GOP Judges on Arizona Supreme Court Order Total Abortion Ban - The Wednesday AM Quickie 4/10/24
Hi, I'm back! I was enjoying the spectacle of the spring bloom in Japan just as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was getting ready for his state dinner at the White House tonight. Apparently they'll be serving California rolls? I did not have any of those on my trip, and I'm okay with that. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Arizona Supreme Court Resurrects Total Abortion Ban from 1864, When the State Was Still a Territory
Sick F*ck Donald Trump, who has been running in every direction from his own position on abortion rights, now says the matter should be left up to the states. Well, here's how that's going in the post-Roe v. Wade America Trump created: In a shocking 4-2 decision, the highest court in Arizona, dominated by Republican appointees, ruled that the state could no longer legally protect the right to end a pregnancy up to 15 weeks, and must instead adopt a total abortion ban. The judges did so by invoking a law passed 160 years ago, 48 years before the territory became a state and 58 years before women there won the right to vote. Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who lost the case before the court along with Planned Parenthood Arizona, "said the ruling 'will go down in history as a stain' on Arizona and its Supreme Court." Per Phoenix New Times, Mayes also vowed not to enforce the Civil War-era law.
"It is one of the worst decisions in the history of the Arizona Supreme Court, if not the worst," Mayes said. "As long as I am attorney general of the state of Arizona, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law."
Mayes also noted that the attorney general, by Arizona law, has supervisory authority over county attorneys, and she intends to use that authority to prevent county attorneys from prosecuting women and doctors under the 1864 law.
Trump isn't the only Republican trying to pretend their party doesn't actually support abortion bans even as they enact them. Crackpot GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake, for example, claimed yesterday to oppose the state court ruling, though in 2022 she called for the reenactment of the 1864 territorial law, saying "we have a great law on the books right now." Yesterday's decision, per the Associated Press, gives Arizona "the strictest abortion law of the top-tier battleground states heading into November's election." Some GOP strategists are already predicting defeat in the state. "I think this changes everything," AG Mayes told the Arizona Republic. "I think it supercharges the ballot initiative [to put abortion rights in the state constitution] and it supercharges the elections of all pro-choice candidates." Expect to hear a lot more about the national stakes when Vice President Kamala Harris visits Tucson on Friday.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Eid Feasts Marked By 'Sadness and Frugality' Due to Gaza Bloodshed
Today is Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of the Ramadan fast, and as the Los Angeles Times reports, many Muslims are this year opting to forego the traditional extravagant celebratory meals for simple dishes served in silence out of sympathy for Palestinian suffering and the threat of famine in Gaza. "People are feeling that it's a lot heavier than usual. They know that it's not your typical Ramadan," Palestinian American chef and activist Jinan Deena tells Al Jazeera. The White House canceled its planned iftar meal for government employees "after several Muslim Americans declined the invitation in protest." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin yesterday told Congress that "we don't have any evidence of genocide" being committed in Gaza by Israel. At the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Germany rejected an allegation by Nicaragua that its arms sales to Israel were enabling genocide. Ireland and Australia, meanwhile, indicated support for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Trumpdates: TV Networks Lobby Biden to Debate
- Warning of Unlawful Orders, 19 Top Former Military Leaders Urge Supreme Court to Reject Trump's Nonsense 'Presidential Immunity' Claim Meanwhile, the Florida judge in the stolen documents case finally agreed to keep the names of state witnesses under seal, and the New York judge in the hush money case denied Trump's request to delay the trial. via HuffPost, the New York Times, and the Associated Press.
- Pardoned Trump Fundraiser Who Pleaded Guilty to International Corruption Charges Files Lawsuits to 'Clear My Name' "California businessman" Elliott Broidy, whose close relationship with Trump helped him score big-dollar defense contracts with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, claims their regional rival Qatar hired a former CIA officer to hack his email. via the New York Times.
- Some Convicted Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Are Winning Early Release Ahead of Supreme Court Review "A Supreme Court ruling against the [felony charge of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding] could also impact the election interference case that special counsel Jack Smith has brought against Trump." via the Washington Post.
- Now That's a Name I've Not Heard in a Long Time: Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman Fined $1.25 Million New York is the latest state to bust the Trumpworld operatives for a voter suppression campaign they led in the 2020 election using robocalls. via the Times.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- New Boeing Whistleblower Emerges as Congress Summons CEO to Testify on Safety "Sam Salehpour, a Boeing quality engineer, alleged Tuesday that in the push to meet production targets, the company took shortcuts such as failing to follow its own procedures for ensuring pieces of the plane's fuselages were properly fitted and joined." via the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
- Embracing 'Trans Panic,' England's National Health Service Bars Gender-Affirming Care for Youth The Vatican, meanwhile, "declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that it said reject God’s plan for human life." via the New York Times and the AP.
- U.S. Sends Thousands of Iranian Weapons Seized from 'Stateless Vessels' to Ukraine Meanwhile, without naming names, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that U.S. citizens in Congress were effectively working on behalf of Russia (he meant Republicans of course). via the Post and Politico.
- Biden Administration Enacts First Permanent Boost to Child Nutrition Benefits in a Decade New Agriculture Department rules add up to $52 per month for low-income families to purchase fruit and vegetables under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC. via NBC News.
70
That's the minimum number of Missouri prison guards who urged the state not to execute 52-year-old Brian Dorsey, who was urged by his public defenders to plead guilty to a murder he didn't remember committing, and was described by prison staff as a "good person" who had been "completely rehabilitated." Dorsey was executed yesterday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and Republican Gov. Mike Parson refused to grant clemency.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
4/10: It's Hump Day! But it's Monday for me personally. Sam and Emma speak with Jeremy Kimbrell, a measurement machine operator at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama and member of the volunteer organizing committee at the plant, to discuss the plant’s recent decision to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). Then, they speak with Terri Gerstein, director of the Wagner Labor Initiative at New York University, to discuss the recent efforts in different states to weaken or strengthen child labor laws.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
RFK's Goal Is to Elect Trump, Consultant Says in Video Leak
"Does everybody follow that? Okay."
GOP's Attack On AOC Backfires BIG TIME
I'm starting to think Comer isn't very smart.
PARTING WORDS
"One person wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old. ... Did he do it? I don't know."
-- Republican former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking at a Georgetown University event yesterday about the man who led his ouster last year, creepy Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. Meanwhile, loony Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sent a letter to colleagues explaining why she wants to get rid of McCarthy's replacement, Budding Theocrat Mike Johnson, who she claims has gotten too close to the Democrats.
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