Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe vs. Wade, leaked draft shows
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV, ANDRES PICO and BOB EGELKO: “The U.S. Supreme Court voted privately to strike down the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion rights, according to a leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that Politico published Monday night.
The Politico report is based on an unpublished draft majority high court decision to strike down the landmark 1973 law that legalized abortion, as well as the 1992 Planned Parenthood vs. Casey decision affirming the right.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes in the unverified document drafted in February. “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. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.””
READ MORE ROE/WADE RELATED NEWS --- Roe vs. Wade will be overturned, purported leaked Supreme Court draft suggests – LA Times, DAVID G SAVAGE/JENNIFER HABERKORN; Leaked draft of Supreme Court ruling signals a seismic shift in American politics and law.-- PETER BAKER, NYtimes
10 key passages from Alito’s draft opinion, which would overturn Roe v. Wade
JOSH GERSTEIN, Politico: "Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion, which would overturn Roe v. Wade, wages a frontal assault on the reasoning of the landmark 1973 opinion that found a federal constitutional right to abortion.
Alito’s draft is labeled as a proposed majority opinion, though the wording of the court’s ultimate ruling and the line-up of justices who support it could change before final release, expected by late June or early July.
Here are 10 important passages in the draft opinion."
California governor proposes amendment to protect abortion rights
REUTERS: "California governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the state will propose an amendment to 'enshrine the right to choose' in the state's constitution, after Politico reported a leaked draft suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to overturn abortion rights in the country.
"We can't trust SCOTUS to protect the right to abortion, so we’ll do it ourselves," Newsom said in a tweet."
What an America Without Roe Would Look Like
CLARE CAIN MIILLER and MARGARET SANGER KATZ, NY Times: "Last week’s Supreme Court arguments on a Mississippi abortion law raised the prospect of a return to a time half a century ago — when the procedure was illegal across most of the United States and women, perilously, tried to end pregnancies on their own or sought back-alley abortions.
If the court decides to reverse or weaken the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, it will usher in a somewhat different era. Abortion would remain legal in more than half of states, but not in a wide swath of the Midwest and the South."
Legislatures in 22 states would almost certainly move to ban or substantially restrict access to abortion. Some women would be able to travel out of state for the procedure. Others would have access to pills, in some cases illicit, which now offer a relatively safe and difficult-to-police home alternative to clinics.
Can we do it? Unprecedented water cuts will require sacrifices for Southern California
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH and IAN JAMES: “In less than a month, residents in large portions of Southern California will be under unprecedented water restrictions due to a worsening drought that has severely limited water supplies.
The biggest change is the requirement from the Metropolitan Water District that local water suppliers in those areas, from Ventura County to northwestern L.A. County to parts of the Inland Empire, limit outdoor watering to once a week.
But behind that is a big cut in water use needed to avoid even more serious measures. Can we do it? Here’s what we know:”
California wants 100% renewable power. It just hit that milestone — briefly
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: “California hit a major clean energy milestone over the weekend when the state’s renewable power sources like solar and wind generated essentially as much electricity as the state needed.
The record occurred shortly before 3 p.m. on Saturday, as solar power production soared before late-afternoon power demand kicked in.
“California achieved 100% renewable energy today. Very clear we can achieve clean energy everyday before 2030 if we cut the fossil fuel subsidies and political inertia,” Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at UC Berkeley, wrote on Twitter.”
Taking California’s cue, lawmakers in 18 states want to offer refuge for trans youth
LA Times, HOLLY RAMER: “Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are following California’s lead in seeking to offer legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families.
The coordinated effort being announced Tuesday by the LGBTQ Victory Institute and other advocates comes in response to recent actions taken in conservative states. In Texas, for example, Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state agencies to consider placing transgender children in foster care, though a judge has temporarily blocked such investigations. And multiple states have approved measures prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare treatments for transgender youth.
To combat such moves, lawmakers in both Minnesota and New York recently filed state legislation on refuges modeled after a California bill proposed in March by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). Democrats in 16 other states plan to follow suit, although about half of their Legislatures are out of session or not currently accepting new bills.”
Key moments in the Chesa Boudin recall election
The Chronicle, JOSHUA SHARPE: “He took office in January 2020 after pitching himself as a former public defender committed to combating mass incarceration. In short order he began making moves to do so, but then came the COVID pandemic, which coincided with massive social upheaval and surges in crime across the U.S.
Before any of this happened, however, some were already taking aim at Boudin. Several weeks before he took office, the website recallchesa.com was registered by an anonymous person.
Here’s a look at key moments in the run-up to the recall:”
Los Angeles D.A.’s office under Gascon is at war with itself. How does anything get done?
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: “In normal times, the convicted sex offender’s request for leniency would have been met with a swift, emphatic “no” from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
But these aren’t normal times in the D.A.’s office.
So when the felon earlier this year asked a judge to reconsider his 73-year sentence, the prosecutor assigned to the case didn’t object. He couldn’t, he explained in a court filing, because his boss, Dist. Atty. George Gascón, wouldn’t allow it, court records show.”
COVID in California: UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter says he’s masking up again
The Chronicle, RITA BEAMISH/AIDIN VAZIRI/TAL KOPAN: “As COVID-19 case rates once more begin to climb in San Francisco, wealthy neighborhoods are seeing higher case rates — a rare occurrence in a pandemic that has most deeply impacted lower-income people of color. Gavin Newsom is leaning into his pandemic record with his first ad in the governor’s race. Yet another omicron offspring, once again more infectious than its predecessors, is climbing rapidly in California and could make up half of new cases “in a matter of days,” health officials said.
Latest updates:
All Bay Area counties back to ‘high’ level of community transmission, per CDC: All 9 Bay Area counties fall under the “high” level of coronavirus transmission, according to metrics published Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means each county has reported over 100 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 7 days. Statewide coronavirus cases have risen by about 30% in the same time, with San Francisco, San Mateo and Los Angeles counties recording the largest uptick in cases. “
Mariupol evacuees head to safety as Russia pummels eastern Ukraine
LA Times, LAURA KING, TRACY WILKINSON, HENRY CHU: “As a trickle of civilians from the brutalized city of Mariupol headed to safety Tuesday, Russian forces pressed their assault on Ukraine’s eastern heartland, striking at targets across a region that U.S. officials warn is under threat of annexation by Moscow.
The Ukrainian military said Tuesday that 12 attacks were repelled overnight in Luhansk and Donetsk, the two districts that make up the eastern industrial Donbas area coveted by Russia. Officials also reported new shelling in Izium and in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has undergone some of the most vicious assault since the war began Feb. 24. The attacks could not be independently verified.
At the same time, dozens of exhausted residents of Mariupol, the besieged port in southern Ukraine, were en route to the interior city of Zaporizhzhia after their rescue from a steelworks where they had taken shelter, along with local fighters. At least 100 civilians have been evacuated from the Azovstal plant since Saturday, but hundreds of other people remain holed up in the sprawling complex, which Russian forces are blockading.”
