Legal AF by MeidasTouch - CORRUPT Supreme Court POISON PILL in Ruling EXPOSED

Episode Date: June 15, 2024

Don’t be fooled by the 9-0 Supreme Court decision about the use of medicated abortion pills. It is nothing more than a Trojan Horse invitation for a future case to come before the MAGA majority to prevent the use of medicated abortions in the near future, and permission for a new Trump presidency to further attack a woman’s reproductive rights. Michael Popok dives into the new decision and explains why it is cold comfort but a call to action for the presidential election. Go Right Now for 50% off your no-risk two week trial at https://TryNom.com/LEGALAF Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/legalaf Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Secret. Secret deodorant gives you 72 hours of clinically proven odor protection, free of aluminum, parabens, dyes, talc, and baking soda. It's made with pH-balancing minerals and crafted with skin conditioning oils. So whether you're going for a run or just running late, do what life throws your way and smell like you didn't. Find Secret at your nearest Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart today. This episode is brought to you by New Balance Running. New Balance believes if you run, you're a runner. Whether you're going for your first ever run around the park or going for your personal best in a marathon, speed, strength, stamina. Whatever goal you're working toward.

New Balance has the running shoes, clothes, and accessories to push your run further and help you run your way. Find yours at newbalance.ca slash running. New Balance. Run your way. Nobody goes on vacation for the moments that are just... okay. That's why Sunwing vacationers go all in like it's a buffet of fun. Whether you're skimming the treetops like Tarzan's long-lost twin, or deep end swimming with your flippers and fins. Or maybe you're just perfecting the art of doing absolutely nothing. Whatever vacationer you are, with Sunwing, you save more so you can do more. Book with your local travel agent or...

Sunwing.ca What's it like to trade crypto on Kraken? Let's say I'm in a state-of-the-art gym surrounded by powerful-looking machines. Do I head straight for the squat rack? I could, but this gym has options, like trainers, fitness pros, botters to back me up. That's crypto on Kraken, powerful crypto tools backed by 24-7 support and multi-layered security. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be.

Non-investment advice, crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. That's the sound of unaged whiskey, transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, nearest green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time.

This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at TNVacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. So Michael Popak, Legal AF, do not be fooled by the 9-0 decision by the United States Supreme Court, which found that a certain group of doctors who sued to stop the FDA from allowing Mephapristone, one of two pills that are used in medicated abortion, which are obtained by women through telehealth and through a mail order system. The fact that they found that those particular doctors didn't have standing to bring that

lawsuit should give cold comfort to everyone that cares about women's and reproductive rights because all it is is an invitation for another group that does have an injury, that does have standing, to challenge this very same use and approval by the FDA of Mifflin Pristone and have this right-wing 63 Supreme Court rule in yet another decision probably next term that it can't be used. Let me lay it all out for you now.

I know the headline was a little bit celebratory, nine zero, we got nine zero, but when you really pull back the curtain, this is a harbinger for a potentially a terrible result in the future and we can look to Clarence Thomas in his concurrence, of course, to see the makings. I see this as an invitation that the six to three majority are saying, this was the wrong case, the wrong plaintiffs, but send us the right case and the right plaintiffs, and we're willing to restrict the right to use Mifepristone. Because they never reached the substantive merits of the case, how Miffl-Pristone and the FDA approval can operate in a world where more than 12 states

have outright banned a woman's right to choose. How those two things work together, how you reconcile those two positions, that was never discussed because the Supreme Court punted and just said, we don't have the right case, wrong plaintiffs. Or as Judge Kavanaugh, who wrote the majority decision, well, the nine zero decision,

in FDA versus the Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine, I'm gonna talk about them in a minute, how that's really hypocritical medicine, that's a astroturf group that was created and formed in Northern District of Texas just to bring this lawsuit. We'll leave that alone for a minute. And I'm sure that gave the justices pause that this was the wrong case. As Justice Kavanaugh said in his decision, creating sort of a new standard for standing. Let me explain standing

for a minute. You can't get a ticket into the courtroom or the courthouse unless you have standing, meaning you have an injury that is unique from the injury of the public at large that flows directly from a series of actions, could be a breach of contract, could be a tort or a bad behavior or conduct by your neighbor or by another business or in this case, governmental action. There has to be a direct link, a causal link, a proximate cause between that action and your injury. Or as Justice Kavanaugh put it, the what's it to you standing.

Sounds like a Robert De Niro movie line, but the judge said you have to pass the initial threshold of what's it to you? What do you care? How are you injured by the governmental action? And that fundamental, what's it to you, standing standard by Judge Justice Kavanaugh, now the 90 Supreme Court, was not met by this phony organization called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

And so what the court, what Kavanaugh said is the reason we're not even reaching the substance of the merits of this Mephapristone issue and how it fits or doesn't fit within the landscape of state by state, the banning of abortion rights for women and reproductive health for women. The justice said in his majority opinion that there has to be a series of acts that are alleged by the plaintiff to show from a government action all the way to the injury that there is a natural flow of causation. And that was missing here. Well,

of course it was missing here. Let's look at the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine for a minute, and let's look at the judge that they purposely, in order to judge shop, they purposely filed the original lawsuit. Remember, all Supreme Court cases come from below. They all come from trial court level, federal trial court level predominantly, then courts of appeal. In this case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal based in Louisiana, which is in New Orleans, which is a very right-wing, right- right leaning bench with a lot of Trump appointees. And you got Judge Kazmeric, who not only was a Trump appointee, who's not only the only judge in this particular division

of the Northern District of Texas, but he used to work against reproductive rights for women. He was the general counsel for first Liberty Institute This is this was his day job. His day job was preventing women from seeking abortion and other reproductive health and Then he got appointed by Trump and that's the judge of choice. So what did they do? The plaintiffs created a fake plaintiff This was an organization no one ever heard of because it never existed until this lawsuit. The Alliance for Hypocratic Medicine or like what I like to say is the Alliance for Hypocritical Medicine is just an AstroTurf group. It's not natural forming.

They got together on their own because they wanted to file and judge Casmaric's chambers. And if you're disturbed by that, you should be. And that's something that the federal government and the Democrats in Congress have been trying to stop. But they can't get the other circuits, especially in Texas, to agree that judge shopping, forum shopping is a bad thing. So they went for the anti-abortion judge who's public about being anti-abortion and they filed the suit. He said, oh yes, Mifepristone, terrible, even though it's been documented for 24 years of medical studies that it is safer than aspirin. It is safer than Tylenol for women to take, but not to judge Kazmeric. Relying on studies that have already been discredited, that were provided to him in

the evidence, that have already been retracted because it turns out the studies were conducted by anti-abortion groups to say, oh, there's a percentage chance that somebody using Mifflpristone could end up in an emergency room and needing an abortion. And I don't wanna do abortion. I'm a doctor whose moral conscience is being implicated. I thought you had a Hippocratic oath. I thought that was the name of your plaintiff.

But not to them, a medical, so that was the problem. That was the attenuation of the standing issue that gave pause to Kavanaugh and the rest. That's why they said, what's it to you? You not wanting others to prescribe Mifepristone since you don't prescribe Mifepristone and you haven't actually provided any abortion for a woman who used Mifepristone and had to have an emergency procedure, you don't have standing.

That's the argument. Now again, on first blush, it's like yay for women's rights, but it's not. It's again an invitation for a next lawsuit to attack the merits of Mifepristone. An incredibly safe use. One out of six women use Mifepristone for abortions. One out of six women use Mifepristone in its related other pill for abortions at home safely. There's absolutely no medical, there's no medical evidence. There's no scientific evidence that women end up in emergency rooms seeking abortions because they use Mifepristone.

That's a lie. And, but again, the Supreme Court never had to talk about the lie, the fake studies, the use of them by Metcass Marek. They just said no standing. And so they subtly, but not directly, chastised Judge Casmeric. How did you find standing? And the Fifth Circuit too. The Fifth Circuit dialed back some of what Casmeric tried to do, which was a nationwide ban from little, a little corner of Northern Texas to stop all women from using Mifepristone. They dialed back aspects of that,

but they still found standing. Nom Nom serves eye popping, jaw dropping, floor licking delicious dog food. Vet developed to contain the nutrients your dog needs and the flavor they crave. Nom Nom's vet developed to contain the nutrients your dog needs and the flavor they crave. Nom Nom's vet developed meals burst with the balanced nutrients dogs need and the tantalizing taste and textures they crave

to add delight to their day. So Nom Nom is outstanding quality with balanced nutrition that creates actual meal time excitement. Plus nom nom is endlessly enriching. Recipes are made with 100% premium ingredients, which means 0% freaky fillers or funky stuff. Make meal time your dog's favorite time. Serve vet develop recipes as a full meal, offer as a tasty treat, or exercise your pup's mind and trigger their drool mechanism by hiding a spoonful in puzzles or lick mats. Say goodbye to boring dog food and give your dog a reason to run to their bowl with every meal, every day. Nom face assured or your money back

guaranteed. Nom face is nom speak for dogs deliriously excited about dinner. is nom speak for dogs deliriously excited about dinner. I love my rescue Muddy Paw's dog Lily, and she's an integral part of our family, which is why I'm committed to only giving her the best. Don't settle when it comes to your dog's health. Switch to real gently cooked dog food with ingredients you can actually see. Nutrient Pack recipes designed by board certified

veterinary nutritionists, freshly made and delivered to your door. There are so many ways for your dog to get their Nom Nom on. Nom Nom is now available at Chewy.com and your local PetSmart stores. Or you can get 50% off your no risk trial box by going to trinom.com slash legal AF. Spell trinom.com slash legal AF for 50% off your first subscription order.

Clarence Thomas is the one we have to watch because he is signaling for the rest of the right wing. Amy Coney Barrett, who has like eight children and is a Roman Catholic and talks about her faith, faith-based decision-making and rule-making at the Supreme Court, and the others. Kavanaugh today is not going to be Kavanaugh in the future when they have the numbers to rip away a woman's right to choose and to talk about how since Dobbs, since their decision two years ago to rip away a woman's constitutional right to choose, how they can't use Mifepristo. That's going to be coming next. And look at the language that Clarence Thomas used in his concurrence. It's not a thumbs up.

Sorry about that. That's some feature here that occasionally pops up when I do my hot ticks. occasionally pops up when I do my hot takes. Judge Justice Clarence Thomas called the doctors who provide abortions, and they are all doctors. They are not even physician's assistants or registered nurses or anything like that. They are doctors. He called them abortionists. Apparently, according to some studies,

including the New York Times today, that's the first time that term has ever been used by a justice. It's been in filings and in briefs, it's been in studies, it's been in evidence, but not the justice using the term. Think about this loaded immoral term used by the justice. So he pitted this as being on one side, abortionists. That's an old-timey phrase, which has a very negative connotation. Didn't even give them the courtesy of calling them a doctor.

And he called their patients, because that's what they are. They're getting a medical procedure if they're getting an abortion, whether it's in a medical office or Planned Parenthood or it's by Mifepristone use at home. He called the people that, the women that are making their decision about their reproductive health, clients, not patients, clients. On the other side, he talked about doctors and patients. So if you are against abortion so that you line up morally with Clarence Thomas, then you are a doctor and the person you work with and you have a Hippocratic oath to support is your patient. But if you are a person that is a doctor that is in favor of helping a woman make the right choice and have a bodily autonomy. You're an abortionist

and you are in your client and your patient, the woman that you work with, is your client. See how they subtly do that? And so what I'm worried about and what I want you to take away from this hot take is this fight is not over. This fight over reproductive health is not over. And so I don't want you to be surprised when inevitably if this six to three majority stays the way it is, and a Trump gets into office especially, there's not gonna be another challenge to take away a woman's right to use

medicated abortion at home. It's going to happen. And the other thing we have to worry about, I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but I want you to be armed with this information. The other thing you have to be worried about is if Trump restores his presidency through executive orders, he could take away and further limit the FDA's ability to allow Mifepristone to be used.

An FDA headed by a Trumper, you'll see, is going to say, well, there's medical studies. We can't figure it out. It seems very dangerous. We're going to take mythopristone off the shelves. You could see that. You could see Donald Trump in his first hundred days issuing executive orders that limit or curtail the use and the ability to prescribe mythopristone. That is going to happen, as well all the other things that the Biden administration has been trying to do. Now the Dobson's happened, the constitutional right to a woman to choose has been taken away through the executive action of Joe Biden. The use of federal regulations like the Emergency Medical Procedures Act and Treatment

Act, EMTALA, to try to allow women in certain circumstances to have the right to an abortion if their life is in danger. Those are going to leave. Those are going to go and evaporate. So for those that say it doesn't matter who's in office, they're both two old guys, wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Because if your moral compass and where you are on social issues lines up with the Democrats and what they have done since Dobbs,

which was not their fault, it was the fault of Donald Trump putting on and getting two more, two more or three total Supreme Court justices. It matters. It matters who's in office. And over the course of the next four or five years, there will be other vacancies in the United States Supreme Court, I assure you. It happens. Very rarely does a

Supreme Court stay stable for this long. There will be retirements. I don't know if it's Sotomayor retiring. I don't know if it's somebody on the other side passing away from natural causes, but there will be one or two openings. Who do you want as president to fill those positions? I know there's a lot of talk about packing the court, expanding the court, making it 12, making it 15. FDR tried that back in the 40s, but you need to have a majority in the Senate and the House in order to pull that off. The Supreme Court is not defined in the US Constitution as to a number, but Congress has to define that as well.

And so that is not an easy fix. Easier fix is make sure you get an adult who's dignified with good judgment back into the White House to make these decisions. Don't be fooled by the nine to zero vote and everybody whooping it up. When they asked Donald Trump's spokespeople about his position on abortion rather than say, don't worry, if I get in, I won't use executive power to take away and further curtail a woman's right to choose and attack her bodily autonomy. They said, well, Supreme Court spoken, nine zero.

We have to respect it. Respect what? The procedural posture that there was no standing, kicking the can down the road to another day when they will take away a woman's right to choose and a right to use Miffl-Pristone, when they get the right case with the right plaintiff, and they've already given them the outline of how to do that in this particular case. I'll continue to explore and examine in searing fashion the best way I know how right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF, we do that podcast.

Now you know why we call it Legal AF every Wednesday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern time right here on the Midas Touch Network. And then I do hot takes like this one about every hour at the intersection of law and politics. Right here, you can go over to the YouTube channel for Midas Touch free subscribe, look for Michael Popok under contributors or playlists, and you'll find my entire body of work. So until my next hot take, until my next Legal AF, this is Michael Popok reporting.