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WASHINGTON — In firing up a trade war with Canada, President Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books.

Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on Aug. 24 to slap a 50% tax on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The move prompted dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Ottawa and strained already-tense relations between the neighbors and longtime allies.

The president’s Section 338 tariff authority has never been used, let alone tested in court. “This law is literally a blank canvas because it’s never been litigated,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at law firm King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

So it’s unclear whether Trump’s latest Canada tariffs could survive a legal challenge, and some lawyers argue that the Depression-era law has been rendered obsolete by more recent trade laws.

Trump raises Section 338 from the dead

To sanction Canada allegedly for discriminating against U.S. dairy, auto and alcoholic beverage exports this summer, the Trump administration reached back to the Great Depression.

The 1930 tariff legislation is known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act after its congressional sponsors. With the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress raised tariffs on hundreds of imports in an attempt to protect American farmers and manufacturers.

The tariffs are notorious among economists and historians for shutting down world commerce and making the Great Depression worse. (Trump, who proudly calls himself “Tariff Man,” has a different view, arguing that the Smoot-Hawley levies simply came too late to rescue the American economy.)

In addition to raising tariffs themselves, lawmakers in 1930 gave the president new power to impose them himself: Section 338 authorizes presidential tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses.

Before Trump, no president had actually used the statute.

“Until Trump’s second term, few trade lawyers were aware that Section 338 remained on the books or understood what it did,” legal scholars Peter Harrell and Jennifer Hillman of Georgetown University wrote this month in the libertarian magazine Reason.

Harrell and Hillman cite State Department records to show that the U.S. considered using Section 338 in trade disputes — against Spain in 1932 and against newly communist China in 1949 — but never did. After the Depression, U.S. policy focused more on using negotiations — rather than sanctions — to open foreign markets.

So Section 338 sat moldering in the law books.

Other laws take hold

As the years went by, the United States passed new trade laws. Some of them ceded to the president tariff power, which the Constitution originally granted to Congress. But the new laws also limited the president’s authority to certain circumstances — including dealing with national security threats and foreign currency crises — and required the government to carry out investigations and meet other procedural requirements beforehand.

“There is a very strong argument that [Section 338] was superseded,” said Sara Albrecht, chief executive of the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian advocacy group that represented businesses that successfully challenged the earlier Trump tariffs with the Supreme Court.

If Congress wanted the president to retain Section 338 power, Albrecht asks, why did lawmakers pass the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allowed for national security tariffs? And the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the president power to go after other countries’ unfair trade practices?

Battling over Canada’s dairy market

Legal experts see other weaknesses in the Section 338 tariffs.

Harrell and Hillman, for instance, write in Reason that Section 338 authorizes only tariffs that “offset” the harm that a foreign country’s trade practices do to American companies. But in targeting Canada, they note, the Trump administration made no attempt to calculate the dollar amount of damage arising from discrimination against U.S. farmers, automakers and marketers of alcoholic beverages. And the U.S. went after Canadian imports unconnected to those trouble spots, including hockey sticks and cement.

Harrell and Hillman also say that Canada’s protection of its dairy market does not single out U.S. farmers for discrimination; the rules apply to many other Canadian trading partners as well.

Moreover, the United States agreed to the Canadian system — in which Canada imposes stiff tariffs on dairy imports that exceed a quota — in a North America trade pact Trump himself negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term. Harrell and Hillman write that it is “incongruous, to say the least, for the United States to denounce as discriminatory the very terms it agreed to.”

But John Veroneau, former general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative, said the Section 338 tariffs are straightforward: They are justified when another country discriminates against U.S. imports by taxing them more than it taxes imports from other countries.

And in a “perverse irony,” Veroneau said, Canada did just that when it responded to tariffs Trump imposed on Canadian products last year with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports. “Courts will rightly feel obliged in the face of any challenge [to decide]: Are the statutory requirements met or are they not met, however ludicrous the broader context might be,” said Veroneau, adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law.

Plaintiffs are so far hard to find

Trump’s other tools to impose his protectionist agenda already have floundered in court. The Supreme Court in February threw out his boldest gambit: invoking a 1977 national security law to hit almost every country on Earth last year with double-digit tariffs.

When Trump tried to replace the revenue lost to the Supreme Court defeat with a new set of tariffs, a specialized trade court in New York rejected those too — though the government was allowed to continue collecting the import taxes while the case works its way through the court system.

No one has filed a lawsuit challenging the Section 338 tariffs. The Liberty Justice Center has been looking for businesses willing to sue the government over the levies.

“I haven’t had a lot of response from plaintiffs,” Albrecht said. “Anytime you want to sue the government, it’s a hard proposition.” The Section 338 tariffs on Canada are also far smaller — just 5% of Canadian imports — than Trump’s 2025 worldwide tariffs, meaning that fewer companies have to pay them and can claim to have been injured by them.

There’s also a chance, Albrecht said, that the two countries will resume the talks they broke off Aug. 21 and reach a compromise to end a standoff neither country wants. “I’m hopeful that somebody blinks, that they come to some agreement and it all goes away,” she said.

The final statistics are in for transfers for the 2025-26 school year compiled by the 10 sections that make up the California Interscholastic Federation, and it was another record year for transfers.

There were 17,618 transfers, according to the CIF. The 2023-24 school year marked the first time the transfers exceeded 17,000 with 17,068.

The Southern Section led the way with 7,248, a record.

CIF transfer numbers for 2025-26.

(Los Angeles Times)

Transfers have been a major topic for discussions in high school sports around the country, with state associations coming up with different ideas, from making athletes ineligible for one year in Texas if they transfer for athletic reasons to offering one-time free transfers.

The CIF held a roundtable for discussions in 2025 about possible policy changes but everything has been on hold while waiting for a court case to play out that was dismissed for a second time recently.

CIF membership has been cautious about intervening or limiting transfer opportunities for fear politicians in Sacramento might get involved.

Carson High, the defending City Section Open Division football champions, starts out as No. 1 in the City Section rankings by The Times.

The Colts worked on their strength in the off season after failing to stop the run in a state playoff loss to Delano Kennedy.

The rankings:

1. CARSON. The Colts are getting ambitious, with an opening game against San Diego power Lincoln.

2. CRENSHAW. There’s speed, experience and even more depth on a team that made it to City final in 2025.

3. BIRMINGHAM. An improved passing attack makes the Patriots more dangerous going into opening game against Hart.

4. SAN PEDRO. Returning quarterback Seth Solorio and some good linemen should make the Pirates much better.

5. GARFIELD. The return of running back Ceasar Reyes is a big deal.

6. KING/DREW. The talent is there but the offense has to score points in big games for a breakthrough win.

7. SOUTH GATE. In quarterback Michael Gonzalez, the Rams can build around him and score points in bunches.

8. CLEVELAND. Cavaliers can be a big surprise with returnees at quarterback and running back.

9. EL CAMINO REAL. By midseason, when a couple transfer students become eligible, this will be a dangerous team. Watch out for sophomore Kymani Williams, headed for All-City honors.

10. VENICE. The late Angelo Gasca prepared his assistants to take over one day and now it’s their turn to show what they learned.

Others to watch: Hamilton, University, Eagle Rock, Franklin, Palisades.

PlayOn Sports continues to expand its high school sports empire in California, winning the bidding for broadcast rights for state playoff games and state championships.

The 10-year deal was announced Thursday by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in the state.

Previously, Spectrum signed a 15-year contract for $8.1 million in 2011. The contract expired this summer, with the CIF receiving bids from several organizations.

The CIF will be receiving $165,000 from the NFHS Network in the first year of the agreement that has a 3% escalator each year. PlayOn Sports will pay $810,000 in the first year that also escalates 3% each year of the contract. The total will be $11.1 million.

PlayOn Sports has become a powerful force in the state, now owning MaxPreps, NFHS (National Federation of State High School Assns.) Network, GoFan.co and state playoff broadcast rights. The NFHS Network will be the exclusive content distribution partner. State football, basketball and girls volleyball will be put on linear television.

MaxPreps is the last one standing in California after SB Live (formerly Scorebook Live) stopped sponsoring the CIF following the 2024-25 season and laid off its full-time writers in California while turning to freelancers who get paid by their story clicks as part of a digital agreement with the owners of SI.com.

CIF media rights contract with PlayOn Sports and the NFHS Network.

(Los Angeles Times)

MaxPreps is a free site driven by individual schools uploading their rosters, scores and stats. It has started streaming games with the help of the NFHS Network. GoFan.co has been adopted by most schools as the way to buy digital tickets to games and charges a fee to those buying tickets.

What the new CIF contract means is more opportunities for the NFHS Network, an on-demand high school sports site that streams games for a fee in which fans can buy access to watch one game or pay a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited access. Sometimes the NFHS Network uses automatic cameras supplied to schools or were purchased by schools. Unlimited online access is $99.99 a year.

Nine of the 10 sections in the state leave it up to schools to decide regular-season broadcasts. The Southern Section is the one section that has its own media contract and requires schools to pay a fee for streaming and then returns compensation to the schools later.

For those who worry that PlayOn Sports has so much control it could easily raise prices and face little pushback, CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said, “Any deal we have with any company that involves cost [with schools], we always get to be part of that conversation.”

It is said that defending a championship is harder than winning one.

That ls the challenge facing the JSerra High flag football team this fall after the skilled girls from San Juan Capistrano completed a perfect season with a last-second goal line stand to secure their 25-20 triumph over defending champion Orange Lutheran in the Southern Section Division 1 final last November.

The Lions defeated their Trinity League rivals three times on the way to a 28-0 record in 2025 and are the preseason favorites to repeat under the guidance of Brian Ong, the reigning section coach of the year, and USA Flag junior national team members Kate Meier (quarterback) and Tessa Russell (receiver/safety).

Also returning is All-American quarterback Ava Van Heerde, who rotated with Meier last season to give opposing defenses fits attempting to solve their contrasting but equally effective styles. Meier passed for 3,729 yards and 58 touchdowns as a freshman while Van Heerde (also a rising star in softball) threw for 3,460 yards and 44 touchdowns as a sophomore. They will miss throwing to their favorite target as leading receiver and Division 1 player of the year Ava Irwin has transferred to Sierra Canyon for its program launch.

Orange Lutheran’s only three losses last season were to JSerra and if the Lancers are to be title contenders again they must overcome the absence of All-CIF quarterback Makena Cook (who threw for 7,083 yards and 112 touchdowns) and receiver Happy Dubois (129 receptions for 1,747 yards and 21 touchdowns), who are joining Irwin at Sierra Canyon. The Lancers also have a new coach, Dennis Hester, after Kristen Sherman announced in March that she was leaving to be an assistant under her husband, Rod Sherman, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Mater Dei went 0-6 in Trinity League action one year ago but has picked up two key transfers in junior quarterback Tymane Allen (who threw for 4,925 yards and 56 touchdowns for Cypress) and senior receiver/safety Allyson Schmida (who caught 74 passes for 744 yards at Crean Lutheran).

JSerra High’s Brian Ong was the Southern Section Division 1 coach of the year last fall when the Lions went unbeaten.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Back for the Monarchs is dual-threat quarterback Kendra Hansen, who had 25 touchdown passes and 20 touchdown runs as a sophomore.

Huntington Beach won 25 of 27 games last year, reaching the Division 1 semifinals, and despite the graduation of All-Southern Section receiver Taylor Savage the Oilers are equipped for another deep playoff run behind quarterback Roxie Shaia (6,692 yards and 89 touchdowns), receiver Shelby Nguyen (96 catches for 1,020 yards and 21 touchdowns) and linebacker Mia Aish (133 flag pulls and eight interceptions).

Trying to dethrone the Sunset League champions will be Newport Harbor, which has quarterback Scarlett Guyser (3,371 yards and 42 touchdowns) and receiver Skylie Cid (105 catches for 1,161 yards and 11 touchdowns). Division 2 champion Corona del Mar, which brings back every starter but one, including player of the year Addison Stern and receivers Mia Balabanian and AnnaSofia Dickens.

Dos Pueblos went 24-3 and fell to JSerra in the Division 1 semifinals last season. The Chargers return All-Channel League defensive back Brooklyn Hedricks (203 flag pulls, 18 deflections and 14 interceptions) and receiver Ruby Streatfeild (104 catches for 1,101 yards and 18 touchdowns), who helped power the LA Chargers Conquer club team to the NFL Girls Flag National Championship in Westfield, Ind. in July.

Thanks to its high-profile transfers, Sierra Canyon could be the team to beat in the San Fernando Valley. The Trailblazers will play in the Mission League along with Harvard-Westlake, which has hired professional flag player and prominent club coach Asha Prithiraj to guide the Wolverines through their inaugural season.

All-Southern Section quarterback Makena Cook transferred to Sierra Canyon after leading Orange Lutheran to the Division 1 final last season.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

In addition to new programs emerging in 2026 are new rules, like teams having an extra timeout each half (matching the three per half in tackle football), tighter ball-stripping restrictions, a definition for illegal hurdling and teams giving up a safety putting the ball in play via scrimmage kick from the 20-yard line. The most significant change gives a trailing team that has just scored the option to try a fourth-and-20 pass from its own 20-yard line. Should the play result in a first down, the trailing team keeps possession. If it fails, the opponent takes over at the spot the play ended.

The Northern League appears to have supplanted the Marine League as the best in the City Section after Marshall and Eagle Rock faced each other for the Open Division title and Franklin made the Division I semifinals last fall.

Marshall won 20-0 behind three-year starting quarterback Jaylin Macias, whose departure gives her backup, Diana Sandoval, an opportunity to run coach Shane Gerard’s offense. The Barristers will be tested by 23-game winner Wilson and Eagle Rock, which returns quarterback Nylah Moore (51 touchdown passes as a junior last year) and adds Nylah’s freshman sister Cinzia.

Thirty-two Southern California teams (separated into two divisions) will participate in the fourth annual Chargers x Oakley Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa.

Friday’s pool play matchups include Sierra Canyon-Long Beach Poly; JSerra-Camarillo; Newport Harbor-Aliso Niguel; Huntington Beach-Redondo Union; Oxnard-Orange Lutheran; Woodbridge-Ventura; Dos Pueblos-Classical Academy; Cypress-Agoura; Warren-St. Margaret’s;and Westlake-Torrey Pines.

Corona del Mar High’s AnnaSofia Dickens runs the ball against Westlake in last season’s Southern Section Division 2 final at El Modena.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Teams to Watch this season

JSerra, Huntington Beach, Sierra Canyon, Orange Lutheran, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Trabuco Hills, Dos Pueblos, Camarillo, Santa Margarita, Lakewood St. Joseph, Westlake, Anaheim Canyon, Upland, San Marcos, Mater Dei, Etiwanda, Ventura, Downey, Newbury Park.

Players to Watch this season

Ava Irwin, WR/DB Sierra Canyon
Makena Cook, QB, Sierra Canyon
Kate Meier, QB, JSerra
Tessa Russell, WR/DB, JSerra
Addison Stern, QB, Corona del Mar
Olivia Elsokary, WR/DB, Westlake
Ava Van Heerde, QB, JSerra
Scarlett Guyser, QB/DB, Newport Harbor
Happy Dubois, WR/DB, Sierra Canyon
Brooklyn Hedricks, WR/DB, Dos Pueblos
London Lefler, QB/WR/DB Newbury Park
Skylie Cid, RB, Newport Harbor
Roxie Shaia, QB, Huntington Beach
Mia Balabanian, Corona del Mar
Tymane Allen, QB, Mater Dei
Mia Aish, LB, Huntington Beach
Madeline Garcia, QB, Downey
Sadie Olivares, WR/DB, Edison
Leah Vanderveen, WR/S, Mission Viejo
Nylah Moore, QB, Eagle Rock
AnnaSofia Dickens, WR/LB, Corona del Mar

Quarterback Nylah Moore will try to pass Eagle Rock back to the City Section Open Division flag football championship game.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

A section of Sunset Boulevard remained closed on Sunday because of last week’s destructive water main break, with officials saying they didn’t know when repairs to the 110-year-old pipe would be completed or the street reopened.

“While there is no set completion date yet, our crews remain dedicated to finishing the repairs as quickly and safely as possible,” the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said in a Sunday release.

Some West Hollywood residents remained displaced Sunday from apartments where underground garages were flooded by Thursday’s water main rupture. And some businesses near the scene remained indefinitely closed.

An aerial view of workers viewing a broken water main at Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive in West Hollywood that sent water gushing down many streets, closing several of them Thursday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Vanessa Lopez, an LADWP spokeswoman, said that two other water pipe ruptures on Saturday — one in Venice and another in Hollywood — had been repaired.

The city received a report of yet another break on an 8-inch water main at 1501 Lincoln Blvd. on Sunday morning, she said, which crews were still working to repair.

Lopez said those breaks were not related to each other or to Thursday’s fracture of the far bigger pipe in West Hollywood, which was constructed in 1916.

Officials said Sunday that Sunset Boulevard remains closed between Sherbourne Drive and San Vicente Boulevard, with limited local access on nearby streets including Cynthia and San Vicente.

City officials urged the public to avoid the area.

LADWP said tap water in West Hollywood remains safe to drink, but officials encouraged residents to conserve.

With the 36-inch water transmission line undergoing repairs, West Hollywood is currently being served by an 8-inch distribution pipe. Residents may notice low water pressure, especially those living in upper-floor apartments, officials said.

Book Soup, a popular bookstore on Sunset Blvd, was one of the shops and restaurants forced to close after streets were flooded.

“For the safety of staff and the community, we’re keeping the store closed for the time being,” an employee said in a recording on its answering machine Sunday.

“We want to reassure everyone that the store is completely fine and our books are safe and dry,” she added.

Thursday’s fracture was on a steel pipe that forms the major arteries for water delivery from reservoirs and tanks to smaller distribution lines across Los Angeles. That section of the Sunset Trunk Line had been slated for replacement in 2031, according to the utility.

In 2019, LADWP said roughly 29% of the city’s pipes were over 80 years old, nearing their typical 100-year lifespan.

When the trunk line ruptured early Thursday morning, millions of gallons of water gushed down Holloway Drive, inundating businesses and flooding underground parking garages.

Repairs to a water main on Sunset Boulevard Saturday in West Hollywood.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman estimated that between 150 and 200 cars were damaged or destroyed in the flood.

The leak was stopped after a few hours, leaving a giant sinkhole in the middle of Sunset Boulevard.

On Saturday, city crews replaced a 25-foot section of the line. Workers have refilled the pipe with water and are now working to repressurize it, officials said Sunday.

The workers must then disinfect the pipe with chlorine and test the water’s quality for safety. The hole in Sunset Blvd. will then be filled and the street repaired, officials said.

Residents and businesses who lost property and suffered damages can find information about filing claims at www.LADWP.com/Claims.

A new rule proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget would fundamentally overhaul the way federal grants are awarded and overseen — a sweeping change that one scientific society said “would all but end the use of scientific merit in the selection of grants and programs across the government.”

Proposed in late May, the rule would give political appointees unprecedented control over federal grants for research, education and infrastructure, and specifies that government funds can only be spent on projects “aligned with administration policies and priorities,” according to a copy of the proposed rule.

The rule would also restrict research topics, limit U.S. scientists’ ability to collaborate with colleagues in other countries and make it easier for the government to suspend or cancel grants at any time.

The changes are intended to improve “transparency, accountability, and oversight for Federal awards” while “ensuring that American tax dollars are not wasted or misused,” according to the White House office.

But critics say that if the rule is implemented, the final sign-off for grants will no longer be in the hands of subject-matter experts within individual agencies, but in those of political appointees.

“This touches all parts of American life,” said Dr. Eric Rafla-Yuan, a psychiatrist who practices at the Veterans Administration and San Diego County’s psychiatric hospital.

“Control of how all of the federal grants and programs are funded will fall under a small group of highly partisan individuals who would have very few limits on how they spend these billions of taxpayer dollars,” said Rafla-Yuan, who also chairs the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health advocacy group. “This touches everyone’s life, even if they don’t realize it.”

OMB published the proposed rule May 29, opening a 45-day comment period that closes July 13.

Opposition to the proposed rule has mobilized multiple sectors of society. Professional groups representing cancer researchers, civil engineers, county governments, medical schools, housing agencies, city and municipal governments, nonprofits and others have publicly expressed concerns about potential consequences.

By midday Thursday, the Federal Register logged nearly 100,000 comments about the proposal, many of them expressing concern.

“I understand the need for oversight, fiscal responsibility, and accountability. That is not the issue,” wrote Jack Feldman, a neuroscientist who holds the David Geffen School of Medicine Chair in Neuroscience at UCLA. “The issue is whether scientific research is to be judged by scientific merit, or whether it can be approved, denied, or terminated according to broad political criteria that may change from one administration to the next.”

Crucially, the rule converts policies governing federal grants from “guidance” into binding regulations that all agencies would be required to follow. It would give political appointees power to override federal agencies’ merit-based reviews and mandate that a political appointee review decisions to ensure that all awards “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.”

The elevation of political appointees in what were previously merit-based decisions has alarmed many scientists.

“The proposed rule changes would all but end the use of scientific merit in the selection of grants and programs across the government,” read a statement from the Planetary Society, a nonprofit dedicated to space research.

Researchers and science groups have also expressed concern about a section of the rule prohibiting the promotion of “theories of disparate-impact liability” — a legal concept that refers to policies that appear neutral but cause disproportionate harm to certain groups.

The section’s vague language and many loopholes could have a chilling effect on any research that studies the effects of a disease, policy or public health intervention on any specific group of people, Rafla-Yuan said.

As an example, he said, “if there’s a specific age range that is at higher risk for suicide, and we want to figure out, well, what’s going on with people that are aged 14 to 19 … we can’t do that under the wording in this rule.”

New restrictions on collaborations with scientists in other countries would hinder opportunities for U.S. researchers and limit innovation, said Joanne Padrón Carney, chief government relations officer for the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.

“Science is a global enterprise. Especially in biomedical and public health fields, diseases don’t care about borders or government policies,” she said.

California’s congressional delegation sent a letter Wednesday asking OMB to rescind the proposal, outlining concerns about its impact on scientific innovation, U.S. competitiveness and the fiscal stability of local governments, many of which rely on federal grants for local services.

The proposed rule grants the federal government broad powers to suspend or cancel grants for any reason, introducing “unprecedented unpredictability into local governance,” the lawmakers wrote, “leaving vital infrastructure projects unfinished and abandoning vulnerable populations who rely on these services.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins has also asked the White House to withdraw certain parts of the letter and extend the public comment period, saying the proposed rule as written would “harm small and rural communities, undermine scientific and biomedical research, and conflict with Congress’ control over the federal funding process.”

For the second straight year, the City Section is allowing a pilot program of high schools forming a boys flag football league as its popularity grows.

This year’s group of high school participants is expected to double in size between eight and 16 teams, City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos said. All will be small charter schools. Last year, several teams that temporarily dropped 11-man football, Sotomayor and Torres, had flag teams in a league that was played in the fall. Sotomayor and Torres will have 11-man teams this season.

When Lagos mentioned the pilot boys flag football league at an 11-man coaches meeting this month, there was clear skepticism voiced by coaches. If boys flag football ever gets approved, Lagos said schools would have to choose between having an 11-man team or a flag team. When Lagos mentioned having the flag season in the spring, there was concern it would take away participants from track and field teams.

This issue figures to come up around the state as schools in the California Interscholastic Federation have similar discussions. Flag football is likely to gain a boost in exposure when it is played at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Lagos points out that boys flag football participants would be different than 11-man. Middle school students engage in flag football and attract students whose parents don’t want them to play 11-man tackle football for fear of head injuries.

Girls flag football is in its fourth year and rising fast. Adding boys flag football is a debate and issue that will need to be addressed in the future.

Ron Nocetti, executive director of the CIF, said a section must first bring up adding boys flag football as a sport before real discussions can begin.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — President Trump said Wednesday that he was delaying federal prosecutor Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the U.S. intelligence community in a bid to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill that currently lacks enough support for passage.

The Republican president said in a social media post just hours before Clayton’s scheduled confirmation hearing that he will keep Bill Pulte, a top U.S. housing official, as acting director of national intelligence. Democratic and Republican lawmakers had opposed Trump’s selection of Pulte, citing his lack of known experience in intelligence and his use of his current administration perch to target perceived adversaries of the president — resistance that last week forced Trump to turn to Clayton.

The abrupt announcement creates instant uncertainty over the long-term leadership of the 18-agency intelligence community and dashes hopes for a swift renewal of a crucial surveillance program that expired in Congress last week due to bipartisan anger over Trump’s pick of Pulte.

That tool, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, permits spy agencies to collect without a warrant the communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States. National security officials across both major political parties have for years described Section 702 as vital for gathering intelligence that can disrupt terror attacks and espionage operations, though some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates have raised concerns over the government’s use of information about Americans that is incidentally collected through the program.

Clayton had been set to appear on Wednesday for a Senate confirmation hearing that was fast-tracked because of the program’s lapse. Democrats had said they would not renew the expired surveillance programs until Trump withdrew the selection of Pulte.

Trump’s post suggests that debate to revive Section 702 could be indefinitely postponed. Lawmakers have sounded the alarm about the government operating without congressional authorization of the powerful spy tool.

A court order from last March certified that the program could continue for another 12 months, though it’s possible that communications companies could challenge the government’s authority to force them to cooperate and share data.

In his social media post, Trump accused Democrats of breaking a deal to renew the program after he nominated Clayton. Trump also said he does not want to remove Clayton from his current position as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York before his replacement, James McDonald, is approved. McDonald was named to the Justice Department post on Saturday.

And Trump added another condition: linking his approval of the surveillance program to the passage of a bill requiring people to show ID to vote.

“Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Trump said, using the acronym for the surveillance program and his name for the voter ID bill.

The Republican-controlled Congress has not acted on the voting bill because it does not have enough support in either chamber, particularly from Democrats.

Trump made the announcement in Evian-les-Bains, France, where he was participating in the final day of the Group of Seven summit of leading industrial economies.

The intelligence director position became available after Tulsi Gabbard, who had held the job, announced last month that she was resigning to spend time with her husband as he fights cancer.

Clayton, a chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, has spent the last 14 months as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, one of the Justice Department’s premier posts.

His office during that time facilitated the unsealing of thousands of pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.

Clayton has also overseen the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein but insists she’s innocent. Maduro and his wife have protested their capture and said they’re not guilty.

Madhani, Superville, Tucker and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. Superville reported from Geneva. Tucker and Jalonick reported from Washington.

WASHINGTON — Republicans are warning the White House that a critical surveillance authority is likely to lapse this week amid bipartisan backlash over President Trump’s pick to lead the nation’s intelligence community.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sounded the alarm over the weekend after a failed procedural vote to extend the program.

The senators in a letter urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection” if the authority expires. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to lapse June 12, allows agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.

Efforts to secure a long-term extension of the program already faced hurdles because of bipartisan concerns that the program can incidentally collect Americans’ communications. Privacy advocates and some lawmakers have been pushing to create a new warrant requirement before those communications can be searched.

Senate leaders from both parties appeared to be nearing agreement on a long-term extension. But the effort collapsed after Trump selected federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

“I know how important this tool is. Why the president would throw this live hand grenade of Bill Pulte in 10 days before this is due to expire, I’m not sure,” Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Pulte pick upends bipartisan deal

Early Friday morning, after senators spent the night debating separate immigration legislation, seven Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension of the surveillance authority.

Democrats and several Republicans registered their opposition to Trump’s selection of Pulte, arguing the federal housing finance regulator lacks the experience needed to oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies.

“The naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn’t the best, I still don’t think it ought to derail something that’s this important,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.

Thune has expressed concern over Pulte’s pick, saying the nation’s top intelligence post should not be “weaponized” and that the job should be filled by “professionals.” Cotton, who rarely strays from supporting Trump and a leading advocate for the surveillance authority, declined to endorse Pulte, saying only that he had “no observations on the matter.”

“He’s not qualified for the long-term position,” Republican Sen. James Lankford, another member of the Intelligence Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s been clear on this. He has no national security background.

Both Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte pointed to his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the role, he’s been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.

Republicans will need to garner some Democratic support to pass any extension of the surveillance authority in the Senate. But a breakthrough appears difficult so long as Pulte remains in the position, which Trump said last week would only be temporary.

“I don’t see any path to convincing enough Democrats,” Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if renewal was possible with Pulte in the position.

The current reauthorization debate is hardly the first time that lawmakers have grappled with the fate of the surveillance program, particularly after a flurry of revelations about government misuse of the vast trove of intelligence it collects.

The topic in recent years has scrambled predictable partisan alliances, with Democratic critics of the Trump administration uniting with skeptics of government power on the right in voicing concerns about Section 702’s renewal.

In 2024, for instance, those divisions nearly caused the program to lapse. The Senate barely missed its midnight deadline that year before approving by a 60-34 margin legislation to reauthorize Section 702 that was subsequently signed by then-President Joe Biden.

A spokesperson at the Justice Department did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday about the national security concerns that would be created if the program lapses. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred inquiries to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“America faces real threats from foreign adversaries, terrorists, cyber actors, and hostile intelligence services,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media Sunday. “Section 702 remains one of our nation’s most effective tools for identifying and disrupting those threats before they reach our shores.”

Cotton and Grassley said they believed Democratic leaders would not support another short-term extension of the surveillance authority and urged Rubio to prepare contingency plans. They said Trump should consider an executive order to prevent a disruption in intelligence collection.

Cotton and Warner had said they were close on a bipartisan deal on a long-term extension and could still move quickly should a change occur before Friday. Still, the bill would likely need to go through the House — and the two chambers so far have disagreed on a separate issue regarding central banking digital currency.

“If we go dark next week, right before the World Cup FIFA games, and the 250th anniversary, that would be the most grossly irresponsible thing I’ve seen Congress do in my 22 years in office,” Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Cappelletti, Jalonick and Tucker write for the Associated Press.