June 27, 2022

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

** There will be a hearing of the January 6 House select committee tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12:00 noon 1:00 pm ET. The hearing was previously unannounced and the topic of the hearing at this time remains unannounced, MSNBC is reporting.

** Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised ... Donald J. Trump on a key element of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Mr. Eastman on Monday. The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said that F.B.I. agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, stopped Mr. Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant last Wednesday and seized his iPhone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Mr. Eastman's filing said that the phone would be taken to the inspector general's forensic lab in Northern Virginia. The seizure ... is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into the various strands of Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in power after he was defeated.... The seizure of Mr. Eastman's phone appears to have come on the same day that federal agents also seized the phone of Jeffrey Clark...."

What a Surprise! Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team's games. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court's three liberal members in dissent. The case pitted the rights of government workers to free speech and the free exercise of their faith against the Constitution's prohibition of government endorsement of religion and the ability of public employers to regulate speech in the workplace. The decision was in tension with decades of Supreme Court precedents that forbade pressuring students to participate in religious activities. The case concerned Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach at a public high school in Bremerton, Wash., near Seattle. For eight years, Mr. Kennedy routinely offered prayers after games, with students often joining him. He also led and participated in prayers in the locker room, a practice he later abandoned and did not defend in the Supreme Court." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Washington Post story, which is here, is topped by a photo of Kennedy kneeling in prayer, leaning on a football, in front of the Supreme Court building. According to the caption, this display of piety took place "after the Court heard arguments." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do hope there are some Pastafarian coaches out there writing up their 50-yard-line prayers for the coming football season.

Akhilleus the Skeptic asserts in today's thread that Rudy Giuliani may have ever-so slightly exaggerated the force of the slap on the back he got from a grocery clerk who accurately labeled Rudy a scumbag. I'll leave it to you to judge, but it looks to me as if the woman standing next to Rudy, who appears to be a friend of his, touched Rudy's back harder than did the grocery worker. Nevertheless, Rudy had the guy arrested because he thought the guy had shot him & would have knocked him down if Rudy hadn't been so fit. In my view, the worker appears to have simply tagged Rudy to make sure everyone knew who the scumbag was:

     ~~~ Related story linked below.

Michael Wines & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "... a year after Attorney General Merrick B. Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force, almost no one ... has faced punishment.... Only [one] has successfully concluded out of more than 1,000 it has evaluated. Public reports of prosecutions by state and local officials are equally sparse, despite an explosion of intimidating and even violent threats against election workers, largely since ... Donald J. Trump began spreading the lie that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election.... The depth of election workers' fear was underscored in hearings this month by the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault at the U.S. Capitol.... [Some] experts say the lack of both action and transparency was undermining the principal goal of the task force -- to stop the epidemic of violent threats."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "The public listing of ... Donald J. Trump’s social media company took a fresh blow on Monday when the cash-rich shell company merging with Mr. Trump's company disclosed in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in New York recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors. The grand jury subpoenas were issued within the past week, according to the filing by Digital World Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in October. After the merger, Trump Media would assume Digital World's listing and trade as a public company. The disclosure by Digital World is the first indication that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have joined in the scrutiny of the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, which has been under investigation by financial regulators for months. The investigation threatens to further delay the completion of the merger, which would provide Mr. Trump's company and its social media platform, Truth Social, with up to $1.3 billion in capital, in addition to a stock market listing."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post thinks up some ways Susan Collins & Joe Manchin can make some substantive amends for the damage the have caused the country by voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. "... it is not politically or morally sufficient for Collins or Manchin to simply holler 'I was tricked!' when the rights of millions of Americans are at stake. Whether she was deceived, when a public official make an error so egregious, it is incumbent on her to fix the damage. If Collins refuses to do so, voters will draw the conclusion that she wasn't that surprised -- or that sorry -- that she enabled the destruction of women's fundamental right to reject forced birth."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Especially during election years, GOP elected officials, including Donald Trump in 2020, claimed that the Supreme Court would never overturn Roe v. Wade. "On the one hand, the Republican Party has pushed for it for decades; on the other, even as it has done so, plenty within its ranks have assured that it wasn't happening. The party seemed to want the benefits of the push with its base, without the consequences of the unpopular prospect with the broader electorate. It also knew that overturning Roe was a red line for some key abortion-rights-supporting GOP senators whose votes were needed to confirm the justices who would eventually overturn Roe." Blake cites examples.

Utah. Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: "A judge in Utah granted a temporary restraining order to block the state's 'trigger ban' on Monday, allowing abortion services to resume immediately. Third District Judge Andrew Stone in Salt Lake City granted a 14-day restraining order in an emergency hearing requested by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU).... Utah's trigger ban, which the legislature passed in 2020, prohibits abortions with limited exceptions, such as if the procedure is necessary to prevent a pregnant person's death or if a person is pregnant as a result of incest or rape."

~~~~~~~~~~

Free States & Slave States and a New Underground Railroad. Jacob Bogage & Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is expected to trigger new battles between states over abortion access, as women and advocates try to get around newly enacted bans by seeking the procedure out of state and using hard-to-trace medications. The fights promise to raise tensions between states in ways not seen since the era of slavery, experts say. Multiple states, including Arizona, Arkansas and Texas, have sought to stem the flow of abortion-inducing pills by making their shipment through the mail illegal. Republican lawmakers in Missouri are considering a bill that would prohibit Missouri residents from getting an abortion out of state as well as penalize out-of-state medical professionals.... Liberal governors and legislatures are erecting legal countermeasures.... The governors of Washington and Oregon joined [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom in declaring a West Coast 'commitment to reproductive freedom' citing the intention to pass more sweeping protections, including refusals to extradite people to states with abortion bans. And hours after the Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), a moderate Republican, issued an executive order barring state officials from assisting investigations by other states of providers, advocates and patients who obtain abortion services." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The map has expanded, adding primarily Midwestern states to the Solid South, but the Supremes' decision to rescind a Constitutional right necessarily pits state against state. This will get much worse if Clarence Thomas & his Supreme cohort overturn more Constitutional rights and return more policy supremacy -- like environmental protections -- to the states. Ironically, these Supremes seem to be showing off their god-like power by forcing women to give birth against their will, but as they continue to whittle away federally-protected rights, they will discover that the Court itself, like the federal government as a whole, will have less and less influence. It will be "supreme" over a much-diminished landscape. If the nation is to be preserved -- and I'm not sure I care that it is -- then voters will have to elect Democrats, and Democrats will have to overcome their timidity & put an end to the tyranny of the Court's majority. ~~~

     ~~~ But That Is So Not Happening. Steve Peoples & Aaron Kessler of the AP: "A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban swing voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party's gains in recent years are becoming Republicans. More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed = by The Associated Press. The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country -- Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns -- in the period since President Joe Biden replaced ... Donald Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Stephen Marche in a Guardian op-ed: "The cracks in the foundations of the United States are widening, rapidly and on several fronts. The overturning of Roe v Wade has provoked a legitimacy crisis no matter what your politics.... The right wing has been imagining a civil war, publicly, since at least the Obama administration.... The leftwing American political class, incredibly, continues to cling to its defunct institutional ideals. Democrats under Biden have wasted the past two years on fictions of bipartisanship and forlorn hopes of some kind of restoration of American trust.... This divide isn't just American. As the forces of the world split between a liberal-democratic elite and authoritarian populists, the same asymmetry can be seen in the struggle everywhere.... Republican officials will use the supreme court, or whatever other political institutions they control, to push their agenda no matter how unpopular with the American people. Meanwhile, their calls for violence ... create a climate of rage that solidifies into regular physical assaults on their enemies."

The Tryranny of Trump Lives On. Jill Colvin of the AP: "The abortion decision marked the apex in a week that reinforced [Donald Trump]'s ongoing impact in Washington more than a year and a half after he exited the White House. A court that includes three Trump-appointed conservatives also decided to weaken restrictions on gun ownership. And across the street at the Capitol, which was ravaged by a mob of Trump supporters in the final days of his presidency in 2021, new details surfaced of his gross violations of democratic norms."

Reality Chek: Where Abortions Are Legal in Theory but Unavailable in Practice. Megan Messerly of Politico: "Clinics and abortion funds in Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wyoming -- four states that have rape or incest exceptions in their abortion bans -- told Politico that while the law may allow people to terminate their pregnancy in those instances, it will likely be easier to get patients across state lines for an abortion than try to clear the hurdles associated with obtaining one legally in their home state.... Clinics planning to move their operations across state lines might leave patients in their states with no providers willing to offer abortions in cases of rape and incest. Willing providers ... may be dissuaded for fear of prosecution. And patients might not want to go through with the abortion if their state requires them or their provider to report the rape or incest to police, as is the case in Idaho, Utah and Mississippi.... Abortion rights advocates warn that so few people will be able to take advantage of the exceptions that it will be as if they didn't exist."

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Abortion pills, already used in more than half of recent abortions in the U.S., are becoming even more sought-after in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and they will likely be at the center of the legal battles that are expected to unfold as about half the states ban abortion and others take steps to increase access. The method, known as medication abortion, is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It involves taking two different drugs, 24 to 48 hours apart, to stop the development of a pregnancy and then to cause contractions similar to a miscarriage to expel the fetus, a process that usually causes bleeding similar to a heavy period.... The patient must participate in the consultation from a state that allows abortion, even if it simply involves being on the phone in a car just over the border.... Medication abortion is likely to provide significant enforcement challenges....Two [Biden administration] cabinet members [-- Merrick Garland & HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra --] swiftly released statements vowing to protect the right to take medicines that had been approved by the federal government."

Matthew Haag, et al., of the New York Times: "... this year's [gay pride march in Manhattan], for all its joyous celebrations, had taken on sudden urgency and heightened significance just two days after the United States Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion and signaled that the court could reconsider other liberties, including the 2015 decision that allowed same-sex marriage.... Planned Parenthood -- which event organizers decided to place at the head of the event after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade -- led the way as the first groups rolled down Fifth Avenue to start the 52nd annual Pride March, the first in-person parade since 2019 because of the pandemic."

** Alito Doesn't Under the Constitution. Michele Goodwin of the U.C.-Irvine law school, in a New York Times op-ed, explains the 13th & 14th Amendments to the Supreme Misogynists: "Ending the forced sexual and reproductive servitude of Black girls and women was a critical part of the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments. The overturning of Roe v. Wade reveals the Supreme Court's neglectful reading of the amendments that abolished slavery and guaranteed all people equal protection under the law. It means the erasure of Black women from the Constitution. Mandated, forced or compulsory pregnancy contravene enumerated rights in the Constitution, namely the 13th Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude and protection of bodily autonomy, as well as the 14th Amendment's defense of privacy and freedom.... The horrors inflicted on Black women during slavery, especially sexual violations and forced pregnancies, have been all but wiped from cultural and legal memory." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Goodwin's essay opened my eyes, too, because in my own experience, these Amendments are taught in such a way that women's rights & slaveholders' specific abuses of women are ignored. It is not surprising that the Supreme misogynists -- and that includes Lady Phony Barrett -- feel comfy in their blinders.

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade are here.

Fox Dumps on Trump. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: Fox News host Brian Kilmeade attacked Donald Trump on Sunday and said he has seen no evidence that proves the former president's claims of election fraud. Kilmeade joined the growing chorus of criticism from the staunchly Trump-supporting Fox News amid reports that owner Rupert Murdoch is turning his back on Trump in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for a possible White House run in 2024. Neither Trump nor DeSantis have announced that they're running.... Last Tuesday, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum called out the 'stunning' absence of proof to support Trump's election fraud claims during the hearing about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. Two days later, Fox anchor Bret Baier praised the Republican election officials and members of Trump&'s own administration who stood up to his bogus election claims. Both The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal have also launched attacks on Trump in scathing editorials.... In an opinion piece in the Post, longtime Murdoch employee Piers Morgan called Trump an 'aging, raging gorilla who's become a whiny, democracy-defying bore.'"

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "One week before scores of Proud Boys helped lead a pro-Trump mob in a violent assault on the Capitol last year, Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the group, and some of his top lieutenants held a foul-mouthed video conference with a handpicked crew of members.... The team of several dozen trusted members was intended, Mr. Tarrio told his men, to bring a level of order and professionalism to the group's upcoming march in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, that had, by his own account, been missing at earlier Proud Boys rallies in the city. Over nearly two hours, Mr. Tarrio and his leadership team -- many of whom have since been charged with seditious conspiracy -- gave the new recruits a series of directives: Adopt a defensive posture on Jan. 6, they were told. Keep the 'normies' -- or the normal protesters -- away from the Proud Boys' marching ranks. And obey police lines.... There was one overriding problem with the orders: None of them were actually followed when the Proud Boys stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Far from holding back, members of the far-right group played aggressive roles in several breaches at the Capitol, moving in coordination and often taking the lead in removing police barricades.... Lawyers for the Proud Boys say the recorded meeting is a key piece of exculpatory evidence...."

He's Ba-a-a-c-k! Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "After more than a year of silence, the mysterious figure behind the QAnon conspiracy theory has reappeared. The figure, who is known only as Q, posted for the first time in over a year on Friday on 8kun, the anonymous message board where the account last appeared.'Shall we play the game again?' a post read in the account's typical cryptic style. The account that posted had a unique identifier used on previous Q posts. The posts ... signaled the ominous return of a figure whose conspiracy theories about an imaginary ring of elite sex traffickers marshaled support for ... Donald J. Trump. Message boards and Telegram channels devoted to QAnon lit up with the news, as followers speculated about the meaning of Q's return."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: "A worker at a grocery store in New York was arrested after slapping Rudy Giuliani on the back and calling him a 'scumbag' during a campaign event Sunday for his son, a GOP candidate for governor. The incident, which was initially cast as an assault, was shared in video footage in the hours after the encounter at a ShopRite store on Staten Island. A man wearing a mask is seen walking by Giuliani before hitting him on the back with an outstretched hand. It's unclear how hard the man slapped the former New York City mayor, who looked surprised by the encounter but didn't seem to be physically reeling.... Giuliani quickly moved to label the incident as an assault and the man was taken into custody at the scene. 'All of the sudden I feel a shot on my back, like somebody shot me. I went forward but luckily I didn't fall down,' he recounted on The Curtis Silwa Show. 'Lucky I'm a 78-year-old in pretty good shape because if I wasn't I'd've hit the ground and probably cracked my skull.'"

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

Martin Ferrer of the Guardian & Agencies: "Russia is poised to default on its debt for the first time since 1998, further alienating the country from the global financial system after sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine. The country missed a deadline of Sunday night to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments of $100m (£81.2m) on two eurobonds due originally on 27 May, Bloomberg reported on Monday morning. Some Taiwanese holders of Russian eurobonds said on Monday that they had not received interest payments due, two sources told Reuters."

Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "Leading economic powers conferred by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as they underscored their commitment to Ukraine for the long haul with plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions. In addition, the U.S. was preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv to help Ukraine fight back against Vladimir Putin's aggression.... [President] Biden is expected to announce the U.S, is purchasing NASAMS, a Norwegian-developed anti-aircraft system, to provide medium- to long-range defense, according to the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Leaders from the Group of Seven, the world's wealthiest democracies, are gathered in Bavaria, Germany, and set to discuss on Monday the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to join and will participate remotely, according to the European Council. Russia hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with a barrage of missile strikes on Sunday, in what was 'likely a direct response to Western leaders discussing aid to Ukraine' at the summit, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War said.... The same day, Russia defaulted on its foreign currency debt for the first time in more than a century.... Russia is attempting to draw Belarus more directly into the war, according to Ukrainian officials, who said Saturday marked the first time that Russia fired missiles from Belarusian airspace." ~~~

~~~ From a WashPo live update item: "In a conference call with reporters, a senior administration official said the G-7 leaders were still finalizing the details but were 'very close' to urgently directing their nation's relevant ministers to create a system to set a global price cap for Russian oil shipments to countries outside the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the broader G-7. The goal here is to starve Russia, starve [... Vladimir] Putin, of his main source of cash and force down the price of Russian oil to help blunt the impact of Putin's war at the pump,' the official said, speaking anonymously...." ~~~

~~~ Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Leaders of the Group of 7 nations said Sunday they would stop buying gold from Moscow and discussed a new American proposal to undercut its oil revenues, even as Russian forces rained missiles on Kyiv for the first time in weeks. The dueling escalation underscored how the war in Ukraine has consumed global politics and the world economy. President Biden and the British government said members of the Group of 7 -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States -- would move on Tuesday to ban imports of Russian gold. Representatives for the assembled countries were also negotiating toward an agreement to buy Russian oil only at a steep discount. American officials see both the gold import ban and the possible oil price cap as ways to undercut key sources of revenue for Moscow's war effort and further isolate it from the international financial system.... Supporters of the [cheap oil] idea, among them some top economic officials in Ukraine, say it would lead other nations currently buying Russian oil at a discount, like India and China, to demand even lower prices from Moscow.... The plan could prove ineffective, particularly if the price cap is set too low."

The New York Times' live updates Monday of Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Useless News. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "'Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off?' Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked, ostensibly wondering how the leaders should dress for an unofficial photo before their lunch meeting began. 'We all have to show that we're tougher than Putin,' the British leader joked at the summit site in Schloss Elmau, Germany.... 'We're going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display,' quipped Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...." The Hill's report is here. MB: As a personal point of preference, make that Trudeau Oui, Johnson Non, Non, Non.

U.K. A Prince, A Sheik & a Suitcase Full of Cash. Max Foster & Karen Smith of CNN: "Clarence House said Prince Charles received charitable donations and the correct processes were followed regarding those donations after a British newspaper reported the Prince of Wales once accepted a suitcase containing €1 million ($1.05 million) in cash from a Qatari politician. According to the Sunday Times, the suitcase containing €1 million in cash was one of three lots of cash he personally received, totaling €3 million, from former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani between 2011 and 2015."

June 26, 2022

Afternoon Update:

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "One week before scores of Proud Boys helped lead a pro-Trump mob in a violent assault on the Capitol last year, Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the group, and some of his top lieutenants held a foul-mouthed video conference with a handpicked crew of members.... The team of several dozen trusted members was intended, Mr. Tarrio told his men, to bring a level of order and professionalism to the group's upcoming march in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, that had, by his own account, been missing at earlier Proud Boys rallies in the city. Over nearly two hours, Mr. Tarrio and his leadership team -- many of whom have since been charged with seditious conspiracy -- gave the new recruits a series of directives: Adopt a defensive posture on Jan. 6, they were told. Keep the 'normies' -- or the normal protesters -- away from the Proud Boys' marching ranks. And obey police lines.... There was one overriding problem with the orders: None of them were actually followed when the Proud Boys stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Far from holding back, members of the far-right group played aggressive roles in several breaches at the Capitol, moving in coordination and often taking the lead in removing police barricades.... Lawyers for the Proud Boys say the recorded meeting is a key piece of exculpatory evidence...."

Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: "After more than a year of silence, the mysterious figure behind the QAnon conspiracy theory has reappeared. The figure, who is known only as Q, posted for the first time in over a year on Friday on 8kun, the anonymous message board where the account last appeared. 'Shall we play the game again?' a post read in the account's typical cryptic style. The account that posted had a unique identifier used on previous Q posts. The posts ... signaled the ominous return of a figure whose conspiracy theories about an imaginary ring of elite sex traffickers marshaled support for ... Donald J. Trump. Message boards and Telegram channels devoted to QAnon lit up with the news, as followers speculated about the meaning of Q's return."

~~~~~~~~~~

Six Privileged Bigots Complicated/Ruined the Lives of American Women. Quoctrung Bui, et al., of the New York Times: "At the start of the month, nearly all women in America lived within a few hours' drive of an abortion clinic. But with Roe v. Wade overturned, and the constitutional right to an abortion ended, clinics are quickly closing in huge swaths of the country. Now a new set of political fights will begin, playing out in state legislatures and courthouses across America. By the time they are done, a quarter of U.S. women of reproductive age could have to travel more than 200 miles to obtain a legal abortion. Under the farthest-reaching scenarios, that number could rise to nearly half. The longer the distance to the nearest clinic, the fewer women make the trip, research has shown.... Abortion may also become harder to obtain even in states where it remains legal, because clinics may be overwhelmed with out-of-state patients." Includes maps....

Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "On the heels of their greatest victory, antiabortion activists are eager to capitalize on their momentum by enshrining constitutional abortion bans, pushing Congress to pass a national prohibition, blocking abortion pills, and limiting people's ability to get abortions across state lines. At the National Association of Christian Lawmakers conference in Branson, Mo., on Friday several dozen state legislators from across the country brainstormed ideas -- all in agreement that their wildly successful movement would not end with Roe v. Wade.... Former vice president Mike Pence and other GOP leaders have called for a national ban."

Karin Bruillard of the Washington Post: "In interviews, many Americans described alarm that a nation proud of its hard-won expansion of protections for people never acknowledged by its White, male founders had begun to feel more like an unfamiliar land where established rights may melt away in its highest court.... 'It's like we've woken up in the 1950s,' said Madison David, 26..., of Madison, Wis.... The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., rested on the view that the individual liberties guaranteed by the 14th Amendment protect only rights that had 'deep roots' in states when it was ratified in 1868 - a time when abortion was prohibited in many states.... [Clarence] Thomas said precedents establishing rights to contraception, same-sex marriage and same-sex intimacy should be reconsidered. And the dissenting opinion, penned by the court's three liberals..., wrote [that those other rights], are 'all part of the same constitutional fabric,' noting that 19th century laws also did not protect the Supreme Court-recognized rights to interracial marriage or to not be sterilized without consent."

Silvia Foster-Frau of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's ruling overturning a constitutional right to abortion sent fear through the LGBTQ community Friday, after the release of the decision set out potential targets: Supreme Court cases legalizing same-sex intimacy and marriage.... 'In future cases, we should reconsider all of this court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,' [Clarence] Thomas said in his concurring opinion. 'We have a duty to "correct the error" established in those precedents.'... In the abortion ruling, Justice Samuel Alito argued any rights that are 'unenumerated' -- or not laid out --- in the Constitution can't be recognized as a fundamental right in the country unless they are 'deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition.'"; Read through. Heartbreaking.

Jonathan Weisman & Jasmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Even as leaders of conservative advocacy groups celebrated a landmark victory on Friday [-- the Supreme Court's overturning Roe v. Wade --] decades in the making, they said that they were already gearing up for the next phase of the battle in statehouses and state Supreme Courts. Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws designed to effectively ban abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.... In many states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia and Florida, abortion's new battleground is decidedly unlevel, tilted by years of Republican efforts to gerrymander state legislatures while Democrats largely focused on federal politics. As abortion becomes illegal in half of the country, democratic self-governance may be nearly out of reach for some voters. By neutralizing federal rights and powers, the Supreme Court is turning states into battle zones. That goes beyond abortion and includes voting, immigration and civil rights. And if, as expected, the court restricts the federal government's ability to regulate carbon dioxide, state governments, stepping in for a gridlocked Congress, will be left to address climate change as well." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Do you know who your state legislators are? I don't. ~~~

     ~~~ What the Supremes are laying out, if Weisman & Ulloa's assessment is correct, is a sort of slow-rolling secession, a "revolution" where in most matters, states are not subject to federal law. As the extremist, right-wing Supreme Court and nincompoor-dominated state legislatures take over governance of the country, the nation as a whole is only going to slip further & further into third-world territory. I predict that one of those ways the country will become an unstable mess, is that it will descend into relative lawlessness. Not just criminals, but ordinary people, will simply decide that laws passed by bigots & nitwits are not worth obeying. People are just not going to accept abiding by laws stuck in the 1860s. Meanwhile, the name of our country -- United States -- has become cemented as a cruel irony.

Sam Alito Always Resented You Sexy Ladies. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: In, 1985, "In a memo offering advice on two pending cases that challenged state laws regulating abortion, [Samuel] Alito[, then a DoJ lawyer,] advocated focusing on [an] ... incremental argument [to address Roe]: The court should uphold the regulations as reasonable. That strategy would 'advance the goals of bringing about the eventual overruling of Roe v. Wade and, in the meantime, of mitigating its effects.'... Later that year, Mr. Alito ... [wrote,] 'I personally believe very strongly ... [that] the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.'... More than three decades later, Justice Alito has fulfilled that vision, cementing his place in history as the author of a consequential ruling overturning Roe, along with a 1992 precedent that reaffirmed that decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.... He slowly and patiently sought to chip away at abortion rights throughout his career before demolishing them in the majority opinion on Friday."

... the current majority's approach is itself a kind of undead constitutionalism -- one in which the dictates of the Constitution retrospectively shift with whatever Fox News happens to be furious about. -- Adam Serwer of the Atlantic ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Judges -- much less their clerks -- are not historians and have no ability to do real history. But they are capable of finding enough historical factoids to adorn every assertion that the Constitution enacted Mr. Tucker Carlson's most recent opening monologue. That's the only 'grand theory' of constitutional interpretation you need be aware of."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The Constitution provides a number of paths by which Congress can restrain and discipline a rogue court. It can impeach and remove justices. It can increase or decrease the size of the court itself (at its inception, the Supreme Court had only six members). It can strip the court of its jurisdiction over certain issues or it can weaken its power of judicial review by requiring a supermajority of justices to sign off on any decision that overturns a law. Congress can also rebuke the court with legislation that simply cancels the decision in question.... [Yet] despite the arrogance of the current Supreme Court -- despite its almost total lack of democratic legitimacy -- there is little to no appetite within the Democratic Party for a fight over the nature of the court and its place in our constitutional system."

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, and how about setting their salaries at $1/year?

Max Boot of the Washington Post: The founders were worried about the tyranny of the majority, but they also were concerned about the tyranny of the minority. "In Federalist No. 22, Alexander Hamilton warned that giving small states like Rhode Island or Delaware 'equal weight in the scale of power' with large states like 'Massachusetts, or Connecticut, or New York' violated the precepts of 'justice' and 'common-sense.' Hamilton's nightmare has become the reality of 21st-century America. We are living under minoritarian tyranny, with smaller states imposing their views on the larger through their disproportionate sway in the Senate and the electoral college -- and therefore on the Supreme Court.... Twenty-one states with fewer total people than California have 42 Senate seats.... It is hard for any disinterested observer to have any faith in what the right-wing justices are doing.... ~~~

"Conservatives can plausibly argue that liberal justices invented a constitutional right to abortion, but how is that different from what conservative justices have done in inventing an individual right to carry guns that is also nowhere to be found in the Constitution? The Supreme Court did not recognize an individual right to bear arms until 2008 -- 217 years after the Second Amendment was enacted expressly to protect 'well-regulated' state militia.... The majority conveniently favors state's rights on abortion but not on guns. It is obvious that the conservative justices ... are simply enacting their personal preferences, just as liberal justices ... do."~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Boot is a conservative. So what he doesn't write about is the essential difference between liberal & confederate prejudice: generally, the Court's liberals (and that has included some appointed by Republican presidents) lean toward expanding human rights and increasing public safety; i.e., providing that potential victims of violence can instead enjoy the Declaration's "inalienable rights" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Court's right-wing extremists favor making life easier for mass murderers (mostly, but not exclusively, white guys) and making it harder for women, minorities & the poor.

David Savage of the New York Times: President "Biden returns to Europe on Saturday night at a moment when everything about the war [in Ukraine] is [difficult]. While Russia's oil exports have fallen precipitously, its revenues have actually been on the rise, a function of soaring fuel prices. After concentrating its efforts in Ukraine's south and east, Russia is making incremental but significant gains, as the Ukrainians, surrounded, begin to give up key cities: first Mariupol, and now, in the east, Sievierodonetsk. So Mr. Biden must prepare his allies for a grinding conflict -- a return to the 'long, twilight struggle' that President John F. Kennedy talked about during the Cold War -- amid shocks in the food and energy markets, and inflation on a scale few imagined six months ago. Not surprisingly, a few cracks are already emerging, as popular discontent, and coming elections, begin to worry allied leaders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Donald Judd of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington.... In his remarks Saturday, the President announced he'd host members of Congress who supported the landmark gun safety legislation at a White House event on July 11, following his return from Europe, to celebrate the new law with the families of gun violence victims. The package represents the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994 -- though it fails to ban any weapons and falls far short of what Biden and his party had advocated for, and polls show most Americans want to see." A New York Times report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Natasha Korecki of NBC News: "U.S. Rep. Mary Miller [R-Ill.] immediately drew fierce backlash on social media and elsewhere at a Saturday night rally with ... Donald Trump when she credited him for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade calling it a 'victory for white life.'... [The crowd cheered.] 'You can clearly see she is reading off a piece of paper, she meant to say "right to life,"' Miller spokesman Isaiah Wartman said.... The statement unleashed a forceful rebuke on social media, likening Miller to a white supremacist and recalling her quoting Adolf Hitler on Jan. 6, 2021 -- the day a mob broke into the nation's Capitol. She later apologized.... The Trump rally drew thousands of people on Saturday...." MB: Sorry, Mary You're-So-White, you can pretend you're Elmer Fudd & pronounce your Rs as Ws, but a reasonable person would call that a Freudian slip.

Ryan Goodman, Norman Eisen & Barbara McQuade in a Washington Post op-ed: "For a number of the possible crimes the [January 6] committee has identified, it doesn't matter what Trump believed about the election. Focusing on that aspect misses the true test of criminal intent. He still had no legal right to use forged electoral certificates or to pressure election officials in Georgia to 'find 11,780 votes' that did not exist, or to engage in other extralegal means to try t hold onto power. That includes pressuring the vice president to assume powers he didn't have. State and federal criminal laws prohibit these things. Vigilante justice is against the law, even if you (wrongly) believe you are a victim." MB: IOW, if you believe "I wuz robbed," or even if you really wuz robbed, you cannot commit or participate in illegal acts to get what you think is a fair & just outcome.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remained defiant in the face of what military analysts called an 'abnormally large' barrage of nearly 50 Russian missile strikes across Ukraine on Saturday.... Moscow is closing in on the city of Lysychansk, on the bank of the Donets River opposite the strategically important city of Severodonetsk, which Russia captured last week in one of its biggest wins since it launched its offensive in Donbas nearly three months ago. If Lysychansk falls, it would give Russia almost complete control of the eastern Luhansk region."

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The United States and other Group of 7 countries >will ban imports of gold from Russia, seeking to undercut a key source of revenue for Moscow as it wages war in Ukraine, President Biden said on Sunday as G7 leaders gathered in the Bavarian Alps.... A senior administration official told reporters that the move would be formally announced on Tuesday, and that it would help to further isolate Russia from the international financial system."

Norway. Henrik Libell & Mike Ives of the New York Times: "A 10-day Pride festival in Norway was cut short on Saturday after an early-morning shooting left two people dead and at least 10 others seriously wounded outside a popular gay club in downtown Oslo. The police are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. The shooting, on a warm summer night that saw streets filled with revelers, came hours before Oslo was set to host big crowds for its first Pride parade since 2019. The event's organizers canceled the parade and the rest of the festival, which was to run through Monday, at the suggestion of the police." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

June 25, 2022

Afternoon Update:

David Savage of the New York Times: President "Biden returns to Europe on Saturday night at a moment when everything about the war [in Ukraine] is [difficult]. While Russia's oil exports have fallen precipitously, its revenues have actually been on the rise, a function of soaring fuel prices. After concentrating its efforts in Ukraine's south and east, Russia is making incremental but significant gains, as the Ukrainians, surrounded, begin to give up key cities: first Mariupol, and now, in the east, Sievierodonetsk. So Mr. Biden must prepare his allies for a grinding conflict -- a return to the 'long, twilight struggle' that President John F. Kennedy talked about during the Cold War -- amid shocks in the food and energy markets, and inflation on a scale few imagined six months ago. Not surprisingly, a few cracks are already emerging, as popular discontent, and coming elections, begin to worry allied leaders."

Donald Judd of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington.... In his remarks Saturday, the President announced he'd host members of Congress who supported the landmark gun safety legislation at a White House event on July 11, following his return from Europe, to celebrate the new law with the families of gun violence victims. The package represents the most significant new federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994 -- though it fails to ban any weapons and falls far short of what Biden and his party had advocated for, and polls show most Americans want to see." A New York Times report is here. ~~~

Norway. Henrik Libell & Mike Ives of the New York Times: "A 10-day Pride festival in Norway was cut short on Saturday after an early-morning shooting left two people dead and at least 10 others seriously wounded outside a popular gay club in downtown Oslo. The police are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. The shooting, on a warm summer night that saw streets filled with revelers, came hours before Oslo was set to host big crowds for its first Pride parade since 2019. The event's organizers canceled the parade and the rest of the festival, which was to run through Monday, at the suggestion of the police."

~~~~~~~~~~

Caroline Kitchener, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court's decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade sets off a cascade of antiabortion legislation that will affect roughly half the country. Without the landmark precedent in place, access to abortion will change quickly. First, 13 states with 'trigger bans,' designed to take effect if Roe were struck down, will prohibit abortion within 30 days. Several other states with antiabortion laws blocked by the courts are expected to act, with lawmakers moving to activate their dormant legislation. A handful of states also have pre-Roe abortion bans that could be brought back to life, and others moved yesterday to introduce new legislation. In 20 states and the District of Columbia, abortion already is legal and access is likely to be protected."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years in a decision that will transform American life, reshape the nation's politics and lead to all but total bans on the procedure in about half of the states.... Bans in at least eight states swiftly took effect after they enacted laws meant to be enforced immediately after Roe fell. More states are expected to follow in the coming days, reflecting the main holding in the decision, that states are free to end the practice if they choose to do so.... Protests swelled across the country on Friday evening. Outside the Supreme Court, thousands of abortion rights supporters demonstrated alongside small groups of celebrating anti-abortion activists.... Throngs spilled into the streets in large cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, and smaller crowds gathered in places like Louisville, Ky., and Tallahassee, Fla.... The ruling will test the legitimacy of the court and vindicate a decades-long Republican project of installing conservative justices prepared to reject the precedent, which had been repeatedly reaffirmed by earlier courts. It will also be one of the signal legacies of ... Donald J. Trump, who vowed to name justices who would overrule Roe. All three of his appointees were in the majority in the ruling." The AP's report is here.

Iowa. Andy Campbell & Alanna Vagianos of the Huffington Post: "A truck driver careened into a group of demonstrators in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday as they crossed the street during an otherwise peaceful protest of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The unidentified male driver of a Ford truck rammed into several protesters -- all of them women -- at the tail end of a procession, rolling over one woman's ankle and sending her to the hospital, witnesses said. 'He tried t murder them,' said a local journalist and witness to the attack, Lyz Lenz. 'These women see him coming and a bunch of people put their hands out to stop him. And he just keeps going.'"

Shawna Chen of Axios: "California, Washington and Oregon are launching a 'West Coast offense' to protect reproductive rights following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the states' Democratic governors announced Friday.... The commitment vows to set up protections against states that target medical professionals who provide abortions and patients who receive legal reproductive health care services in California, Washington and Oregon. It also pledges to 'protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, inquiries and arrests' related to abortions performed in the three states. The three states will '[r]efuse non-fugitive extradition of individuals for criminal prosecution' related to accessing legal reproductive health care."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Calling the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade a 'tragic error,' President Biden on Friday tried to galvanize voters ahead of the midterm elections and called on Americans to 'make their voices heard.'" ~~~

Jacob Knutson of Axios: "Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday, in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, that states cannot ban mifepristone, a medication that is used to bring about an abortion, based on disagreement with the federal government on its safety and efficacy.... Already, almost half of U.S. states have banned or tightly restricted abortion pills -- two medicines named mifepristone and misoprostol -- and more could soon follow suit, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez, Ashley Gold and Jacque Schrag report.... Mifepristone and misoprostol have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.... It is far from settled law as to whether states can ban the pills, and the issue will likely have to be litigated in the courts, though there's really no clear precedent, according to the Washington Post."~~~

     ~~~ Dareh Gregorian & Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Legal experts predicted there would be numerous court challenges following Friday's court ruling. Khiara M. Bridges, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said 'there's an open legal question about whether states could limit the use of mifepristone in light of the FDA's judgment that the medicine is safe and effective. It's not at all clear.' While the FDA can can declare the drug is safe, Bridges said, 'states can regulate the practice of medicine within their borders.'"

~~~ ** Garland's full statement is here, and it's well worth reading.

Kaly Soto of the New York Times: "... the U.S. Supreme Court ruling scrapping the constitutional right to abortion reverberated globally, drawing a wave of responses from world leaders, some of them heated -- 'horrific,' 'a huge setback' -- as denunciation outweighed praise. With the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the United States joins a handful of countries, like Poland, Russia and Nicaragua, that have rolled back access to the procedure in the last few decades, while more of the world has gone in the other direction."

Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Publicly, [Donald] Trump crowed about the Supreme Court rulings [overturning Roe & the New York gun law] Friday in a triumphant statement released through his super PAC, blasting his usual suspects, including Democrats and the news media.... He has complained privately that the overturning of Roe could hurt Republicans politically in independent and suburban districts, two advisers said, and has told allies they should emphasize that states can set their own laws. Trump has also told some of his advisers he thinks a better position would be to limit but not ban abortion, two of these people said...."

Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.... With sorrow -- for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection -- we dissent. -- Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor & Elena Kagan, joint dissent

Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the fundamental right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade, a stunning reversal that leaves states free to drastically reduce or even outlaw a procedure that abortion rights groups said is key to women's equality and independence.... The vote was 6 to 3 to uphold a restrictive Mississippi law. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., though, criticized his conservative colleagues for taking the additional step of overturn Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which had reaffirmed the right to abortion.... In a separate opinion, [Clarence] Thomas expressed his support for revisiting other Supreme Court rulings that he and other conservatives believe should be left to individual states. For example, he wrote that the court should move forward with revisiting the right to contraception and the right for same-sex couples to marry.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) celebrated the Supreme Court ruing as 'courageous and correct.' 'This is [a] historic victory for the Constitution and for the most vulnerable in our society,' McConnell said in a statement Friday." This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)

The decision, concurring opinions & dissent are here, via the Supremes' Website. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sam Knows Best. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Supreme Court's new majority boldly signaled with twin rulings this week that public opinion would not interfere with conservative plans to shift the nation's legal landscape. The court rejected Roe v. Wade, a 49-year-old legal precedent that guaranteed the right to an abortion, after a string of national polls showed a clear majority of Americans wanted the opposite result. A similar court majority invalidated a 108-year-old New York state law restricting who can carry concealed guns that is supported by nearly 8 in 10 New Yorkers, according to a recent poll by Siena College. Rather than ignore the dissonance, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. ... attacked the notion that the court should consider the public will. He quoted late chief justice William H. Rehnquist from a previous ruling: 'The Judicial Branch derives its legitimacy, not from following public opinion, but from deciding by its best lights.'... The high court during the George W. Bush, Barack Obama and early Donald Trump administrations generally hewed closely to shifting public views on key social issues like same-sex marriage, private sexual conduct, workplace protections for transgender people and popular support for laws and executive orders on immigration and health care."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's decision on Friday to end the constitutional right to abortion concluded one battle for now but immediately posed another far-reaching question: whether the judicial ground under rights in other personal matters, including contraception and same-sex marriage, is now also shaky.... Justice Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion ... explicitly said that precedents establishing those rights -- which relied on the same legal reasoning as the now-overturned Roe v. Wade -- should be reconsidered.... The three dissenting liberals on the court said..., 'No one ... should be confident that this majority is done with its work.'... Friday's opinion had the immediate effect of allowing laws banning or severely curbing access to abortion to snap into place in at least 20 states.... The heart of Justice Alito's majority opinion is that the 14th Amendment protects only unwritten rights that were already understood to exist in 1868, when it was adopted." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It doesn't matter what the confederates' supposed rationale is; they will do what they want, then go in search of an excuse. And Alito has provided an excuse to take away all hard-earned rights, especially gay rights, inasmuch as I very much doubt gay rights were "understood to exist in 1868." If you are not a straight, white, Christian man, you do not have inalienable rights and you cannot be trusted to make personal decisions.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times: "They did it because they could.... The arrogance and unapologetic nature of the opinion are breathtaking.... The practical consequences of the decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, are enormous and severe. Abortion, now one of the most common medical procedures, will be banned or sharply limited in about half the country.... What the court delivered on Friday is a requiem for the right to abortion. As Chief Justice John Roberts, who declined to join Justice Alito's opinion, may well suspect, it is also a requiem for the Supreme Court."

Jill Filipovic of the Guardian: "As of 24 June 2022, the US supreme court should officially be understood as an illegitimate institution -- a tool of minority rule over the majority, and as part of a far-right ideological and authoritarian takeover that must be snuffed out if we want American democracy to survive.... Of the nine justices sitting on the current court, five -- all of them in the majority opinion that overturned Roe -- were appointed by presidents who initially lost the popular vote; the three appointed by Donald Trump were confirmed by senators who represent a minority of Americans. A majority of this court, in other words, were not appointed by a process that is representative of the will of the American people. Two were appointed via starkly undemocratic means, put in place by bad actors willing to change the rules to suit their needs.... Can a country be properly understood as a democracy ... if it subjugates half of its population, putting them into a category of sub-person with fewer rights, freedoms and liberties? The global trend suggests that the answer to that is no.... An authoritarian, patriarchal, white supremacist minority [decided it] should rule" [by attacking the Congress]. The supreme court decision stems from that same rotted root: the idea that a patriarchal minority should have nearly unlimited authority over the majority."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Over the last three decades, I have witnessed a dismal saga of opportunism, fanaticism, mendacity, concupiscence, hypocrisy and cowardice. This is a story about men gaining power by trading away something that meant little to them compared with their own stature: the rights of women.... [When George H.W. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, Clarence] Thomas talked about being raised by his grandparents, sharecroppers from rural Georgia. But on the court he has been cruel, pushing opinions that would grind down the poor and underprivileged. While his wife ran around helping Trump with his coup, Thomas was the senior firebrand in a coup of extremists on the court. They yanked power away from John Roberts and are defying the majority will in this country in ways that are terrifying.... Clarence Thomas, of all people, has helped lead us to where we are, with unaccountable extremists dictating how we live." Dowd calls out Bush I, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell & Donald Trump, too.

Marie: There's been some happy talk about how American women living in no-abortion states can simply travel out-of-state to get their abortions. That's true -- if the woman is financially-comfortable, has no job or a job that allows her an "abortion holiday," has the status to make her own decisions, and has an "uneventful" pregnancy she wishes to terminate. But that combination of circumstances is not true for many women: some are poor, some might get fired if they take time off from work, some are teenagers living at home, some have conditions that demand immediate attention.

How Maine Outsmarted the Supremes. Aaron Tang in a New York Times op-ed: "Anticipating this week's decision [striking down the state's law prohibiting religious schools from receiving taxpayer aid], Maine lawmakers enacted a crucial amendment to the state's anti-discrimination law last year in order to counteract the expected ruling. The revised law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and it applies to every private school that chooses to accept public funds, without regard to religious affiliation.... By enacting its law, Maine was able to assure its taxpayers that they will not be complicit in discriminating against L.G.B.T.Q. students, because private schools that discriminate will be ineligible for public funds." Tang suggests ways to get around the ruling striking down New York's concealed-carry law.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress gave final approval on Friday to a bipartisan compromise intended to stop dangerous people from accessing firearms, ending nearly three decades of congressional inaction over how to counter gun violence and toughen the nation's gun laws. The House approved the measure 234 to 193 one month to the day after a gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers, sparking outrage across the country and a flurry of negotiations on Capitol Hill. The measure now heads to President Biden, who is expected to sign it."

Stephanie Lai & Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "The House passed legislation on Friday to extend free meals and other food assistance for children, clearing it for President Biden's signature one week before a series of pandemic-era waivers was set to expire. The bipartisan bill, which passed the Senate on Thursday night by unanimous consent, was a compromise that will prevent children from going hungry creating a lifeline for families beleaguered by inflation and supply chain woes. It was a rare instance of Congress extending a pandemic assistance program, coming as the Biden administration' requests for additional coronavirus aid have stalled amid Republican opposition." MB: So McConnell decided that the day his favorite Supremes forced women to have children would not be a good day to support starving the kids. Good thinking, Mitch.

Jon Swaine & Dalton Bennett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have asked Danish filmmakers for video footage recorded as they followed Trump confidant Roger Stone in the weeks after the 2020 election, according to emails and interviews. During the past three months, the investigators have repeatedly sought access to a 170-hour cache of footage shot for director Christoffer Guldbrandsen's forthcoming documentary on Stone.... That footage was cited in a Washington Post report in March that described Stone's activities [on January 6, 2021], including inside the Willard hotel where he and many other Trump allies were staying. The footage showed that Stone communicated on an encrypted messaging app with leaders of far-right groups, and that he claimed at the time to be in contact with ... Donald Trump. Guldbrandsen has declined the requests, citing the need to maintain journalistic independence and to complete his film."

Clark Won't Answer Committee's Questions, But Tucker's? Sure. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Thursday evening, the same day the House select committee demonstrated how mid-level DoJ attorney Jeffrey Clark helped advance the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Tucker Carlson invited Clark to appear on his Fox "News" show. "On Wednesday morning, federal law enforcement officials searched Clark's home, confiscating a number of electronic devices. On Thursday evening, Tucker Carlson asked him to opine on the raid.... '... increasingly, Tucker, I don't recognize the country anymore with these kinds of Stasi-like things happening,' [Clark said.]... For Fox News's most popular host, Clark was also useful as a way to push forward his narrative that the government is out to get the political right."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge [Amit Mehta of the D.C. District] on Friday ordered defense attorneys for alleged members of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy to disclose whether their legal fees are being paid by anyone other than their clients after prosecutors warned of potential conflicts of interest if former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell is helping raise money for some of the legal defense as reported."

Matt Richtel, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary reprieve to Juul Labs that will allow it to keep its e-cigarettes on the market, pending further court review of a decision just a day earlier by the Food and Drug Administration to ban sales of the company's products. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a temporary stay that had been sought by Juul. The brief order by the appeals court cautioned that the stay ... 'should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits.' The stay involves the F.D.A.'s order on Thursday, when the agency said Juul had to stop selling its products because it had provided conflicting and insufficient data that prevented the F.D.A. from assessing the potential health risks of its products."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live update of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's updates for Saturday are here.