5th Circuit Pulls a 5th Circuit on Abortion Pill
A lot has happened. Here are some of the things. This is the TPM Morning Memo.
The biggest abortion threat since Dobbs
By now, you’ve seen the news Friday afternoon that a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has effectively instituted an immediate nationwide ban on prescribing the abortion pill mifepristone via telemedicine and sending it to patients by mail.
Rather than seek review by the full appeals court, pill makers went directly to the Supreme Court on Saturday to ask for an emergency solution to the new in-person distribution requirement.
The ban, which follows a case brought by the state of Louisiana against the FDA, applies in both red and blue states, although it is particularly harsh in states that have mostly banned abortion.
“While not the final word in this case, this decision represents the most serious threat to abortion since the law was overturned. Roe v. Wade“, Kelly Baden, vice president of public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, said in a statement. “If upheld, it would severely restrict access to mifepristone in all states, including those where abortion is largely legal and voters have acted to protect abortion rights.”
The 5th Circuit panel (Kyle Duncan, Trump; Leslie Southwick, Bush II; and Kurt Engelhardt, Trump) reasoned that Louisiana would be harmed if access to the pill continued while the case was pending because it would cause illegal abortions within the state’s borders. As Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck observed this weekend: “[M]The most infuriating thing is that the panel’s decision pays off No pay attention to the other side of fairness: the harm caused not only to Louisianans, but also to residents of states in which abortion is commonly practiced. legal of an order reimposing an in-person waiver requirement.
The Supreme Court previously torpedoed a challenge to mifepristone out of the 5th Circuit for valid reasons, but did not rule on the merits. In this new case, the district court found that Louisiana would likely prevail on the merits, but refused to allow the ban to take effect while the case progressed. With its ruling Friday, the 5th Circuit overturned that decision.
We should hear from the Supreme Court on this issue today.
For your radar…
Chris Geidner has a good overview of the three broad categories of cases currently in the ultra-reactionary hands of the 5th Circuit:
- the case of mifepristone (see above);
- a worrying anti-trans summons from a Rhode Island hospital that the DOJ chose to enforce U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas, which he did quickly in a matter of hours last week; And
- The impact of Louisiana v. Callais on the Louisiana’s House neighborhood map (see below).
The 5th Circuit has not only tried to push the Roberts Court further to the right, but has actively sought opportunities to do so.
Oversight of Trump’s Justice Department
- DCUS attorney Jeanine Pirro suggested Sunday that she is still targeting Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, even though she publicly said last month that she was dropping her investigation into him.
- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that not everyone who posts “86 47” online will be prosecuted and continued to vaguely reference “other evidence” that makes the case against former FBI Director Jim Comey different.
- The FBI redirected a quarter of its staff to Trump’s mass deportation operation, according to FOIA records published by The Intercept.
Corruption: Trump Lawyer Edition
Politico: In Trump II, at least 10 of the president’s former lawyers landed administration jobs or were appointed to the federal bench.
House redistricting wars after the VRA
Things are moving terribly quickly after the Supreme Court’s decision in the case Louisiana v. Callais. Two Southern Republican governors recalled their legislatures on Friday. immediate special sessions will begin this week to redraw House maps in time for the 2020 midterm elections:
- Alabama: Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday called a special session of the Legislature that begins this afternoon and is expected to eliminate at least one of the state’s two majority-black districts before this year’s midterm elections. Republicans in the state, where primary elections are set for May 19, are considering holding special elections for House districts under a new map. The GOP’s machinations remain conditional on the Supreme Court allowing the state to revisit its House district map.
- Tennessee: On Friday afternoon, Republican Gov. Bill Lee called a special session of the Legislature starting Tuesday to eliminate the state’s only majority-black district, in Memphis, in time for the midterm elections.
- Louisiana: Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s suspension of primaries for House races to give the state time to eliminate one or both majority-black districts before the midterms caused confusion on the first day of early voting Saturday. Meanwhile, at least two lawsuits have been filed in federal and state courts challenging Landry’s decision.
From beyond the grave…
Quote of the day
“I would be a shitty Republican.”—Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), on the GOP’s quiet efforts to persuade him to switch parties
Monitoring mass deportations
WaPo: Internal ICE files reveal widespread use of force in detention centers
Giuliani in critical condition
Rudy Giuliani is in critical but stable condition in a Florida hospital, according to his spokesperson, who provided no additional details about the former New York mayor.
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