States Bring Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google | First Abortion Case At SCOTUS Since ACB
December 17, 2020
WEB OF POWER
|States yesterday led by Texas AG KEN PAXTON filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging the tech giant illegally sought to suppress competition and reap massive profits from targeted advertisements placed across the Web. Tony Romm with The Washington Post reports, “The lawsuit — filed in a Texas federal court and backed exclusively by Republicans — strikes at the heart of Google’s lucrative business in connecting those who seek to buy online ads with the websites that sell them. Paxton and his GOP allies contend that Google relied on a mix of improper tactics to force its ad tools on publishers and solidify its pole position as a ‘middleman’ in the invisible transactions that power much of the Web.”
CHEW ON THIS
|an Millhiser with Vox notes the first abortion case since AMY CONEY BARRETT joined the bench is now before SCOTUS. It’s a challenge to allowing abortion pills to be delivered by mail to patients during the pandemic. Millhiser explains the background of the case and writes, “Medication abortions are an alternative to a much more invasive surgical procedure, where a patient’s cervix is dilated and the fetus is removed via suction through the vagina. Among other things, surgical abortions carry considerably more risk during a pandemic. They require patients to spend a significant amount of time in a clinic where they could potentially be exposed to the virus, rather than simply making a brief visit to pick up pills. Nevertheless, the Trump administration argues that it’s fine for the FDA to impose restrictions — even potentially very significant restrictions — on medication abortions so long as surgical abortions are available.”
GIVING THANKS
|“The Supreme Court was never going to hear, let alone grant, the request by red-state attorneys general and the White House to overturn the election results in four battleground states that went for Joe Biden. We knew that, we privileged few who could have offered an inventory of the lawsuit’s flaws while standing on one foot. We had not the slightest doubt that the case was a non-starter. Or did we?” Linda Greenhouse with The New York Times thinks we ought to thank the Supreme Court — and all courts — for upholding the rule of law. At least for now, she says, “Let’s celebrate the judges who were there when we needed them.”
STOPPING THE RUNAWAY TRAIN
|Rabbi Avi Shafran argues in NBC News that SCOTUS was right to side with houses of worship in New York, New Jersey and Colorado regarding COVID-19 restrictions on the capacity of services. “In a speech last month, JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO expressed his concern that religious liberty in the United States is ‘fast becoming a disfavored right.’ In its recent decisions, the High Court has thankfully put the brakes on that runaway train.”
UP IS NOT DOWN
|Elizabeth Slattery suggests in The Federalist that SCOTUS “must wade into the waters of historic preservation at sea.” She makes note of a pending petition that asks justices to resolve a circuit court split and clarify that “the ocean is not land, up is not down, and words have meaning.”