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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   24126 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 10, 2024

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FDA vs Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the mifepristone case, was decided by SCOTUS. Full verdict here. The anti-abortion plaintiffs lose 9-0 on standing, with (quite properly for a case lost on standing) no discussion of the merits. Kav writes for the majority, with Thomas concurring on a technical point of standing law (on one of three theories of standing advanced by AHM the majority think they lose on the facts, but Thomas admits that this is correct under current precedent buy under a correct reading of the Constitution he thinks they lose on the law instead).

Quick thoughts:

  • The unanimous opinion treats this as an easy standing case. It is somewhat longer than an opinion needs to be in an easy standing case, which suggests that at least some of the justices wanted to benchslap Judge Kacsmaryk and the 5th Circuit panel.
  • Standing requirements make lawfare harder. If the right-wing Justices wanted to unleash a campaign of right-leaning lawfare then they could have decided this case differently, so it looks like the small-c conservative aversion to lawfare is holding up even with a right-wing Court.
  • Nevertheless, I suspect the pro-life movement can find a plaintiff with standing - perhaps a Catholic mail carrier who objects to delivering abortifacients could sue under the Comstock Act (which looks like the plaintiffs' best argument on the merits). But nothing is going to be decided before the election if a plaintiff wiht standing files a new suit.
  • The Project 2025 says that an incoming Republican administration should aggressively enforce the Comstock Act (which is prsumptively constitutional post-Dobbs) against pharmacies posting mifepristone to patients. This would render this litigation irrelevant.

The Project 2025 says that an incoming Republican administration should aggressively enforce the Comstock Act (which is prsumptively constitutional post-Dobbs) against pharmacies posting mifepristone to patients. This would render this litigation irrelevant.

Trump is at least aware enough to realize that hardcore prolife is very much a minority position in American politics. Some on the right seem to have run away with their own personal copium on this subject because polling shows most people don’t support unlimited abortion on demand until birth, but that doesn’t mean these pills used until the 10 week point are widely opposed at all.

The best thing the next GOP president can do on abortion is say it’s not federal business and let the states handle it. Getting trapped into promising federal / congressional restrictions would be a big mistake and highly unpopular.

I suspect Trump's personal opinion on abortion is very favorable; a guy who likes (or at least liked) to sleep around is going to want the backstop. Anyway, he's already said "it’s not federal business and let the states handle it".

Having all learned that Trump raw dogged a porn star and his joke about how his peronal Vietnam was dodging STDs, I'd be shocked if he wasn't responsible for at least one abortion.

You'd think they'd have spent the last 9 years hunting for the barest shred of evidence of this if there were any.
Even if Dems wouldn't touch it for fear of offending the sacred idol of abortion, some Lincoln Project group would do it (assuming they actually have independent oppo programs and aren't just puppets of a dem "non-profit.")

Like his business dealings, I'm continually surprised at how little dirt they've managed to pull up on him. In NYC real estate work I'd assumed he had at least a few skeletons in the closet/at the bottom of the harbor.

I don't know what to make of it. Maybe he literally only fucked porn stars so he could brag about it to other rich guys, and his body count isn't even very high?
I could honestly see that.

Like his business dealings, I'm continually surprised at how little dirt they've managed to pull up on him. In NYC real estate work I'd assumed he had at least a few skeletons in the closet/at the bottom of the harbor.

I'd expect that there are more people out there under NDA's or he otherwise has some sort of kompromat on relevant associates. Also I think his reputation as 'Teflon Don' and not backing down in the face of dirt being used against him limits the perceived effectiveness of (and thus motivation for) those kind of attacks.

Agree, if Maples did come out and say she had one Trump would simply deny he had anything to do with it, say it was “a shame” and move on, it wouldn’t hurt him.

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