Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Biden asks U.S. Supreme Court to cancel asylum, border wall arguments President Joe Biden's administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel upcoming oral arguments and delay further action in two pending appeals that were filed by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump over U.S.-Mexico border wall funding and the so-called "remain in Mexico" asylum policy.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Democrats file $1.9 trillion budget resolution, could bypass Republicans on COVID-19 relief

Top Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives filed a joint $1.9 trillion budget measure on Monday, in a step toward bypassing Republicans on COVID-19 relief before President Joe Biden met with Republican senators. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the plan to file a fiscal-year 2021 budget measure in the Senate and House, saying it would allow Congress to fast-track a coronavirus package for passage by both chambers. Snow, wind hammer U.S. Northeast in 'life-threatening' blizzard

A powerful winter storm engulfed the U.S. Northeast on Monday, blanketing much of the region in heavy snow, blasting coastal areas with high winds and bringing New York City and other major urban centers to nearly a standstill. The nor'easter - an East Coast storm with winds blowing from the northeast - could bring accumulations of 1 to 2 feet (31 cm to 61 cm) to the country's most densely populated region before tapering off on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Rochester police under investigation again after pepper-spraying 9-year-old girl

Police officers in Rochester, New York, came under investigation again on Monday after the release of body-camera footage showed officers handcuffing and pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl. Officers said they were responding to a family disturbance call on Friday, and video taken during the incident showed police wrestling the girl to the ground in the snow. Early U.S. data indicates Blacks, Hispanics lagging in COVID-19 vaccinations

Early data on U.S. coronavirus vaccinations released on Monday suggests that Blacks and Hispanics received a smaller proportion of shots than their representation among healthcare workers and nursing home residents, two priority groups for COVID-19 inoculations. The United States needs more complete data on the race and ethnicity of people who have been vaccinated, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which released the data. U.S. voting rights activist Stacey Abrams nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. voting rights activist and Democratic Party politician Stacey Abrams has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her work to promote nonviolent change via the ballot box, a Norwegian lawmaker said on Monday. Abrams, whose work was credited with boosting voter turnout last year, helping Joe Biden win the U.S. presidency, joins a long list of nominees, including both former President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, former White House adviser Jared Kushner. Biden asks U.S. Supreme Court to cancel asylum, border wall arguments

President Joe Biden's administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel upcoming oral arguments and delay further action in two pending appeals that were filed by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump over U.S.-Mexico border wall funding and the so-called "remain in Mexico" asylum policy. The court is scheduled to hear arguments in the two cases on Feb. 22 and March 1, respectively. The Biden administration has already announced plans to discontinue construction of the border wall and suspend the asylum program, potentially making the cases moot. House Democrat urges Biden to declare white supremacy a national security threat

U.S. Representative Jackie Speier sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to issue an executive order identifying white supremacy and violent extremism as a threat to national security. Speier, a top Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Military Personnel subcommittee, also pushed federal agencies to screen military recruits and those seeking government security clearances for ties to violent extremism on social media. Trump faces Tuesday deadline to deliver formal response to impeachment as trial looms

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's unprecedented second impeachment trial takes shape this week, as Democrats outline their case and Trump scrambles to prepare a defense amid disarray on his legal team. Trump is due to file a response to the impeachment charge on Tuesday but replaced his lead legal counsel over the weekend. Southern Poverty Law Center sees decline in number of 'hate groups'

The Southern Poverty Law Center recorded 838 active chapters of about 320 organizations it deems to be "hate groups" across the United States in the annual census published by the civil rights group on Monday, down from the 940 chapters reported the year before. The center attributed the decline in part to the continued collapse of the Ku Klux Klan, with only 25 active chapters observed last year, and a decrease in distinct white-nationalist groups as the ideology moved increasingly online. In-person organizing was also curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the report https://www.splcenter.org/news/2021/02/01/year-hate-2020 said, although the group does not report or estimate the number of members each chapter represents. Exclusive: Dozens of former Bush officials leave Republican Party, calling it 'Trump cult'

Dozens of Republicans in former President George W. Bush's administration are leaving the party, dismayed by a failure of many elected Republicans to disown Donald Trump after his false claims of election fraud sparked a deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol last month. These officials, some who served in the highest echelons of the Bush administration, said they had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen.