Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump asks for new trial in E. Jean Carroll sex abuse case

Donald Trump on Thursday asked for a new trial in the civil case brought by E. Jean Carroll, in which a jury in Manhattan last month found the former U.S. president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer and awarded her $5 million in damages. In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, Trump's lawyers said the jury's $2 million award for the sexual abuse portion of the verdict was "excessive" because the jury had found that Carroll was not raped, and that the conduct she alleged did not cause any diagnosed mental injury.

US Transportation deputy chief named FAA’s interim head

U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg is taking over as acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, the department said on Thursday. President Joe Biden also plans to name Katie Thomson, the FAA's chief of staff, as deputy administrator, replacing Bradley Mims.

Biden administration wants Congress to mandate flight delay compensation

The Biden administration has submitted draft legislation to Congress that would mandate airlines pay cash compensation for delays of three hours or more when carriers are responsible.

The proposal sent earlier this week and seen by Reuters would require "cash compensation in an amount commensurate with the inconvenience experienced" when a delay or cancellation is due in part or in whole to an issue under the carrier's control. It comes as House of Representatives and Senate committees are working on draft legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration that could be debated as early as next week.

Major moments in the Trump documents investigation

Here is a timeline of events that led to charges against former U.S. President Donald Trump and others over government records, some marked as highly sensitive, stored at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left the White House in January 2021: Feb. 9, 2022: The National Archives and Records Administration asks the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Trump's handling of government records, after Trump returned boxes of government documents stored at Mar-a-Lago that included classified materials.

Biden rails against 'prejudiced,' 'unjustified' attacks on LGTBQ+ Americans

President Joe Biden warned Thursday about "ugly" attacks from "hysterical" people who are targeting LGBTQ+ Americans, as he announced new measures intended to curb book bans and rising hate crimes. "We have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced, people" engaged in targeting LGBTQ people, Biden said. "It's an appeal to fear and it's an appeal that is totally, thoroughly unjustified, ugly," he said.

US Supreme Court preserves civil rights lawsuits under 19th century law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday preserved the ability of people to sue for civil rights violations under an 1871 law as it rejected a bid to prevent an Indiana nursing home resident's family from suing over his care at a government-run facility. The justices in a 7-2 ruling written by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson upheld a lower court's ruling that allowed the wife of Gorgi Talevski, a nursing home resident diagnosed with dementia, to sue Indiana municipal corporation Health and Hospital Corp of Marion County over claims it violated his rights.

Trump: Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I've been indicted

Former U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media on Thursday that the Biden administration has informed his attorneys that he has been indicted. "The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

US Supreme Court backs Alabama Black voters, bolsters civil rights law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed a major victory to Black voters who challenged a Republican-drawn electoral map in Alabama, finding the state violated a landmark law prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and paving the way for a second congressional district with a Black majority or close to it. The 5-4 ruling authored by Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed a lower court's decision that the map diluted the voting power of Black Alabamians, running afoul of a bedrock federal civil rights law, the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court's three liberals, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Court action in Trump documents probe points to possible Florida case

U.S. courthouse activity in Miami suggests that federal prosecutors might bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump in his home state of Florida rather than in Washington. Special Counsel Jack Smith has convened grand juries in both places to hear evidence in his investigation into whether the former president mishandled classified information after leaving the White House in January 2021.

US Supreme Court rules for Jack Daniel's in fight over parody dog toy

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave a boost to Jack Daniel's in its trademark dispute with a dog accessory company that sold a parody chew toy resembling the distiller's widely recognized black-label whiskey bottle. The 9-0 decision authored by liberal Justice Elena Kagan threw out a lower court's ruling that the pun-laden "Bad Spaniels" vinyl chew toy sold by VIP Products LLC is an "expressive work" protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Jack Daniel's Properties Inc is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman Corp.