Supreme Court unanimously upheld access to Mifepristone, the abortion medication that The Food and Drug Administration approved in 2000…but left the door open for other challenges…this lawsuit, the Court said, had no standing to bring about this suit…took them long enough…from The Washington Post by Ann E. Marimow and David Ovalle: “Supreme Court upholds broad access to key abortion pill mifepristone: Ever since the high court eliminated the right to abortion in 2022, medications to terminate pregnancy have grown in importance and been challenged in court.: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to limit access to a widely used abortion medication, rejecting a challenge from antiabortion doctors two years after the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade.
In a unanimous ruling, the court sided with the Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone and reversed a lower court decision that would have made it more difficult to obtain the drug used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. The justices found that the plaintiffs did not have legal grounds to bring the challenge.
Writing for the court, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said the anti-abortion doctors behind the case do not prescribe or use mifepristone, and the FDA’s relaxed regulation of the medication does not require those doctors to do or refrain from doing anything.”…the suit was brought to the only federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, the judge that would most assuredly would rule against mifepristone…from Google: “Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, in his April 7 order, ruled to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill…Kacsmaryk ruled that the drug was unsafe and that the approval process was rushed, suspending the FDA’s approval.”…more from The Washington Post by Ann E. Marimow and David Ovalle: ““Rather, the plaintiffs want FDA to make mifepristone more difficult for other doctors to prescribe and for pregnant women to obtain,” Kavanaugh wrote. Under the Constitution, he added, a group’s “desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue.”
Kavanaugh emphasized in his opinion that doctors opposed to abortion are protected by federal conscience laws from having to perform abortion-related care that violates their beliefs, and that they can instead voice objections to the medication through the legislative, regulatory or political processes.
Ever since the high court eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, medications to terminate pregnancy have grown in importance and become a major target of litigation, in part because the pills can be sent by mail, including to states that have severely limited or banned abortions.Even though the court’s decision was unanimous, it is unlikely to be the end of efforts to restrict access to the pill. The ruling leaves an opening for three states with Republican attorneys general — Missouri, Kansas and Idaho — to quickly try to revive the challenge before a federal judge in Texas who is well-known for his antiabortion views.
After the ruling, abortion opponents pledged to continue their efforts to limit access to mifepristone, promising that this case is not over.
“While we’re disappointed with the court’s decision, we will continue to advocate for women and work to restore common-sense safeguards for abortion drugs,” said the Alliance Defending Freedom’s senior counsel, Erin Hawley ( Josh Hawley’s wife ), who represented the doctors. “We are grateful that three states stand ready to hold the FDA accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of women and girls across this country.”President Biden said in a statement Thursday that the court’s decision “does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. … It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said she felt “both relief and anger” about the court’s decision.
“In the end, this ruling is not a ‘win’ for abortion,” she said in a statement. “It just maintains the status quo, which is a dire public health crisis in which 14 states have criminalized abortion.”
The issue of who has standing to sue over FDA decisions could also resurface if former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nomineein the November election,returns to the White House and appoints an FDA commissioner who reinstates restrictions on the medication — sparking legal challenges from abortion rights groups.While this decision is a “resounding victory” for reproductive rights advocates, the opinion “sidesteps the core issue of how involved in the FDA decision-making process the courts will be,” said Ameet Sarpatwari, an attorney and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Before the end of the month, the justices are also set to decide in a separate abortion case from Idaho whether hospitals that receive federal funds must provide emergency abortion care to stabilize patients even in states with strict bans on the procedure.
The high court’s decision on Thursday reversed a ruling from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that said that the Food and Drug Administration failed to follow proper procedures or thoroughly explain its reasoning when it loosened
A group of antiabortion doctors sued the FDA, saying the agency did not sufficiently consider safety concerns when it removed restrictions starting in 2016 that allowed the use of mifepristone later in pregnancy; permitted medical providers other than doctors to prescribe it; and cleared the way for the medication to be sent directly to patients by mail.regulations for obtaining mifepristone in 2016 and 2021.
A group of antiabortion doctors sued the FDA, saying the agency did not sufficiently consider safety concerns when it removed restrictions starting in 2016 that allowed the use of mifepristone later in pregnancy; permitted medical providers other than doctors to prescribe it; and cleared the way for the medication to be sent directly to patients by mail.”…stay tuned for further lawsuits…they’re sure to come…the door is open…
Senate GOP block bill that would protect in vitro fertilization…at the same time kneeling and kissing trump’s ring in D.C. today…from The New York Times by Luke Broadwater, Michael Gold and Maya Miller: “Trump Returns to Washington With Renewed Grip on the G.O.P.: Three and a half years after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Donald J. Trump made a visit to Capitol Hill, as his party’s wary establishment rallies around his possible return to power.: Former President Donald J. Trump returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday for a pair of celebratory meetings with congressional Republicans, more than three years after a violent mob of his supporters overran the House and the Senate as he pushed to overturn the 2020 election.
There was no mention of that dark day — Jan. 6, 2021 — as Mr. Trump received a hero’s welcome back in the nation’s capital. In two separate sessions just blocks away from where violence consumed the Capitol in his name, House and Senate Republicans feted their party’s nominee, grinning and clutching hands with him, singing him a happy birthday song and presenting him with a cake, and vowing to use their power in Congress to try to thwart those investigating and prosecuting him.
Long gone were condemnations of Mr. Trump’s conduct, made in the immediate aftermath of the violence, and the vows to move on from him as the party’s leader. Any Republicans — such as former Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — who would have dared speak out against him had long been purged from the halls of Congress.
Even Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader who harshly condemned Mr. Trump following the Jan. 6 attack and called him responsible for the violence, bumped fists and shook hands with the former president on Thursday, according to lawmakers who attended.In the warm embrace of the Republican firmament, Mr. Trump was recast during his visit as both hero and victim. He has been indicted in three different criminal cases — over his effort to subvert the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents — and convicted in a fourth on charges of falsifying business records.
In the shadow of the Capitol, Mr. Trump ranted behind closed doors against law enforcement officials, according to attendees. House Republicans emerged from the meeting vowing to fight even harder to protect him from various prosecutors pursuing him. They pledged to issue subpoenas and cut funding for law enforcement agencies that investigate Mr. Trump.
“The House of Representatives has a critical role to utilize the power of the subpoena, the power of the purse,” said Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, a Trump ally. “I don’t think we’ve done that with sufficient rigor in the absence of President Trump being here in Washington leading us. He’s going to be the masthead of that effort in the coming months.”
Speaker Mike Johnson urged passage of a bill that would allow a president to move any state-level prosecutions to federal court, a move that would significantly weaken the powers of local district attorneys to pursue a president.
“He didn’t bring up that specific piece of legislation,” Mr. Johnson said of Mr. Trump. “He did talk about his concern about the lawfare that’s been waged against him.”There were some signs of resistance.
A handful of protesters, one holding a sign that read “Failed Coup,” greeted the former president on Thursday morning as he arrived at a club one block from the Capitol to meet with House Republicans.
The Biden campaign used the moment to release a new ad, called “Burn,” that reminds Americans of Mr. Trump’s role in firing up the crowd on Jan. 6 before the attack.
“There is nothing more sacred than our democracy. But Donald Trump is ready to burn it all down,” the ad states.There were some signs of resistance.
A handful of protesters, one holding a sign that read “Failed Coup,” greeted the former president on Thursday morning as he arrived at a club one block from the Capitol to meet with House Republicans.
The Biden campaign used the moment to release a new ad, called “Burn,” that reminds Americans of Mr. Trump’s role in firing up the crowd on Jan. 6 before the attack.
“There is nothing more sacred than our democracy. But Donald Trump is ready to burn it all down,” the ad states.
But inside the Capitol Hill Club, the meeting took on the feel of a Trump campaign rally. The former president floated off-the-cuff policy ideas, insulted his enemies and praised those who have praised him. According to various people in the room, Mr. Trump at different points lamented that the music star Taylor Swift would support President Biden over him; insulted the city of Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention will be held in July, over its crime rate; and falsely claimed that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter once told him he and her mother might have been a good match. Some lawmakers interpreted the comment to refer to a romance, while others said it merely referred to a professional partnership.“It got to be classic Trump,” said Representative Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee. “He doesn’t follow a script and he started pointing people out of the crowd.”
House Republicans gave Mr. Trump a baseball bat from their victory over Democrats in the Congressional Baseball Game the night before, which Mr. Burchett said was meant to show Mr. Trump that his allies on Capitol Hill could deliver wins for him.
“He’s the leader of our party, and the Republicans destroyed the Democrats,” Mr. Burchett said, referring to the G.O.P.’s 31-to-11 win in the annual charity baseball game. “As we should do on Election Day.”
Later, Republican senators presented Mr. Trump with a birthday cake with vanilla icing and an American flag on it, along with a “45” candle — about 30 years short of Trump’s age but meant to refer to his status as the 45th president.Then Senator John Barrasso, the third-ranking Republican, who hosted the meeting, plopped a “47” candle on the other side, as if to crown him the 47th president months before the November balloting.
“He loved it,” Mr. Barrasso said later.
It was a love fest all around. At one point during his visit with House Republicans, Mr. Trump asked Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who tried unsuccessfully to remove Mr. Johnson from office, to be nicer to the speaker.For her part, when asked about the significance of Mr. Trump’s first return to Capitol Hill since the Jan. 6 riot, Ms. Greene complained that the former president faced “incredibly unfair” treatment from the Department of Justice and members of the media.
She said Mr. Trump focused portions of his remarks on policy, and told Republicans he would “love to raise tariffs” and cut income taxes on Americans, potentially to zero.“Everyone was clapping in the room,” Ms. Greene said. “He said, ‘If you guys are going to go vote on something today, vote to lower taxes on Americans.’”
Mr. Trump later told business leaders at a separate meeting that he wanted to cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, as he tried to do when he was president, though the massive tax cut he ended up signing into law set the rate at 21 percent.
And he preached a unifying message of the party coming together after tough primary races.
“He said, ‘There’s a few of you in the room who might not be happy with me because I’m supporting your opponent, but I will be doing tele-town halls for many of you, helping you get across the line, doing whatever it takes to win the House and win it big,’” Ms. Greene said.
Mr. Trump’s meetings with lawmakers were the starkest examples of how establishment Republicans who distanced themselves from the former president after Jan. 6 have accepted his potential return to office. After years of hoping that someone else could step up to lead their party, establishment Republicans have wholly submitted to the reality of Mr. Trump’s conquest of the party.In between meetings with House and Senate Republicans, Mr. Trump visited with dozens of chief executives who belong to the Business Roundtable, a mainstream corporate group whose members include chief executives like Tim Cook of Apple and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase.
Later at his meeting with Senate Republicans, Mr. Trump encountered Mr. McConnell for the first time since the men last spoke in December 2020. Mr. McConnell cut off contact with Mr. Trump after he refused to concede to Mr. Biden following the Electoral College certification of his victory.
In the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6, Mr. McConnell condemned Mr. Trump’s conduct in a fiery speech on the Senate floor, but he also did not vote to convict in Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial. The decision of Mr. McConnell and other Senate Republicans to acquit would prove fateful, ultimately enabling Mr. Trump’s comeback. A conviction could have led to his being barred from office.
At the meeting on Thursday, Mr. Trump went out of his way to praise Mr. McConnell and the two fist-bumped and clasped hands.
“He twice complimented Mitch,” recalled Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota. “Two separate times, he referenced Mitch and his hard work on behalf of the Republican Senate. It was very cordial, to say the least. It was very senatorial, even with Donald Trump.””…on the other hand, Adam Schiff posted on Instagram “It’s bring your felon to work day.”...there was no mention of the 34 guilty verdicts in the “Hush Money” trials…
Stephanie Ruhle ended her program with this…the obituary of Edward Thomas Ryan…decorated soldier who served in Vietnam, retired fireman…gave his body to science…brother to three sisters and two brothers…uncle to numerous nieces and nephews…added this at the end of his obituary: “Edward wanted to share the following: “I must tell you one more thing. I was Gay all my life: thru grade school, thru High School, thru College, thru Life. I was in a loving and caring relationship with Paul Cavagnaro of North Greenbush. He was the love of my life. We had 25 great years together. Paul died in 1994 from a medical Procedure gone wrong. I’ll be buried next to Paul. I’m sorry for not having the courage to come out as Gay. I was afraid of being ostracized: by Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Seeing how people like me were treated, I just could not do it. Now that my secret is known, I’ll forever Rest in Peace.”…
had my knee check-up appointment at Rothman today…they took X-rays…and gave me a great report…I’m right on schedule…nerves are regenerating…it takes about a year to be completely healed…they don’t tell you that… but I’m doing great…she could tell I was diligent in my rehab…first time I wore shorts, so I wouldn’t have to take my jeans off for the X-rays…gave me a new script to strengthen my right knee and improve my balance…next appointment in 6 months…I went to celebrate at Manny’s Deli with what they call the Rachel…a corned beef special on grilled rye bread…delicious…ate sitting outside and then stopped at various places to pick up a few things…including Elissa’s cleaners item…but they failed to get the stain out, so they are trying again…to be picked up on Saturday…at Home Goods I got a planter and when I got home…I planted my Lantana in the pot…and then rushed to the Ambler to see one of Wes Anderson’s early films… Rushmore starring Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman debut film which put him on the map…from Wikipedia: “Rushmore is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Wes Anderson about a teenager named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman in his film debut), his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume (Bill Murray), and their shared affection for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson. The soundtrack features multiple songs by bands associated with the British Invasion of the 1960s. Filming began in November 1997 around Houston, Texas, and lasted 50 days, until late January 1998.
While the box office results were modest, the film had a positive reception among film critics. The film helped launch Schwartzman’s career while establishing a “second career” for Murray as a respected actor in independent cinema. At the 1999 Independent Spirit Awards, Anderson won the Best Director award and Murray won Best Supporting Male award. Murray also earned a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Starting from Rushmore, both Murray and Schwartzman became two of Anderson’s most frequent collaborators, appearing in eight and six subsequent films, respectively. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”….I realized I hadn’t seen it in the theaters in 1998…it was really funny…Jason Schwartzman’s character Max Fischer is a 15 year old at Rushmore Academy…he is academically challenged…but a whiz at extracurricular activities…but is on the verge of being expelled…I thoroughly enjoyed Rushmore…laughed out loud…Wes Anderson’s delightful weirdness…already 26 years old…
found 2 quarters and two pennies…one quarter was hardly recognizable…it has been weathered almost to black…it’s Friday already…wasn’t it just Monday?…not just Thursday but “bring your felon to work day…!!!
Art Salazar 