SCOTUS CLEARS WAY FOR NEW TRAVEL BAN CHALLENGES | Young Woman Wins Back Her Right To Choose
October 25, 2017
CLEANING HOUSE
|Yesterday the Supreme court dismissed the last remaining appeal in a pair of cases challenging PRESIDENT TRUMP’S March executive order seeking to limit travel to the United States. Adam Liptak with The New York Times reports the dismissal “mostly amounted to judicial housekeeping, clearing out challenges to the March order as the justices await eventual appeals from the one issued in September.” Josh Gerstein with POLITICO notes that in Tuesday’s order JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR “again registered her dissent” as she noted she would have simply removed challenges to the ban from the high court’s docket and left in place the 9th Circuit’s ruling against the president’s policy.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW WORLD ORDER
|The Trump administration announced it would resume admitting refugees to the U.S. after Tuesday’s expiration of a four-month ban on all resettlement. However, the administration said it would impose “extreme vetting” on incoming refugees, including a new partial ban on refugees from 11 countries. The refugee ban that expired yesterday was part of PRESIDENT TRUMP’S travel ban which federal judges struck down before the Supreme Court allowed parts of it to proceed over summer.
THE THREAT OF ELEVEN
|Ted Hesson with POLITICO reports on the Trump administration’s new refugee order which will initiate a new 90-day review period for the administration to conduct an “in-depth threat assessment” of 11 countries. Hesson: “The administration did not disclose the 11 countries, but based on statements from senior administration officials they appear to be: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. All except for North Korea and South Sudan are majority-Muslim. During the 90-day review period, refugee admissions from the 11 nations will be permitted on a case-by-case basis if the person’s entry is in the national interest and ‘poses no threat to the security or welfare of the United States,’ the official said.”
YOUNG WOMAN WINS BACK RIGHTS TO HER BODY
|The pregnant undocumented teenager fighting for her own reproductive freedom was finally able to get the procedure to terminate her pregnancy. Yesterday, a federal appeals court in Washington sided with the young woman and immediately ordered the Trump administration to allow her to obtain an abortion “promptly and without delay.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editors over at Bloomberg had something to say about Jane Doe, the young woman who had to fight for the ability to terminate her own pregnancy. They note, “The government’s effort to force J.D. to bear a child before, presumably, it seeks to kick her out of the country altogether is a cruel parody of ideological obsession and bureaucratic myopia. J.D. has made her choice.”
KIND OF A BIG DEAL
|Ciara Torres-Spelliscy with The Brennan Center for Justice is here to remind us of the profound importance of the partisan gerrymandering case currently under the Supreme Court’s review. In her piece, she echoes a statement from attorney Paul Smith who said during arguments in Gill v. Whitford, “We’re here telling you [that] you are the only institution in the United States that can … solve this problem just as democracy is about to get worse because of the way gerrymandering is getting so much worse.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
Refugees Score A Win, Further Proof The Travel Ban Is Bunk
The Washington Post“By abandoning the ban and adding apparently small minor fixes after months of hullabaloo, the administration’s move certainly adds to the suspicion that its entire travel ban scheme, including its multiple iterations of the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, was designed purely for domestic consumption by Trump’s xenophobic base.”
It's Entirely Possible To Support Both Religious Freedom and Same-Sex Marriage
The Hill“Jack is asking the high court to continue to protect the First Amendment rights of creative professionals, regardless of their position on same-sex marriage or any other topic. The government should not force individuals to celebrate events or express ideas that violate their conscience. The issue is not whether you support same-sex marriage or Jack Phillips. The issue is whether you support artistic freedom.”
OTHER NEWS
Trump Administration Sides With NFL In Sports Betting Case
The Associated Press“The Trump administration is siding with professional sports leagues in their opposition to allowing New Jersey to offer sports betting at its casinos and racetracks. The solicitor general’s office filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the leagues. The court is scheduled to hear the case in December.”