WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion, a decision condemned by President Joe Biden that will dramatically change life for millions of women in America and exacerbate growing tensions in a deeply polarized country.

The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The vote was 5-4 to overturn Roe, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law without taking the additional step of erasing the Roe precedent altogether.

The reverberations of the ruling will be felt far beyond the court’s high-security confines – potentially reshaping the battlefield in November’s elections to determine whether Biden’s fellow Democrats retain control of Congress and signaling a new openness by the justices to change other long-recognized rights.

The decision will also intensify debate over the legitimacy of the court, once an unassailable cornerstone of the American democratic system but increasingly under scrutiny for its more aggressively conservative decisions on a range of issues.

The ruling restored the ability of states to ban abortion. Twenty-six states are either certain or considered likely to ban abortion. Mississippi is among 13 states with so-called trigger laws to ban abortion with Roe overturned. (For related graphic click https://tmsnrt.rs/3Njv3Cw)

In a concurring opinion that raised concerns the justices might roll back other rights, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas urged the court to reconsider past rulings protecting the right to contraception, legalizing gay marriage nationwide, and invalidating state laws banning gay sex.

The justices, in the ruling written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, held that the Roe decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb – which occurs between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly decided because the U.S. Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights.

Women with unwanted pregnancies in large swathes of America now may face the choice of traveling to another state where the procedure remains legal and available, buying abortion pills online, or having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion, appeared to nix an idea advocated by some anti-abortion advocates that the next step is for the court to declare that the Constitution outlaws abortion. “The Constitution neither outlaws abortion nor legalizes abortion,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Kavanaugh also said that the ruling does not let states bar residents from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion, or retroactively punish people for prior abortions.

‘SAD DAY’

Biden condemned the ruling as taking an “extreme and dangerous path.”

“It’s a sad day for the court and for the country,” Biden said at the White House. “The court has done what it has never done before: expressly take away a constitutional right that is so fundamental to so many Americans.”

Empowering states to ban abortion makes the United States an outlier among developed nations on protecting reproductive rights, the Democratic president added.

Biden urged Congress to pass a law protecting abortion rights, an unlikely proposition given its partisan divisions. Biden said his administration will protect women’s access to medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration including pills for contraception and medication abortion, while also combating efforts to restrict women from traveling to other states to obtain abortions.

Britain, France and some other nations called the ruling a step backward, although the Vatican praised it, saying it challenged the world to reflect on life issues. read more

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the decision was “a loss for women everywhere”. “Watching the removal of a woman’s fundamental right to make decisions over their own body is incredibly upsetting,” she said in a statement.

U.S. companies including Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), AT&T and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said they will cover employees’ expenses if they now have to travel for abortion services. read more

‘DAMAGING CONSEQUENCES’

A draft version of Alito’s ruling indicating the court was ready to overturn Roe was leaked in May, igniting a political firestorm. Friday’s ruling largely tracked this leaked draft.

“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Alito wrote in the ruling.

Roe v. Wade recognized that the right to personal privacy under the Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. The Supreme Court in a 1992 ruling called Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirmed abortion rights and prohibited laws imposing an “undue burden” on abortion access. Friday’s ruling overturned the Casey decision as well.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division,” Alito added.

The court’s three liberal justices – Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan – issued a jointly authored dissent.

“Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens,” they wrote.

As a result of Friday’s ruling, “from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs,” the liberal justices added.

The ruling empowered states to ban abortion just a day after the court’s conservative majority issued another decision limiting the ability of states to enact gun restrictions. read more

The abortion and gun rulings illustrated the polarization in America on a range of issues, also including race and voting rights.

Overturning Roe was long a goal of Christian conservatives and many Republican officeholders, including former President Donald Trump, who as a candidate in 2016 promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse Roe. During his term he named three to the bench, all of whom joined the majority in the ruling.

Asked in a Fox News interview whether he deserved some credit for the ruling, Trump said: “God made the decision.”

Crowds gathered outside the courthouse, surrounded by a tall security fence. Anti-abortion activists erupted in cheers after the ruling, while some abortion rights supporters were in tears.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Emma Craig, 36, of Pro Life San Francisco. “Abortion is the biggest tragedy of our generation and in 50 years we’ll look back at the 50 years we’ve been under Roe v. Wade with shame.”

Hours later, protesters angered by the decision still gathered outside the court, as did crowds in cities from coast to coast including New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle.

House of Representatives Speaker Democrat Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, denounced the decision, saying that a “Republican-controlled Supreme Court” has achieved that party’s “dark and extreme goal of ripping away women’s right to make their own reproductive health decisions.”

The number of U.S. abortions increased by 8% during the three years ending in 2020, reversing a 30-year trend of declining numbers, according to data released on June 15 by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. read more

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-overturns-abortion-rights-landmark-2022-06-24/

(CNN)[Breaking news update, published at 12:58 a.m. ET]

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/us/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-protests/index.html

    NEW YORK — For the first time, the parents of Brian Laundrie, the fiancé of Gabby Petito, have released writings from his personal notebook.

    And it contains what appears to be Laundrie’s confession to killing Petito.

    One of the pages reads in part, quote: “I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made.”

    The F.B.I. recovered the notebook near his remains in 2021 in Florida.

    The Laundrie family’s attorney, Steve Bertolino, released the following statement along with the documents.

    Today the Petito family attorney, Patrick Reilly, and myself met with the FBI in Tampa to sort through and take possession of the personal items that belonged to Gabby and Brian. This was a previously agreed upon exchange to enable both the Petitos and the Laundries to receive what belonged to their respective children. As part of this return of property in FBI custody I was given Brian’s notebook. I would like to share with the public the note that the FBI alluded to when they said on January 21, 2022 that Brian claimed responsibility for the death of Gabby Petito. Although I have chosen to release this letter as a matter of transparency I will not be commenting further as there are still proceedings pending in Court. These are Brian’s words:

    a transcription of the diaries provided by ABC News

    PAGE 1

    Gabby,

    I wish I was right at your side. I wish I could be talking to you right now. I’d be going through every memory we made, getting even more excited for the future. But we’ve lost our future. I can’t live without you. I’ve lost every day we could’ve spent together. Every morning. I’ll never get to play with (illegible) again. Never go hiking with TJ. I loved you more than anything. I can’t bear to look at our photos, to recall great times because it is why I cannot go on. When I close my eyes, I will think of laying on the roof of the van, falling asleep to the sight of a (illegible) at the crystal geyser. I will always love you.

    PAGE 2

    If you were reading Gab’s journal, looking at photos from our life together, flipping through old cards, you wouldn’t want to live a day without her. Knowing that every day you’ll wake up without her, you wouldn’t want to wake up. I’m sorry to everyone this will affect. Gabby was the love of my life, but I know (illegible) by many. I’m so very sorry to her family, because I love them. I’d consider her younger siblings my best of friends. I am sorry to my family, this is a shock to them as well as a terrible grief.

    PAGE 3

    They loved as much, if not more than me. A new daughter to my mother, an aunt to my nephews. Please do not make this harder for them. This (illegible) as an unexpected tragedy. Rushing back to our car trying to cross the steams of (illegible) before it got too dark to see, too cold. I hear a splash and a scream. I could hardly see. I couldn’t find her for a moment, shouted her name. I found her breathing (illegible) gasping my (two lines here too smudged to read) the blazing hot National Parks…

    PAGE 4

    …in Utah. The temperature had dropped to freezing and she was soaking wet. I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling, exhausted, in shock, when my (illegible) and knew I couldn’t safely carry her. I started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat, she was so thing, had already been freezing too long. I couldn’t at the time realize that I should’ve started a fire first but I wanted her out of the cold back to the car. From where I started the fire, I had no idea how far the car might be. Only…

    PAGE 5

    …knew it was across the creek. When I pulled Gabby out of the water she couldn’t tell me what hurt. She had a small lump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrist hurt but she was freezing, shaking violently. While carrying her, she continually made sounds of pain. Laying next to her, she said little, lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. She would fall asleep and I would shake her awake fearing she shouldn’t close her eyes if she had a concussion.

    PAGE 6

    She would wake in pain, start her whole painful cycle again while furious that I was the one waking her. She wouldn’t let me try to cross the creek, thought like me that the fire would go out in her sleep and she’d freeze. I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injuries, only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I (illegible)., I was in shock. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I couldn’t go on without her.

    PAGE 7

    I rushed home to spend any time I had left with my family. I wanted to drive north and let James or TJ kill me but I wouldn’t want them to spend time in jail over my mistake, even though I’m sure they would have liked to. I amending my life not because of a fear of punishment but rather because I can’t stand to live another day without her. I’ve lost our whole future together, every moment we could have cherished. I’m sorry for everyone’s loss. Please do not make life harder for my family, they lost a son and a daughter. The most beautiful girl in the world, Gabby, I’m sorry.

    PAGE 8

    I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that animals may tear me apart. That it may make some of her family happy.

    Please pick up all of my things. Gabby hated people who litter.

    On Wednesday, lawyers for both family’s faced off in a Florida courtroom in regards to a civil lawsuit filed three months ago by the Petito family against the Laundrie’s.

    Source Article from https://abc7.com/brian-laundrie-confession-letter-gabby-petito-notebook-cause-of-death-parents-lawsuit/11993530/

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/abortion-clinic-dobbs-supreme-court-roe/

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House sent President Joe Biden the widest ranging gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades Friday, a measured compromise that at once illustrates progress on the long-intractable issue and the deep-seated partisan divide that persists.

    The Democratic-led chamber approved the election-year legislation on a mostly party-line 234-193 vote, capping a spurt of action prompted by voters’ revulsion over last month’s mass shootings in New York and Texas. The Senate approved the measure late Thursday by a bipartisan 65-33 margin.

    The White House said Biden would sign the bill and deliver remarks on it Saturday morning.

    Every House Democrat and 14 Republicans — six of whom won’t be in Congress next year — voted for the measure. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., underscored its significance to her party by taking the unusual step of presiding over the vote and announcing the result from the podium, to huzzahs from rank-and-file Democrats on the chamber’s floor.

    Among Republicans backing the legislation was Rep. Liz Cheney of gun-friendly Wyoming, who has broken sharply with her party’s leaders and is helping lead the House investigation into last year’s Capitol insurrection by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. In a statement, she said that “as a mother and a constitutional conservative,” she believed the bill would curb violence and enhance safety, adding: “Nothing in the bill restricts the rights of responsible gun owners. Period.”

    Impossible to ignore was the juxtaposition of the week’s gun votes with a pair of jarring Supreme Court decisions on two of the nation’s most incendiary culture war issues. The justices on Thursday struck down a New York law that has restricted peoples’ ability to carry concealed weapons, and Friday it overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the protection for abortion that case had ensured for a half-century.

    The bill, crafted by senators from both parties, would incrementally toughen requirements for young people to buy guns, deny firearms from more domestic abusers and help local authorities temporarily take weapons from people judged to be dangerous. Most of its $13 billion cost would go to bolster mental health programs and for schools, which have been targeted in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida and many other infamous massacres.

    It omits far tougher restrictions Democrats have long championed like a ban on assault-type weapons and background checks for all gun transactions, but is the most impactful firearms violence measure Congress has approved since enacting a now-expired assault weapons ban in 1993.

    The legislation was a direct result of the slaying of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, exactly one month ago, and the killing of 10 Black shoppers days earlier in Buffalo, New York. Lawmakers returned from their districts after those shootings saying constituents were demanding congressional action, a vehemence many felt could not be ignored.

    “This gives our community the sorely needed hope that we have been crying out for, for years and years and years,” Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., whose 17-year-old son was shot dead in 2012 by a man complaining his music was too loud, told supporters outside the Capitol. “Understand and know that this bill does not answer all of our prayers, but this is hope.”

    Speaking haltingly, Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said he was backing the bill for his father, shot to death 30 years ago to the day, the 58 people killed in a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas “and so many other Americans who are victims and survivors of gun violence.”

    For conservatives who dominate the House GOP, it came down to the Constitution’s Second Amendment right for people to have firearms, a protection key for many voters who own guns. “Today they’re coming after our Second Amendment liberties, and who knows what it will be tomorrow,” Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, said of Democrats.

    Pelosi said with Thursday’s gun ruling by the justices, “the Trump-McConnell court is implicitly endorsing the tragedy of mass shootings and daily gun deaths plaguing our nation.” That was a reference to the balance-tipping three conservative justices appointed by Trump and confirmed by a Senate that was run by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

    But House Republicans used the gun debate to praise both court decisions. “What a great day for the babies, and as the speaker described it, the Trump-McConnell Supreme Court,” said Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis.

    Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said the firearms decision has “electrified the country and left radicals seething — the Constitution means what it says.”

    In the Senate, every Democrat and 15 Republicans backed the compromise. Just two of those GOP senators face reelection next year.

    But overall, fewer than one-third of GOP senators and just 1-in-15 House Republicans supported the measure. That means the fate of future congressional action on guns seems dubious, even as the GOP is expected to win House and possibly Senate control in the November elections.

    McConnell kept careful tabs on the negotiations that produced the bill and voted for it, partly in hopes it would attract moderate suburban voters whose support the GOP will need in its November bid for Senate control. In contrast, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other GOP leaders of the more conservative House opposed it.

    The legislation was opposed by firearms groups like the National Rifle Association. But groups backing gun curbs like Brady and Everytown for Gun Safety weren’t the only ones backing it. Support also came from the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

    The talks that produced the bill were led by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

    Under the compromise, background checks for gun buyers age 18 to 20 will now include an examination of their local juvenile records. The accused shooters in Uvalde and Buffalo were both 18.

    People convicted of domestic abuse who are current or former romantic partners of the victim — not simply spouses or people who lived or had children with the person they abused — will be prohibited from acquiring firearms. That closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”

    There will be money to help states enforce “red flag” laws that help authorities temporarily take guns from people considered threatening and for other states’ violence prevention programs. More people who sell weapons would have to become federally licensed gun dealers and need to conduct background checks.

    Penalties for gun trafficking are strengthened, billions of dollars are provided for behavioral health clinics and school mental health programs and there’s money for school safety initiatives, though not for personnel to use a “dangerous weapon.”

    ___

    AP reporter Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/congress-gun-violence-bill-live-updates-20f7c9738fee4eba1d7fed155301ee25

    Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and departing Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg were among noteworthy tech executives speaking out publicly on Friday’s Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade. The ruling ends constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., which has stood since 1973.

    Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and many otherwise politically outspoken venture capital investors have so far remained publicly silent on the ruling.

    Elon Musk’s twitter account, which has 99.5 million followers currently, featured a pinned tweet from May that said, “USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years.”

    In September 2021, Musk declined to discuss Texas’ stringent abortion restrictions, and said he’d rather stay out of politics. However, Gov. Greg Abbott said the Tesla CEO supported his state’s “social policies” at that time. More recently, Musk said he’d consider voting for Florida governor DeSantis for president. DeSantis is moving to restrict abortions even more in his state today.

    The court’s anticipated reversal of Roe v. Wade leaves states with the power to set their own abortion laws, including outright bans on all surgical and medication abortions. Twenty-six states in total are expected to severely restrict if not fully ban abortion after the ruling, according to analysis by the Guttmacher Institute.

    Abortion bans in Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky and South Dakota went into immediate effect.

    When abortion is not legal or available, people face health risks that can be fatal in some cases. For example, a 31-year-old dentist named Savita Halappanavar died of septicemia in 2012 in Ireland after she was denied an abortion during a miscarriage. A movement arose after her death, and Ireland later amended its laws to allow legal abortions.

    Here’s what these tech execs said after the ruling was issued on Friday:

    Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO

    “I believe CEOs have a responsibility to take care of their employees—no matter what. Salesforce moves employees when they feel threatened or experience discrimination. To our Ohana—we always make sure you have the best benefits & care, & we will always have your back. Always. [heart emoji]”

    Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder –

    “This is a sad day. Reversing Roe v. Wade is an unjust and unacceptable setback. And it puts women’s lives at risk, especially the most disadvantaged.”

    Jeff Lawson, Twilio CEO –

    “It is a dark day in our nation’s history. Stripping away this basic human right disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable women across the country. Both I and Twilio support every woman’s right to choose.”

    “Whether the issue is gun safety, women’s rights, or even electing officials with a majority of the votes, it’s getting harder and harder for government to reflect the will of the majority. Often times the vast majority. We need reform.

    “I believe the very legitimacy of our government starting to come into question. Between a perfectly gerrymandered house, a senate ruled by filibuster-ready minority, and a Supreme Court whose moral authority is eroded by misappropriated seats… It’s time for reform.”

    Sheryl Sandberg, departing Meta COO:

    On a public Faceboook post:

    “I grew up hearing stories from my mom about what women in our country went through before Roe. My Mom had a friend who left the country to get a safe abortion. Most women could not afford to do this; some had back-alley abortions, which led all too often to serious health complications and sometimes even death. All women knew that they could possibly face impossible choices between controlling their futures and their health and breaking the law.

    “I never thought my mom’s past would become my daughters’ futures. I cannot believe that I’m going to send my three daughters to college with fewer rights than I had.

    “The Supreme Court’s ruling jeopardizes the health and the lives of millions of girls and women across the country. It threatens to undo the progress women have made in the workplace and to strip women of economic power. It will make it harder for women to achieve their dreams. And it will disproportionately impact women with the fewest resources.

    “This is a huge setback. For ourselves, our daughters, and every generation that follows, we must keep up the fight. Together, we must protect and expand abortion access.”

    Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp CEO –

    “Today’s SCOTUS ruling puts women’s health in jeopardy, denies them their human rights, and threatens to dismantle the progress we’ve made toward gender equality in the workplace since Roe. Business leaders must speak out now and call on Congress to codify Roe into law.”

    Susan Wojicki, YouTube CEO –

    “As a CEO I recognize there are a spectrum of opinions on the SCOTUS ruling today. As a woman, it’s a devastating setback. I personally believe every woman should have a choice about how and when to become a mother. Reproductive rights are human rights.”

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/24/tech-execs-react-to-roe-v-wade-reversal-gates-sandberg-wojcicki.html

    • It’s been one year since the Champlain Towers South partially collapsed in the middle of the night. 
    • Hundreds gathered for a remembrance ceremony with First Lady Jill Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 
    • Speakers also included first responders and loved ones of the victims lost. 

    SURFSIDE, Florida — Hundreds of people gathered here Friday at a remembrance event to mark the one-year anniversary of the Champlain Towers South collapse. 

    The event featured top speakers and attendees from across the aisle, including First Lady Jill Biden, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. 

    Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/slideshow-one-year-anniversary-surfside-collapse-jill-biden-ron-desantis-2022-6

    Bans in at least eight states swiftly took effect after they enacted laws meant to be enforced immediately after Roe fell. More states are expected to follow in the coming days, reflecting the main holding in the decision, that states are free to end the practice if they choose to do so.

    The decision, which closely tracked a leaked draft opinion, prompted celebrations and outcries across the country, underlining how divisive the topic of abortion remains after decades of uncompromising ideological and moral battles between those who see making the choice to terminate a pregnancy as a right and those who see it as taking a life.

    The outcome, while telegraphed both by the leaked draft opinion and positions taken by the justices during arguments in the case, nonetheless produced political shock waves, energizing conservatives who are increasingly focused on state-by-state-fights and generating new resolve among Democrats to make restoring the right to choose a central element of the midterm elections.

    President Biden, warning that the decision would jeopardize the health of millions of women, urged people to head to the polls.

    “It is the realization of extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court,” Mr. Biden said.

    Abortion rights protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court after the decision was released on Friday.Credit…Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

    The ruling will test the legitimacy of the court and vindicate a decades-long Republican project of installing conservative justices prepared to reject the precedent, which had been repeatedly reaffirmed by earlier courts. It will also be one of the signal legacies of President Donald J. Trump, who vowed to name justices who would overrule Roe. All three of his appointees were in the majority in the ruling.

    Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. voted with the majority but said he would have taken “a more measured course,” stopping short of overruling Roe outright. The court’s three liberal members dissented.

    The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, concerned a law enacted in 2018 by the Republican-dominated Mississippi Legislature that banned abortions if “the probable gestational age of the unborn human” was determined to be more than 15 weeks. The statute, a calculated challenge to Roe, included narrow exceptions for medical emergencies or “a severe fetal abnormality.”

    Justice Alito’s majority opinion not only sustained the Mississippi law but also said that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that affirmed Roe’s core holding, should be overruled.

    The reasoning in Roe “was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” Justice Alito wrote. “And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

    Six justices voted with the majority, while three dissented. Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

    Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority opinion.

    In an anguished joint dissent, Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan wrote that the court had done grave damage to women’s equality and its own legitimacy.

    “A new and bare majority of this court — acting at practically the first moment possible — overrules Roe and Casey,” they wrote, adding that the majority had issued “a decision greenlighting even total abortion bans.”

    The dissent concluded: “With sorrow — for this court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent.”

    The decision left important questions unanswered and revealed tensions among the five justices in the majority.

    One open question was whether the Constitution required exceptions to abortion bans for the life or health of the mother, for victims of rape or incest or for fetal disabilities. The majority opinion noted that Mississippi law made exceptions for medical emergencies and fetal abnormalities, but it did not say that those exceptions were required.

    In a concurring opinion, Justice Kavanaugh indicated that an exception for the life of the mother may be required, but he did not say so in so many words. “Abortion statutes traditionally and currently provide for an exception when an abortion is necessary to protect the life of the mother,” he wrote. “Some statutes also provide other exceptions.”

    But some of the recent state laws were close to categorical, the dissenters wrote.

    “Some states have enacted laws extending to all forms of abortion procedure, including taking medication in one’s own home,” the dissenting opinion said. “They have passed laws without any exceptions for when the woman is the victim of rape or incest. Under those laws, a woman will have to bear her rapist’s child or a young girl her father’s — no matter if doing so will destroy her life.”

    Another open question is whether other precedents are now at risk.

    Anti-abortion activists celebrated in front of the Supreme Court after the ruling.Credit…Shuran Huang for The New York Times

    Justice Alito said the court’s ruling was limited.

    “To ensure that our decision is not misunderstood or mischaracterized,” he wrote, “we emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right.”

    But Justice Thomas, a member of the majority, issued a concurring opinion that sent a different message. He wrote that it was strictly true that the majority opinion addressed only abortion, but he said that its logic required the court to reconsider decisions about contraception, gay sex and same-sex marriage.

    “We have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” he wrote, quoting an earlier opinion.

    Justice Kavanaugh took the opposite approach in his concurring opinion, saying the precedents identified by Justice Thomas were secure.

    The dissenters, noting that Justice Thomas “is not with the program,” said that “no one should be confident that his majority is done with its work.”

    Promises, the dissenters said, were pointless.

    “The future significance of today’s opinion will be decided in the future,” they wrote. “And law often has a way of evolving.”

    Chief Justice Roberts, who voted with the majority but did not embrace its reasoning, said he would have discarded only one element of Roe: its prohibition of abortion bans before fetal viability.

    The right to abortion, he wrote, should “extend far enough to ensure a reasonable opportunity to choose, but need not extend any further — certainly not all the way to viability.”

    The chief justice added: “The court’s decision to overrule Roe and Casey is a serious jolt to the legal system — regardless of how you view those cases. A narrower decision rejecting the misguided viability line would be markedly less unsettling, and nothing more is needed to decide this case.”

    Justice Alito, once a close ally of the chief justice, said that was a recipe for turmoil.

    “If we held only that Mississippi’s 15-week rule is constitutional, we would soon be called upon to pass on the constitutionality of a panoply of laws with shorter deadlines or no deadline at all,” he wrote.

    Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi.Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times

    In challenging the law, Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic focused on the 14th Amendment, which says that states may not “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” Justice Alito wrote that the amendment, adopted in 1868, had not been understood to address abortion, which he said was at the time a crime in most states.

    The joint dissent responded that only men had participated in the adoption of the amendment. “So it is perhaps not so surprising,” they wrote, “that the ratifiers were not perfectly attuned to the importance of reproductive rights for women’s liberty, or for their capacity to participate as equal members of our nation.”

    These days, Justice Alito wrote, women have political clout. “In the last election in November 2020, women, who make up around 51.5 percent of the population of Mississippi, constituted 55.5 percent of the voters who cast ballots,” he wrote.

    In his concurring opinion, Justice Kavanaugh wrote that states could not forbid their residents from traveling to other states to obtain abortions. That was scant comfort for women too poor to travel, the dissenters responded.

    They added that the majority had left open the possibility that Congress could enact a nationwide ban. Were that to happen, “the challenge for a woman will be to finance a trip not to New York [or] California but to Toronto.”

    When the court decided Roe in 1973, it established a framework to govern abortion regulation based on the trimesters of pregnancy. In the first trimester, it allowed almost no regulations. In the second, it allowed regulations to protect women’s health. In the third, it allowed states to ban abortions so long as exceptions were made to protect the life and health of the mother.

    The court discarded the trimester framework in 1992 in the Casey decision but retained what it called Roe’s “essential holding” — that women have a constitutional right to terminate their pregnancies until fetal viability.

    Two years ago, in June 2020, the Supreme Court struck down a restrictive Louisiana abortion law by a 5-to-4 margin, with Chief Justice Roberts providing the decisive vote. His concurring opinion, which expressed respect for precedent but proposed a relatively relaxed standard for evaluating restrictions, signaled an incremental approach to cutting back on abortion rights.

    But that was before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died that September. Her replacement by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative who has spoken out against “abortion on demand,” changed the dynamic at the court.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/24/us/roe-wade-abortion-supreme-court

    Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, that states cannot ban mifepristone, a medication that is used to bring about an abortion, based on disagreement with the federal government on its safety and efficacy.

    Why it matters: With Roe overturned, prescribed drugs that terminate pregnancies are likely to become the next major contention between abortion rights activists and opponents of abortion rights.

    How it works: Mifepristone and misoprostol have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

    • The agency in December lifted long-standing restrictions on mifepristone, allowing doctors to prescribe the medication online and send them to patients by mail.
    • Misoprostol was available with a prescription before the FDA’s decision.

    Despite the changes, many states have moved to make it illegal for doctors to mail the medications.

    • For example, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed a law in June making it illegal for anyone to mail abortion pills, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

    What they’re saying: “The Department strongly supports efforts by Congress to codify Americans’ reproductive rights, which it retains the authority to do. We also support other legislative efforts to ensure access to comprehensive reproductive services,” Garland said in the statement Friday.

    • “And we stand ready to work with other arms of the federal government that seek to use their lawful authorities to protect and preserve access to reproductive care,” he added.
    • “In particular, the FDA has approved the use of the medication Mifepristone. States may not ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy.”

    Yes, but: It is far from settled law as to whether states can ban the pills, and the issue will likely have to be litigated in the courts, though there’s really no clear precedent, according to the Washington Post.

    Go deeper:

    Source Article from https://www.axios.com/2022/06/24/merrick-garland-fda-abortion-pills-state-bans

    The 15 Republicans who joined all Democratic senators in supporting the bill were Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) and Todd C. Young (Ind.), as well as McConnell and Cornyn.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/house-approves-gun-bill/

    The Department of Homeland Security intelligence branch is warning law enforcement, first responders and private sector partners nationwide Friday of potential domestic violence extremist activity in response to the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

    The memo from the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis says federal and state government officials, including judges, “probably are most at risk for violence in response to the decision.”

    Man charged with attempting to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh pleads not guilty

    It also includes warnings about “First Amendment protected events,” reproductive and “family advocacy health care facilities,” and faith-based organizations being targets for violence or criminal incidents.

    “Americans’ freedom of speech and right to peacefully protest are fundamental Constitutional rights. Those rights do not extend to violence and other illegal activity. DHS will continue working with our partners across every level of government to share timely information and to support law enforcement efforts to keep our communities safe,” a Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN in a statement.

    DHS previously released a National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin warning of potential violence surrounding the Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights.

    The memo notes that potential violence is expected “for weeks” following Friday’s decision given that domestic violent extremists “may be mobilized to respond to changes in state laws and ballot measures” related to abortion. The assessment, DHS said in the memo, is based on an increase in violent incidents after a draft was leaked last month.

    Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

    Some of those earlier incidents are cited throughout the memo, including arson attacks targeting pregnancy resource centers and incidents of vandalism threatening violence targeting “religious facilities perceived as being opposed to abortion.”

    The DHS intelligence arm relied on a variety of sources, including news media accounts, open source reporting and Justice Department press releases, for its assessment.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/politics/dhs-warning-abortion-ruling/index.html

    We’ve detected unusual activity from your computer network

    To continue, please click the box below to let us know you’re not a robot.

    Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-24/crowd-grows-quickly-outside-supreme-court-protest-update

    His GOP primary opponent, former Maryland commerce secretary Kelly Schulz, who’s been endorsed by Hogan, tweeted that the ruling “changes nothing with regard to abortion in Maryland. As I have repeatedly said, while I am personally pro-life, the issue is settled law in Maryland…Despite fear-mongering from others, as governor, I’ll do nothing to change current Maryland law.”

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/24/virginia-youngkin-abortion-15-week-ruling/

    Ms. McBath later grew emotional on the House floor, wiping away tears as she embraced her Democratic colleagues and celebrated the legislation’s passage. Applause broke out in the chamber as it became clear the bill had secured a majority of support.

    Final passage of the measure came a day after 15 Republican senators joined Democrats in breaking a G.O.P. filibuster to push the measure through the Senate, clearing a hurdle that had proved insurmountable for most past efforts to update gun laws after other horrific mass shootings.

    The House passed the measure with a similarly low margin of Republican support, as top G.O.P. leaders urged their members to oppose the measure as a threat to the Second Amendment. Just 14 Republicans voted in favor of the legislation, joining all the Democrats. Five of those Republicans are retiring, and one, Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina, recently lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger.

    “As a mother and a constitutional conservative, I’m proud to support this sensible bill that will protect our children and limit violence without infringing on law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” said Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who has been largely ostracized from her party over her role on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. “Nothing in the bill restricts the rights of responsible gun owners. Period.”

    But the majority of Republicans remained unmoved by efforts by their colleagues to emphasize the narrow scope of the firearm provisions and the investment in mental health resources.

    “Today, they’re coming after our Second Amendment liberties, and who knows what it’ll be tomorrow,” Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said of Democrats.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/politics/gun-control-bill-congress.html

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ended the nation’s constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.

    The decision, unthinkable just a few years ago, was the culmination of decades of efforts by abortion opponents, made possible by an emboldened right side of the court that has been fortified by three appointees of former President Donald Trump.

    Both sides predicted the fight over abortion would continue, in state capitals and in Washington, and Justice Clarence Thomas, part of Friday’s majority, called on the court to overturn other high court rulings protecting same-sex marriage, gay sex and the use of contraceptives.

    West Virginia’s lone clinic performing abortions stopped after Friday’s decision.

    The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.

    It puts the court at odds with a majority of Americans who favored preserving Roe, according to opinion polls.

    Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong the days they were decided and must be overturned.

    “We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote, in an opinion that was very similar to the leaked draft.

    Authority to regulate abortion rests with the political branches, not the courts, Alito wrote.

    Joining Alito were Thomas and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett. The latter three justices are Trump appointees. Thomas first voted to overrule Roe 30 years ago.

    Four justices would have left Roe and Casey in place.

    The vote was 6-3 to uphold the Mississippi law, but Chief Justice John Roberts didn’t join his conservative colleagues in overturning Roe. He wrote that there was no need to overturn the broad precedents to rule in Mississippi’s favor.

    Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — the diminished liberal wing of the court — were in dissent.

    “With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,” they wrote, warning that abortion opponents now could pursue a nationwide ban “from the moment of conception and without exceptions for rape or incest.”

    The ruling is expected to disproportionately affect minority women who already face limited access to health care, according to statistics analyzed by The Associated Press.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will work tirelessly to protect and advance reproductive freedom.” He said in a statement that in addition to protecting providers and those seeking abortions in states where it is legal “we stand ready to work with other arms of the federal government that seek to use their lawful authorities to protect and preserve access to reproductive care.”

    In particular, Garland said that the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Mifepristone for medication abortions.

    “States may not ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy,” Garland said.

    More than 90% of abortions take place in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, and more than half are now done with pills, not surgery, according to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

    Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, which is at the center of the case, continued to see patients Friday. Outside, men used a bullhorn to tell people inside the clinic that they would burn in hell. Clinic escorts wearing colorful vests used large stereo speakers to blast Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” at the protesters.

    Mississippi is one of 13 states, mainly in the South and Midwest, that already have laws on the books that ban abortion in the event Roe is overturned. Another half-dozen states have near-total bans or prohibitions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

    In roughly a half-dozen other states, the fight will be over dormant abortion bans that were enacted before Roe was decided in 1973 or new proposals to sharply limit when abortions can be performed, according to Guttmacher.

    In Wisconsin, which has an 1849 abortion ban on the books, Planned Parenthood immediately halted all scheduled abortions at its clinics in Madison and Milwaukee following the high court’s ruling.

    The decision came against a backdrop of public opinion surveys that find a majority of Americans oppose overturning Roe and handing the question of whether to permit abortion entirely to the states. Polls conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and others also have consistently shown about 1 in 10 Americans want abortion to be illegal in all cases. A majority are in favor of abortion being legal in all or most circumstances, but polls indicate many also support restrictions especially later in pregnancy.

    The Biden administration and other defenders of abortion rights have warned that a decision overturning Roe also would threaten other high court decisions in favor of gay rights and even potentially, contraception.

    The liberal justices made the same point in their joint dissent: The majority “eliminates a 50-year-old constitutional right that safeguards women’s freedom and equal station. It breaches a core rule-of-law principle, designed to promote constancy in the law. In doing all of that, it places in jeopardy other rights, from contraception to same-sex intimacy and marriage. And finally, it undermines the Court’s legitimacy.”

    And Thomas, the member of the court most open to jettisoning prior decisions, wrote a separate opinion in which he explicitly called on his colleagues to put the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage, gay sex and even contraception cases on the table.

    But Alito contended that his analysis addresses abortion only. “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion,” he wrote.

    Whatever the intentions of the person who leaked Alito’s draft opinion, the conservatives held firm in overturning Roe and Casey.

    In his opinion, Alito dismissed the arguments in favor of retaining the two decisions, including that multiple generations of American women have partly relied on the right to abortion to gain economic and political power.

    Changing the makeup of the court has been central to the anti-abortion side’s strategy, as the dissenters archly noted. “The Court reverses course today for one reason and one reason only: because the composition of this Court has changed,” the liberal justices wrote.

    Mississippi and its allies made increasingly aggressive arguments as the case developed, and two high-court defenders of abortion rights retired or died. The state initially argued that its law could be upheld without overruling the court’s abortion precedents.

    Then-Gov. Phil Bryant signed the 15-week measure into law in March 2018, when Justices Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were still members of a five-justice majority that was mainly protective of abortion rights.

    By early summer, Kennedy had retired and was replaced by Justice Brett Kavanaugh a few months later. The Mississippi law was blocked in lower federal courts.

    But the state always was headed to the nation’s highest court. It did not even ask for a hearing before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ultimately held the law invalid in December 2019.

    By early September 2020, the Supreme Court was ready to consider the state’s appeal.

    The court scheduled the case for consideration at the justices’ private conference on Sept. 29. But in the intervening weeks, Ginsburg died and Barrett was quickly nominated and confirmed without a single Democratic vote.

    The stage now was set, although it took the court another half year to agree to hear the case.

    By the time Mississippi filed its main written argument with the court in the summer, the thrust of its argument had changed and it was now calling for the wholesale overruling of Roe and Casey.

    The first sign that the court might be receptive to wiping away the constitutional right to abortion came in late summer, when the justices divided 5-4 in allowing Texas to enforce a ban on the procedure at roughly six weeks, before some women even know they are pregnant. That dispute turned on the unique structure of the law, including its enforcement by private citizens rather than by state officials, and how it can be challenged in court.

    Roberts was among the dissenters.

    Then in December, after hearing additional arguments over whether to block the Texas law known as S.B. 8, the court again declined to do so, also by a 5-4 vote. “The clear purpose and actual effect of S. B. 8 has been to nullify this Court’s rulings,” Roberts wrote, in a partial dissent.

    In their Senate hearings, Trump’s three high-court picks carefully skirted questions about how they would vote in any cases, including about abortion.

    But even as Democrats and abortion rights supporters predicted Kavanaugh and Gorsuch would vote to upend abortion rights if confirmed, the two left at least one Republican senator with a different impression. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine predicted Gorsuch and Kavanaugh wouldn’t support overturning the abortion cases, based on private conversations she had with them when they were nominees to the Supreme Court.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko, Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston, Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0

    KYIV, Ukraine — As the European Union summit began in Brussels on Thursday evening, an aide to Ukraine’s foreign minister tuned into the proceedings on a laptop.

    The minister, Dmytro Kuleba, whose left leg was in a tight red cast after a basketball injury, was upbeat as he watched the European Council grant his war-battered country something it had been seeking without success for years: the coveted status as a candidate to join the bloc.

    It was one of the best pieces of news for Ukraine, which is in its fourth month of war, since a successful counteroffensive pushed Russian soldiers away from the capital. Mr. Kuleba said the council’s move was “the most important step in overcoming the last psychological barrier in the relations between Ukraine and the European Union.”

    Still, he acknowledged that his country would have to wait a long time before it could join the 27-member bloc. The action by the European Council, composed of the leaders of the member states, was just the first step in a yearslong process, and Ukraine would have to make progress on combating corruption and enforcing the rule of law to finally pass muster.

    “Sure, there will be talks, reforms here and in the European Union,” he said. “I don’t care. As long as the decision that Ukraine is Europe is taken, I’m fine. History has been made.”

    Mr. Kuleba said that for decades, as Ukrainians fought for democracy in protest movements in 2004 and 2014, Brussels and other European capitals still “were entertaining this idea of a buffer zone of something in the middle, a bridge between Russia and the E.U.”

    In the last phase, he said, European leaders were unofficially “winking” at Ukrainian officials. “Like, ‘Guys, everything will be fine, it will take years, but in the end you will be with us,’” he said. “But they were still afraid to say it out loud.”

    As Mr. Kuleba was speaking in the interview, air raid sirens wailed in Kyiv. An aide ran into the office to say that there were 10 Russian missiles flying above Ukrainian airspace.

    “I’m not surprised that the Russians would fire something at Kyiv today,” Mr. Kuleba said, adding that the symbolism of the day would not be lost on the Kremlin.

    Mr. Kuleba, 41, a career diplomat, said he saw the European Union as “the first ever attempt to build a liberal empire” on democratic principles, contrasting it with the Russia’s aggression toward former Soviet states under President Vladimir V. Putin.

    “I understand that people do not like the word empire, but this is how history is written,” Mr. Kuleba said. “You have to show that different things of a similar scale can be built on different principles: those of liberalism, democracy, respect for human rights, and not on the principle of imposition of the will of one on the rest.”

    Mr. Kuleba said he was grateful to other Western allies, especially the United States, for military and political support. However, he said he hoped for a more explicit articulation of Washington’s war aims.

    “We are still waiting for the moment when we hear a clear message from Washington that for Washington, the goal of this war is for Ukraine to win and for international law to be restored,” he said. “And Ukraine’s victory for Washington means restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/24/world/russia-ukraine-war-news

    Relatives have to fill out claims forms that ask them to “describe how the loss of the Decedent has impacted this Survivor’s life.” The document requests they note “any mental anguish, grief or sorrow” suffered as well as the loss of “care, guidance, advice, counsel, training, protection, society, comfort, or companionship.”

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/24/surfside-condo-collapse-anniversary/

    Washington The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a New York law that placed strict restrictions on carrying concealed firearms in public for self defense, finding its requirement that applicants seeking a concealed carry license demonstrate a special need for self-defense is unconstitutional.

    In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision upholding New York’s 108-year-old law limiting who can obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun in public. Proponents of the measure warned that a ruling from the high court invalidating it could threaten gun restrictions in several states and lead to more firearms on city streets.

    Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the majority opinion for the ideologically divided court, writing that New York’s “proper-cause requirement” prevented law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right, and its licensing regime is unconstitutional.

    “The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'” Thomas wrote. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.”

    Writing in dissent for the liberal wing of the court, Justice Stephen Breyer noted the rise in gun violence in the U.S. and ubiquity of firearms, and warned that states working to pass more stringent firearms laws will be “severely” burdened by the court’s decision.

    “In my view, when courts interpret the Second Amendment, it is constitutionally proper, indeed often necessary, for them to consider the serious dangers and consequences of gun violence that lead states to regulate firearms,” Breyer wrote. “The Second Circuit has done so and has held that New York’s law does not violate the Second Amendment. I would affirm that holding.”

    The court’s decision comes on the heels of a string of mass shootings from mid-May to early June that jolted the nation and acted as a catalyst for Congress to again search for consensus on a legislative plan to curb gun violence. On May 14, a racist gunman went on a shooting rampage at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 10 people. Ten days later, 19 children and two teachers were massacred in a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Then, on June 1, four people were fatally shot at a medical building in Tulsa, Okla.

    The ruling marks the first expansion of gun rights since 2008, when the Supreme Court recognized that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep firearms in the home for self-defense. The New York court battle was also the biggest Second Amendment case before the court since its 2008 decision, and a 2010 ruling that said the right to have a handgun in the home applies to the states. Gun rights supporters were hopeful the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority would recognize the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm in public.

    In a concurring opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Kavanuagh noted the court’s decision does not prohibit states from imposing licensing requirements for carrying handguns, and leaves untouched existing regimes in 43 states. Instead, it only impacts more stringent licensing rules in affect in six states, including New York.

    President Biden said in a statement he is “deeply disappointed by the decision,” and again urged states to enact changes to their laws to curb gun violence.

    “This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all,” he said.

    The New York permitting law at the crux of the dispute dates back to 1913 and requires residents seeking a license to carry a gun outside the home to demonstrate a “proper cause” to obtain one, which state courts have said is a “special need for self-protection.”

    The two plaintiffs in the case, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, each applied for carry licenses, but licensing officers denied their applications because they failed to establish proper cause to carry handguns in public. The two were granted “restricted” licenses to carry firearms for target shooting, hunting and outdoor activities.

    Along with the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Nash and Koch challenged the constitutionality of New York’s prohibition on carrying handguns in public and the proper-cause requirement in 2018. A federal district court dismissed their suit, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, leaving the licensing regime in place.

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, criticized the Supreme Court’s decision, saying on Twitter that it was “outrageous that at a moment of national reckoning on gun violence, the Supreme Court has recklessly struck down a New York law that limits those who can carry concealed weapons.”


    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Supreme Court ruling on gun law

    06:03

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the court’s ruling will “put New Yorkers at further risk of gun violence.” He pledged to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the approach to defining places where carrying firearms is banned, and to review the application process to ensure only those who are qualified can obtain a license to carry.

    “This decision may have opened an additional river feeding the sea of gun violence, but we will do everything we can to dam it,” he said.

    Former President Trump took credit for the court’s ruling, saying on his Truth Social platform, “Elections have consequences. I promised to appoint Judges and Justices that would stand up for the Constitution. Today, the Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment Right of all Americans.”

    Half of the states generally require a permit issued by the state in order to carry a concealed firearm in public, and of those, about six other states — California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island — allow a person to carry a firearm in public only if they have a need to do so. In those half-dozen states, government officials have discretion in denying licenses, even if the applicant satisfies the statutory criteria.

    New York officials and the Biden administration, which urged the Supreme Court to uphold the law, warned the justices during oral arguments in November that invalidating the measure could have a domino effect, jeopardizing not only the states’ restrictions, but also others that limit public carry in places where people congregate, such as airports, arenas, churches and schools.

    Some of the justices appeared concerned about how a broad ruling could impact restrictions imposed on places where large amounts of people gather. Roberts, for example, questioned whether a state or city could ban firearms at football stadiums or places where alcohol is served, while Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked about banning guns in “sensitive places,” such as Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

    In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito criticized Breyer’s dissent for recounting recent mass shootings.

    “Does the dissent think that laws like New York’s prevent or deter such atrocities? Will a person bent on carrying out a mass shooting be stopped if he knows that it is illegal to carry a handgun outside the home? And how does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in Buffalo?” he wrote. “The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that perpetrator.”

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