Democracy Docket
@DemocracyDocket

BREAKING: Texas Supreme Court denies Harris County's request to stop enforcement of #SB1750 as litigation continues. The law abolishes Harris' election administrator office and splits election duties between the county clerk and tax assessor's offices.

Harris County alleges that the law, which only applies to Harris County, attacks local government and violates the Texas Constitution. SB 1750 is set to go into effect Sept. 1 and will force Harris County to reorganize its election system just weeks before Election Day.

democracydocket.com
🚨 New Lawsuit Filed in Texas

When a six-figure fine threatened a Florida abortion clinic, its volunteers didn't hesitate.

In just a few days, Stand With Abortion Now of Orlando, a local advocacy group launched after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade known, has already raised nearly half the $193,000 fine that the state levied against the Center of Orlando for Women, one of just two abortion clinics in the city.

"Florida's AHCA, the Agency for Healthcare Administration, has levied some pretty outrageous fines against our clinic, basically in an attempt for the state to fine our clinic out of existence," one of the group's volunteers, who asked that their name not be used for safety reasons, told Insider.

The volunteers typically help shield patients entering the abortion clinic from anti-abortion activists. They often rely on aliases, wear sunglasses, and use oversized umbrellas to protect their own identities in the contentious line of work.

Florida lawmakers passed a 6-week abortion ban in April, outlawing abortion before most women even know they are pregnant. The law won't officially go into effect unless the state's previous 15-week ban is upheld in court.

When a six-figure fine threatened a Florida abortion clinic, its volunteers didn't hesitate.

In just a few days, Stand With Abortion Now of Orlando, a local advocacy group launched after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade known, has already raised nearly half the $193,000 fine that the state levied against the Center of Orlando for Women, one of just two abortion clinics in the city.

"Florida's AHCA, the Agency for Healthcare Administration, has levied some pretty outrageous fines against our clinic, basically in an attempt for the state to fine our clinic out of existence," one of the group's volunteers, who asked that their name not be used for safety reasons, told Insider.

The volunteers typically help shield patients entering the abortion clinic from anti-abortion activists. They often rely on aliases, wear sunglasses, and use oversized umbrellas to protect their own identities in the contentious line of work.

Florida lawmakers passed a 6-week abortion ban in April, outlawing abortion before most women even know they are pregnant. The law won't officially go into effect unless the state's previous 15-week ban is upheld in court.

Chris Geidner
@chrisgeidner

BREAKING: A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit allows enforcement of Alabama's ban on gender-affirming care for minors — reversing a trial court's injunction. The appeals court panel was all Trump appointees. More to come at Law Dork: https://lawdork.com

Here is the appeals court's opinion in Eknes-Tucker v. Alabama:

courtlistener.com
Opinion – #125, Att. #1 in Paul Eknes-Tucker v. Governor of the State of Alabama (11th Cir.,...

The full appeals court had previously upheld a school bathroom ban last December, a decision cited repeatedly here.

Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee to the 11th Circuit who Trump also considered for #SCOTUS, wrote both decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Valerie Laveus remembers when she first heard about an immigration program designed to allow people to come to the U.S. from four countries, including her native Haiti.

“I said, ‘Whoa! This seems like it would work well for bringing my nephew and my brother into the country,’” said the Florida teacher, who received a WhatsApp message in January and verified with an immigration lawyer that the program was real.

After years of trying to get a green card, her brother arrived with her nephew in early August, ready to start a new life. They are two of the roughly 181,000 people who have entered the U.S. under the humanitarian parole program since President Joe Biden launched the initiative.

But 21 Republican-leaning states threaten to end the program through a lawsuit to determine its legality, which is set to be heard in a Texas court beginning Thursday, with a decision coming later.

The case is scheduled to be heard by Judge Drew Tipton in Victoria, Texas, a Donald Trump appointee who has ruled against the Biden administration on who to prioritize for deportation.

Missoula Democrat Monica Tranel is back on the campaign trail, her sights set again on beating Ryan Zinke and representing Montana in Congress.

Tranel, a two-time Olympic rower and attorney known for tussling with NorthWestern Energy, announced Monday that she is seeking a rematch with incumbent Republican Zinke about eight months after her three-point loss to the former U.S. secretary of the Interior. She’s spent the rest of the week traveling the state’s western congressional district making her pitch, mixing a few metaphors along the way.

“Two years ago, we set out to climb a high mountain, and together we came to a fork in the road. Election night of ’22 is not the end of our journey,” she told a crowd of about 60 mostly gray-haired supporters Wednesday at Kalispell’s Northwest Montana History Museum, the third stop of her budding campaign. “…For all of those people who are going to cast their first ballot in 2024, for everyone who feels as if their voice isn’t heard, for everyone who feels invisible, for the missing middle, I’m standing here tonight telling you I’ve made the decision to take a fork in the road that leads to the top of the mountain.”

Leah Litman
@LeahLitman

Justice Rebecca Bradley (WI SCt) is, once again, having a normal one -- ranting about the "Democrat Party" in her latest writing.
https://acefiling.wicourts.gov/document/eFiled/2023AP001399/692192

The Walt Disney Co. filed a counterclaim against the Ron DeSantis-appointed board of a special district that covers its Florida theme parks, seeking damages and the enforcement of a set of development contracts.

The company’s lawsuit, filed in Florida state court in Orange County, FL, was a response to litigation filed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, which was appointed by DeSantis in late February after the state moved to strip Disney of its 55 years of control over the special district.

In the counterclaim, the company’s legal team, led by Dan Petrocelli, wrote that Disney is seeking unspecified damages and wants a court order that the board comply with a development contracts between the special district and Walt Disney World.

In February, the Disney-controlled board of the special district approved the development contracts, ensuring that the company’s Florida theme parks and resorts still maintained a degree of autonomy even after state law was changed later in the month. That bill allowed DeSantis to appoint his own members to the board of the district, which was renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board.

The Walt Disney Co. filed a counterclaim against the Ron DeSantis-appointed board of a special district that covers its Florida theme parks, seeking damages and the enforcement of a set of development contracts.

The company’s lawsuit, filed in Florida state court in Orange County, FL, was a response to litigation filed by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, which was appointed by DeSantis in late February after the state moved to strip Disney of its 55 years of control over the special district.

In the counterclaim, the company’s legal team, led by Dan Petrocelli, wrote that Disney is seeking unspecified damages and wants a court order that the board comply with a development contracts between the special district and Walt Disney World.

In February, the Disney-controlled board of the special district approved the development contracts, ensuring that the company’s Florida theme parks and resorts still maintained a degree of autonomy even after state law was changed later in the month. That bill allowed DeSantis to appoint his own members to the board of the district, which was renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor on Thursday turned back an effort to block a Florida law that prevents some Chinese citizens from owning land in the state.

The judge shot down a challenge to the law that prevents those "domiciled" in China with no U.S. citizenship from owning land near military bases, critical infrastructure and agricultural lands, saying that the real-estate firm and four Chinese immigrants who sought the injunction were not likely to win the case.

"Plaintiffs have not shown a substantial likelihood that unlawful animus motivated the Legislature," Winsor wrote in his 51-page decision.

Winsor noted specifically that their challenge, citing similarities between the law and California's 1913 Alien Land Law that was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court failed to prove the Florida measure intended to discriminate based on race.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the law is discriminatory against Asian immigrants and deploys "false claims of national security" to support the law. The ACLU signed on as part of a coalition fighting the law.

While much of the attention over the law centers on China, it also restricts citizens from Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Syria, calling them countries of "concern."