Crooked Media - Manufacturing unsent

The Supreme Court appears poised to hand progressives a significant win on reproductive rights…. Maybe. 

• We’ve all accidentally hit send before. Apparently, someone at the Supreme Court did this morning — with a very important file. The court briefly posted a document appearing to show that a majority will preserve legal access to abortion to protect the immediate health of the mother. There are caveats here, though: the file looks a bit wonky and incomplete, and may not be the court’s final word. Still, if the ruling holds, it’s a win both for the Biden Administration and for the basic right to not die in a pregnancy-related emergency in a state that has banned abortion. 

• Bloomberg News was the only outlet to notice what appears to be the ruling in the combined cases of Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States. The decision addresses Idaho’s near-total abortion ban in the context of a federal law requiring hospitals to stabilize any patient in an emergency situation. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is supposed to prevent hospitals from turning away patients who need emergency care. Idaho, which was bucking to criminalize abortion even before the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, wanted to exclude abortion from that emergency care in almost all cases. When the court overturned Roe, that conflict got all too real, and escalated up to SCOTUS.  

• The Court’s slip-up Wednesday suggests we’re about to see a 6-3 decision to maintain hospitals' ability to perform emergency abortions to protect the health of the mother, for now. The ruling appears to lift the stay on an earlier court order keeping EMTALA in effect in Idaho, while an Appeals Court continues to consider the case. What it doesn’t do is permanently settle the legal question at its heart: whether Idaho’s zeal to criminalize abortion can supersede federal rules saying hospitals can’t leave women — or anyone else — to deteriorate and die in an emergency. 

The court will drop more major decisions soon, on disgraced former president Trump’s legal immunity, the government’s ability to set environmental regulations, and more. Get ready for more opinions Thursday and Friday!

House Republicans are extending their sordid tradition of covering up for the Capitol riot and attempted coup of Jan. 6th, 2021.

This time, they’re using their institutional power to try and help notorious MAGA bomb-thrower Steve Bannon stay out of prison. Bannon is due to report to a federal penitentiary this Monday, to start a four-month stretch for ignoring subpoenas from the Jan. 6 congressional investigative committee. He recently made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to try and score a last-minute reprieve. 

Enter House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and GOP leaders, who voted yesterday to make it the official position of the House that the subpoenas were invalid, because the committee was supposedly never properly constituted in the first place. That lets the House file legal briefs on Bannon’s behalf, which Republicans did. Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency appeals from the DC Circuit, could rule any time. Now, he’s got House Republicans arguing that when Bannon decided on his own to cover up Jan. 6, that was just peachy! The DOJ countered that Bannon should serve the sentence a federal judge gave him.

Johnson’s last-minute play to save Bannon should be no surprise. Republicans have taken every opportunity to use their power to interfere in criminal investigations, threaten Jan. 6 witnesses, help Tucker Carlson manufacture a propaganda campaign to white-wash the insurrection, and support Donald Trump in his promise to pardon insurrectionists while proclaiming himself above the law. 

Even if Bannon’s Hail Mary works here, he’s facing serious fraud and money laundering charges in New York, in a trial set to start in September, which could send him away for a long, long time. In that case, even Trump and Johnson’s corruption won’t help him. 

Progressives suffered a painful primary loss on Tuesday night when “Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) fell to centrist George Latimer. Among his problems: Bowman’s district was re-drawn to include more of suburban Westchester, and AIPAC poured almost $15 million into unseating Bowman, who has been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, making this the most expensive primary in U.S. history. 

Trump allies also had a tough night. Three Trump-endorsed candidates lost in Colorado, Utah and South Carolina. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), however, won her primary. She showed up for her victory party in fake golden Trump hightops, which she admitted were made in China. You’re not gonna believe this, but even Boebert’s bad-faith, attention-seeking, sycophantic Trumpism isn’t authentic!

Conservative former congressman and Jan. 6 Committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) endorsed President Biden for reelection Wednesday, calling Biden the only choice to protect American democracy. Makes you wonder where all the other Republicans who warn that Trump is unfit — like his own Vice President and cabinet — are hiding out! Just kidding, we know they all came crawling back to the MAGA-verse.

The Supreme Court empowered the Biden Administration to push back against disinformation online, affirming White House efforts to discourage Covid and election conspiracies on social media platforms.

New York Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who oversaw Trump’s criminal trial, has been reassigned away from Steve Bannon’s upcoming trial due to scheduling conflicts.

Soldiers stormed Bolivia’s presidential palace in an apparent failed coup. The general who led the attempt was arrested.

So-called “cheap fake” videos are everywhere this election season. These vids use deceptively edited footage to make, for example, President Biden look like he’s doddering around aimlessly, when he’s really talking to paratroopers just offscreen. “The problem is that anybody can do this, and anybody has,” Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols told today’s What a Day podcast. Tune in for the full discussion!

A Republican candidate for local office in Minnesota was arrested for allegedly tossing a tarantula at a housemate in an attempt to get her to move out. Marisa Simonetti pledged to continue her run for Hennepin County commissioner, and explained herself to a local news station by saying: “I’m a silly goose.” Would not be our description, but okay, lady!

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Bailey Anne Kennedy was crowned Miss Maryland USA, becoming the first transgender woman to ever don the state’s crown. 

A newly-discovered, plastic-dissolving fungus is gorging itself on the Great Pacific Garbage patch. Go, Parengyodontium album, eat our global mess! Next, do Congress!