"Make sure Chick-Fil-A never has another sauce shortage." - Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), fundraising for his sauce-based re-election
Roe Blow
The far-right Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could roll back the constitutional right to abortion, just as the ancient October 2020 prophecies foretold, and now Justice Amy Coney Barrett has stopped blinking and keeps muttering “directive” like the girl robot in WALL-E?
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The Court announced on Monday that it would hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case concerning a Mississippi law that prohibits all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with narrow exceptions. Lower courts (including some with conservative, anti-abortion judges on them) struck the law down as unconstitutional because it applies weeks before the fetus is viable, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that “a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.”
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By taking the case, the Court’s conservative majority now has an opportunity to ditch that rule—if not overturn Roe v. Wade altogether. The arguments in Dobbs will focus on “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.” Even without completely voiding Roe and triggering outright abortion bans across the country, the Court could give states permission to enact restrictions so extreme that the loss of access is effectively the same.
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It’s the first major abortion case the Court has taken up since Barrett’s illegitimate confirmation, and reproductive-rights advocates have been dreading it. Last June, before the Court had completed its transformation into a right-wing clown car, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices to strike down a Louisiana anti-abortion law. Roberts made clear that he did so only because of the case’s very specific circumstances, but with Barrett on the Court, the anti-choice brigade won’t need his vote anyway.
A ruling in Dobbs isn’t expected until the spring or summer of 2022, but don’t worry, the conservative justices will keep churning out other offenses in the meantime.
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The Court ruled 6-3 that its recent ban on non-unanimous jury verdicts in trials for serious crimes can't be applied retroactively, a blow to hundreds of incarcerated people in Louisiana and Oregon who were convicted by split juries. Prosecutors can still grant those people new trials if they feel like it, but won’t be required to do so. In the minority’s dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote, “for the first time in many decades...those convicted under rules found not to produce fair and reliable verdicts will be left without recourse in federal courts.”
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A steaming pile of Not Great! The gutting reminders of how much depends upon one very old person in a robe not dying at the wrong time will likely strengthen calls for Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, but he has yet to budge in that direction. A number of legal scholars told the New York Times that they don’t expect Breyer to step down, or to be persuaded by political pressure. Breyer has 540 days until the midterms to prove a bunch of law-school nerds wrong. Or, uh, not.
One would hope that watching the Supreme Court wind up to demolish reproductive rights might prompt Democrats—and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in particular—to respond with balance-restoring reform measures. At the very least, one would hope that Breyer reckons with the stakes of placing yet another seat at risk.
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Under The Radar
We’ve entered week two of the unabating Israel-Hamas conflict, and Israeli airstrikes have now killed over 200 people in Gaza, including 61 children. Hamas rocket fire has killed 10 people in Israel, including two children. In a Monday call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden expressed support for a ceasefire, amid increasing pressure from Senate Democrats to demand an immediate end to the violence. Over the weekend, Israel destroyed a Gaza building that housed the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, claiming Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he hasn’t yet seen any evidence to support that claim. Thousands of people around the world protested in solidarity with Palestinians on Saturday, and progressives have continued to shift the conversation towards Palestinian rights.
What Else?
President Biden plans to send another 20 million doses of U.S. vaccines overseas, by the end of June, including shots authorized for domestic use, now that demand is declining.
Matt Gaetz’s indicted partner-in-crime Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six of the charges against him, including sex trafficking of a minor, and will cooperate with federal investigators. Please enjoy these four perfect seconds, courtesy of Fox News.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) has signed into law a bill that will force death-row inmates to choose between the electric chair or a firing squad, so that South Carolina can keep killing people after running out of lethal injection drugs.
Top Republicans in Maricopa County, AZ, have been getting fed up with the state-Senate-backed chaos audit: “We can’t indulge these insane lies any longer.”
Other Republicans: “Sure we can.” Disgraced former president Donald Trump will speak at North Carolina’s state Republican Party convention next month. At the Ohio Political Summit on Saturday, GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel touted his willingness to lie about the 2020 election.
A woman has accused folk singer Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, of sexually assaulting her as a child, 40 years after then-President Jimmy Carter pardoned Yarrow for molesting another child.
New York City Pride will ban the NYPD from participating in events until at least 2025, and aim to limit the role of police in a security capacity.
Microsoft was investigating Bill Gates’s affair with an employee shortly before he stepped down from the board last year, which means we are days out from discovering, against our collective will, the Bill Gates version of "alive girl."
Matthew McConaughey has been calling around to explore a potential run for Texas governor, presumably as either a Democrat or Republican and with a political platform of some kind, but those details are still up in the air.
Martha Stewart actually has 21 peacocks, contrary to what the corrupt lying media would like you to think.
Be Smarter
CDC officials are defending the sudden change of mask guidance for fully vaccinated Americans, after last week’s announcement sparked widespread confusion and concern. Some public-health workers were taken aback by the abrupt shift, and some were downright pissed: The largest nurses’ union in the country issued a Friday statement condemning the new guidance, pointing to unanswered questions about the vaccines. Some labor advocates are concerned that essential workers will face more hostile confrontations as major chains lift mask mandates for vaccinated customers on the honor system, and as states and cities begin lifting restrictions based on their own creative interpretations of the CDC’s guidance. For anybody standing on the sidewalk with a mask dangling from one ear, paralyzed with uncertainty, here’s a useful FAQ.
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Light At The End Of The Email
The Biden administration announced that roughly 39 million families will begin receiving monthly direct payments in mid-July, as part of the new child tax credit.
Ohio’s $1 million lottery vaccination incentive appears to be incentivizing people to get vaccinated!
A U.K. study suggested that regular communication over Zoom has helped older people stave off cognitive decline.
A new program run by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has named its first class of future civil rights lawyers.
Enjoy
Gregg Favre on Twitter: "Passes the vibe check."
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