The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a call to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky court clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the high court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Davis had been trying to get the court to overturn a lower-court order for her to pay $360,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to a couple denied a marriage license
A blast of the season’s first frigid air was bearing down on much of the U.S. on Monday, bringing the prospect of snow to parts of the country, and plunging temperatures in Florida — though it may not get cold enough there for iguanas to tumble from the treetops.
National Weather Service forecasters said frigid Arctic air will pour into the eastern two-thirds of the country, bringing with it the chance for record low temperatures in the U.S. Southeast, including all of Florida, where temperatures in parts of the state were near 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) just a day ago.
The cold air will reach the Great Plains on Monday, bringing gusty wind and red flag warnings in the region, according to forecasters, and the Great Lakes and Appalachian Mountain regions would see 4 inches to 8 inches.
States administering a federal food aid program serving about 42 million Americans faced uncertainty Monday over whether they can — and should — provide full monthly benefits during an ongoing legal battle involving the U.S. government shutdown.
President Donald Trump’s administration over the weekend demanded that states “undo” full benefits that were paid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during a one-day window between when a federal judge ordered full funding and a Supreme Court justice put a temporary pause on that order.
A federal appeals court in Boston left the full benefits order in place late on Sunday, though the Supreme Court order ensures the government won’t have to pay out for at least 48 hours.
Angeline Patrick Pacheco can be reached at patr3972@stthomas.edu.
