Friday. June 24, 2022

And the week where the GOP announce fascism has arrived in America comes to a close:

“Hillary was right about everything.” — John Pavlovitz 

“From the Very Moment of Fertilization, a Woman Has No Rights to Speak Of.” — Dissenting SupreMe Court Justices

“Yesterday the Supreme Court decided that people wanting to carry guns have a nearly absolute right. Today it ruled that women making personal health care decisions have no rights.” — Richard Blumenthal 

Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion. The Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans’ lives after nearly a half-century under Roe v. Wade. The court’s overturning of the landmark court ruling is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. The ruling, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

Roe v. Wade Was Killed by Minority Rule. The system worked, for the people who worked the system. The first two clauses are the news, but last line, more than just a quick housekeeping note, is the story of how we got here. The defeat of Roe was made possible by cutting corners and seizing every advantage in an undemocratic system—it was a redistribution of power bordering on theft. There are layers to the crisis of legitimacy here, but the most obvious one is this: Of the six justices who voted to end the constitutional right to an abortion—Chief Justice John Roberts’ caveats are the sort of thing that only he could care about right now—five were appointed by a president who first came to office after losing the national popular vote. In the cases of Roberts and Alito, the president who appointed them was himself placed in office with the help of the Supreme Court. And Neil Gorsuch owes his job not just to Donald Trump, but to a Senate that blocked a Democratic president from filling the seat for a year…One of the defining stories of the last two decades is the transfer of power from a minority of the electorate to an all-powerful assembly of justices, who in turn have bestowed that power upon the most reactionary of states; it’s like money-laundering for democratic legitimacy—a crowning achievement for an age of conservative minority rule.

“From the Very Moment of Fertilization, a Woman Has No Rights to Speak Of.” The court’s three liberal members dissented—most notably with “sorrow” for the “many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection.” The 66-page dissent, written by Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, is impassioned and scathing, capturing the devastating effects the court’s ruling will have on American life. It also warned that today’s ruling is far from the end, but rather the beginning of an aggressive assault on people’s general right to personal privacy.

Conservative justices seized the moment and delivered the opinion they'd long promised. This is America's new Supreme Court, moving swiftly, rejecting the incrementalism of Chief Justice John Roberts, and upsetting individual privacy rights in an epic decision that will reverberate for decades.

Legalizing abortion dramatically reduced the number of women and girls who gave birth — and got married — as teenagers. Access to abortion also offered a major boost to women's economic prospects, "allowing them, in turn, to obtain more education, to enter more professional careers, to avoid poverty," Myers says. "And also providing those same economic advantages to the children that they parented later."…Research into abortion's economic fallout continues. The landmark Turnaway Study followed women for a decade and found that those denied an abortion were four times as likely to be living in poverty years later. — That’s the fucking point. Keep people in poverty from ever getting out of it. 

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Republicans would put anti-abortion legislation on the House floor next year if they retake the chamber in this year's midterm elections. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., also plans to introduce a 15-week abortion ban in the coming weeks. — So much for that “state’s rights” bullshit the GOP likes to spew. Their vision for America is autocracy, theocracy, and ending democracy. Fucking fascists.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion that now that the court has overturned Roe v. Wade, it should revisit previous decisions on contraception and same-sex marriage. "For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," he wrote. "Because any substantive due process decision is 'demonstrably erroneous.'" — We warned you that ending Roe would only be the beginning. He is literally inviting these challenges to the Court. What a shitty human being.

Thomas wants the Supreme Court to overturn landmark rulings that legalized contraception, same-sex marriage. In a concurring opinion to the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, the conservative jurist called on the court to overrule a trio of watershed civil rights rulings, writing, "We have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.” — Yet  American citizens have no way to “correct” the error of having Thomas on the Supreme Court. The system is rigged, and the American people are suffering the consequences.

“if Clarence Thomas gets his way, it will also be illegal for LGBTQ people to have sex in the United Sates of America. That is literally one of the cases he referenced today.” — Amy Siskind

“One side is stuck in a wet paper grocery bag with no clue  how to get out, as the other sets the grocery store on fire after locking itself in. Welcome to hell.” — Walter Shaub

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers published a report last August warning the public that, without the legal protections under Roe v. Wade, thousands of abortion laws could lead to a new chapter of mass incarceration. The invasion of privacy alone is a big concern to the NACDL. Anyone who needs or wants an abortion outside of the legal limits of their state is not only a target for criminal charges, but risks implicating others, too — by confiding in friends or family, crossing state lines for procedures, or even using a transportation app to get to an appointment. "Not just fines. We're talking about prison time," Wayne said. "We're talking about minimum mandatory sentences — aiding or abetting someone who gets ultimately charged with manslaughter or murder, which is a life sentence." And for those who think a future of mass incarceration is too unlikely, Wayne points to the War on Drugs, starting in 1971.

Global reproductive and women's rights groups react to overturn of Roe v. Wade. But many global reproductive and women's rights groups are condemning the decision and warn that the U.S. overturning of the constitutional right to abortion will have far-reaching effects around the globe.

Trudeau condemns 'horrific' U.S. court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. "My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can't imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now," Trudeau said in a social media post. Trudeau said "no government, politician, or man" should force a woman to carry out a pregnancy, reiterating that, under his Liberal government, "women in Canada know that we will always stand up for your right to choose."

Pence calls for all states to ban abortion after Supreme Court ruling. — Mike Pence can fuck off, for multiple reasons. 

“Hard to wrap your head around a country where the right to a gun is more sacred than the right to bodily autonomy.” — Schooley

Some of the country’s biggest companies — including Paramount, Disney, Amazon and Netflix — are telling employees that their benefits include travel costs for abortions.

Businesses that help employees get abortions could be next target of Texas lawmakers if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Fourteen Republican members of the state House of Representatives have pledged to introduce bills in the coming legislative session that would bar corporations from doing business in Texas if they pay for abortions in states where the procedure is legal. This would explicitly prevent firms from offering employees access to abortion-related care through health insurance benefits. It would also expose executives to criminal prosecution under pre-Roe anti-abortion laws the Legislature never repealed, the legislators say.

“If I retweet that, I can be sued for a $10K bounty here in Texas if someone in Texas were to see it and use it to obtain an abortion.” — Thoma Life

Congress sends landmark gun violence compromise to Biden. The House sent President Joe Biden the widest ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades Friday, a measured compromise that at once illustrates progress on the long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists.

Supreme Court Ruling Rejects the Promise of Miranda Rights. In Vega, the court held 6-3 (over an excellent dissent by Justice Elena Kagan) that an individual who is denied Miranda warnings and whose compelled statements are introduced against them in a criminal trial cannot sue the police officer who violated their rights, even where a criminal jury finds them not guilty of any crime. By denying people whose rights are violated the ability to seek redress under our country’s most important civil rights statute, the court has further widened the gap between the guarantees found in the Bill of Rights and the people’s ability to hold government officials accountable for violating them.

“Roe. Miranda. Gun control. Church and State. All dismantled in a single week. The single worst week for civil rights and liberties in decades.” — Graydon Gordian 

“On a day of many thoughts, my heart breaks especially for the most marginalized members of our society. The burden is almost always heaviest for those who are already burdened.” — Dan Rather

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.