Politics
Senate Republicans block abortion bill as Democrats harden stance on the issue
Senate Republicans on Monday blocked consideration of a invoice to make abortion authorized nationwide, the centerpiece of Democrats’ response to Republican-led efforts to ask the Supreme Court docket to ship the difficulty again to states to determine.
As anticipated, the procedural vote to start out debate fell largely alongside occasion traces, 46 to 48.
However the truth that the vote was held regardless of its low odds of success underscored the subtly shifting politics within the Democratic Social gathering, as abortion rights advocates demand extra vocal help from lawmakers and present little tolerance for outliers.
One of many Senate’s two remaining Democratic opponents of abortion, Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, supported Monday’s vote to open debate on the Ladies’s Well being Safety Act.
And on Tuesday, the Home’s final antiabortion Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, faces a sharply aggressive major from an abortion rights supporter who has been embraced by progressive lawmakers partly due to her views on reproductive rights.
The vote was the Senate’s first “on a stand-alone invoice to proactively codify” Roe vs. Wade, stated Senate Majority Chief Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). “Abortion has by no means been extra in danger in America.”
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia voted with Republicans in Monday’s vote. Three Republicans and three Democrats didn’t vote.
The Senate invoice comes because the Supreme Court docket is anticipated to challenge a ruling this summer time on a Mississippi legislation that may prohibit abortion at 15 weeks. That might violate the courtroom’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade resolution that established a authorized proper to abortion as much as about 24 weeks.
The courtroom’s 6-3 conservative majority is broadly anticipated to uphold the Mississippi legislation, and a few abortion rights supporters fear the courtroom might overturn Roe fully.
The courtroom has additionally allowed Texas to maintain in place its ban on the process as soon as fetal cardiac exercise is detected, usually at about six weeks, because the separate Texas authorized problem proceeds.
The courtroom’s ruling within the Mississippi case may play a central function within the 2022 midterm elections to find out which occasion controls Congress subsequent yr.
“This can be a crucial time for us to face up and present girls we’re for them and their means to make their very own healthcare selections, together with abortion,” stated Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), one of many invoice’s proponents. “There’s a very concerted effort on the Republican aspect to remove a lady’s proper to make her personal healthcare selections — from abortion to reproductive care, up and down the road.”
Democrats body their laws as “codifying Roe,” although it will go additional.
It might prohibit states from enacting restrictions on abortion earlier than a fetus is viable outdoors the womb, or about 24 weeks, and in post-viability circumstances when the affected person’s life or well being is in danger.
It might additionally curtail GOP efforts to enact roadblocks to abortion entry within the states by prohibiting insurance policies equivalent to ready intervals, ultrasound necessities or calls for that abortion suppliers have admitting privileges at a close-by hospital.
Any state laws on abortion suppliers must apply equally to suppliers of comparable healthcare companies.
The invoice’s broad attain prompted the Senate’s two Republicans who usually help abortion rights, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to oppose it.
Each senators expressed concern that it may get rid of protections for well being staff who’ve ethical objections to taking part in abortion and would override state legal guidelines equivalent to parental notification of minors who’re in search of an abortion.
Murkowski blasted the invoice as a partisan measure and blamed Schumer for not looking for a compromise.
“I’ve lengthy supported a lady’s proper to decide on, however my place is just not with out limits, and this partisan Ladies’s Well being Safety Act merely goes too far,” she stated. “The truth that my selection is between this invoice or nothing in any respect reveals how insincere Majority Chief Schumer is about defending girls’s rights. Failing to conduct any outreach and decreasing this vital challenge to nothing greater than a designed-to-fail present vote is a disservice to girls throughout America.”
The 2 Republicans launched their very own, extra slim measure that may prohibit states from imposing an undue burden on sufferers who select abortion earlier than fetal viability, or about 24 weeks. It might proceed to permit states to enact their very own laws and makes an attempt to strengthen what would immediate an “undue burden,” a problem that the courts have debated for many years.
Conservatives, in the meantime, stated they welcomed the prospect to place Democrats on the document on a invoice that they are saying will probably be politically unpalatable with unbiased or conservative-leaning voters.
“Fairly frankly, I’m glad that Chuck Schumer referred to as for a vote,” stated Carol Tobias, president of the Nationwide Proper to Life Committee. “We wish these senators on document in order that we are able to return to their states and say, ‘Are you aware what he simply voted for?’ … And you may make sure we’re going to use it as a lot as we are able to within the elections this fall.”
Casey, who got here into workplace pledging to oppose abortion, stated latest occasions prompted him to help Monday’s vote.
“Given the latest Supreme Court docket rulings, potential rulings this yr, and the Republican Social gathering’s clear and unrelenting use of this challenge as a political weapon, I’ll vote ‘sure’ to permit debate on this invoice,” he stated in a latest assertion.
His workplace didn’t reply follow-up questions on whether or not Casey would have additionally supported closing passage of the laws, had it superior, or whether or not he has modified his place on abortion rights.
Casey most likely would have confronted opposition from progressive teams had he not supported the vote to start debate.
“Our motion has made it politically not possible to not help abortion entry anymore,” stated Morgan Hopkins, director of political methods on the abortion rights group All Above All, pointing to Casey and Cuellar.
The Home accredited the invoice in September, 218 to 211, with help from all Democrats besides Cuellar. All Republicans opposed it.
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
TRUMP SAYS MEXICO WILL STOP FLOW OF MIGRANTS AFTER SPEAKING WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT FOLLOWING TARIFF THREATS
It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
LIBERAL NANTUCKET REELS FROM MIGRANT CRIME WAVE AS BIDEN SPENDS THANKSGIVING IN RICH FRIEND’S MANSION
Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
HARRIS NEVER LED TRUMP, INTERNAL POLLS SHOWED — BUT DNC OFFICIALS WERE KEPT IN THE DARK
“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
ARMED FELON ARRESTED FOR THREATENING TO KILL TRUMP ATTENDED RALLY WEEKS AFTER BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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