WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Catholic and scion of the famous Kennedy political family, effectively ended his independent campaign for president Aug. 23 and endorsed the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.
The Supreme Court partially agreed to an emergency request by some Republicans to revive an Arizona law that requires documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Two federal judges in separate cases ruled against school policies requiring student athletes to compete on men’s or women’s sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their self-perceived gender identity.
A new study by the Pew Research Center found Christians are the largest religious group in the world among both migrants and non-migrants, and they are overrepresented among international migrants, accounting for 30% of the world’s overall population and 47% of all people living outside their country of birth, as of 2020.
RFK Jr. ends longshot presidential bid
Kennedy, despite his membership in the storied Democratic political family, was mired by both personal controversy and controversial policy positions including his criticisms of vaccines. He struggled to find footing with voters, even those who were opposed to both Trump and Biden (while the latter was still a candidate). With Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democratic presidential nominee, Kennedy told reporters Aug. 23 he will “now throw my support” to Trump.
Kennedy suggested, however, that he was suspending and “not ending” his campaign. He would seek to remove his name from battleground state ballots, but argued Americans in “blue states” — referring to states that typically vote Democratic — should vote for him.
“I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it,” Kennedy said.
“My name will remain on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris,” he said.
Divided Supreme Court partially upholds Arizona proof-of-citizenship voter requirement
The Supreme Court Aug. 22 partially agreed to an emergency request from the Republican National Committee to revive an Arizona law that strengthens proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters in the state.
In a 5-4 vote, the justices reinstated a portion of an Arizona law mandating that new voters provide proof of citizenship if they register to vote in the upcoming election, however, the court declined to prohibit tens of thousands of voters who are already registered from participating in the Nov. 5 presidential election unless they first provided proof of citizenship.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic jurist who once taught at Notre Dame Law School, broke from the high court’s perceived conservative wing to argue the court should not revive either provision.
The Republican National Committee, along with Republican state lawmakers, had asked the Supreme Court to weigh in after lower federal courts had blocked enforcement of the law, amid a legal dispute over whether it violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
The dispute comes as former President Donald Trump and his allies challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election in several states he lost, including Arizona.
Federal judges reject sports teams’ gender identity rules
Two federal judges in separate cases issued rulings in favor of student athletes seeking to compete on men’s and women’s teams that conform to their gender identity, instead of their biological sex.
A federal judge ruled Aug. 19 that a New Hampshire high school student who is biologically male but identifies as female can play on the girls’ soccer team. That ruling was specific to one student, but the judge signaled a broader injunction against the law may be forthcoming as the case proceeds.
In Virginia, a federal judge recently ruled that a student, who identifies as transgender, may try out for the middle school girls’ tennis team.
Such cases are expected to become more common as more than two dozen states have approved laws restricting or banning gender reassignment surgery or hormonal treatments for minors — although not all of those bans are currently in effect amid legal challenges. In July, the attorneys general of Idaho and West Virginia asked the Supreme Court to uphold their states’ laws requiring student athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their gender identity.
Earlier in August, the Supreme Court declined to allow the Biden administration to enforce portions of a new regulation expanding Title IX protections from sex discrimination to include students who identify as transgender while legal challenges to the rule proceed.
Pew: Christians have largest share of worldwide migrants
Amid an uptick in global migration, more than 280 million people — or about 3.6% of the world’s population — are international migrants, or residing outside their country of birth, the Pew study found.
Christians are overrepresented among migrants compared to the general population, Pew found. Although they make up about 30% of the total world population, they make up about 47% of migrant populations, the study found, which it said was based on an analysis of United Nations data and 270 censuses and surveys.
Muslims were next at 29% of all living migrants, followed by Hindus at 5%, Buddhists at 4% and Jews at 1%. About 13% of the global migrant population is religiously unaffiliated.
Jews, the study found, form a much larger share of migrants at 1% than of the world’s population at about 0.2%. Israel is both the most frequent country of origin and the top destination for Jewish migrants. Hindus are underrepresented among international migrants, it added, at 5% compared with their share of the global population at 15%. India is both the most common country of origin for Hindu migrants and the leading destination for them.
Mexico, the study found, is the most common country of origin for Christian migrants, with about 9% of the world’s Christian migrants coming from the country where nearly 78% of the population identifies as Catholic. The majority of Christian migrants from Mexico have moved to the U.S.
Russia is the second-most common country of origin for Christian migrants, with many from that population moving to nearby countries including Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Germany.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @kgscanlon.
