Summary: Endangered Species Committee unanimously votes for exemption Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requests exemption for national security Rice's whale threatened by oil and gas exploration in Gulf A federal panel, convened for the first time in more than three decades, voted unanimously on March 31 to exempt oil and gas drillers in the Gulf of Mexico from a law meant to protect endangered species including whales, birds and sea turtles. The meeting of the Endangered Species Committee, nicknamed the "God Squad" because of its power to grant exemptions to the Nixon-era Endangered Species Act, is the latest effort by the Trump administration to unwind regulations it says hold back domestic energy production. The six members of the committee — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Neil Jacobs, and Acting Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Pierre Yared — said they were obligated to vote for the exemption because it had been requested by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Burgum, the committee's chairman, invoked the global oil disruption from the war in Iran in linking the issue with the need for domestic energy supplies to support military operations and readiness. "Current events have shown the impact of what can happen when major energy sources are taken offline," he said. Hegseth, who was seated next to Burgum at the livestreamed meeting, said he asked for the exemption because pending lawsuits threatened to stop oil and gas activities in the Gulf. "We cannot allow our own rules to weaken our standing and strengthen those who wish to harm us," Hegseth said. "So for these reasons, exemption from the Endangered Species Act in the Gulf is not just a good idea, it is a critical matter of national security." The ESA allows for exemptions if the defense secretary finds it is needed for national security reasons, a provision that has never been tested. The endangered Rice's whale has been the subject of litigation over oil and gas exploration in the Gulf in recent years. A federal environmental analysis last year found that vessel strikes related to oil and gas drilling are likely to threaten the whales’ existence. Rice's whales are one of the rarest whale species in the world, according to NOAA, with fewer than 100 remaining. "This amoral action by Pete Hegseth and Trump's cronies is as horrific as it is illegal, and we'll overturn it in court," Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an emailed statement. An oil and gas industry group said Gulf activities remained subject to environmental protections under a range of other federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act and National Environmental Policy Act. "Today's decision reflects that these robust protections are in place, and that serial litigation from activist groups targeting a lawful, well-regulated industry should not be allowed to indefinitely obstruct projects of clear national importance," Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in an emailed statement.

Summary: Trump unveils $400 million White House ballroom plans National Trust for Historic Preservation files lawsuit Judge Richard Leon holds hearing on project block President Donald Trump says an important part of the $400 million ballroom he is building for the White House is a "massive military complex" underneath it that was supposed to remain secret. Trump’s explanation came as he unveiled architectural drawings of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which critics have said is out of scale to the rest of the building. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is fighting the ballroom in federal court, which is where details about the military aspect of the project were revealed. “Now the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed, but the military's building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that's under construction and we're doing very well,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29. A bunker was installed beneath the East Wing during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration to protect the chief executive. The Presidential Emergency Operations Center was created and updated over the years to protect the president from attacks, including potentially a nuclear war. Trump has already bulldozed the East Wing, which had been built in 1902 during President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration and expanded in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration. Trump argued the White House has needed a ballroom for 150 years because the largest room, the East Room, holds only 125 people for formal dinners. Larger events were held in tents on the South Lawn, where Trump said soggy ground often left foreign leaders with wet feet. Trump has promoted the new ballroom, which is being privately funded, for seating 1,000 people. He showed drawings to reporters of the ballroom flanked by Corinthian columns and featuring bulletproof and drone-proof windows. “I think it'll be the finest ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world,” Trump said. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against the ballroom for allegedly building without required approvals or congressional authorization. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon held a hearing on March 17 as he considers whether to block the project temporarily. Trump raised the military aspect of the project during a Cabinet meeting on March 26. “I mean, now it's no secret, the military wanted it more than anybody,” Trump said. “It was supposed to be secret, but it became secret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things, but doesn't matter, doesn't matter. It's going to be great.” Aboard Air Force One, Trump characterized the ballroom as a shelter for the military component. “The ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what's being built under the military, including from drones and including from any other thing,” Trump said. This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: “Trump defends White House ballroom as 'shed' for secret complex” Reporting by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY Network / The Detroit News USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Summary: 6th Circuit grants qualified immunity to Michigan prison officials Scabies outbreak occurred at women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility Circuit Judge Helene White dissents citing Corizon's poor track record Michigan prison officials can't be held liable under the U.S. Constitution for incompetent handling of a scabies outbreak by contracted medical providers, a federal appeals court has ruled. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a ruling by a federal judge in Detroit, said in a 2-1 opinion March 26 that high-level prison officials have "qualified immunity" from claims under the federal constitution for failing to identify and properly treat a scabies outbreak at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility near Ypsilanti, which resulted in women suffering from rashes, severe itching and related infections for a more than two-year period, between 2016 and 2019. The appellate court did, however, rule that Michigan prison officials don't enjoy that same immunity under state law, allowing negligence complaints against state officials to proceed. The women can also proceed with their claims against the prison medical provider the state contracted with at the time, Corizon Health. The Detroit Free Press reported extensively on the scabies outbreak at the time it was happening. At one point, prison officials blamed the women inmates for the rashes, wrongly alleging the outbreak was caused by women trying to wash their own clothes instead of sending them to the prison laundry. The scabies determination was only made after a Flint dermatologist, Dr. Walter Barkey, learned about the undiagnosed rashes and itching and asked to be allowed inside the prison to perform skin tests. In 2019, Machelle Pearson, who was an inmate at Women's Huron Valley at the time of the scabies outbreak but was paroled in 2018, along with three other current or former women inmates, sued the Michigan Department of Corrections, MDOC Director Heidi Washington, other prison officials, a Wayne State University official the MDOC hired as a medical director, and Corizon. The case has been complicated by Corizon's 2023 bankruptcy filing and delayed by the state defendants appealing U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy's 2024 denial of their claims of qualified immunity to federal constitutional claims of "deliberate indifference" to the prisoners' medical needs and that they overlooked dangerous and potentially harmful prison conditions. The MDOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on March 27. Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Eric Murphy, who is not related to the Detroit federal judge handling the case, said it was reasonable for Michigan prison officials to rely on their medical experts in responding to the scabies outbreak. "Admittedly, the complaint alleges that the Corizon practitioners provided incompetent and delayed care because they should have diagnosed scabies sooner," the opinion reads. Still, "the inmates do not explain why non-treating officials should face liability for this alleged incompetence." In a partial dissent, Circuit Judge Helene White questioned whether it was reasonable for prison officials to rely on Corizon's medical determinations, given how long the rash problem persisted and given Corizon's allegedly "abysmal" track record providing prison health care. White noted that the MDOC had imposed $1.6 million in penalties on Corizon between 2016 and 2018 for failing to meet contractual requirements. "Where such a medical team also fails to remedy a yearslong health crisis, its supervising personnel cannot claim it was reasonable to unquestioningly rely on the team's determinations," White wrote.