Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC

Florida appeals court affirms an order prohibiting a parentless 16-year-old from terminating her pregnancy on the grounds that she has not proved she is mature enough to get an abortion. So the state will force her to have a child instead. https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2213

After Kansas voters last week rejected one attempt to give the Republican-controlled Legislature more power, GOP lawmakers will try once more in November.

A constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot would give the Legislature veto power over rules and regulations issued by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration if she’s reelected.

The measure was originally proposed by Kelly’s Republican opponent, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Kansans just voted down an amendment that would have handed the Legislature more power to regulate or ban abortion. The 59% to 41% landslide defeat was a stunning rebuke to Republican legislators who wanted additional authority over the procedure.

But the upcoming amendment on the November ballot would hand the Legislature sweeping final control over rules and regulations issued by state agencies – on everything from fireworks manufacturing to the cleaning of livestock feedlots.

TALLAHASSEE - Lawyers for abortion clinics and a doctor want the Florida Supreme Court to review an appellate court decision that allowed a new 15-week limit on abortions to remain in effect as a broader legal battle plays out.

The lawyers filed a notice late Wednesday that said they will ask the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to a July 21 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal.

That ruling came after Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper on July 5 issued a temporary injunction against the 15-week abortion law, which the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved this year.

A stay-put Cooper's injunction on hold while the state appealed, but the abortion clinics and doctors sought to vacate the stay - which would have blocked the 15-week limit from being in effect.

In the July 21 ruling, a divided panel of the appeals court refused to vacate the stay and signaled it would overturn the temporary injunction.

The majority opinion, written by Judge Brad Thomas and joined by Judge Stephanie Ray, said the abortion clinics and a doctor had not shown they would suffer "irreparable harm" from the nearly total ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46/AP) - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham did not show up to his scheduled appearance on Wednesday at the Fulton County courthouse.

Graham was subpoenaed to testify to a special grand jury that’s investigating whether Trump and others broke any laws when they tried to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Georgia in 2020.

The senator is one of the Trump allies who Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants to question as part of her investigation into what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Graham said previously that he would fight a subpoena and he still has the ability to do so if he so chooses.

Graham’s attorneys say that the probe by the Democratic district attorney, Fani Willis, is politically motivated.

Graham was ordered to testify before the Special Purpose Grand Jury on Aug. 2. The petition also states that the State of Georgia will pay all reasonable and necessary travel expenses and witness fees requited to secure his attendance and testimony.

The President is announcing his intent to nominate two federal judicial nominees—both of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

For example, if confirmed, this slate would include:

The second woman of color to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The first person of color to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from Kansas

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - President Joe Biden is nominating a Columbia judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Tuesday’s announcement from the White House is the president’s 25th round of nominees for federal judicial nominations.

DeAndrea Benjamin had served as a judge on the South Carolina Fifth Judicial Circuit since 2011. Previously she was a partner at Gist Law Firm from 2001 to 2011. She also has experience as a municipal court judge for the City of Columbia.

Congressman James Clyburn said, “I believe Judge Benjamin is an outstanding jurist who will be a tremendous addition to the Fourth Circuit bench. I look forward to her progressing through the confirmation process, and I will support her in any way I can.”

J.D. Vance Quietly Supports Bill His GOP Allies Hate—and His Opponent Sponsored

When bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a massive bill to invest nearly $300 billion in boosting U.S. high-tech manufacturing, it was a perfect opportunity—at least on paper—for J.D. Vance to amplify his hard-nosed brand of populist America First politics.

The Ohio Senate candidate’s closest ideological allies certainly teed off on the bill: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a key early endorser of Vance’s campaign, cast the CHIPS Act—which she dubbed “America LAST!”—as anathema to the MAGA movement.

“Congress is repulsive,” she fumed on Twitter.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said “the massive, pro-China CHIPS Act” was “one of the grossest taxpayer-funded handouts I’ve ever seen.”

The leading Ohio conservative, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), hated the bill, and the House Freedom Caucus he helps to lead issued a statement torching the legislation as loaded with “crony capitalist handouts” and “woke policies.”

But when CHIPS legislation passed the U.S. Senate with an unusually balanced 64-33 vote, Vance also sounded like something unusual, at least for him: a politician.

“It is impossible for our modern economy to function without access to high quality computer chips,” he said, in a statement. “With the passage of the CHIPS Act, the Senate took an important step to ensure these products are made in America by American workers.”

For Vance, simple home-state politics may have overridden his America First instincts. Ohio stands to gain perhaps the most from the CHIPS Act, with chipmaker Intel planning to spend $20 billion of the federal investment to establish a new facility in the state.

Vance press secretary Luke Schroeder told The Daily Beast that Vance believed the bill was a net gain for his constituents, and took the opportunity to rehash attacks on “woke capital” and China.

In one of her first acts in office, newly appointed Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez reversed a decision by the man she replaced, former top prosecutor Andrew Warren, and will seek the death penalty against the suspect in a killing of a Hillsborough elementary school teacher.

Prosecutors will seek a death sentence for Matthew Terry, who is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Kay Baker. The third grade math and science teacher at Cypress Creek Elementary in Ruskin was stabbed to death near her home. Terry, who was her boyfriend at the time, was previously convicted in 2017 of stabbing his ex-girlfriend in Michigan.

Florida court rules require prosecutors to file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty within 45 days of a defendant’s arraignment. Terry was arraigned June 21, which made Friday the deadline. Prosecutors filed their death penalty notice that day.

The decision was one of the first moves by Lopez, who was appointed the day before to take over for Warren, the elected state attorney who was ousted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis said he booted Warren from office because the then-state attorney had pledged not to enforce new abortion legislation and because local police complained that he was soft on crime.

Jon Cooper
@joncoopertweets
🤣🤣🤣🤣

Dinu🧡💜🇺🇸🇺🇦
@dinu3415
Replying to @joncoopertweets

Three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Melissa Janssen’s water broke.

But Janssen, 35, was just 18 weeks pregnant, too early for the baby to have a good chance of survival.

“I was in absolute shock and just kind of numb,” she said.

Doctors told Janssen she had two options. First, she could wait and see, although the baby most likely would die and she’d be at increasing risk for sepsis, a dangerous infection.

Her other option was to terminate the pregnancy. But Janssen lives in Wisconsin, which immediately banned nearly all abortions once Roe was overturned in late June.

“It was just mind-blowing,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe this was happening and this was me.”

Janssen wanted to terminate; she was already showing symptoms of an infection, including a low-grade fever and tenderness in her belly, and the baby’s heart rate was becoming elevated. But the change in the law meant her OB-GYN, Dr. Jordan Crow, faced a dilemma. In Wisconsin, the only exception allowing for an abortion is when the mother’s life is in danger. Without symptoms of a full-blown infection, legally it was a tough call to make.