06/27/24
Good morning! It’s Thursday, June 27th.
National Bingo Day!
How delightful!
And now, the news.
Supreme Court Rulings
-via AP News and Washington Post (Social Media) and CNN (Abortion)
Alright, let’s start with the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on presidential immunity, but still let out a few opinions.
First – social media.
In a 6-3 ruling, with Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joining the liberal justices, the court rejected a Republican-led effort that would have restricted federal employees, including officials in the White House, from pressuring social media companies to remove posts that the government believes is problematic.
So, for example, during Covid when the White House was just trying to keep people alive by reminding them how masks work, if a user with a big enough platform for their words to be actually followed was out there saying actually masks are the work of the deep state and instead you should just wish away the deadly virus… the government could pressure Twitter to take down the post.
Or if someone were to post about how the 2020 election was stolen even though it wasn’t and it’s also four years later so let it go you absolute loser… that post could also be taken down if it was deemed to pose a threat to national or election security.
What do we know about the First Amendment? You have a right to have a dumb thought or opinion (I have them all the time! Smart ones, too. But for sure dumb ones as well) but you don’t have a right to do it without consequence. And if you cause harm, or could potentially cause harm, with a post about drinking horse medicine in the middle of a pandemic, and you’re an elected official that people listen to – you don’t have a right for your post to stay online.
Because of how it could literally kill people.
But let’s not get all excited about this one yet – writing for the majority, Justice Barrett wrote that the challengers who brought the case before them weren’t in the wrong, they simply hadn’t demonstrated that they were directly harmed by communication between the government and social media companies.
Historical Badman Justice Thomas, as well as Justices Gorsuch and Aleako dissented because they don’t need there to be a reason for the case! They’re not out here to respect the law, ya silly goose!
In his dissent, Aleako criticized the majority for failing to see the free-speech implications in the case. In other words… who cares that this case shouldn’t have been before the court, now that it’s here – let’s go wild!
Because you see, though his wife is fond of flying flags and he is not, he still wants to make sure that, as a sitting Supreme Court justice, he has the right to support insurrection in any and all ways.
We do need some clarity on how the government and social media companies can co-exist, but one: I don’t want this court to be the one making those decisions and two: I certainly don’t want it to come from a case that shouldn’t have even been before the court in the first place.
And from that decision to another decision that hasn’t been handed down yet but we do now know how the court will likely rule…
EMTALA. EMTALA stands for the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which Congress passed in 1986. The law prevents hospitals from refusing care based on a lack of insurance.
It also means that a hospital must stabilize a patient whose life is in danger.
Following the fall of Roe, through Dobbs, the Biden administration laid out guidelines on how to comply with EMTALA and the Department of Justice promptly sued Idaho for making abortions illegal, even when a pregnancy puts the life of the pregnant person at risk but not immediately in danger.
It made its way up to the high court, and when the Supremes agreed to hear it, they hit pause on a lower-court decision to allow EMTALA regulations to continue while it hears the case.
Because of that, in Idaho, pregnancies that threatened the life of the pregnant person, even if that life wasn’t immediately in danger, were made illegal in the state.
Well there is no official ruling yet, but a decision was posted on the Supreme Court’s website, briefly, before it was taken down.
That’s right – just casually accidentally posted online.
Aleako? Is that you?
If that decision is to be believed, in a 6-3 ruling, with Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett once again joining the liberal justices, the court will soon announce that Idaho does need to comply with EMTALA and allow emergency room abortions in Idaho.
I don’t want to get too in the weeds about all this right now, because while it’s almost certainly a real opinion that was online for a moment, it’s not officially official yet.
But the fact that this was online on Wednesday is news. And listen, who knows what happened. It could be as easily explained as someone accidentally hitting publish instead of schedule on the Supreme Court’s Squarespace page but I do want to note that, we’ve got three leaks to contend with here in modern times – Alito first earning his nickname by leaking the Hobby Lobby ruling to a donor at a dinner with Alito (that Hobby Lobby ruling was over whether a for-profit company can deny contraceptives in their health care plan), the Dobbs leak that we never found the culprit for but I am fine believing that Aleako at least knew about it, and now this accidental post of an opinion.
All three are over reproductive choice.
And I just… don’t really have anything else to say about that but I do think it’s interesting. Probably just a coincidence. Probably nothing.
Still interesting.
Kenyan Protests
-via NY Times
Following Tuesday’s protests in Kenya that left at least 23 people dead and more than 300 injured, Kenya’s president announced he will not sign the finance bill that prompted the protests.
A surprising move as the president has long believed in the importance of the bill, and on Tuesday night, the same night as the protests, called protestors “dangerous criminals.”
Things are not fixed forever, and it’s not clear if the president will survive this politically, but a Kenyan analyst noted that “He scuppered a great deal of good will,” and I’ve never heard the word scuppered before but I love it. I really do! It’s a bit of slang for ruin.
Attempted Coup in Bolivia
Bolivia narrowly avoided a coup on Wednesday, when armored vehicles rammed through the government palace led by Juan José Zúñiga, who told reporters, “Surely soon there will be a new Cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this.”
Bolivia’s president, Luis Arce, then named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down. He also named new heads of the Navy and Air Force.
The last few months have brought more protests in Bolivia, as their economy continues to decline and the president’s former ally battles him for the future of the Movement for Socialism.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Heads up – the first presidential debate is scheduled for tonight at 9 PM eastern on CNN. The debate will have no audience, two commercial breaks, and cut mics for the candidate who isn’t speaking.
I think debates are super important and I hope you watch.
If not, rest assured that I will be watching for you, because I’m SO nice, and you’ll get the highs and lows right here tomorrow.
I’m proud of bingo! The game. The dog. As a response when someone guesses something right. All of it.
But more than that… because you are a B12 shot of joy… I’m proud of you.