CDC's chief of staff, deputy chief of staff jointly depart

Both Kyle McGowan and Amanda Campbell have been with the health department since the start of the Trump administration.

A pair of senior Trump appointees departed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday, a change at an agency that’s been heavily scrutinized for its response to the coronavirus. Kyle McGowan, the CDC’s chief of staff, and Amanda Campbell, the deputy chief of staff, both announced their departures in emails to colleagues on Friday morning. In an interview, McGowan said that the pair were starting a new consulting venture and that he wasn't aware of other pending departures from CDC. “We picked this day on the calendar and left to start our own business,” McGowan said. “No one has asked us to leave. No one has forced us to leave.” McGowan and Campbell were two of the handful of Trump appointees currently at CDC, which employs more than 20,000 staff and contractors around the globe.

Internal tensions: The Atlanta-based CDC has been faulted within the Trump administration for its early response to the outbreak, particularly its botched rollout of coronavirus tests and its messaging differences with the White House. Those factors contributed to the agency's reduced public profile — a decision that's been decried by outside public health experts and former CDC directors, who have said that the CDC needs to be more central in public health messaging. McGowan defended CDC's response, adding that he had planned to leave the agency earlier this year but stayed on to respond to the coronavirus. “We’re to a point where I feel comfortable leaving,” he said.

Exits come as first Trump term wraps up: Both McGowan and Campbell have been with the health department since the start of the Trump administration as longtime allies of former HHS Secretary Tom Price, who was ousted in September 2017 over a charter-jet scandal.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/14/cdc-chief-of-staff-departs-395509

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California Ban on High-Capacity Gun Magazines

Siding with a lower court judge who found California’s ban on high-capacity gun magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition is illegal and could lead to women being “raped and dead,” a duo of GOP-appointed Ninth Circuit judges Friday ruled the ban violates the Second Amendment. In a 66-page order, U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee, a Donald Trump appointee, found California’s voter-approved Proposition 63 — enacted in 2016 to ban the high-capacity gun magazines frequently used in mass shootings — violates the Second Amendment. Lee found Proposition 63 burdens conduct protected by the Second Amendment, as firearm magazines are protected under the Constitution, not “unusual” and are commonly owned for lawful purposes. He further found Proposition 63 “struck at the core right of law-abiding citizens to self-defend by banning LCM possession within the home,” using the acronym for “large-capacity magazine.” The state’s “compelling interest” in mitigating gun violence was not narrowly tailored by “a statewide blanket ban on possession everywhere and for nearly everyone.” As such, Proposition 63 was not the “least restrictive means” of preventing mass casualties, Lee wrote.

Lee affirmed U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez’s decision last year granting summary judgment in favor of gun owner Virginia Duncan and the California Pistol & Rifle Association. Benitez found gun magazines over 10 rounds are commonly owned “by law-abiding responsible citizens for lawful uses like self-defense.” In his order striking down the law, and during a four-hour court hearing in 2018, Benitez referenced women’s need to be able to protect themselves from home intrusions and rape as a reason California residents needs access to high-capacity gun magazines. His sentiment was echoed by U.S. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, during the virtual Ninth Circuit hearing on the case this past April. U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn, a Bill Clinton appointee sitting by designation from the Northern District of Texas, wrote in a 14-page dissent that her colleagues’ order conflicts with legal precedent set by the Ninth Circuit and sister courts regarding high-capacity gun magazines.

In a statement on its website, California Rifle & Pistol Association president and general counsel Chuck Michel called the order a “major victory for the Second Amendment, both in California and across the country.” “This is a huge win specifically for the right to possess these valuable self-defense tools. But more generally, this case may present the Supreme Court with an opportunity to set things straight on the underlying issue of what the standard of review test should be when considering any Second Amendment challenge,” Michel said. In a statement to Courthouse News, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s Office said they are “carefully reviewing the decision, with the goal of protecting public safety.” “The attorney general remains committed to using every tool possible to defend California’s gun safety laws and keep our communities safe.”

https://www.courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-strikes-down-california-ban-on-high-capacity-gun-magazines/

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/CalifGunMag-9CA.pdf

>>10292750

Baker this is a big win for 2nd amendment rights

>>10292712 Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California Ban on High-Capacity Gun Magazines

>>10292807

Would have effectively made here and anchor baby doesn't it..

>>10292871

Hmm…didn't see previously..and also didn't see the actual court ruling..going to look again..