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Hunter Biden missing from state dinner guest list after backlash for attending others amid legal issues
Hunter Biden appears to have not been invited to Wednesday’s state dinner for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after facing backlash for attending others amid his ongoing legal issues and probes into his international business dealings.
Hunter was nowhere to be found on the guest list released by the White House ahead of the dinner, but other family members, including his three daughters, an aunt, uncle and two cousins, were invited.
He previously attended two state dinners while he was at the center of a years-long federal investigation into his business dealings and tax affairs, which continues today, including one on June 22 for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and another on Dec. 1 for French President Emmanuel Macron.
HUNTER BIDEN TOOK THOUSANDS FROM DAUGHTER’S COLLEGE FUND FOR ‘HOOKERS AND DRUGS’: REPORT
Hunter’s appearance at the dinner on June 22 came just two days after it was announced he had struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors that included misdemeanor tax crimes and a diversion agreement on a felony gun charge, a deal that later fell apart.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who leads the Justice Department and has faced scrutiny over its handling of the investigation in Hunter, also attended the state dinner in honor of Modi.
Hunter faced heat from across the political spectrum, including from hosts of ABC’s liberal daytime gabfest “The View” as co-host Sara Haines argued he shouldn’t have gone to the dinner after he agreed to plea guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors. The other co-hosts were split on the issue.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ADMITS IT DOXXED US SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS IN ISRAEL, APOLOGIZES
Others defended Hunter’s attendance, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who called it a “separate thing” from his legal woes.
Hunter has pled not guilty to multiple charges in federal court, including making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer, and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
‘SQUAD’ DEMOCRATS VOTE AGAINST CONDEMNING ‘BARBARIC’ HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar, Cameron Cawthorne, Brooke Singman and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
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Drone video shows Mexican drug cartels throwing explosives along Texas southern border
Mexican drug cartel operatives continue to engage in violent acts along the southern border of Texas near the Rio Grande, as new video shows them throwing explosives as an intimidation tactic, authorities say.
The Texas Department of Public Safety posted video to social media on Wednesday showing both thermal and non-thermal views of a group of cartel operatives, as identified by DPS, throwing the explosives.
In the thermal view, the video highlights a group of what appears to be four operatives throwing two objects which explode just seconds after.
AUTHORITIES ARREST ARMED MEXICAN CARTEL MEMBERS WHO CAME ACROSS US BORDER WITH RIFLES
The non-thermal view shows a stream of sparks spirals to the left and front of the operatives before hitting the ground and exploding.
According to Texas DPS, the cartel operatives are carrying out acts of violence, while also escalating intimidation tactics across from Fronton Island, which Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham granted Texas DPS and Texas Rangers permission to patrol.
TEXAS VIDEO SHOWS MIGRANT RECALLING ASSAULT, SHAKEDOWN BY CARTELS AT BORDER
The small island on the Rio Grande sits on the border between the U.S. and Mexico and has become a hot spot for cartels and other illegal activity.
Buckingham told Fox News Digital in September that the territory was not disputed, but her office found it necessary to declare it owned by the state to remove any ambiguity in response to a request by law enforcement.
Texas DPS said the cartels continue to engage in ongoing gun battles in Los Guerra, Mexico over “lucrative smuggling routes.”
As a result, the border operations and safety of residents is affected in Fronton.
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North Dakota Legislature rewrites budget bill, ending special session in 3 days
North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature adjourned Wednesday after rewriting provisions of a major budget bill that was voided by the state Supreme Court, resolving a mess that had threatened to stymie government operations.
The Legislature completed its special session in three days, less than a month after the surprising ruling that rejected the bill, which was signed into law in May, as unconstitutional for violating a single-subject requirement.
Fourteen bills were passed to reconstruct the voided legislation. Those bills covered: transfers from state government funds; K-12 education funding; a $125 million incentive program for the development of a fertilizer plant; a criminal penalty for supplying drugs resulting in overdose deaths and injuries; and effective dates for transitioning the state’s public employee pension plan to a 401(k)-style plan for new hires.
NORTH DAKOTA LAWMAKERS HOLD SPECIAL SESSION TO RESTRUCTURE VOIDED BUDGET BILL
Additionally, the Senate rejected an unrelated, expanded income tax cut pressed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who was off his presidential campaign trail during the special session. Burgum called the rejection a “missed opportunity” for more tax relief amid years of inflation and flush state revenue.
“The proposed bill that was voted today was an up-or-down vote: Do we want to give people in our state dollars back that they’ve paid in?” Burgum told reporters. “That’s what it was about. It wasn’t about procedure. It wasn’t about policy. It wasn’t about ‘is this the right time?’”
The tax proposal, which would have used $46 million of excess state tax revenue in the 2024 tax year and $91 million every two years thereafter, sailed through the state House of Representatives on Tuesday. Senate opponents said the bill needed more vetting and input and wasn’t “meaningful” tax relief, and cited constituents’ greater interest in property tax cuts.
BURGUM CALLS SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION OVER NORTH DAKOTA BUDGET DEBACLE
Lawmakers drank coffee, munched brownies and mingled in the Senate chamber while waiting for final votes, with wintry weather bearing down on the state. They quickly left the state Capitol after adjourning around noon.
The passed legislation also included a modified bill to appoint more legislators to serve on the state’s public employee retirement board. The special session was sparked by a lawsuit by the board that challenged that provision of the voided legislation.
The bill the court struck down has traditionally been used as a catchall or cleanup bill passed at the end of the Legislature’s biennial session. Republican legislative majority leaders told reporters that the Legislature will need a way to correct mistakes that occur late in future sessions.
The Legislature’s next regular session is scheduled for January 2025.
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‘Squad’ Democrats vote against condemning ‘barbaric’ Hamas attack on Israel
A group of House Democrats made up primarily of far-left “Squad” members voted against a resolution Wednesday to condemn the “barbaric” Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists.
H.R. 771, which reaffirms America’s support for Israel as it responds to the attack, received overwhelming bipartisan support and passed by a vote of 412-10 with six members voting present.
The 10 members voting against the resolution included six of the eight “Squad” members: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., Summer Lee, D-Pa., and Cori Bush, D-Mo. They were joined by Reps. André Carson, D-Ind., Al Green, D-Texas, and Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.
NEWLY ELECTED SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON DECLARES HOUSE ‘BACK IN BUSINESS,’ VOWS ACTION TO SUPPORT ISRAEL
The remaining two “Squad” members, Reps. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., were joined by Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., in voting present.
One Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the resolution over concerns it could deepen the conflict, but explicitly condemned the attack by Hamas and affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself unlike members of the “Squad.”
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Wisconsin officials pass new wolf management plan, but population goal absent
Wisconsin wildlife officials unanimously approved a contentious new wolf management plan Wednesday that doesn’t include a specific population goal despite demands from hunters and farmers to cap the number of wolves roaming the state.
In backing the plan, Department of Natural Resources policy board members praised it as a scientifically sound compromise that could give federal officials confidence that Wisconsin would manage its wolf population responsibly if the federal government removes protections for the species.
“Impressive work,” board member Todd Ambs told DNR large carnivore specialist Larry Johnson, who spent months developing and revising the plan in an attempt to please hunters, farmers and conservationists. “Amazing what you’ve been going through. … Congratulations on still being upright when you got here.”
WISCONSIN DNR SECRETARY OUT AFTER 10 MONTHS AT POST
Wolf management has become one of the fiercest policy debates in Wisconsin hunting circles as the population has grown over the last three decades.
Farmers in northern Wisconsin have long complained that wolves are preying on their livestock. The DNR has recorded 67 confirmed or probably wolf attacks on livestock, pets and hunting dogs so far in 2023, up from 49 in all of 2022. Hunters believe the animals are devastating the deer population in the northern reaches of the state. Conservationists counter that wolves haven’t firmly established themselves in the state and should be protected.
The DNR adopted a wolf management plan in 1999 that called for capping the population at 350 wolves. The latest DNR estimates, however, indicate the population currently stands at around 1,000 wolves.
With the population growing, Republican legislators in 2012 passed a law requiring the DNR to hold an annual wolf hunting season. Hunters and farmers have pointed to the 350-wolf limit as justification for setting high kill quotas, angering animal rights activists.
A federal judge last year placed gray wolves in the lower 48 states back on the endangered species list, making hunting illegal and limiting farmers to nonlethal control methods, such as fencing in livestock or using guard dogs. The DNR has been working on an updated wolf management plan in case wolves are removed from the list and hunting resumes.
The new plan recommends a statewide population of about 1,000 animals but doesn’t set a hard limit on the population. Instead, the plan recommends allowing the population to grow or decline at certain numerical thresholds. DNR officials insist the plan creates flexibility in dealing with local packs, allowing for more hunting pressure in areas overpopulated with wolves.
The proposal has met with sharp criticism from farmers and hunters who want to see a specific statewide population goal. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farmers association in the state, has called for maintaining the 350-wolf cap and Republican lawmakers are advancing a bill that would force the DNR to insert a specific number in the plan.
Republicans who control the state Senate on Oct. 17 refused to confirm four members of the DNR board who said they supported the new management plan, removing them from the board. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers named four replacements the same day.
The board spent more than three-and-a-hours before the vote listening to public comments on the plan from both sides.
Alex Mardosky, associate director of the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin, called the plan “exceptional.” He praised the DNR for moving toward a flexible management approach, calling a hard population goal “a really blunt instrument.” He recommended the DNR set a zero quota if hunting resumes.
Ed Harvey of the Conservation Congress, a group of influential sportsmen who advise the DNR, said the organization doesn’t think the plan should keep the 350-wolf goal. He complained that the department hasn’t given enough weight to the opinions of people who live among wolves.
Patrick Quaintance, of Bayfield, said he’s seen the remains of calves killed by wolves on farms around his property and has taken photos of wolves in broad daylight. “I don’t feel safe walking my dog or turning my dog loose on my property,” he said. “Let’s keep this in perspective. People are having problems with wolves.”
There has never been a documented wolf attack on a human in Wisconsin, according to the DNR. Wolves typically prey on old, young, sick or otherwise weakened animals, although the department has said that wolves could start acting more aggressively toward people as they become habituated to them.
Fred Clark, executive director of conservation group Wisconsin’s Green Fire, said his group supports the plan and that the 350-wolf goal in 1999 means nothing because scientists have had 24 years to learn more about wolves. He said the plan will help persuade federal wildlife officials that they can hand wolf management back to the states in good conscience.
WISCONSIN SENATE TO PASS GOP BILL TO SET WOLF HUNTING GOAL
“The feds are paying attention,” Johnson, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, told the board. “(They’re) looking for a plan that lays out our intentions. It’s really important to put our best foot forward as a state so when that delisting comes we can maintain it long-term.”
The board also voted unanimously to approve new regulations governing the state’s wolf season. The DNR has been relying on emergency rules crafted after Republicans passed the 2012 law establishing a hunt.
The new regulations largely duplicate the emergency provisions but do include some changes to reflect goals in the management plan. Notable changes include shrinking the 24-hour period for registering kills to eight hours. Hunters would be allowed to train dogs to track wolves only during the wolf season and would be barred from destroying dens.
The new rules retain existing prohibitions on hunting wolves with dogs at night.
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Former Congressman Mark Walker drops out of North Carolina gubernatorial race to launch Congressional bid
EXCLUSIVE—Former Republican North Carolina Congressman Mark Walker is dropping out of the Tar Heel state’s gubernatorial race and is launching his bid for North Carolina’s 6th Congressional district.
“As much as we would like to be the ambassador of the state and the chief executive, we feel almost like that our skill set, our experience, our background is needed here in the United States Congress,” Walker tells Fox News Digital. “The highest rated conservative to be elected to leadership in Congress. That’s a pretty strong voting record.”
Walker was running against North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who is considered the frontrunner in the race and is endorsed by former President Trump.
However, the former Congressman believes Robinson may not have the statewide appeal in a divided background state, given his comments about women’s roles and the LGBT community.
“I would be disingenuous to say that you can just throw out all those comments. They are problematic,” said Walker. “Sometimes targeting different communities is not just bad for politics, but it’s bad for when it comes to leadership.”
The former Congressman has “not finalized” who he will be endorsing at this point but will throw his support behind a candidate with “character and substance.”
“We want to see the pros and cons. For us, it’s about who’s the best candidate to make sure that we never turn things over to Josh Stein,” said Walker.
Walker, a pastor from Greensboro and owner of a business consulting firm, rose the ranks in Congress from 2024-2021, leading the Republican Study Committee and becoming the vice chair for the House Republican Congress.
Once floated as a potential successor to Speaker Paul Ryan, Walker lost his political footing after redistricting eliminated his GOP-leaning House seat in 2020. Then, the former Congressman finished third in the 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary to current Senator Ted Budd.
Now, Walker hopes to defeat Democrat incumbent Kathy Manning and return to his district covering the Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point areas.
“We’ve been serving the people of North Carolina for 25, almost 27 years. The bulk of that time was as a pastor,” said Walker.
Manning won the district with nearly 54 percent of the vote in 2022 against Republican candidate Christian Castelli. Nonetheless, Manning, along with Reps. Jeff Jackson and Wiley Nickel, face tough reelection prospects with new state maps released Monday.
GOP SET TO GAIN 3 US HOUSE SEATS UNDER MAP ADVANCED IN NC SENATE
“These maps were created for one purpose only: to ensure Republicans win more House seats so that they can maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Manning said in a statement on October 19. “They are not a reflection of the best interests of North Carolinians but rather an offering to the national Republican Party.”
The North Carolina primary is scheduled for March 5, 2024. The general election will occur on November 5, 2024.
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Retired Army legal expert blasts AOC’s accusations against Israel for committing war crimes
A retired Army Lt. Col. blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s accusations against Israel committing war crimes in an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, saying members of Congress “bear an obligation to ensure that before they accuse soldiers and pilots” of committing said crimes, “they understand what the law is that dictates that accusation.”
On Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. appeared on MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show” and insisted that she was not defending Hamas as she accused Israel of committing war crimes, and defended her position of calling for a ceasefire following Hamas’ attack against Israel on Oct. 7.
When asked whether Israel had a right to defend itself, she argued that “war crimes” are not the appropriate response.
“War crimes do not constitute and are not an appropriate response for other war crimes. Hamas’ hostage taking, their hostage taking of children, of the disabled, elderly civilians, are a war crime,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But when we are talking about the blockading of water, food, electricity to a population of 2.2 million Palestinians, it is unacceptable to think that 1,700 Palestinian children alone, that their deaths will somehow make up for, or justify, the violence of what we saw on Oct. 7.”
AOC ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES: HAMAS COMMITTED ‘HORRIFIC’ ATTACKS, ‘HOWEVER…’
The progressive “Squad” member went on to accuse Israel of committing an “indiscriminate bombing campaign” against Gaza and questioned the effectiveness of its recent actions.
The congressional representative did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital on the matter.
Ret. Army Lt. Col. Geoffrey S. Corn weighed in on Ocasio-Cortez’s comments with Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
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Corn, who is the George R. Killam Jr. Chair of Criminal Law at Texas Tech University School of Law and previously served as the Gary A. Kuiper Distinguished Professor of National Security Law at South Texas College of Law in Houston after serving in the U.S. Army for 21 years as an officer, and retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2004.
The bulk of Corn’s time in the Army was as a JAG officer, aka Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He is also an advisor for the Jewish Institute of National Security for America and has studied legal issues related to conflicts in Israel.
Corn said he understands why anyone would be sympathetic to the Palestinian population and the civilians in Gaza who are caught up in the conflict, as well as how images of combat destruction and casualties could evoke a sense of empathy.
But what he said he does not understand are those quick to judge and accuse Israel of war crimes without knowing the facts and circumstances related to the attacks.
After hearing the comments from the Ocasio-Cortez, Corn said, two things jumped out. The first thing was that she acknowledged the conduct of Hamas terrorists Oct. 7 were war crimes, yet failed to acknowledge that 8,000 rockets have been fired indiscriminately at Israel since that date.
“Every time one of those rockets is fired, it is a war crime because the law of war doesn’t focus on whether you kill civilians. It focuses on the fact that you’re trying to kill civilians,” he said.
‘SQUAD’ REP. TLAIB IGNORES US INTEL ABOUT GAZA HOSPITAL, SIDES WITH HAMAS OVER BIDEN ADMIN
The second thing that jumped out is the characterization of the consequences of combat operations as collective punishment.
He said, “collective punishment” is a phrase being tossed around that is “simply erroneous,” because it requires an intent to inflict collective suffering on the population because of something that happened to your forces.
“Collective consequences of combat is not the same thing as collective punishment, and the prohibition on collective punishment is more focused,” Corn said.
He explained that during World War II, the Germans would have a soldier killed by the French resistance, and in retribution, they would round up 50 civilians and execute them as a collective sanction.
“There’s no indication that the Israeli military operations are directed for that purpose,” Corn said. “Instead, they’re directed to destroy Hamas combat capability as a legitimate exercise of self-defense.”
But the most troubling aspect, he said, of Ocasio-Cortez’s accusation is that it is “factually and legally invalid.”
“I think for somebody in a position of a member of Congress, they bear an obligation to ensure that before they accuse soldiers and pilots of committing war crimes, that they understand what the law is that dictates that accusation,” Corn said. “The fact that civilian casualties are inflicted during combat operations does not prove the commission of war crimes.”
Expanding on the subject, Corn said war crimes in combat are established by proving either that an attack was deliberately directed against civilians — which he said what Hamas has been doing, but not the IDF — or that an attack on the military objective is conducted in a way that is inherently indiscriminate because the anticipated civilian harm will be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage derived from the attack.
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Unless a person knows what the value of the target was, the efforts the IDF went through to verify the true nature of the target, the precautionary measures IDF implemented to mitigate civilian risk, the way Hamas abused the civilian population to shield the target from attack, and other factors, Corn said a person cannot make a credible accusation against Israel for committing war crimes.
“This is the problem of what I’ve called ‘effects-based condemnations,’ where you look at the effects of an attack, and you immediately assume that the party that caused the destruction must have committed a war crime, and it’s legally and factually invalid,” he said. “Candidly, it’s quite disappointing that a member of our Congress would make that allegation. And it also demeans the integrity and the honor of the IDF combatants who, in my opinion and based on my experience, are actually trying much harder than their enemy to take measures that mitigate the risks to the civilian population.”
Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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Biden: ‘No confidence’ in Palestinian death toll from Gaza Health Ministry
President Biden on Wednesday cast doubt on the official death toll coming out of Gaza from a Hamas-run organization and acknowledged that the deaths of civilians are part of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
At a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Biden was asked about data from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that indicated more than 6,000 Palestinians have died since Israeli forces responded to terrorist attacks launched by Hamas on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden said.
“I think… the Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel. And it’s against their interest when that doesn’t happen,” he continued. “But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
Biden’s comments came a day after John Kirby, a White House spokesperson on national security issues, and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggested any information coming out of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry should be treated with skepticism.
Still, the president’s comments at the press conference drew criticism from some outside groups.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the group was “deeply disturbed and shocked by the dehumanizing comments that President Biden made about the almost 7,000 Palestinians slaughtered by the Israeli government over the past two weeks.”
Waleed Shahid, a former spokesperson for the progressive Justice Democrats, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Biden’s comments are likely to appear in a future Republican-funded ad targeting voters in Michigan and Georgia.
The president has steadfastly supported Israel and its right to respond with force in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attacks earlier this month. But he and other administration officials have been increasingly outspoken in recent days about the need to protect civilians and minimize the risk to innocent individuals.
That concern is particularly prevalent in Gaza, where millions of people are already lacking access to adequate food, water and medicine and where humanitarian aid has been slow to arrive.
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Neal Biggers, Reagan-appointed judge in key school prayer, HBCU cases, dead at 88
Funeral services were being held Wednesday for longtime U.S. District Judge Neal Brooks Biggers Jr. of Mississippi, who issued significant rulings about prayer in public schools and funding of historically Black universities.
Biggers died Oct. 15 at his home in Oxford. He was 88.
Services were being held in Corinth, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
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Biggers was a Corinth native and served in the Navy before earning his law degree. He was elected as prosecuting attorney in Alcorn County, where Corinth is located; and as district attorney for part of northeast Mississippi. He was later elected as a state circuit judge.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan nominated Biggers to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Two of the biggest cases Biggers handled as a federal judge involved racial disparities in state university funding and prayer in school.
DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGER OUTPACES GOP INCUMBENT IN FUNDRAISING FOR MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR’S RACE
In the 1970s racial disparities case, Black plaintiffs argued that Mississippi was maintaining a dual and unequal system of higher education with predominantly white universities receiving more money than historically Black ones. In 2002, Biggers ordered the state to put an additional $503 million over several years into the three historically Black universities — Jackson State, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State.
In the 1990s, a mom sued her children’s school district in Pontotoc County, where prayers and Christian devotionals were said over the intercom. Biggers ruled in 1996 that the practices violated the Constitution’s prohibition on government establishment of religion.
Biggers served as chief judge for the Northern District of Mississippi for two years before he took senior status in 2000. He remained a senior district judge until his death.
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