The Daily Signal - SCOTUS Delivers a Ruling on Abortion Pill Case, Trump Visits Capitol Hill, Mass Layoffs at SPLC | June 13

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling today. The decision could have big implications for the pro-life movement. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Thursday, June 13th. The Supreme Court issued a ruling today that was disappointing news for many in the pro-life movement. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that pro-life doctors do not have legal grounds to challenge the Food and Drug Administration for removing safety restrictions on abortion drugs. Here with us to explain more is Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Sarah Partial Perry. Sarah, thanks so much for your time today. Thanks for having me.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Well, Sarah, several years ago, the Food and Drug Administration relaxed its regulatory requirements for the abortion pill known as Mitha Pristone. In a response, a group of pro-life doctors and organizations sued the Food and Drug Administration. What grounds did those pro-life doctors and organizations sue the FDA on? So they brought essentially a challenge saying that the FDA had exceeded its statutory authority under something called the Administrative Procedure Act. And the APA guides every executive agency in the federal government when it makes determinations on law when it acts within the capacity of sort of its own authority, but kind of gets over its skis, issues a determination that could be arbitrary capricious or, not financially sound or not supported by underlying law. And what the doctors and the pro-life medical organization here had argued was that specifically

Starting point is 00:01:48 when they removed safety protocols on this particular drug in 2016 and 2019, they exceeded their statutory authority. The science demonstrated that the abortion pill is dangerous, results in complications, 25% of time. and then when they expanded the use of the abortion pill from seven weeks, which is the original approval, all the way up to 10 weeks, they said that is an exceeding amount of change that you did follow the appropriate resolution for. It's not supported by the science and it's not supported by the law. Okay. So the case rose all the way to the Supreme Court, and what did we hear from the Supreme Court today? Well, the Supreme Court didn't even address the merits of the FDA's decisions in 2016 and 2019.

Starting point is 00:02:44 It didn't make any comment on abortion itself. It simply made a procedural determination and, in fact, the entirety of the case opinion, both the concurrence from Justice Thomas and the majority opinion, and this was a 9-0 unanimous ruling, was no more than 38 pages long. So for people who I think we're hoping for a real strong statement about the nature of the dangerous chemicals, the dangerous use of the abortion pill, the Supreme Court didn't address that in the least. It only addressed the issue of standing. And basically, that is a doctrine, a legal doctrine that's been recognized for decades that requires an individual plaintiff or an organization to demonstrate an actual injury that is traceable to the defendant. that can be addressed by a court. And here, both sets of petitioners lacked the first element,

Starting point is 00:03:44 which is necessary for the rest of standing. They could not trace the FDA's decisions to any particular injury that either the doctors or the pro-life organization had suffered. So then, what does this mean for the case? Is it dead in the water, or is there going to be future legal action, do you think? I would anticipate we see future legal action. In fact, one of the statements that came up during oral arguments was essentially from the conservative justices. It can't be that the FDA is above the law. There has to be a party withstanding to bring these particular claims to challenge its regulatory authority. And what they did, I believe, is open up the door now to states, for example, who may want to sue when they're, citizens are injured by the abortion pill or to individual women who suffer injuries on the abortion pill. But in the end, the Supreme Court made sure that these particular doctors and the pro-life medical organization could not actually bring those cases in the first place. I think what we're

Starting point is 00:04:55 going to see going forward is essentially more litigation, fleshing out some of these standing theories, but still challenging the abortion poll regulation. Great, Sarah, thank you for breaking that down for us. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me. Former President Donald Trump was in Washington, D.C. today to meet with Republicans. Trump met with House GOP members this morning and with the Senate this afternoon. This was Trump's first meeting with lawmakers after he was convicted on 34 felony counts in his criminal case out of New York. There were questions about whether some of Trump's GOP critics would attend those meetings,

Starting point is 00:05:37 but Senator Mitt Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, did attend, along with Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial. House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke at a press conference after the meeting, and Johnson said that Trump was very complimentary of the GOP members and of Johnson's leadership as speaker. Representative Matt Gates called the meeting with Trump a pep rally. Trump delivered remarks following his meetings on Capitol Hill and said that there is a lot of unity among GOP members. Take a listen. Great meeting. There's tremendous unity in the Republican Party.

Starting point is 00:06:14 We want to see borders. We want to see strong military. We want to see money not wasted all over the world. We don't want to see Russian ships right off the coast of Florida, which is what they are right now. That's unthinkable. We want to see just success for our country, and we don't have success right now. The former president went on to highlight the open border, high inflation, and national security concerns. The meetings were just about a month ahead of the Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to become the GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election. Lawmakers were busy in D.C. today. In addition to that visit with Trump, the House Judiciary Committee held a huge.

Starting point is 00:06:59 examining concerns that Alvin Bragg politically persecuted Trump. Bragg is the Manhattan District Attorney who brought the criminal case against Trump regarding allegedly falsifying business records. Of course, Trump was just convicted of 34 counts in that case that he faced. Four experts testified in the committee hearing today, including Mississippi Attorney General Andrew Bailey. According to the House GOP-led Judiciary Committee, While Bragg is systematically downgrading most felonies in Manhattan to misdemeanors,

Starting point is 00:07:35 he used a novel and untested legal theory, previously declined by federal prosecutors to upgrade the charges against President Trump to felonies. Here's what Mississippi Attorney General Bailey told the lawmakers during the hearing today. This prosecution was politically motivated and is replete with legal error. First, prosecutors are explicitly forbidden from waging, politically motivated prosecutions. To the extent a prosecutor is self-interested in a case, that prosecutor must recuse himself. That did not happen in New York. Mr. Bragg was previously involved in civil litigation against President Trump, campaigned on a promise to prosecute President Trump, and then recruited the third highest-ranking official from President Biden's Department

Starting point is 00:08:16 of Justice to lead his trial court efforts against President Biden's political opponent. Bailey went on to say that the prosecutor perverted the law to meet the facts, rather than objectively apply the facts to the law. Bragg himself is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on July 12th. That's one day after Trump's sentencing in the case that Bragg brought against him. President Biden signed a 10-year security agreement today with Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky. The agreement commits the U.S. to supplying Ukraine with a wide range of military assistance. With this being a decade-long deal, it helps to secure future administrations will continue to support Ukraine after Biden.

Starting point is 00:09:02 Biden delivered remarks after the signing and said the U.S. remains committed to Ukraine in their fight against Russia for as long as it takes. Biden also explained that continued financial support for Ukraine is coming from Russian assets. Biden explained how here, per MSNBC. Back in 2022, two days after Russia's invasion, members of the G7, the European Union, worked together to freeze $280 billion in Russian central bank funds outside of Russia. I'm very pleased to share that this week, this week the G7 signed a plan to finalize and unlock $50 billion from the proceeds of those frozen assets. To put that money to work for Ukraine, another reminder that to Putin, we're not backing down. In fact, we're standing together against this illegal aggression. After Biden and Skolensky delivered their remarks, reporters asked the leader's questions.

Starting point is 00:10:01 And one reporter asked Biden about the conviction of his son, Hunter Biden, this week. Hunter was convicted of three felony counts related to purchasing a gun while actively using drugs. Biden said today that he accepts the jury's decision and will not pardon his son. The president said again that his son has overcome an addiction and that he is extremely proud of him. The far-left organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center, reportedly terminated a quarter of its staff on Wednesday. That's according to reporting from the Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neill. The leftist group is reportedly going through a restructuring that is heavily hitting upon its union members. Even though the SPLC is a nonprofit, it has its own labor year.

Starting point is 00:10:47 union. But the SPLC told more than 60 union members, including five union stewards and the union's chair, that they would be losing their jobs. In response to the layoffs, the SPLC's union wrote on X, we are devastated for our union and our colleagues. The SPLC is the same group that makes a hate map and puts conservative groups like the Family Research Council on that map. The SPLC did confirm the news of the layoffs to the Alabama Reflector, though it didn't respond to request for comments from the Daily Signal. According to the union, the layoffs will effectively end various departments at the organization, news that might be welcomed by some conservative groups that have been added to the SPLC's

Starting point is 00:11:34 so-called hate map. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being with us here for the Daily Signal's top news. Tomorrow morning, be sure to catch our interview edition. I am sitting down with pro-life advocate and former NFL star, Ben Watson. We talk marriage, abortion, raising kids, and a little bit about the NFL as well. So make sure to check out that conversation. And if you would, hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on new shows from The Daily Signal

Starting point is 00:12:03 and leave us a five-star rating and review. We love hearing your feedback. Thanks again for being with us tonight. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning for my conversation with Ben Watson. The Daily Signal podcast has made possible. because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein,

Starting point is 00:12:26 Mary Margaret O'Lehann, and Tyler O'Neill. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geiney, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visitdailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - SCOTUS Delivers a Ruling on Abortion Pill Case, Trump Visits Capitol Hill, Mass Layoffs at SPLC | June 13

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