitioners.

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Marshall signaled he would work with Trump, who has suggested he would seek to slash “gender-affirming” care for minors, on the issue.

(Pamela Garfield-Jaeger/File)

“Our legislation keeps children’s safety paramount by prohibiting anyone from performing, facilitating, or even conspiring to give these irreversible therapies and procedures to minors,” Marshall said. “This bill is just the beginning of what’s to come with President Trump at the helm and our unwavering commitment to protecting children from transgender activists’ twisted and criminal agenda.”

Marshall first teed up the bill during a panel led by Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, and a group of lawmakers who discussed a heightened GOP focus on legislation against transgender medical procedures on minors. 

The U.S. Supreme Court (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/File)

Lawmakers on the other side of the issue have spoken out in support of such procedures for minors, such as hormone replacement therapy and laser hair removal. Most recently, they pushed back on a ban in Tennessee that prevents minors from receiving puberty blockers.

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In September, a total of 164 lawmakers, including 11 senators and 153 representatives in the House, filed an amicus brief defending transgender youth against the ban. 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the law Wednesday and decide on whether to uphold the ban.

Fox News’ Jamie Jospeh contributed to this report.

Let’s face it, trust in most of our government institutions has utterly collapsed.

Many people don’t have faith in the FDA, the DOD, HUD, Homeland Security, the health agencies, and the list goes on. And they don’t trust the media to deliver basic facts about Washington without bias and blunders.

These sentiments have basically been growing for the last 60 years, since the lies about Vietnam merged with the lies about Watergate and forced Richard Nixon to resign.

BIDEN, TRUMP BOTH RIP DOJ AFTER PRESIDENT PARDONS HUNTER

But the most sensitive federal agency, everyone would agree, is the Justice Department, including the FBI. Donald Trump has been attacking these agencies for years (along with the “fake news”), accusing them of politically persecuting him. He campaigned outside courthouses by telling reporters the prosecutors and judges were awful people who were out to get him solely because he was the leading candidate to win back the White House.

Joe Biden, by breaking his promise not to pardon his son Hunter, did more than just lie. He ripped his own DOJ for “selectively and unfairly prosecuting” his son. 

I used to patrol the endless hallways of the J. Edgar Hoover building as the Justice Department beat reporter. On the criminal side, it is supposed to be independent, since Justice often winds up investigating the administration. Back in the day it was filled with fair-minded career prosecutors who pursued legitimate leads regardless of party.

U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are pictured in front of the United States Department of Justice Headquarters. (Getty Images)

In saying that Hunter Biden was singled out for harsh treatment, the outgoing president is making the same argument as the incoming president, that the department is badly biased. Little wonder that so many people don’t trust DOJ.

All Biden had to do when repeatedly asked about a pardon or commutation was “I’m not going to discuss hypotheticals.” Then at least he wouldn’t have the lying part.

There is no question that Pam Bondi, despite some roughing up, will be the next attorney general, having precisely the experience (Florida AG, career prosecutor) that Matt Gaetz so blatantly lacked. She is not going to blow up the department.

But in picking Kash Patel to run the FBI – and ignoring that Chris Wray is not through with his 10-year term – Trump is sending a very different message. And this isn’t some dark secret. It’s in the nominee’s own words.

TRUMP HIT FOR HIRING LOYALISTS LIKE PAM BONDI: DOESN’T EVERY PRESIDENT DO THAT?

Patel has vowed to shut down the bureau’s Washington headquarters. He said last year on Steve Bannon’s podcast, which we played on “Media Buzz”: “We will go out and find the conspirators…not just in government, but in the media.… Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

In his 2022 book “Government Gangsters,” Patel names 60 people as part of the deep state,  “a cabal of unelected tyrants…the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” The press has dubbed this an enemies list.

It includes the aforementioned Bill Barr (for blocking his appointment), NSC chairman John Bolton (an “arrogant control freak”), and Defense Secretary Mark Esper (who tried to fire him).

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 03, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Also on the list, as recounted by the New Republic:

Joe Biden. 

Kamala Harris.

Hillary Clinton.

Merrick Garland.

Samantha Power, who now runs the Agency for International Development.

Former Obama officials James Clapper; John Brennan; Peter Strzok (who trashed Trump in texts with his FBI girlfriend, Lisa Page), Andrew McCabe (FBI deputy director), Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.

A striking number are Donald Trump’s own appointees: Pat Cippolone (his White House counsel). Gina Haspel (his CIA director). Mark Esper. Charles Kupperman (his deputy national security adviser).

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Cassidy Hutchinson (Mark Meadows’ top aide, who criticized Trump in her testimony before the House Jan. 6 committee).

It’s a pretty big list. And having worked for Trump hardly provides immunity.

Patel would have his work cut out for him, though he’d have to get a career prosecutor to submit a wiretap request or search warrant to the courts.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers are hitting their party’s president pretty hard for the Hunter pardon, in interviews with the Times.

Colorado Congressman Jason Crow: He promised he would not do this. I think it will make it harder for us going forward when we talk about upholding democracy.”

Washington Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: “The president made the wrong decision. No family should be above the law.”

The U.S. Department of Justice seal is displayed following a news conference in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. (Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said the Biden move “put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.” And his late dropout from the race was also “putting his personal interest ahead of his responsibility to the country.”

Vermont Sen. Peter Welch: “President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is, as the action of a loving father, understandable — but as the action of our nation’s chief executive, unwise.” 

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters: “Wrong.”

Pretty bracing stuff.

Some progressives defended Biden, such as Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett: “Way to go Joe!” She said a 34-count convicted felon is about to walk into the White House, perhaps missing the news that Jack Smith has dropped the charges.

On “Morning Joe” yesterday, Mika Brzezinski, while saying she wished Biden hadn’t promised no pardon, took on the coverage: “You look at what has happened on the Trump side, especially if you even parallel pardons that Trump has done himself, it’s just always so — it seems so hysterically imbalanced!”

Joe Scarborough spoke of “the frustration that many Democrats are having on the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, a lot of mainstream organizations blowing this up to the size that they believe is really out of proportion, given everything Donald Trump has done in the past and what he’s doing right now.”

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Still, the two presidents have wound up in the same place in their view of the Justice Department as partisan and politicized.

One fascinating tidbit dug up by the Times: When Biden had Trump to the White House, according to three sources, and listened to his familiar grievances about the biased DOJ – the president-elect “surprised his host by sympathizing with the Biden family’s own troubles with the department.”

Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump have officially requested to “immediately” dismiss charges against him in New York v. Trump, declaring the “failed lawfare” case “should never have been brought.” 

“President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this motion to dismiss the Indictment and vacate the jury’s verdicts…,” they wrote in their official motion to dismiss submitted to the court on Monday. “The Presidential immunity doctrine, the Presidential Transition Act, and the Supremacy Clause all require that result, and they require it immediately.” 

TRUMP LAWYERS DEMAND BRAGG CASE BE ‘IMMEDIATELY DISMISSED,’ SAY ELECTION ‘SUPERSEDES’ POLITICAL ‘MOTIVATIONS’

Trump attorneys, in the beginning of their argument for dismissal, invoked President Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks alongside his attorney Todd Blanche as he arrives for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’” they wrote. “President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’” 

Trump attorneys said Biden’s “comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ.” 

PROSECUTORS REQUEST STAY IN TRUMP NY CASE UNTIL 2029 AS DEFENSE PLANS MOTION FOR DISMISSAL ‘ONCE AND FOR ALL’

“This is the same DOJ that coordinated and oversaw the politically-motivated, election-interference witch hunts targeting President Trump by disgraced Special Counsel Jack Smith, the other biased prosecutors in Smith’s Special Counsel’s Office (“SCO”), and others. This is the same DOJ that sent Matthew Colangelo to DA Bragg to help unfairly target President Trump in this empty and lawless case,” they wrote. “Since DA Bragg took office, he has engaged in ‘precisely the type of political theater’ that President Biden condemned.” 

Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung said after the filing, “President Trump and his legal team have filed a powerhouse motion to dismiss once and for all the unconstitutional and politically motivated Manhattan DA Hoax. This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt.”

“Today’s motion provides every possible chance for Judge Merchan do the right thing and end what remains of this charade immediately, rightfully allowing our country to unite behind President Trump for the betterment of all Americans.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrives at Daniel Penny’s trial following a lunch break at the Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court building in New York City on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024.  (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)

Trump attorneys said New York v. Trump is “based on a contrived, defective, and unprecedented legal theory relating to 2017 entries in documents that were maintained hundreds of miles away from the White House where President Trump was running the country.” 

“There are no ‘aggravating factors’ here, other than those arising from DANY’s misconduct,” they wrote. “Thus, this case should never have been brought, particularly during a period when DA Bragg’s failure to protect this City from pervasive violent crime frightens, threatens, and harms New Yorkers on a daily basis.” 

Trump attorneys also said that the case “would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond.” 

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Trump lawyers said that “wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts and his preparations to wield the full Article II executive power authorized by the Constitution pursuant to the overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” 

Trump attorneys, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision which ruled that presidents have immunity from official acts, said the case threatens the functioning of the federal government. 

“Local elected officials such as DA Bragg have no valid basis to cause such disruptions, which also violate the Supremacy Clause,” they wrote. “Consequently, the federal Constitution is an absolute “legal impediment” to further proceedings…and the case must be immediately dismissed.”

Trump attorneys said that Bragg’s “wrongful prosecution threatens ‘enduring consequences upon the balanced power structure of our Republic’ and the type of ‘factional strife’ that President Biden decried in yesterday’s blanket pardon announcement.” 

They said the Special Counsel’s Office “has been forced to concede.” 

FILE – Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

TRUMP REQUESTS NY JUDGE OVERTURN GUILTY VERDICT, INDICTMENT AFTER SCOTUS IMMUNITY RULING

Last month, a federal judge, upon Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request, dismissed charges against Trump in his 2020 election interference case. Smith also rescinded his appeal in his classified records case against Trump — a case that was tossed in July by a federal judge in Florida who ruled Smith was appointed unlawfully as special counsel. 

Bragg, last month, requested to Judge Juan Merchan that the case be stayed until the end of Trump’s second term, but Trump attorneys noted that the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department concluded that “the categorical prohibition on the federal indictment of a sitting president…even if the case were held in abeyance…applies to this situation.” 

They wrote that Bragg’s “ridiculous suggestion that they could simply resume proceedings after President Trump leaves Office, more than a decade after they commenced their investigation in 2018, is not an option.”

BRAGG CASE ‘EFFECTIVELY OVER’ IN ‘MAJOR VICTORY,’ TRUMP OFFICIALS SAY

Donald Trump waves to supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the yearslong investigation related to alleged hush money payments run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance initiated the investigation, and Bragg prosecuted Trump. 

After an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City, a jury found the president guilty on all counts. 

The federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case issued a sharp rebuke of President Biden’s claim that his son was unfairly treated as well as the president’s delivery method following the president’s last-minute pardon.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who is based in the Central District of California and was nominated by President-elect Trump, accused President Biden in a scathing five-page order of “rewriting history” with the pardon and suggested that the breadth of the pardon granted to his son is unconstitutional.

“The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history,” he wrote.

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Hunter Biden departs a House Oversight Committee meeting on Capitol Hill on January 10. On Friday, a judge denied a motion to throw out a federal gun case against him.  (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

The judge voiced his displeasure that the president alerted the judicial system of his order to pardon his son via a White House press release.

“Rather than providing a true and correct copy of the pardon with the notice, Mr. Biden provided a hyperlink to a White House press release presenting a statement by the President regarding the pardon and the purported text of the pardon,” he wrote.

“In short, a press release is not a pardon,” he continued.

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Scarsi continued, reacting to the president’s statement on his son’s tax case: “the President asserts that Mr. Biden ‘was treated differently’ from others ‘who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions,’ implying that Mr. Biden was among those individuals who untimely paid taxes due to addiction. But he is not.”

“According to the President, ‘[n]o reasonable person who looks at the facts of [Mr. Biden’s] cases can reach any other conclusion than [Mr. Biden] was singled out only because he is [the President’s] son.’ But two federal judges expressly rejected Biden’s arguments that the Government prosecuted Mr. Biden because of his familial relation to the President. And the President’s own Attorney General and Department of Justice personnel oversaw the investigation leading to the charges,” Scarsi wrote.

2 TIMES BIDEN SAID HE WOULD NOT PARDON SON HUNTER BIDEN 

“In the President’s estimation, this legion of federal civil servants, the undersigned included, are unreasonable people,” he said.

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 03, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden is standing trial for felony gun charges.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The judge said he would dispose of the case once he receives the official pardon from “the appropriate executive agency.” 

He also vacated Hunter Biden’s sentencing, which was scheduled for Dec. 16.  The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines.

TRUMP PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED BIDEN WOULD PARDON SON HUNTER

“Subject to the following discussion, the Court assumes the pardon is effective and will dispose of the case. The Supreme Court long has recognized that, notwithstanding its nearly unlimited nature, the pardon power extends only to past offenses,” he wrote.

FILE: President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Hunter Biden, 54, has had a busy year in court, kicking off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses, before he pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case in September. 

President Biden pardoning his son is a departure from his previous remarks to the media over the summer when he insisted he would not pardon the first son.

“Yes,” President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case. 

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Days later, following a jury of Hunter’s peers finding him guilty of three felony firearm offenses, the president again said he would not pardon his son. 

“I am not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.

The popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson says it is still being kept in the dark after its Facebook account was suddenly suspended last month.

Though the account has since been reinstated, a representative for the company told Fox News Digital that “despite multiple attempts to reach Facebook to discuss the matter, to date we have not had direct communications with any of their staff members.”

The gun company, which is headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, said staff suddenly received a notification from Facebook on Nov. 22 stating that their official Smith & Wesson account had been “suspended indefinitely.”

“No warnings of a page suspension were previously communicated by Facebook,” said the representative.

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Handguns are displayed at the Smith & Wesson booth at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

The representative said Facebook referenced five posts dating back to December 2023 that they “suggest did not follow their community guidelines.”

“The posts in question included consumer promotional campaigns, charitable auctions, and product release announcements,” the Smith & Wesson representative explained. “While Facebook’s policies are ever-changing, which creates a burden for users to comply with, we do not believe this content violated any of Facebook’s policies or community guidelines, and similar posts have been published in the past without issue.”  

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

‘SMOKING-GUN DOCUMENTS’ PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS ON BEHALF OF WHITE HOUSE, JIM JORDAN SAYS

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook, speaks during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Jan. 31, 2020. (George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to the representative, the page was reinstated on Nov. 27 after the gun manufacturer made a public statement about the incident on X.

In the post, which has 3.1 million views, Smith & Wesson criticized Facebook and thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments. The company encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to “seek out platforms” that represent the “shared values” of free speech and the right to bear arms.

Despite the page eventually being reinstated, the representative told Fox News Digital that the company has still had no contact with Meta and “no rationale was given for the reinstatement beyond a comment on social media from a Facebook representative stating that the suspension had been ‘in error.’”

That same Meta staffer, Andy Stone, also directed Fox News Digital to the X post positing that Smith & Wesson’s suspension was an accident. In the post, Stone said “the page was suspended in error and we’ve now restored it. We apologize that this happened.”

TRUMP FCC PICK SAYS BRINGING ‘CENSORSHIP CARTEL’ TO HEEL WILL BE A ‘TOP’ PRIORITY: ‘IT’S GOT TO END’

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk (Getty Images)

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Through it all, the Smith & Wesson representative said the manufacturer is “grateful to Elon Musk for having created a public square platform that respects the right for Americans to voice their opinions, ALL opinions, and not just those that coincide with one agenda or another – especially as it relates to our constitutional rights guaranteed under the 1st and 2nd Amendments.”

The spokesperson said that since their account was suspended, they have become aware that many other social media users have been similarly silenced and de-platformed.

“While we were encouraged by the reinstatement of our account, we were similarly disappointed by the number of other users reacting to our statement on X that commented that they have had very similar experiences with their accounts being de-platformed without warning,” said the representative. “While we obviously do not know the details of those instances, we encourage Meta to continue working towards a more inclusive platform which allows the freedom for respectful dialogue from all viewpoints, which is a hallmark of American society.”

Founded in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1852, Smith & Wesson is one of the most recognized gun brands in America and reported $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Hunter Biden’s pardon sets troubling precedent, risks politicizing Justice Department, critics say

–Senate Democrats name top leadership positions after losing chamber majority

-House Dem moves to force vote on releasing Gaetz ethics report

Bench Warfare

The Senate GOP leader on Monday slammed decisions by two federal judges to reverse their announced retirements after Republican former President Trump won re-election in November.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the pair of “partisan Democrat district judges” after they announced plans to “unretire” after “the American people voted to fire Democrats last month.” 

“Looking to history, only two judges have ever unretired after a presidential election. One Democrat in 2004 and one Republican in 2009. But now, in just a matter of weeks, Democrats have already met that all-time record. It’s hard to conclude that this is anything other than open partisanship,” McConnell said in remarks delivered on the Senate floor…Read more

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters after a meeting with fellow Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP)

White House

‘IMPARTIAL INSTITUTION’: Hunter Biden’s ex-biz partner reveals Trump DOJ blueprint he would like to see after last-minute pardon…Read more

GUNNING FOR JUSTICE: DOJ special counsel says Hunter Biden’s indictment should not be dismissed…Read more

TRUMP TRUMPS BIDEN: Mar-a-Lago trumps White House as president-elect overshadows Biden on world stage…Read more

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Friday to discuss topics like the economy, illegal immigration and a proposed 25% tariff. (Justin Trudeau X)

HUNTER BIDEN SAGA: Hunter Biden gun case terminated after pardon, but Delaware judge stops short of full dismissal…Read more

Trump Transition

‘MAJOR INCREASE’: John Bolton declares hiking US defense budget the ‘most important priority in foreign affairs today’…Read more

‘MOUTHPIECES FOR GOVERNMENT’: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy agree on ‘need to scrutinize’ US funding for NGOs…Read more

A side-by-side of Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. (Getty Images/AP Images)

‘DEEP STATE’ FOE: FBI has long been accused of politicization ahead of Dem concern over Kash Patel nomination…Read more

Trail Dust

PARTING WORDS: Outgoing DNC chair defends party, says 2024 could have been worse for Democrats…Read more

LEADERSHIP ELECTION: Senate Democrats to hold leadership elections after losing chamber majority…Read more

Capitol Hill

‘NO LONGER EMPLOYED’: House Democrat staff member fired following arrest by Capitol Police…Read more

PROMOTED: General involved in Afghanistan withdrawal has promotion confirmed by Senate…Read more

GETTING TESTY: Recently ousted Dem senator said he’s ‘getting the f*** out of here’ when asked about presidential pardon…Read more

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester prepares to debate GOP challenger Tim Sheehy on campus at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (The Missoulian via AP)

CROSSING THE AISLE: Dem lawmaker joins Republican-led DOGE caucus with push to remove Secret Service from DHS…Read more

‘FROM THE ASHES’: Conservative group’s roadmap calls for Congress to rebuild new US immigration system ‘from the ashes’…Read more

‘ABOVE THE LAW’: Dem Rep. Dean Phillips blasts Biden after Hunter pardon, says some people ‘are indeed above the law’…Read more

Across America

‘CHOOSE WORDS CAREFULLY’: Denver mayor criticized by hometown paper over vow to resist Trump deportations…Read more

STACKING THE DECK: Daniel Penny prosecutor dangles race card again over defense objection despite no hate crime charges…Read more

SHOOTER TO SHOP OWNER?”: Would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. opening music store…Read more

‘COMMON SENSE’: Ohio Lt. Gov. touts state’s ‘common sense’ bathroom bill, hopes to see similar bills ‘across the country’…Read more

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital that Ohio’s bathroom bill is “common sense.” (Getty Images)

RED LIGHTS: AOC’s ‘Red Light District’ plagued by crime as Democrat who helped her rise to power says she ‘disappeared’…Read more

GANG EXECUTIONER?: Suspected Tren de Aragua gang member in Texas charged with murder, kidnapping…Read more

FALLEN HEROES: Trump, DeSantis join thousands to mourn three Florida deputies killed in roadside crash…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Departing Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., focused on unity in an emotional farewell address to his colleagues in the Senate, marking the final floor speech of his 14-year term after not seeking re-election this cycle. 

“My friends and colleagues, today I rise with a full heart and an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It’s been the honor of my life to represent my great state of West Virginia in this great country of ours,” Manchin opened his final remarks on Tuesday. “Now, as my time here comes to an end. I want you to know that my belief in the potential of this institution, and each and every one of you that represent it, remains as strong as ever.”

In his speech, Manchin urged his colleagues to put their differences aside and work together in an effort to bridge political differences.

The senator revealed that it “wasn’t exactly my plan to join the Senate” at first, but that he “saw an opportunity to serve more people and tackle bigger challenges.”

SENATE DEMOCRATS NAME TOP LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AFTER LOSING CHAMBER MAJORITY

US Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) speaks to the Detroit Economic Club at their meeting held at The Masonic in Detroit, Michigan, on February 26, 2024. (Jeff Kowalsky)

Manchin, focusing on the theme of unity, recalled being asked to help recruit Democratic candidates to run against Republicans when he first entered the Senate, but vowing not to work against his colleagues.

“It didn’t take long for me to see that the divisions here run pretty deep,” he said. “I’m not going to raise money to attack my friends and colleagues just because they have an ‘R’ by their name. How do we expect to work together if I’m working against them when they’re in cycle?”

KYRSTEN SINEMA RESPONDS TO DEMOCRATS ADMITTING FILIBUSTER WILL HELP THEM STOP TRUMP AGENDA: ‘SCHADENFREUDE

In his final speech, Manchin took the opportunity to highlight accomplishments in his state of West Virginia such as on energy, infrastructure, and job growth.

While Manchin is widely known for his memorable work in the senate, his career in West Virginia politics dates back decades.

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 5: Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) walks with staffers on the east front of the U.S. Capitol on June 5, 2024, in Washington, DC.  (Kent Nishimura)

Manchin served as a state delegate in the early 1980s, before being elected as a state senator until the late 90s. Manchin served as Secretary of State for four years, and then was elected as governor of West Virginia in 2005. 

Manchin was eventually elected to his longest held post of Democratic senator for West Virginia in 2010. Known for his moderate approach and bipartisan work on national issues, the senator left the Democratic Party to register as an independent in May 2024, but continued to caucus with Democrats in the months following his departure from the party. 

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., waves to visitors on the Senate steps as he leaves the Capitol. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

Manchin ended his speech urging his colleagues to fix inflation and the southern border crisis, emphasizing that “when each side could take a little step to find common ground, powerful things happen.”

“I’m not going anywhere, gang,” Manchin said, appearing to tear up as he thanked his staff and family for their support over the years.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., commended Manchin’s service in the senate ahead of his farewell address.

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“It fills me with great pleasure, and a little sadness, to say a few words here in his honor,” Schumer said. “So today, I wish to pay tribute to a very dear friend, one of my closest friends in the Senate – even when we disagreed we stayed friendly and stayed good friends – and of course a longtime colleague: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.”

A Georgia judge ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Williams to hand over records related to her communications with special counsel Jack Smith and the U.S. House January 6 Committee after failing to comply with a request under the Open Records Act (ORA).

The nonprofit group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against Willis in March after her office claimed it did not have any documents and communications on file between Willis and Smith or Willis and the January 6th Committee.

But it turned out her office did have communications, and on Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered Willis to produce them within five business days. McBurney also determined in his ruling that Willis violated Georgia’s open records act by failing to respond to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.

McBurney granted judgment by default after the DA did not make any ‘meritorious defense.’ Instead, Willis claimed she was not served properly.

TRUMP’S LEGAL CASES LIKELY TO DIE OUT AMID IMPENDING WHITE HOUSE RETURN, EXPERTS SAY

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images)

“Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence,” McBurney wrote in his decision, while also ordering her to pay Judicial Watch’s attorney’s fees. “Here, this means Plaintiff has established that Defendant violated the ORA by failing to either turn over responsive records or else notify Plaintiff of her decision to withhold some or all such records.”

A hearing on the attorney’s fees and costs is set to take place on Dec. 20, 2024 at 10 a.m.

“Fani Willis is something else. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution.”

The documents Judicial Watch sought to obtain stemmed from an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into whether Willis coordinated with the House Jan. 6 Committee in their investigations.

HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATING WHETHER FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ‘COORDINATED’ WITH JAN 6 COMMITTEE

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta.  (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

U.S. lawmakers had said Willis asked the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to share evidence with her office.

Last year, President-elect Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty to all charges in connection to a racketeering indictment for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Specifically, Willis charged Trump with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.

TRUMP BOOKED AT FULTON COUNTY JAIL AFTER CHARGES STEMMING FROM 2020 ELECTION PROBE

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrives to speak after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Buckhead, Ga.  (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Four of the defendants who were charged alongside Trump took plea deals in exchange for testifying against the other defendants.

Trump’s team and other defendants had previously asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments to determine whether Willis could continue to prosecute the case.

The charges against Trump have not officially been dropped, though the case is on pause as Trump and his co-defendants appeal a Fulton County judge’s decision to not disqualify Willis from prosecuting the case.

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The Court of Appeals canceled the arguments in November, which were initially scheduled for early December. 

Fox News Digital’s Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights in a win for incoming President-elect Trump’s administration, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling rejected a 2019 local executive order that sought to counter then-President Trump’s immigration policies, saying that King County, Washington violated its contract by prohibiting deportations at King County International Airport, which is also known as Boeing Field.

The court ruled that the order was unlawful because it discriminated against ICE and targeted federal operations. In 2019, Trump used Boeing Fields to deport illegal migrants from the U.S. and the local county sought to block the president’s removal operations.

MIGRANT ACCUSED OF VIOLENT CRIMES ARRESTED BY ICE AFTER MASSACHUSETTS COURT REFUSED TO HONOR DETAINER

This Feb. 23, 2018 file photo shows cranes from the Port of Seattle in the background, airplanes are parked at a Boeing facility at Boeing Field in Seattle.  (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file)

The order prompted ICE to begin using an airport in Yakima, Washington — a much longer drive from ICE’s Northwest detention center— for the deportation flights.

“The relocation increased operational costs due to the greater distance from ICE detention facilities to the airport. It also led to increased security concerns,” the ruling noted.

READ THE RULING – APP USERS CLICK HERE

In response, a legal battle with King County ensued. The U.S. in 2020 sued the county, alleging that it violated the terms of a World War II-era contract that guarantees the federal government’s right to use the airport along with discriminating against ICE.

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

In a ruling on Friday, Nov. 30, 9th Circuit Judge Daniel A. Bress upheld the court’s decision. In the ruling, obtained by Fox News Digital, he wrote that, “this is not a situation in which King County officials are being conscripted into carrying out federal immigration laws on the federal government’s behalf.”

“Instead, the United States is asking King County, in its capacity as the owner of a public airport facility, to lift a discriminatory prohibition on private parties’ ability to engage in business with the federal government that supports federal immigration efforts,” the ruling states.

Migrants board a state-sponsored bus to New York outside the Mission: Border Hope non-profit organization in Eagle Pass, Texas, US, on Monday, March 11, 2024.  (Christopher Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The new order also calls for transparency around any deportation flights. 

The airport now offers a conference room where the public can observe deportation flights on a video feed, and the county posts a log of deportation flights from the airport on its website.

President Elect Donald Trump, left, and newly appointed Tom Homan, right (Getty)

The ruling is a win for the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect has vowed to initiate deportation efforts on his first day back in office.

His promise was cemented by his pick of “border czar,” Tom Homan. 

“If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out all the way. We’re going to do it,’ Homan recently said.

DENVER MAYOR MIKE JOHNSTON SAYS TRUMP’S MASS MIGRANT DEPORTATIONS WILL CREATE ‘TIANANMEN SQUARE MOMENT’

Trump’s election has prompted blue city officials to voice their opposition against Trump’s deportation efforts. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that he is prepared to go to jail in opposition to Trump’s plans.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey delivers her inaugural address in the House Chamber at the Statehouse moments after being sworn into office during inauguration ceremonies, Jan. 5, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

The governors of Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts have said that they also won’t assist the administration in the operation. 

In Illinois, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker promised to uphold sanctuary status, boldly declaring, “If you come for my people, you come through me.”

Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said her state will not be helping in what she called a “misguided” plan. 

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“What I will unequivocally say is that, as governor, I will not tolerate efforts that are part of misguided policies that harm our communities, that threaten our communities, that terrorize our communities, and Arizona will not take part in those,” Hobbs said.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey insisted that Massachusetts state police would “absolutely not” help the Trump administration’s planned deportations. 

It’s a sign of the times.

Once a Democratic stronghold, Miami-Dade County, Florida, will honor President-elect Donald Trump by adding his name to a street after the Republican flipped the county by double digits in his historic 2024 election victory. 

“President Donald J. Trump Avenue is official in Miami-Dade County!” District 6 Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin M. Cabrera wrote in a post on X.

On Tuesday, the Board of County Commissioners for the city of Hialeah voted 9 to 1 to approve the street name.

DNC CHAIR FRONTRUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE TO DEMOCRATS AFTER CRUSHING LOSS TO TRUMP

“Today, we ratified the City of Hialeah’s initiative to honor President Trump’s legacy of championing freedom and opportunity by co-designating Palm Avenue—a vital artery in our community—as ‘President Donald J. Trump Avenue.’” 

Democrats on the County Commission could have blocked Tuesday’s approval because Democratic commissioners hold seven of the officially nonpartisan board’s 13 seats, according to the Miami Herald.

Only one member of the commission voted down the move because “they couldn’t assent given some of the former president’s derogatory comments on immigrants.”

“I respect the fact that President Trump won the popular vote, the Electoral College and Miami-Dade County,” Democratic commission member Marleine Bastien said in a statement reported by the Miami Herald. “However, his victory does not erase the collective trauma that immigrants and citizens alike felt during this election cycle.”

Four Democrats joined five Republican members of the commission to vote for the renaming of the street, according to the commission clerk. 

FORMER LAWMAKER CALLS FOR COMPLETE ‘REBRAND’ OF ‘TOXIC’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY

President-elect Donald Trump was honored on Tuesday with a street renamed after him in Miami-Dade County, Florida.  (X/@KMCabreraFL)

“Miami-Dade County strongly supported President Trump during the election, and this designation serves as a lasting tribute to his leadership and vision for our nation,” Cabrera said. 

The city is allowed to hang “President Donald J. Trump Avenue” signs on county infrastructure, including under Miami-Dade traffic lights along the city-maintained roadway with the county vote’s approval, according to the local outlet.

Miami-Dade commissioners have approved Hialeah’s renaming of a historic road after President-elect Donald Trump.  (Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump)

Last year, city council approved a proposal to rename the road for Trump after Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo announced the move and presented Trump with a street sign at a campaign rally. 

“Our city LOVES Donald Trump. The Cuban American community feels a sense of gratitude towards him,” Bovo said in a previous interview.

LIBERALS DESPAIRING OVER TRUMP VICTORY ARE TURNING OFF THE NEWS: REPORT

Donald Trump holds a sign with Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo at a campaign rally in Hialeah, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023.

Trump won Hialeah by 53 points in November, which is about 75% of the vote in Hialeah in last month’s election. He also won Miami-Dade by more than 13%, the first time a Republican has won the county since 1988.

“This renaming honors President Trump’s steadfast commitment to putting America first and prioritizing the needs of the American people. It is a tribute to his vision and efforts to uphold the values that resonate deeply with our community,” Bovo wrote in a statement on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to all the Democratic members of the commission but did not immediately receive a response. 

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister withdrew his name for consideration as President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

“To have been nominated by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is the honor of a lifetime,” Chronister wrote in a post on X.

“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration. There is more work to be done for the citizens of Hillsborough County and a lot of initiatives I am committed to fulfilling,” Chronister continued. 

“I sincerely appreciate the nomination, outpouring of support by the American people, and look forward to continuing my service as Sheriff of Hillsborough County.”

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Chronister was appointed by then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott to head the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in 2017, and has been re-elected twice. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams revealed on Tuesday that he is open to meeting with incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan to develop solutions to take on illegal immigrant criminals — and dismissed criticism from the left, telling critics to “cancel me.”

Adams was asked at a press conference about whether he will meet with Homan, who was picked by President-elect Trump to lead the mass deportation operation he intends to launch after he is sworn into office.

Adams stressed the city’s openness to immigrants and emphasized the work being done on helping migrants apply for Temporary Protected Status and work authorization, as well as services including case management for migrants. He said it has now seen a 21-week decrease in migrant arrivals. 

TRUMP BORDER CZAR HOMAN SAYS HE’LL MEET WITH NYC MAYOR ADAMS TO ADDRESS MIGRANT CRISIS: LETS ‘GET THIS DONE’ 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is open to meeting with incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan to develop solutions to take on illegal immigrant criminals. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

“But we cannot ignore, ignore the fact that the American people have communicated to us, loudly and clearly. We have a broken system. They want to fix, and we need to fix our immigration system,” he said.

He said he has reached out to Homan and said he would like to speak to him: “I’m not going to be warring with this administration, I’m going to be working with this administration. President Trump is the president-elect. And whomever he chooses to run his agencies. I’m looking forward to sitting down and see how do we better New York,” he said.

Tom Homan, former acting director of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. ( Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I would like to speak with our border czar, and find out what his plans are. Where our common grounds are, we can work together. And I strongly believe, my history is sitting down with those across the aisle, with different ways of thinking, and sit down and share my ideas,” he said. “I believe I have some ideas that could deal with this issue, and we can reach what the American people have been saying to us — secure our borders, address the people who are committing violent acts in our country and make sure that… our citizens are going to be safe.”

In another part of the press conference, he said that those who are in the country illegally who are otherwise law-abiding “should not be rounded up in the middle of the night.”

But he said that it was different for criminal illegal immigrants.

NYC ENDS TAXPAYER-FUNDED PREPAID DEBIT CARD PROGRAM FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“Those are the people I am talking about. And I would love to sit down with the border czar and hear his thoughts on how are we going to address those who are harming our citizens.”

As to his critics from the left on the issue, Adams pointed to past remarks by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, who he said had called for the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants, and brushed off what he said was “cancel culture.”

“Well, cancel me, because I’m going to protect the people of this city, and if you come into this country, in this city, and think you’re going to harm innocent New Yorkers and innocent migrants and asylum seekers, this is not the mayor you want to be in a city under,” he said.

Adams has been sounding the alarm about the impact that the border crisis has had on New York City, including the billions that it has cost the city. He has repeatedly called for additional support from the federal government. He said on Tuesday that the city has so far seen $6.4 billion spent on the migrant crisis.

‘TRUE!!’: TRUMP CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR MAJOR STEP IN MASS DEPORTATION PUSH TO ‘REVERSE THE BIDEN INVASION’

President Elect Donald Trump, left, and his incoming “border czar” Tom Homan, right. (Getty)

While New York City is a sanctuary city — meaning local police are not allowed to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests to hand over illegal immigrants after they are released from custody — Adams has increasingly backed away from that stance.

He has called for changes that allow those suspected of major crimes to be turned over to ICE, something that is not currently allowed under the sanctuary policies.

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Homan, meanwhile, has also been open to a meeting with Adams.

“I’m willing to meet with him, and I’m willing to meet with anybody to help make their communities safer,” Homan said Monday on “America’s Newsroom” after being contacted by the Adams administration. 

“Prioritization out of the gate is public safety threats. Work with us on that. It makes your community safer. It keeps my officers safe. It keeps the community safe. Let’s work together and get this done.” 

Fox News’ Taylor Penley contributed to this report.

California’s unemployment insurance (UI) financing system is facing big deficits, requiring a full “redesign,” according to a new report from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).

The system, meant to be self-sufficient, has fallen short of covering annual benefit costs, resulting in a projected $2 billion annual deficit over the next five years and an outstanding $20 billion federal loan balance.

“This outlook is unprecedented: although the state has, in the past, failed to build robust reserves during periods of economic growth, it has never before run persistent deficits during one of these periods,” the LAO report, titled “Fixing Unemployment Insurance” and published Tuesday, stated. 

NEWSOM PROPOSES $25M FROM STATE LEGISLATURE TO ‘TRUMP PROOF’ CALIFORNIA

California Gov. Gavin Newsom pauses during a news conference after touring Barron Park Elementary School on March 2, 2021 in Palo Alto, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Independent analysts project that annual shortfalls will increase California’s federal loan, costing taxpayers around $1 billion in interest each year. The system, which is funded by employer payments to the UI Trust Fund, hasn’t been updated since 1984 and “cannot keep up with inflation or provide the intended wage replacement of half of workers’ wages,” according to the report.

The current employer tax structure discourages eligible unemployed workers from claiming benefits, while the state’s low taxable wage base hampers hiring of lower-wage workers, analysts found.

One suggestion researchers wrote to fix the gap is to increase the amount of wages taxed for unemployment benefits, raising it from $7,000 per worker to $46,800. Supporters of this change say it would bring in more money to fund the program. The report also recommends reworking how businesses are taxed for unemployment benefits to make the system simpler and encourage more hiring.

PROPOSITION 36 OVERWHELMINGLY PASSES IN CALIFORNIA, REVERSING SOME SOROS-BACKED SOFT-ON-CRIME POLICIES

California’s LAO found deficits in the state’s UI system. (iStock)

To deal with the massive federal loan, the report suggests splitting the cost between employers and the state government, so that businesses aren’t stuck with all the debt.

“These are significant problems in isolation, let alone in combination,” analysts wrote. “The significant changes proposed in this report are an honest reflection of these problems. However, whether or not the Legislature takes action, employers will soon pay more in UI taxes than they do today due to escalating charges under federal law.”

California Gov. Newsom speaks in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. He is expected to disclose his plan to deal with California’s massive deficit on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jeff Chi, File)

Gareth Lacy, a spokesperson for the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state’s unemployment insurance program, called it “a thoughtful report” and noted officials “are reviewing it carefully.”

“We agree the issue stretches back for decades and the pandemic compounded it,” Lacy told Fox News Digital in a statement.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s UI system was hit hard with an overwhelming number of unemployment claims, resulting in the state borrowing roughly $20 billion from the federal government to cover insurance benefits, which the state still owes. 

“Not only will the state’s tax system fall short of repaying that loan, the balance is set to grow due to the ongoing gap between contributions and benefits,” the report noted. “This will become a near-permanent feature of the state’s UI program and a major ongoing cost for state taxpayers.”

A Democratic lawmaker is moving to force a vote on releasing the results of the House Ethics Committee’s report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., introduced legislation on Tuesday afternoon aimed at mandating a House-wide vote on whether to make the Gaetz report public. 

He introduced it as a “privileged resolution,” a mechanism that forces House leaders to consider it within two legislative days – putting the deadline on Thursday.

HACKER OBTAINS HOUSE ETHICS TESTIMONY ON MATT GAETZ AS TRUMP MAKES CALLS FOR AG NOMINEE

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz has been the subject of a multi-year investigation by the House Ethics Committee. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The House Ethics Committee’s multi-year investigation into Gaetz, involving allegations of sex with a minor and illicit drug use, came to an abrupt halt last month after he resigned from Congress hours after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to be his attorney general.

Gaetz dropped out of consideration amid quiet but steady GOP opposition, but the committee nevertheless lost jurisdiction over the probe when Gaetz left the House of Representatives.

His resignation came just before the committee was expected to meet to consider releasing the report.

Gaetz has consistently denied any accusations of wrongdoing.

An earlier federal investigation into the allegations ended without charges against Gaetz.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

Rep. Sean Casten is aiming to force a vote on the committee’s report (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It’s highly unusual for the House Ethics Committee, a panel normally shrouded in secrecy, to release reports on lawmakers who have left office. It’s a detail House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., raised when telling reporters last month that he was against releasing the report.

But it’s not unheard of, as Casten pointed out on Tuesday.

“The Committee on Ethics has, on many occasions, released its reports on former members,” Casten said in a statement. “Resigning from Congress should not allow Members to avoid accountability for allegations as serious as those faced by Matt Gaetz. Withholding this report from the American people would impede the dignity and integrity of the legislative proceedings of the House.”

Casten introduced a similar resolution last month, but his office said it was allowed to expire by House GOP leaders over the Thanksgiving break. 

The new resolution will likely not be sidelined so easily, with the House expected in session from now until Friday. 

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, hinted that the vote on releasing it fell along party lines last month. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The last day to consider the resolution will be Thursday, the same day the Ethics Committee will meet after previously failing to come to an agreement on releasing the Gaetz report.

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Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the panel, hinted that the vote to do so fell along party lines.

“I’d say that a vote was taken. As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, five Dems, five Republicans, which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side – which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously,” Wild told reporters after the last meeting. “That did not happen in today’s vote.”

A Democratic U.S. congressman on Monday said it appears that certain people are “above the law” after President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, despite repeatedly saying he would not give his son a pass.

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., responded to Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter on social media, blasting the president’s own words from earlier this year that “no one is above the law.”

“Let’s just say the quiet part out loud, certain Americans are indeed above the law and influence is always for sale,” Phillips wrote on X. “It’s time for the exhausted majority to condemn and confront legalized corruption.”

President Biden issued a sweeping pardon for Hunter Biden on Sunday after he had repeatedly said he would not do so. The first son had been convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year. He pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September, and was convicted of three felony gun charges in June after lying on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. 

HUNTER BIDEN GUN CASE TERMINATED AFTER PARDON, BUT FEDERAL JUDGE STOPS SHORT OF FULL DISMISSAL

Phillips called out the “legalized corruption” in politics and argued that pardoning powers have been “abused” by presidents of both major political parties. (Reuters/Tom Brenner, File)

The president argued in a statement that Hunter was “singled out only because he is my son” and that there was an effort to “break Hunter” in order to “break me.”

Biden had stated on record multiple times that he would not pardon Hunter should a jury convict his son.

President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Phillips, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for president, argued that perhaps both Hunter Biden and Trump may not have been charged in their respective criminal cases under different circumstances.

“Two things can be true at once: Neither Hunter Biden nor Donald Trump would have been charged with certain crimes had they not been political figures,” he wrote. “Pardoning powers have been abused by Trump and now Biden, and must be reformed.”

TAPPER SAYS BIDEN LYING ABOUT PARDONING HUNTER MAKES HIS ADMIN AND ALLIES ‘EITHER CREDULOUS OR COMPLICIT’

The pardon has been met with widespread criticism from Republicans, some Democrats and the media.

Reporters grilled White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday, asking whether Biden and his surrogates lied to the American people. Jean-Pierre responded, “One thing the president believes is to always be truthful with the American people,” and repeatedly pointed to Biden’s own statement on the matter.

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Biden has yet to take questions from reporters on why he broke his pledge to Americans and decided to pardon the first son.  

Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative think tank is outlining how the incoming Republican Congress can fundamentally overhaul the American immigration system, helping it rise “from the ashes” left by the Biden administration.

In a new paper, the Heritage Foundation provides a roadmap to Congress, suggesting it go beyond border security and overhaul the U.S. immigration system.

In the paper, author Lora Ries – director of the Heritage’s Border Security and Immigration Center – argues that there has been a dysfunctional immigration system for decades. It made legal immigration complicated and slow, while illegal immigration was rarely punished.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR ON IMMIGRATION AND BORDER SECURITY IN 2025 

People line up outside a migrant re-ticketing center at St. Brigid School on East Seventh Street, Jan. 5, 2024, in Manhattan. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“In short, it is a slow, frustrating, and expensive hassle to immigrate to the U.S. lawfully. As a result, when it is faster, easier, and cheaper to migrate to America illegally, then that is what some human beings will do – and have done for decades. Others will not come to the U.S. at all to start businesses or incubate new technologies,” she says.

She argues that the Biden administration transformed the immigration system further and “erased the line between legal and illegal immigration.” She accuses the administration of abusing humanitarian parole, making asylum meaningless and unleashing an open borders agenda.

“America’s immigration system used to be broken both because of a lack of enforcement and because of its overly complicated statutory provisions. Now it is a pile of ashes,” she says.

BORDER STATE OFFERS TRUMP MASSIVE PLOT OF LAND TO AID MASS DEPORTATION OPERATION

But now, with a hawkish incoming Trump administration and a supportive Republican House and Senate about to be sworn in, Ries and Heritage outline five principles for how to proceed.

“However, from the ashes comes a great opportunity to redesign a new, simpler, fairer, and more manageable immigration system that prioritizes America first and legal immigrants second,” she says. “The principles and policies laid out in this report can play a crucial role in shaping just such a new immigration system.”

Those principles include upholding the rule of law, acknowledging that the immigration system serves the American people, ensuring the U.S. is secure, creating a system that is simple and sustainable, and eliminating incentives to break immigration laws.

A guard escorts an immigrant detainee at the Adelanto Detention Facility on Nov. 15, 2013, in California.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

As a result, under each principle comes a series of more specific recommendations for Congress to follow. In the area of legal immigration, the roadmap recommends that those who violate visa terms should have them revoked, including those supporting terrorist groups; that proof of citizenship should be required to vote; that only citizens should be counted in the census for congressional apportionment; and that the visa system must ensure that wages for Americans are not flattened.

The paper supports the abolition of the lottery system for green cards, says employers should be allowed to hire U.S. citizens over foreign nationals, and calls for assimilation as “critical for America to remain a united country.” It recommends the implementation of E-Verify, and that due process in immigration be limited. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

On border security, the paper recommends that Border Patrol should have expulsion authority during national crises, and that immigration detention is necessary to protect public safety and ensure deportations, while security should be fully resourced. It also argues that the government should not “collude” with non-governmental organizations to further illegal immigration.

More broadly, the paper calls for the simplification of the Immigration and Nationality Act to make the process less complicated and the elimination of a number of waivers and exemptions. It argues that costs and data on immigration should be made available and that in times of immense backlogs, intake of new immigrants should be paused.

Finally, it says Congress should exclude illegal immigrants from benefits such as bank accounts, and that lawmakers “should oppose all forms of amnesty and should not reward illegal behavior or violation of our immigration laws.”

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President-elect Trump has made it clear he sees immigration and border security as top priorities for his incoming administration. He has appointed former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Tom Homan as the “border czar” and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

A number of Republican lawmakers won their elections in November by focusing on illegal immigration at the southern border and the Biden administration’s handling of the crisis.

President Biden enjoyed a warm welcome from a crowd of thousands as he arrived in Angola this week, as the president made good on his long awaited first visit to sub-Saharan Africa.

Biden, likely on his last overseas trip before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in the White House next month, is already being overshadowed on the world stage by his predecessor and successor.

“The Oval Office has been replaced by Mar-a-Lago,” Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who served at the State Department during Trump’s first term, told Fox News.

Additionally, Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former diplomat at the State Department during Trump’s first administration, made the case that “Joe Biden’s essentially been a lame duck” for months and that “world leaders have been shifting their gaze to the next administration.”

WHAT TRUMP TOLD CANADA’S LEADER BEHIND CLOSED DOORS 

President Biden walks from Air Force One as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024 on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College, highlighted that “while President-elect is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, loyalties and the attention of world leaders has shifted to the incoming President and from Washington to Mar-a-lago with breathtaking speed.”

While members of the Biden White House would likely disagree with such sentiments – especially after the current administration played a large role in hammering out the cease-fire that halted fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah – it is undeniable that world leaders have already started to engage directly with the incoming president and administration.

TRUMP GETS READY TO MAKE A SPLASH ON THE WORLD STAGE

Trump will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron after the French president invited him to attend Saturday’s star-studded VIP event for the official reopening of the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, five years after a devastating fire wrecked the Paris landmark.

The president-elect’s appearance will serve as Trump’s unofficial return to the global stage, and it is another reminder that he is quickly becoming the center of the world’s attention.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, shakes hands with then-President Trump at an arrival ceremony during a state visit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Trump will attend the re-opening celebration of the Notre Dame Cathedral this weekend, five years after a fire heavily damaged the structure. (Getty Images)

The trip to Paris comes a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hastily made an unannounced stop in Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after the president-elect threatened a trade war with Canada and Mexico. 

Trump argued that Canada had failed to prevent large amounts of drugs and undocumented people from crossing the northern border into the U.S. and also pointed to America’s massive trade deficit with Canada.

According to reporting from Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump suggested to Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Friday to discuss topics like the economy, illegal immigration and a proposed 25% tariff. (Justin Trudeau X)

Trump also weighed in this week in the volatile Middle East, warning in a social media post that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release all the hostages held in Gaza before he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Hours later, Trump pledged to block the purchase of U.S. Steel – a top American manufacturer – by the Japanese company Nippon Steel.

“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan,” Trump said on social media. “As President, I will block this deal from happening.”

Trump, who reiterated comments he made earlier this year on the presidential campaign trail, is on the same page as Biden, who has vowed that U.S. Steel will remain American-owned.

Biden’s trip to Africa is putting a spotlight on his administration’s commitment to the continent, which has increasingly been courted by massive investments from China. Biden is also highlighting America’s wide-ranging effort to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, a continent Trump never visited during his first term in the White House.

President Biden, left, stands for national anthems with Angolan President Joao Lourenco at the presidential palace in Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

However, the president’s trip will be overshadowed by Trump’s upcoming stop in France, as the president-elect is increasingly courted by world leaders.

While the spotlight traditionally shifts from the outgoing to the incoming president, Mowers argued that “it is more pronounced this time because the difference in the Biden and Trump approach to foreign policy is so different.”

Mowers emphasized that Trump is already aiming “to shape world events” by “being bold, not timid, in the statements he’s putting out, and the world is already reacting to that kind of American strength.”

Bartlett noted that “the world is demanding leadership.” Mowers added that “world leaders that want to get something done… have to engage with Trump.”

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Lesperance, pointing to Biden’s swing through Africa, noted that lame duck presidents’ final weeks are “usually filled with celebratory moments and efforts to cement one’s legacy. Often the focus is on their role on the world stage on behalf of America and its allies.’

However, he argued that “Biden’s pronouncements on Ukraine, Gaza and the importance of climate change go largely ignored by world leaders. Instead, they focus on Trump’s picks for his foreign policy team and pronouncements about changes in U.S. foreign policy position. It’s pretty evident that while Biden attempts a victory tour, the world has turned the page.”

FIRST ON FOX: A senior GOP lawmaker is getting creative with his campaign to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee next year.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is giving fellow lawmakers chips from the Berlin Wall, according to a photo provided by a source to Fox News Digital.

An inscription accompanying the chip suggests Wilson got the pieces himself nearly 35 years ago, an indirect affirmation of his decades of foreign affairs work. “This symbolizes the collapse of totalitarian communism and the success of democratic capitalism,” the elaborate display reads.

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Rep. Joe Wilson is one of four Republicans running for the House Foreign Affairs Committee gavel. (Getty Images/Fox News Digital)

It said the chip was “secured by State Senator Joe Wilson on June 12, 1990, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.”

“Sen. Wilson was returning from service as a member of the U.S. Observation Delegation of the June 10, 1990, parliamentary elections in the Republic of Bulgaria, that country’s first free elections after 59 years of Nazi and Communist dictatorship,” it said.

The race for the House Foreign Affairs Committee gavel is one of the most critical happening ahead of the 119th Congress.

The role will be of particular importance in U.S. relations with the rest of the globe next year, when Republicans are set to control all the main levers of power in Washington, D.C.

REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF HOUSE AS TRUMP PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT AGENDA

A photo provided to Fox News Digital shows a chip from the Berlin Wall attached to an elaborate display. (Fox News Digital)

Wilson is running against fellow committee members Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif. The subcommittee chair for Oversight & Accountability, Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., is also in the race.

Wilson is chair of the panel’s subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Current Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is stepping aside in order to adhere to House Republicans’ internal conference rules that mandate a lawmaker serve no more than three terms in the top spot on a committee.

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

Current Chairman Michael McCaul is stepping aside in adherence with House GOP conference rules. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“It has been an honor to serve as your Chairman and leader for the last six years,” McCaul wrote to colleagues in a message obtained by Fox News Digital. “[O]ut of respect for the will of the Conference, I intend to abide by these rules and support new leadership.”

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“Serving as Chairman has truly been the most rewarding highlight of my career in Congress! I would like to thank all of you for your hard work and patriotism in confronting the major challenges we face across the Globe.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson’s office for comment. 

EXCLUSIVE: Ohio’s Republican lieutenant governor is defending his state’s recent enactment of a “bathroom bill” preventing biological males from using female bathrooms and says it is part of a cultural shift in the country where Americans are uniting on the issue.

“It’s a sad situation that in this time in life that we actually need to pass a law that says that boys should go to boys’ bathrooms and girls should go to girls’ bathrooms,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital.

“But that indeed is the case because we have colleges and some high schools where they blurred the lines. And we need to make sure that there are safe places, particularly for young women, to go to the bathroom, be in a locker room, be in a safe place,” Husted said. “And it’s truly unbelievable that we had to pass a law to guarantee that. It’s just hard to believe that there are adults in this world who think it would be OK for boys, biological boys, to be in girls’ locker rooms.”

Husted was reacting to news that Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Protect All Students Act, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” after the state Senate passed the bill 24-7 on a party-line vote.

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Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told Fox News Digital that Ohio’s bathroom bill is “common sense.” (Getty Images)

The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event.

Husted told Fox News Digital the bill represents “common sense.”

“People really are just shocked that anyone thinks it’s OK that you would have a bathroom, that a biological male could go into a female bathroom and that you could have a locker room where a biological male could go into a female locker room,” Husted said. 

“It’s just common sense in most people if you go around Ohio. That’s what everybody’s going to say to you is like, how can this really be? How can a high school do this? Well, I can assure them that I know that is indeed the case because the high school that my own daughters attend has bathrooms that boys and girls are allowed to be in at the same time,” he continued. “They have non-gendered bathrooms.”

ACLU VOWS TO OPPOSE TRUMP POLICIES ON LGBT ISSUES, ABORTION AND DEPORTATIONS

A person displays trans pride flags during the NYC Pride March on June 25, 2023. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“That was something that the community fought against, that the school board then filed lawsuits so they could get variances to the building code to build bathrooms like this. And despite all of that opposition, they still went forward with it. But now we have a new law. We have a law in the state of Ohio that will protect against those kinds of things from happening.”

Ohio became the 12th state to pass an iteration of a bathroom bill and while critics like the ACLU and LGBT activist groups have voiced opposition and suggested they will challenge the law in court, Husted told Fox News Digital he is confident the bill will withstand any legal challenge.

“It’s on solid legal ground,” Husted said. “They went through the hearing process, went through the process of addressing all those questions before drafting the bill and passing it and sending it to the governor’s desk.”

“I’m 100% confident that this will stand any legal scrutiny… I want to reiterate this. It is unfortunate that we need to pass a law because the adults in the lives of these children and young women should be clearly standing up for them. They shouldn’t, we shouldn’t have to pass a law. This is common sense,” Husted continued.

Husted told Fox News Digital the bill is “about protecting the privacy of girls” and “trying to make sure that they have safe places to be” and said Americans across the United States, of both parties, are starting to unite as part of a “cultural shift” on the issue of protecting biological girls in schools and in sports. 

“There absolutely was,” Husted said about the cultural shift. “Look, that was part of the last election that was run and there were hundreds of millions of dollars across the country in the presidential and congressional races spent on that. Donald Trump or Republicans would stand for you and not ‘they/them.'”

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Gov. Mike DeWine speaks during a news conference, Dec. 29, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

“We all saw the ads. We all know that they were part of the conversation this last election, that people don’t believe that biological men should play women’s sports. They don’t believe that biological men should be in women’s locker rooms or bathrooms,” Husted said. 

“That was clearly one of the major issues that divided Democrats and Republicans. Republicans are standing up for those protections. And I believe that you’re starting to hear even Democrats say, ‘Hey, maybe we ought to rethink this. Maybe we’re a bit out of line with this,’” he concluded. “And so I hope that in blue states that they can demonstrate that they want to protect women’s sports, they want to protect women in the privacy of bathrooms, in locker rooms. And this is exactly what I hope we’ll see across the country.”

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report