🚨🚨🚨 North Carolina Supreme Court: racially gerrymandered North Carolina General Assembly, as an unconstitutionally constituted legislature, did not have the power to propose amendments to the North Carolina Constitution. https://appellate.nccourts.org/opinions/?c=1&

Anthony Michael Kreis
@AnthonyMKreis

For the North Carolina Supreme Court, it isn't the case that the legislature was inherently unable to act but the margins of proposed amendments were such as to suggest the proposals may not have passed but for legislators representing unconstitutionally gerrymandered districts.

Reverend Raphael Warnock
@ReverendWarnock

Happy 95th Birthday to Georgia's own Rosalynn Carter!

BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️
@mmpadellan

AWESOME.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the state’s near-total abortion ban, which barred patients from terminating a pregnancy at around six weeks, after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The ban took effect shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

In North Carolina, meanwhile, a federal judge tightened the state’s abortion restrictions, reinstating a ban on the procedure after 20 weeks.

In its unanimous order, the South Carolina court decided to uphold the pre-Dobbs “status quo” by temporarily enjoining South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which was passed in 2021. That law did not take effect until it was “triggered” when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in late June. Abortions have been banned in South Carolina at about six weeks since June 27.

Abortion access advocates in South Carolina cheered the court’s decision to allow abortions to resume while the legal challenge moves forward.

“We applaud the court’s decision to protect the people of South Carolina from this cruel law that interferes with a person’s private medical decision,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement. “For more than six weeks, patients have been forced to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion or suffer the life-altering consequences of forced pregnancy.”

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the state’s near-total abortion ban, which barred patients from terminating a pregnancy at around six weeks, after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The ban took effect shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

In North Carolina, meanwhile, a federal judge tightened the state’s abortion restrictions, reinstating a ban on the procedure after 20 weeks.

In its unanimous order, the South Carolina court decided to uphold the pre-Dobbs “status quo” by temporarily enjoining South Carolina’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, which was passed in 2021. That law did not take effect until it was “triggered” when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in late June. Abortions have been banned in South Carolina at about six weeks since June 27.

Abortion access advocates in South Carolina cheered the court’s decision to allow abortions to resume while the legal challenge moves forward.

“We applaud the court’s decision to protect the people of South Carolina from this cruel law that interferes with a person’s private medical decision,” Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement. “For more than six weeks, patients have been forced to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion or suffer the life-altering consequences of forced pregnancy.”

Protect Democracy
@protctdemocracy


BREAKING: Today, a fed judge suspended enforcement of FL’s #HB7, the Stop WOKE Act, as it clearly violates the Constitution by infringing on the free speech of biz owners in FL like plaintiffs in our case against HB7. 1/5 https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22140127/preliminary-injunction-order-honeyfund-v-desantis.pdf


From the decision: “Florida’s Legislators may well find Plaintiffs’ speech repugnant. But under our constitutional scheme, the ‘remedy’ for repugnant speech is more speech, not enforced silence.” 2/5


“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case. But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents.” 3/5


We sued on behalf of 3 FL business owners to challenge HB7’s vague prohibitions on talking to employees about race, gender, or national origin, citing the 1st & 14th Amendments in our case. Read more about our HB7 fight. 4/5

protectdemocracy.org
Challenging Censorship of Speech on Race and Gender

The Stop WOKE Act is a speech code that takes a page from the authoritarian playbook. It seeks to censor ideas that challenge govt officials’ preferred narrative, muzzle independent institutions, and direct outrage toward disfavored groups. 5/5

protectdemocracy.org
The Authoritarian Playbook: a media guide

Protect Democracy
@protctdemocracy


BREAKING: Today, a fed judge suspended enforcement of FL’s #HB7, the Stop WOKE Act, as it clearly violates the Constitution by infringing on the free speech of biz owners in FL like plaintiffs in our case against HB7. 1/5 https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22140127/preliminary-injunction-order-honeyfund-v-desantis.pdf


From the decision: “Florida’s Legislators may well find Plaintiffs’ speech repugnant. But under our constitutional scheme, the ‘remedy’ for repugnant speech is more speech, not enforced silence.” 2/5


“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case. But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents.” 3/5


We sued on behalf of 3 FL business owners to challenge HB7’s vague prohibitions on talking to employees about race, gender, or national origin, citing the 1st & 14th Amendments in our case. Read more about our HB7 fight. 4/5

protectdemocracy.org
Challenging Censorship of Speech on Race and Gender

The Stop WOKE Act is a speech code that takes a page from the authoritarian playbook. It seeks to censor ideas that challenge govt officials’ preferred narrative, muzzle independent institutions, and direct outrage toward disfavored groups. 5/5

protectdemocracy.org
The Authoritarian Playbook: a media guide

Gov. Brian Kemp filed a motion Wednesday to kill a subpoena seeking his testimony before the Fulton County special grand jury looking into potential interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections.

Channel 2 Action News has learned that Kemp never testified in July, but according to sources in the governor’s office, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office canceled the video testimony and issued Kemp a subpoena to testify in person.

The governor’s office said this happened after they requested a list of possible questions that he may be asked.

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman wants to take the state's congressional map to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Ohio Supreme Court overstepped by meddling in mapmaking.

"Drawing districts is supposed to be, under the original premise of the (U.S.) Constitution, up to the state Legislature," Huffman told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, adding that Ohio faces "similar issues" to a North Carolina case that the U.S. Supreme Court recently chose to review.

The Ohio Supreme Court invalidated the state's 15-district congressional map as unconstitutional in July, for the second time. In each 4-3 decision, justices laid out a timeline ? based on the Ohio Constitution ? for drawing a new map and an explanation as to why the map used in the May primary was rejected: It unduly favored Republican candidates.

Annie Leibovitz
@annieleibovitz

United States Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., 2022 / For @voguemagazine