Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump administration to ask Supreme Court to decide census dispute

President Donald Trump's administration said on Tuesday it will urge the Supreme Court to rule by the end of its term in June on a bid to implement a plan, blocked by a judge, to ask people in the 2020 national census whether they are U.S. citizens. The Justice Department said in a court filing it will seek immediate Supreme Court review of the high-profile dispute even before a lower appeals court time has time to consider the case. Supreme Court to hear biggest gun rights case since 2010

The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday took up its biggest gun rights case in nearly a decade, agreeing to hear a challenge backed by the influential National Rifle Association lobby group to New York City's strict limits on handgun owners transporting their firearms outside of the home. The nine justices will review a 2018 lower court ruling upholding the city's restrictions after three gun owners and the NRA's New York state affiliate sued claiming the regulations imposed in the largest American city violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." U.S. home sales hit three-year low, prices rise slowly

U.S. home sales tumbled to their lowest level in three years in December and house price increases slowed sharply, suggesting a further loss of momentum in the housing market. The weak report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Tuesday was the latest indication of slowing economic growth. A survey last Friday showed consumer sentiment dropped in January to its lowest level since President Donald Trump was elected more than two years ago. Trump transgender troop limits can take effect, top court decides

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed President Donald Trump a victory on his policy barring many transgender people from the military, lifting lower court rulings that had blocked it on constitutional grounds from going into effect. The decision, with the court's five conservative justices prevailing over its four liberals, granted the Trump administration's request to put on hold injunctions issued by federal judges against enforcement of the policy while a challenge to its legality continues in lower courts. Trump plan to reopen govt., build border wall undercut by Supreme Court

President Donald Trump's bid to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall and end a month-long partial government shutdown suffered a blow on Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court left in place for now a program protecting young illegal immigrants from deportation. The border wall, government funding and "Dreamer" immigrants have become intertwined in an epic Washington battle being waged by the Republican president and Democrats in Congress. The Supreme Court ruling deprives Trump of a key bargaining chip. FAA says drone sightings temporarily halted traffic into Newark Airport

Reports of drone sightings in northern New Jersey temporarily halted arrivals at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday, a spokesman from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. The spokesman said flights into Newark - the 11th busiest U.S. airport - were temporarily suspended after two drones were seen flying at 3,500 feet over nearby Teterboro Airport, a small regional airport about 17 miles away that mostly handles corporate jets and private planes. Body found in area of Southern California charred by wildfire

A body has been found in an area of the California seaside town of Malibu left blackened by a massive wildfire in November, and investigators were trying to determine if the victim was slain or died in the flames, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The skeletal remains were discovered late on Monday afternoon and homicide detectives, joined by investigators from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, responded to the scene at first light on Tuesday, Deputy Trina Schrader said. U.S. military service member killed in Afghanistan: statement

A U.S. military service member was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement, without providing additional details. "The incident is under investigation ... We will share additional information as appropriate," the statement said. Striking L.A. teachers to resume picketing as talks drag on

Some 30,000 striking Los Angeles teachers were set to return to the picket lines on Tuesday after contract negotiations with America's second-largest school district stretched into the early morning hours with no word of a deal. More than 1,000 firefighters attending a conference in Los Angeles planned to rally in downtown Tuesday morning in support of the stoppage, to be joined by a marching band of striking music teachers, the union said. Four charged in bomb plot against Muslim community in New York

Three men and a teenager have been arrested after planning to bomb a Muslim community in upstate New York, and investigators have recovered three homemade bombs and nearly two dozen guns, authorities said on Tuesday. The alleged plot was uncovered after a student at Odyssey Academy, a school in Greece, New York, showed a classmate a photograph of another student and said, "He looks like the next school shooter, doesn't he?" Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan told reporters at a news conference.