Supreme court delays decision on abortion pill restrictions until Friday – as it happened

In a surprise move, the supreme court extended its review of an appeals court ruling reimposing restrictions on abortion drug mifepristone until Friday, meaning there would be no changes to the drug’s availability until then, if at all. The body is dominated by conservative jurors who just last year overturned Roe v Wade, but it’s too soon to tell if they’re ready to crack down on a medication abortion advocates have been hoping would allow people nationwide to continue accessing the procedure. Meanwhile in the Capitol, House Republicans unveiled a proposal to increase the debt ceiling that would also cut spending and stop the White House’s attempts to relieve some student loans debt. Joe Biden did not sound open to the plan.

Here’s what else happened today:

• A top House Republican said the party plans to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

• A mother and son were convicted for storming the Capitol on January 6, with zip-ties in hand.

• Ron DeSantis went to Washington yesterday, hoping to drum up support for his much-anticipated presidential bid. It did not go well.

• Biden will on Monday welcome to the White House the “Tennessee Three”, as the Democratic lawmakers who protested on the floor of the state House of Representatives in favor of gun control are known.

• Donald Trump’s indictment is not exactly changing a lot of minds, a new poll found.

Before the supreme court decided to extend its decision until Friday, a ruling in the mifepristone case had been expected today, since the supreme court’s stay on the appeals court’s decision was to expire at midnight. Here’s a story by the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino on the twists and turns in this complex case:

The future of abortion access was once again before the US supreme court on Wednesday, as the justices weighed whether to sharply restrict access to the most common method of ending pregnancies while a lawsuit over the drug proceeds.

An order was expected less than a year after the supreme court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, returning the matter the states. It was the latest development in a legal battle initiated by campaigners seeking to revoke a 23-year-old Food and Drug Administration approval of the pill, mifepristone.

Earlier this month, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal judge in Texas, declared the FDA improperly approved the drug in 2000, effectively saying it should be pulled from the market even where abortion remains legal.

The decision to keep mifepristone available until midnight on Friday while the supreme court weighs its fate was made by conservative justice Samuel Alito, according to the Associated Press.

He’s the author of the decision last June overturning Roe v Wade and ending nationwide abortion access. Earlier this month, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal judge in Texas, revoked the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of the medication in response to a lawsuit brought by anti-abortion groups.

The Biden administration appealed that decision, and a three-judge panel partially reversed Kacsmaryk’s decision, allowing the drug to continue to be prescribed but reimposing restrictions that had been repealed in recent years.

That prompted the White House to appeal again to the conservative-dominated supreme court, where the matter awaits a ruling.

This post has been corrected to specify that the supreme court is considering the appeals court’s ruling, not Kacsmaryk’s.

The supreme court will preserve existing levels of access to abortion medication mifepristone until Friday, while it considers whether to allow restrictions on the drug that were removed in 2016 to be reimposed, the Associated Press reports.

Follow this blog for more on this developing story.

This post has been updated to clarify the content of the supreme court’s order.

Firing salvos in the ongoing debt ceiling standoff is not all the Republican-controlled House is up to today.

The chamber has started debate on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which would ban transgender athletes from women’s athletics at schools and universities that receive federal funding. Twelve GOP-led states have already passed such measures, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a pro-LGBTQ+ rights think tank.

“The policies of the woke, progressive Left have invaded schools and campuses across America. Allowing biological males on women’s sports teams and in their locker rooms creates an unfair competitive environment for female athletes,” Greg Steube, the Florida Republican who sponsored the bill, said following its passage out of the House education committee.

Progressive House Democrat Maxwell Frost had some particularly pointed remarks about the proposal in a speech on the House floor:

Joe Biden is speaking at a union training facility in Washington’s Maryland suburbs, and he’s not holding back in condemning the Republican proposal to address the debt ceiling.

Here’s the president’s response, as reported by USA Today:

The comment does not bode well for the president’s negotiations with House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

As expected, the Republican bill to increase the debt ceiling also includes a laundry list of conservative wishes.

House speaker Kevin McCarthy just unveiled the proposal, which would undo the funding increase the Internal Revenues Service won last year to go after tax cheats and improve its operations, prevent Joe Biden from canceling some federal student loans and cut into government spending, among other provisions.

Here’s more, from States Newsroom:

Joe Kennedy III insisted today he will be sticking to the job given to him by Joe Biden in December – US economic envoy to Northern Ireland – even though his uncle, Robert F Kennedy Jr, today formally declared he will stand, in all likelihood against Biden, for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.

Kennedy, scion of the famous political dynasty and a former US congressman from Massachusetts, was asked about his uncle’s decision in Belfast today, while on his first trip as the US envoy.

“I love my uncle, and nothing’s ever going to come between that,” Kennedy told reporters.

“I am honoured that the president selected me for this position. I support the president and look forward to supporting him in the next few years.”

Further reading:

As yet today has brought no new congressional endorsements of Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis, but there was plenty of drama yesterday as two Florida Republicans, one formerly a close ally of the governor, threw their support behind Trump, the clear early leader in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Amid reports that DeSantis allies have been calling Florida Republicans to ask them not to abandon the governor, Politico reported that Trump aides also placed calls before the Florida defections.

One unnamed source said: “The amazing part of it is how easy it was.”

There’s more on that here (and below). But perhaps the most dramatic move came from a Republican from Texas, Lance Gooden.

DeSantis was in Washington to meet members of Congress. At least one attendee was evidently not sold on the deal. Emerging from what he called “a positive meeting” with the governor, Gooden swiftly … released his endorsement of Trump.

Full story:

New polling from CNBC tells us 58% of Americans say Donald Trump’s criminal indictment in New York will not effect how they vote.

“For independents, it does lean them a little bit negative, but not overwhelmingly so,” Jay Campbell of Hart Research, the Democratic pollster for the survey, told CNBC.

Around 25% of respondents said the 34 counts of falsification of business records, relating to a hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels, would make them less likely to vote for Trump, who is leading the race for the Republican nomination for president next year.

Asked if they agreed that the Trump indictment “is a good thing for the country, because it shows that no one is above the law, not even the former president of the United States”, 53% of respondents said they did.

Polling regarding the Republican primary has shown little but good news for Trump since his indictment and arraignment, which happened earlier this month.

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who has not formally declared a run but is Trump’s closest challenger, has concurrently suffered – also while registering plenty of missteps of his own.

Florida has expanded its ban on classroom lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity to all grades at the request of governor Ron DeSantis, the Associated Press reports.

Decried by critics as the “don’t say gay” law, Florida last year passed the ban on such lessons in kindergarten through third grade. Similar legislation has spread to other conservative-led states, while in Congress, Republicans have proposed a nationwide ban on the instruction.

This year, DeSantis asked the state’s board of education to expand the ban up to the 12th grade, which it did today.

Here’s more on the move, from the AP:

The proposal will take effect after a procedural notice period that lasts about a month, according to an education department spokesman.

The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4-12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. Florida currently bans such lessons in kindergarten through third grade.

The DeSantis administration put forward the proposal last month as part of the Republican’s aggressive conservative agenda, with the governor leaning heavily into cultural divides ahead of his looming White House candidacy.

DeSantis has not commented on the proposal. He previously directed questions to Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., who said it was meant to clarify confusion around the existing law and reinforce that teachers should not deviate from existing curriculums.

“We’re not removing anything here,” Diaz Jr. said on Wednesday. “All we are doing is we are setting the expectations so our teachers are clear: that they are to teach to the standards.”

The prohibition, which began last year with the law banning sexual orientation and gender identity lessons in kindergarten through third grade, has drawn intense backlash from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ+ people and has vague terms that result in self-censorship from teachers. Democratic President Joe Biden has called it “hateful.”

The current law is also the root of an ongoing feud with Disney, one of the state’s largest employers and political donors.

“Let’s put it plainly: This is part of the governor’s assault on freedom,” Joe Saunders, senior political director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida, said in a statement, adding the policy will “further stigmatize and isolate a population of young people who need our support now more than ever.”

Fox may have avoided a potentially embarrassing trial by agreeing to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5m to settle its defamation lawsuit, but the reckoning for its airing of Donald Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories is far from over. Election equipment firm Smartmatic has vowed to press ahead with its lawsuit, while Fox’s shareholders are reportedly angry about the payout. Meanwhile in Washington, the long-running debt ceiling battle is heating up, with the House GOP set to unveil their proposal to up the borrowing limit – but only through next March.

Here’s what else has happened so far today:

• A top House Republican said the party plans to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

• A mother and son were convicted for storming the Capitol on January 6, with zip-ties in hand.

• Ron DeSantis went to Washington yesterday, hoping to drum up support for his much-anticipated presidential bid. It did not go well.

Joe Biden will meet on Monday with the three Democratic lawmakers who faced expulsion votes in the Tennessee House of Representatives after they protested in favor of gun control, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“I am pleased to share that the president looks forward to welcoming Tennessee state representative Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson to the White House this coming Monday,” Jean-Pierre said at her daily briefing, which is ongoing.

The Republican-dominated chamber expelled Jones and Pearson, both of whom are Black, after they participated in a protest on the House chamber floor calling for tighter gun laws following a Nashville mass shooting. Johnson, who also participated and is white, narrowly survived her expulsion vote. Within days, authorities in their districts reappointed Jones and Pearson back to their seats, though they will have to win upcoming special elections to keep them.

The saga won the trio of lawmakers a new moniker: the “Tennessee Three”.

CNN reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives are proposing legislation that would put the US government in a position to again hit its debt limit at the end of March 2024 – right as the presidential election is heating up:

The news comes as House Republicans are reported to today release the text of their proposal to increase the borrowing limit, which is expected to include spending cuts and other concessions from Democrats. The US government could default by about June if the limit is not raised.

As CNN report, the increase would not last long, and lawmakers would again have to reach a deal to raise it months before voters head to the polls in the 2024 presidential election, which very likely could see a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

A mother and son who brought zip ties with them when they stormed the Senate gallery during the January 6 insurrection have been found guilty by a federal judge, the Associated Press reports.

Lisa Eisenhart and her son Eric Munchel face an 8 September sentencing after their conviction on 10 counts related to the attack, one of which was obstructing Congress. Here’s more on their case, from the AP:

Lamberth decided the case without a jury after a “stipulated bench trial,” an unusual legal proceeding in which defendants do not admit guilt to charges but agree with prosecutors that certain facts are true. At least three dozen Capitol riot defendants have resolved their cases that way — which allows defendants to preserve their right to an appeal — rather than opting for a traditional trial or pleading guilty.

A jury trial for the pair had been scheduled to start last week.

“Our goal at the end of the day was to show the court that (Munchel) is accepting responsibility for what occurred on Jan. 6,” his attorney, Joe Allen, said after the proceedings ended.

A lawyer for Eisenhart didn’t immediately respond on Tuesday to an email seeking comment.

Munchel, 32, of Nashville, Tennessee, worked at a restaurant. Eisenhart, 59, of Woodstock, Georgia, has worked as a traveling nurse.

On Jan. 6, they attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before joining the crowd that marched to the Capitol. Both of them were wearing tactical vests. Munchel had a stun gun holstered to his right hip.

After grabbing plastic handcuffs that they found inside the Capitol, Munchel and Eisenhart entered the gallery above the Senate chamber and stepped over a railing that separated portions of the gallery. Eisenhart chanted, “Treason! Treason!”

Munchel “gleefully” entered the Capitol during a riot while carrying a dangerous weapon, the stun gun, the judge said in a February 2021 ruling.

“By word and deed, Munchel has supported the violent overthrow of the United States government. He poses a clear danger to our republic,” Lamberth wrote.