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Trump Judge's Anti-Abortion Ruling Followed Payments From Group Leading Case
The LeverArchived: https://web.archive.org/web/20230817221832/https://www.levernews.com/trump-judges-anti-abortion-ruling-followed-payments-from-group-leading-case/
The conservative group arguing the abortion pill case has made frequent payments to the spouse of James Ho, who just helped threaten access to the medicine.
One of the judges who issued Wednesday’s federal court ruling that could significantly reduce access to medication abortions has close ties to the conservative legal advocacy group that argued the case, according to records reviewed by The Lever.
A three-judge panel in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that regulators have improperly expanded access to mifepristone, the main pill used in more than half of abortions in the United States. The ruling preserves the legality of mifepristone but prohibits sending it through the mail or prescribing it through telehealth appointments.
Judge James Ho, who was nominated in 2017 by President Donald Trump, wrote his own opinion, agreeing with the majority in part but going even further to argue that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone in 2000 should be invalidated, removing it from the market — as the lower court had concluded.
James Ho did not recuse himself from the case even though his wife, Allyson Ho, has regularly participated in events with and accepted speaking fees from the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal group whose lawyers argued the mifepristone case before his court, according to the judge’s financial disclosures.
One of the judges who issued Wednesday’s federal court ruling that could significantly reduce access to medication abortions has close ties to the conservative legal advocacy group that argued the case, according to records reviewed by The Lever.
A three-judge panel in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that regulators have improperly expanded access to mifepristone, the main pill used in more than half of abortions in the United States. The ruling preserves the legality of mifepristone but prohibits sending it through the mail or prescribing it through telehealth appointments.
Judge James Ho, who was nominated in 2017 by President Donald Trump, wrote his own opinion, agreeing with the majority in part but going even further to argue that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone in 2000 should be invalidated, removing it from the market — as the lower court had concluded.
James Ho did not recuse himself from the case even though his wife, Allyson Ho, has regularly participated in events with and accepted speaking fees from the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian legal group whose lawyers argued the mifepristone case before his court, according to the judge’s financial disclosures.
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