The vote on the #RightToContraceptionAct was 51-39, falling short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a #filibuster & move forward. Republicans said the bill is unnecessary as the use of #BirthControl is protected under #SCOTUS precedent as if [#SupremeCourt precedent means anything anymore].
The legislation would establish nationwide #rights for individuals to “obtain #contraceptives & to voluntarily engage in #contraception” & protect #healthcare providers who offer it. It defines contraceptives as “any drug, device, or biological product intended for use in the prevention of pregnancy” & prohibits #federal or #state governments from enforcing #laws or standards that impede that right. It empowers the #DOJ & affected private entities to sue to enforce the new protections.
#Republicans in ≥17 states have blocked #laws assuring the right to #BirthControl since 2022. Most recently, #Virginia Gov Glenn #Youngkin (R) vetoed a bill meant to ensure #access to #contraceptives, saying while he personally supports access, he was loath to “trample on the #religious freedoms of Virginians,” incl’g #medical providers [what about everyone else’s freedoms?] #Trump suggested that he was open to restricting access to #contraception.
#Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Is Increasingly Using Consumer Protection Laws to Pursue #Political Targets
Paxton has repeatedly used #laws that are supposed to protect people from fraudulent or deceptive practices to pursue entities he disagrees with politically, including #hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and #LGBTQ+ groups.
Alarm as German climate activists charged with ‘forming a criminal organisation’
“This is the first time in German history that a climate protest group that uses measures of peaceful civil disobedience is charged as a criminal organisation."
“Paragraph 129 of the German criminal code is to combat organised crime. Its application to non-violent protest criminalises civic engagement and thus restricts democratic freedoms."
"Fire management in Victoria amounts to de facto native logging industry, conservationists say. On Thursday conservationists and the Victorian National Parks Association expressed shock after discovering a dead greater glider in an area where trees had been felled by FFMV."
"Logging in Victoria’s native forests ended at the beginning of this year but Prof David Lindenmayer, a forest ecologist at Australian National University, said: “There’s a de facto logging industry now emerging under the guise of fire suppression.“To me, when you cut down big trees and put them on a truck and take them to a sawmill … that is logging.”"
#Trump May Owe $100 Million From #DoubleDip Tax Breaks, Audit Shows
A previously unknown focus of an #IRS audit is a dubious accounting maneuver that effectively meant taking the same write-offs twice on his #Chicago skyscraper.
…The outcome of #Trump’s dispute could set a precedent for #wealthy people seeking #tax benefits from the laws governing partnerships. Those #laws are notoriously complex, riddled with uncertainty & under constant assault by lawyers pushing boundaries for their clients. The #IRS has inadvertently further invited aggressive positions by rarely auditing partnership tax returns.
“This is a fight for freedom, the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body & not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do,” the VP said.
“As we know, almost 2 yrs ago, the highest court in our land, the court of Thurgood & RBG, took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. And now, in states across our nation, extremists have proposed & passed #laws that criminalize doctors, punish women – laws that threatened doctors & nurses w/prison time, even for life, simply for providing #ReproductiveCare,” VP #KamalaHarris said.
The prosecution’s discussion of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal —brokered in summer 2016— demonstrated that the payment was part of a #conspiracy to #influence that year’s #election.
Pecker said that McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating #CampaignFinance#laws.
Prosecutors in Trump’s #criminal trial say he has violated a #GagOrder barring him from attacking #witnesses, #jurors & others close to the case. Testimony is set to resume later Tuesday morning.
During #Steinglass’s questioning of #Pecker, #Trump's lawyers often objected to prosecutors couching Trump's relationship w/Pecker & #MichaelCohen as a #conspiracy - saying Trump isn’t facing a conspiracy charge.
🚨⇉ But Steinglass said on record one of the election statutes the case is based on does in fact have a conspiracy provision. That could prove important later when the #jury is instructed on the #laws they must consider in reaching a #verdict.
The #UnitedStates has allowed >40k #refugees into the country in the first 5 months of the fiscal yr after they passed a rigorous, often yearslong, #screening process that includes #security & #medical#vetting & interviews w/ American officers overseas.
The figure represents a significant expansion of the #refugee program, which is at the heart of #US#laws that provide desperate people from around the world w/ a #legal way to find #SafeHaven in the #UnitedStates.
The US has not granted refugee status to so many people in such a short period of time in >7 yrs. The #Biden admin is now on target to allow in 125k #refugees this yr.…
By comparison, ~64k refugees were admitted during the last 3 yrs of the #Trump admin.
A new bill from #SanFrancisco Assembly Member #MattHaney would clearly outline when companies can communicate w/their #employees during off hrs, following other countries that have passed “right to disconnect” #laws.
…“We’re simply saying there should be #consent around when (people) are working & not,” Haney said. “Not an expectation of 24/7 availability in a contract that they have not agreed to, & that gives people no time where they can expect to be not working.”
Countries including France, Australia, Argentina, Italy & others have passed #laws to safeguard #employees’ personal #time.
#Republican-appointed judges raise alarm over #Trump attacks on #law
Federal DC Judge #ReggieWalton warned Trump’s attacks on #HushMoney trial judge & others could lead to #violence.
The Republican-appointed judge denounced Trump’s attacks against the judge presiding over his hush money trial in Manhattan & his daughter, calling them assaults on the #RuleOfLaw that could lead to violence & #tyranny.
“The #RuleOfLaw can only be maintained if we have #independent#judicial officers who are able to do their job & ensure that the #laws are in fact enforced & that the laws are applied equally to everybody who appears in our courthouse,” #ReggieWalton told CNN. He was prompted to speak out of concern for the “future of our country & the future of #democracy in our country,” Walton said, “because if we don’t have a viable court system that’s able to function efficiently, then we have #tyranny.”
Well, Hazel3/CuteVixen/HazeltheVixen was scolded by FreeLawChat and a Crowd of Mean Lawyers due to suing Cease and Desist Lawsuit. She was listening to Online Internet Laws about Harassment and Bullying with the Attorney in the Court. The Attorney would Fix Fur Affinity's Laws. Wiping the Profile Page, Journal Header/Footer, and...
President Emmanuel #Macron said on Sun for the first time that he backed new #EndOfLife#legislation that would allow what he called “help to die" & wanted his govt to put forward a draft bill to parliament in May.
Emeraldia's Legal Dilemma on SF and FA
Well, Hazel3/CuteVixen/HazeltheVixen was scolded by FreeLawChat and a Crowd of Mean Lawyers due to suing Cease and Desist Lawsuit. She was listening to Online Internet Laws about Harassment and Bullying with the Attorney in the Court. The Attorney would Fix Fur Affinity's Laws. Wiping the Profile Page, Journal Header/Footer, and...