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<title>09 April, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside the Hush-Money Payments That May Decide Trump’s Legal Fate</strong> - Years of interviews with potential witnesses provide insights into the Manhattan D.A.’s case. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-hush-money-payments-that-may-decide-trumps-legal-fate">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Putin Criminalized Journalism in Russia</strong> - The case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter being held in Moscow on espionage charges, is only the most recent example of the Kremlin’s crackdown on reporters. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-putin-criminalized-journalism-in-russia">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Same Ole Line Dudes Are Waiting for You</strong> - Donald Trump’s arraignment was a circus for the media, but it was just another day at the office for New York’s professional line sitters. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-same-ole-line-dudes-are-waiting-for-you">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s Behind the Fight Between Pope Francis and the Latin Mass Movement?</strong> - The discord has become a stand-in for conflicts over the decline in Catholics’ participation in Mass, over the progressive orientation of Francis’s pontificate, and over Vatican II itself. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/whats-behind-the-fight-between-pope-francis-and-the-latin-mass-movement">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fighting for the Right to Come and Go</strong> - In Mexico, return-migrant activists are asserting their “pocha” heritage and working to end legal and cultural exclusion. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-immigration/fighting-for-the-right-to-come-and-go">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Small acts of kindness matter more than you think</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An abstract illustration of two pairs of legs with geometric designs on them walking toward each other. A small red heart is between two of the feet." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/q84bQEkAtsF_-t8isrI6BfGfLko=/0x1302:5209x5209/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72162693/GettyImages_1363616490.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images/iStockphoto
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Text a friend, write a thank-you note, compliment a stranger — people appreciate these gestures.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZgL4AT">
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Think about the last time someone showed you a small token of appreciation. Perhaps a stranger gave you a compliment, or maybe you got a check-in text from a friend, or received a particularly heartfelt thank-you note from a mentee. Chances are, that tiny act brightened your day. After all, there’s a delight in knowing you were on someone’s mind for even a brief moment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jppNGB">
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When the roles are reversed, though, you might often psych yourself out of performing these simple bids, convincing yourself you must initiate a follow-up after that initial text or that stranger will rebuff your kind remark.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u70OuN">
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“I think people felt like there was an obligation,” says <a href="https://gilliansandstrom.com/">Gillian Sandstrom</a>, a senior lecturer in the psychology of kindness at the University of Sussex, who is currently studying people’s reluctance to reach out to friends with whom they’d lost touch. “There is no commitment. I can just have a one-off thing, walk away. There’s something really beautiful about that.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WJ7d4">
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<a href="https://clarkrelationshiplab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/BoothbyCooneySandstromClark2018.pdf">Research</a> suggests, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001271">across</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797618772506">multiple</a> <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-77686-001?doi=1">studies</a>, that people have overwhelmingly similar impulses to <em>not</em> do the nice thing: They underestimate how much other people value the reach-out, the random act of kindness. These seemingly minor deeds are appreciated, though. Turning down the naysaying voice in your head allows for more opportunities to show warmth to those around you.
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</p>
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<h3 id="OZlxgW">
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We all underestimate how much others appreciate us
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r8pnTS">
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Since humans lack the ability to read minds, we simply guess at what other people think of us. These <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-41255-001">hypotheses are informed</a> by how people perceive themselves, and not by real-world feedback and criticism from those they’ve actually interacted with. These self-perceptions are often <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-07168-004">marred by negativity</a>; when recalling past social interactions, people worried their jokes were subpar or that their conversation partner found them uncool. “We assume other people are thinking what we’re thinking,” Sandstrom says.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fI7wjT">
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Psychologist and friendship expert <a href="https://drmarisagfranco.com/">Marisa Franco</a> credits these pessimistic assumptions to a concept called the <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/negativity-bias">negativity bias</a>, wherein people remember negative events and feelings more acutely than positive ones. As a result, people tend to avoid socially risky behaviors — like telling a stranger on the subway you like their shoes — in order to avoid potential awkwardness. “Across the board,” says Franco, who is also the author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676695/platonic-by-marisa-g-franco-phd/"><em>Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make — and Keep — Friends</em></a>, “in pretty much every act of connection, we tend to underestimate how much people will be receptive to our overtures in connection.” Of course, there will be instances where a stranger, in particular, will not be amenable to your overtures (this isn’t permission to harass people on the street), but your intention should be to brighten someone’s day without worrying what they think about you.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EDOuOD">
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The persistent underestimation of how much others enjoy our company is known as the liking gap, dubbed by Sandstrom and her colleagues in <a href="https://clarkrelationshiplab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/BoothbyCooneySandstromClark2018.pdf">a 2018 paper</a>. Through both short conversations and long ones, with both strangers and acquaintances, study participants consistently misjudged how much their conversation partners liked them. (Participants took surveys after each chat and reported that they liked their conversation partner much more than they perceived their conversation partner to have liked them.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rRd6W3">
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This mismatch of appreciation extends to other domains, such as writing <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797618772506">thank-you notes</a>, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-77686-001?doi=1">sending text messages</a>, and gifting <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001271">a cup of hot chocolate</a>. “Being kind to other people, doing nice things for others — those are the activities that tend to improve our well-being,” says <a href="http://www.kumar-amit.com/">Amit Kumar</a>, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. “Folks have lots of opportunities for acting in these other-oriented ways that they don’t take advantage of. I think the interesting question then becomes, well, why don’t people act in ways that are likely to make them feel better?”
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</p>
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<h3 id="e9ZiHj">
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Why we don’t do nice things for others
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NIUf9a">
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If small, kind gestures have a positive impact on the receiver’s day, why are people so hesitant to do them? According to Kumar, who has studied the positive impact of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001271">acts of kindness</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797618772506">gratitude letters</a>, we don’t often recognize the power of these benevolent acts on others. Instead of focusing on the warm intention (literally and figuratively) associated with buying a stranger a cup of coffee, we fixate on the value of what we’re presenting. “When you’re doing something for someone else, you’re thinking about the thing that you’re giving and what its value is,” Kumar says. Recipients, on the other hand, are “thinking about the warmth associated with the fact that it was given to them by another person out of kindness.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WlUsim">
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Surprise also generates appreciation from recipients, says <a href="https://business.pitt.edu/professors/peggy-liu/">Peggy Liu</a>, the Ben L. Fryrear Chair in Marketing and an associate professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business. In her <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-77686-001?doi=1">recent studies</a> demonstrating the power of a brief check-in text to friends, Liu found that when recipients weren’t expecting to hear from the initiator — maybe it had been a few months since they last spoke — they appreciated that someone thought about them enough to reach out. While Liu did not identify what prevented would-be initiators from sending the text, she suspects thoughts of worry held them back: Is my friend going to think it’s strange that I just reached out? Does what I wrote to them sound okay?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UJeuW4">
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There is also an inherent anxiety that something as simple as a text must come with strings attached: a phone call, a coffee date. In Sandstrom’s as-of-yet unpublished study about reconnecting with friends, participants often didn’t reach out because they lacked the time to commit to the relationship beyond the initial message. During a time <a href="https://www.vox.com/23144336/emotional-exhaustion-friendships-community">when so many are stretched thin</a>, just the small act itself is enough. “A brief text,” Liu says, “doesn’t create that much obligation in the other person and allows the other person to decide when and how they want to respond.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXo42n">
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That nagging negativity bias creates doubt. There will inevitably be times when our attempts at conversations with strangers fall flat — and those memories will prevail over those of successful acts of kindness. Still, pursuing these bids with regularity helps break the assumption that they won’t be appreciated. With each positive interaction, anxiety is replaced by joy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xTDeDs">
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In other words, don’t fixate on picking out the <em>best</em> flowers for your partner or fear a distant friend will criticize your grammar in a text message. The gesture itself is more consequential than the content — because it’s always worth it to do the nice thing rather than to avoid doing it out of fear of rejection or awkwardness. In his studies, not only did the recipients feel appreciated, but the do-gooders reported feeling happy, too, Kumar says.
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</p>
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<h3 id="etpba4">
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Being vulnerable yourself goes a long way
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7KBZNm">
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To avoid talking ourselves out of performing friendly exploits, it’s helpful to catch ourselves in the act of second-guessing and remind ourselves how lovely it felt when we were on the receiving end of, say, a check-in text, Liu says. No one criticizes a kind note they weren’t expecting.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="91stxW">
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These small gestures can be just that: a quick chat, a thinking-of-you message, gifting unused public transit fare to a stranger. “I’m a working mom,” Liu says. “It can be hard to actually have a more lengthy get-together. So I think that’s partly why these brief reach outs are so appreciated.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="26TTFA">
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The consequence of ignoring our impulse to reach out is missed opportunities for social connection. Instead, says Franco, assume people like you. “When people are told that they’re going into a group and [will] be accepted, they become warmer, friendlier, and more open,” she says. “Whereas people that have rejection sensitivity, who tend to assume they’ll be rejected, they tend to become cold and withdrawn, thus rejecting other people and getting rejected back.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dad8d2">
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Opt for a touch of optimism, put yourself out there, and, Franco says, consider potential rejection as the price worth paying for meaningful interactions.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>How to understand competing medication abortion rulings</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A protester standing in a crowd in front of the Supreme Court holds a cardboard sign supporting the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S2W8wrg-ITJiipS91AjTLNL3MAs=/593x0:6957x4773/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72161620/1246459643.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Pro-abortion and anti-abortion activists rally near the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2023. | Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Contradictory court orders put the abortion drug mifepristone in “uncharted territory.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fsR8NQ">
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Federal judges in Texas and Washington handed down <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/7/23593396/medication-abortion-pills-mifepristone-misoprostol-pregnancy-texas">two opposing rulings</a> on the abortion pill mifepristone on Friday, jeopardizing access to the drug and putting the US Food and Drug Administration in an impossible situation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WnL5gx">
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Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative federal district court judge in Texas, issued a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.137.0_8.pdf">long-awaited ruling</a> Friday evening calling for the FDA to stay its approval of mifepristone, which has been deemed safe and legal for 23 years, while Thomas Rice, a federal court judge in Washington state, swiftly issued a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.waed.102225/gov.uscourts.waed.102225.80.0.pdf">directly contradictory decision</a>.
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</p>
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<aside id="YtOSMR">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nMByLM">
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Kacsmaryk’s order to halt mifepristone’s approval was widely expected given his <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">conservative views</a> and background<strong> </strong>in the Christian right, and hinges on the idea that medication abortion is not safe. That claim, though, is disputed by decades of evidence to the contrary, and in the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23747042-19514454683">Washington state order</a> enjoining the FDA from making changes to mifepristone’s availability in the 17 states and Washington, DC, Rice also argued that it isn’t the role of a court to determine a drug’s safety.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hZ1Ugn">
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As of now, medication abortion — most frequently a two-drug regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol — remains legal in the US, and both drugs, mifepristone and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23672829/what-is-misoprostol-abortion-medication-mifepristone-kacsmaryk">misoprostol</a>, are approved by the FDA. Kacsmaryk’s order would have invalidated mifepristone’s approval after a seven-day stay of the order to allow for potential emergency relief. But Rice’s ruling further complicates Kacsmaryk’s, since the FDA would be unable to fully comply with both orders at once.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pBk1gx">
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“There is now directly conflicting federal court decisions on what the status of mifepristone is,” Rachel Rebouché, dean of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law told Vox in an interview. “So nothing changes for the next week, and we’ll see litigation start to move as the FDA and DOJ ask the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court to clarify.”
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</p>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H7fuZa">
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Not only does the Texas ruling endanger access to medication abortion, it also calls into <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/07/texas-abortion-pill-decision-fda/">question the ability of the FDA and other federal agencies</a> to follow through with their mandates, according to several experts. Kacsmaryk’s ruling cites dubious claims about mifepristone’s supposed dangers, and experts told Vox that the fact that a court has now decided it can arbitrate scientific fact better than medical experts is unprecedented and potentially quite dangerous.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y7dLTd">
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Contrary to Kacsmaryk’s order, mifepristone is extremely safe, and along with misoprostol is widely used to end abortions within the first trimester. As <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/7/23593396/medication-abortion-pills-mifepristone-misoprostol-pregnancy-texas">Vox’s Rachel Cohen explains</a>:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="agiOpV">
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Medication abortion — referring to the combination of both mifepristone and misoprostol — accounts for <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/02/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions">more than half</a> of all abortions in the US, and is used typically within the first 10 to 12 weeks of a pregnancy. It’s <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/02/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions">become the most common method</a> for ending pregnancies in the United States, partly due to its <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/evidence-you-can-use/medication-abortion">safety record</a>, its <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01528">lower cost</a>, diminished access to in-person care, and greater opportunities for privacy.
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8QnUSb">
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Medication abortion is just the latest battleground in reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade </em>last summer, voiding the constitutional right to an abortion. Kacsmaryk’s case has been the highest-profile attacks on mifepristone, it’s not the only one; in March, Wyoming’s governor signed a bill <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/3/19/23647123/wyoming-abortion-pill-ban-south-carolina-texas">banning medication abortion effective July 1</a>, though that law is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/21/lawsuit-block-wyoming-abortion-pill-ban-00088217">being challenged in court</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fbf6mN">
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Friday’s contradictory rulings are by no means the last word on medication abortion; both the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.138.0_4.pdf">Justice Department</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1644519448160661504?s=20">Danco Laboratories</a>, which manufactures mifepristone under the name Mifeprex, have filed appeals to the Fifth Circuit Court, and it’s likely the issue will end up before the Supreme Court. However, <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/16/23642927/supreme-court-abortion-matthew-kacsmaryk-mifepristone-texas-trump">given the recent track record of both the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court on abortion issues</a>, the outcome for medication abortion is far from clear.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uxCxXW">
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For its part, the FDA made a statement to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/07/texas-abortion-pill-decision-fda/">Washington Post</a> defending mifepristone and its approval for the market. “FDA stands behind its determination that mifepristone is safe and effective under its approved conditions of use for medical termination of early pregnancy, and believes patients should have access to FDA-approved medications that FDA has determined to be safe and effective for their intended uses,” an agency spokesperson said.
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</p>
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<h3 id="JrGt1c">
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The legal labyrinth around mifepristone, explained
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ewsJpQ">
|
||
The decisions came down rapid-fire Friday evening; Rice’s order became public just after Kacsmaryk’s, fueling confusion over the future of the drug. Kacsmaryk’s 67-page order rules on the idea that the FDA didn’t properly study the effects of medication abortion and fast-tracked its approval, siding with the plaintiffs — four anti-abortion medical groups and four anti-abortion doctors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mseTIm">
|
||
According to Greer Donley, an associate professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh’s center for bioethics and health law, “if the Texas order goes into effect in seven days — if there’s no appeal that changes that — the drug will become unapproved. There’s nothing for the FDA to do. The order was specifically written to avoid any action on the FDA’s part, the drug just becomes unapproved in seven days.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YhBHDA">
|
||
That outcome is complicated by the injunction from a Washington state federal court: Rice’s decision orders that the FDA maintain the status quo for mifepristone by not blocking its availability. While Kacsmaryk’s order would apply nationally, Rice’s only applies to DC and the 17 states named as plaintiffs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXwq7h">
|
||
It’s unlikely, however, that the limited scope of the Washington state ruling clears the way for Kacysmaryk’s injunction in any meaningful way. According to Steve Vladeck, the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas, it’s “a distinction without a difference given what it orders the FDA to not do.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AKKSFm">
|
||
“So there would be no way for the FDA to comply with both <em>if</em> Kacsmaryk’s ruling ever goes into effect,” Vladeck <a href="https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1644479162436972547?s=20">tweeted Friday evening</a>. “Hence, #SCOTUS.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="cgGBvi">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
The WA ruling is <em>not</em> nationwide (although I think that’s a distinction without a difference given what it orders the FDA to not do), but Kacsmaryk’s would be. So there would be no way for the FDA to comply with both <em>if</em> Kacsmaryk’s ruling ever goes into effect. Hence, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SCOTUS</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Steve Vladeck (<span class="citation" data-cites="steve_vladeck">@steve_vladeck</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1644479162436972547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2023</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="arS0eW">
|
||
It’s possible the courts could find a way to square the circle, Donley told Vox, by issuing an “enforcement discretion notice to say, ‘Even though it’s technically illegal in seven days, barring any appeal, for a manufacturer to market mifepristone because it’s going to be unapproved, we’re not going to go after anyone who does that.’” But more likely, the contradictory orders will expedite the cases’ trip to the Supreme Court.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dMlSU5">
|
||
Vox reached out to the FDA regarding the possibility of an enforcement discretion notice, but did not receive a response before press time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VoxnXR">
|
||
Kacsmaryk <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067/gov.uscourts.txnd.370067.137.0_11.pdf">stated in his order</a> that mifepristone’s safety hadn’t been well-established, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/questions-and-answers-mifepristone-medical-termination-pregnancy-through-ten-weeks-gestation">even though the FDA re-approved the drug in 2016 and 2019 after its initial approval in 2000</a>. Certain assertions in the order, including an assertion that “chemical abortions are over fifty percent more likely than surgical abortion to result in an emergency room visit within thirty days,” are used without context or <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/164331/download">are not borne out by data</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NFiKIp">
|
||
But some of the damage may already have been done — in addition to Friday’s contradictory rulings on medication abortion, restrictions in states and court challenges to those restrictions have created an atmosphere of fear and confusion that makes it difficult for providers to operate.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="erQI83">
|
||
“People are very afraid, criminal laws are very scary, understandably, to providers,” Donley said. “So you’re seeing that chaos is really impacting and affecting abortion access.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="DGq9XQ">
|
||
The Texas ruling could set an alarming precedent
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WkugTz">
|
||
Whatever the outcome of the fight over medication abortion — whether mifepristone’s approval status is decided in the Fifth Circuit or the Supreme Court — the Kacsmaryk case in particular has the potential to set some alarming precedents.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FRuBGH">
|
||
In terms of abortion access, Cohen wrote, there are still some options for people who need them:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ACek6p">
|
||
If mifepristone is ultimately pulled from the market, people seeking abortions could still access care at in-person clinics for surgical abortions. But those procedures typically <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01528"><strong>cost more money</strong></a>, and require more time and resources from already-strapped abortion clinics. In its legal filing opposing the Texas case, the Justice Department warned that taking mifepristone off the market would lead to delays and overcrowding at these clinics, which were already managing an influx of out-of-state patients since <em>Roe’s </em>overturn.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QTB3nL">
|
||
And at least one state has gone even further to protect medication abortion access: Washington has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167867948/washington-state-stockpiles-thousands-of-abortion-pills#:~:text=Press-,Washington%20officials%20say%20they%20have%2030%2C000%20doses%20of%20mifepristone%20ready,of%20a%20pending%20federal%20lawsuit.">stockpiled tens of thousands of doses</a> of mifepristone against the possibility of a decision like Kacsmaryk’s.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AEpxIa">
|
||
If the Fifth Circuit or the Supreme Court allow Kacsmaryk’s order to stand, however, Rebouché told Vox that it would have significant implications regarding the role of the FDA and other federal agencies and their ability to carry out their mandates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xSsj9F">
|
||
“No matter your feelings about abortion, what’s your track record on federal power?” she said. Should the case make it to the Supreme Court, “they would have the same questions about not just the nature of abortion or the nature around the fact-finding of the safety of medication abortion, but also the role of the FDA in all of this.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1zzTuy">
|
||
As Donley told Vox, the Kacsmaryk ruling is unprecedented — and if the Fifth Circuit or Supreme Court were to agree with its logic, it would create a precedent for the courts to not only call into question the power of federal agencies, but also for the courts to overrule matters of settled medical science which could have wide-ranging implications.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zidFYo">
|
||
“This is uncharted territory,” Donley said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Will anybody stop that Trump judge from banning abortion pills?</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hm5erKt2aq45C6BvDrz5cMLdHyA=/499x0:6839x4755/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72082849/1246459633.7.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion activists rally near the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2023. | Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The federal courts are dominated by Republicans, so the appeals process could be rough.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dLo1ql">
|
||
If you’ve followed the fight over where and whether abortion should remain legal in the United States, you’ve probably <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">heard the name “Matthew Kacsmaryk.”</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mRSryH">
|
||
Kacsmaryk is a former lawyer for a religious right law firm, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump to a federal court in Texas. On Friday, he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/7/23593396/medication-abortion-pills-mifepristone-misoprostol-pregnancy-texas">issued a decision </a>ordering the Food and Drug Administration to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/22/23539363/abortion-medication-mifepristone-supreme-court-pills-comstock-matthew-kacsmaryk">withdraw its approval of mifepristone</a>, a medication used in more than half of all abortions within the United States.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="ALrdQw">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ikym4J">
|
||
His decision in this lawsuit, <a href="https://adfmedialegalfiles.blob.core.windows.net/files/AllianceForHippocraticMedicineComplaint.pdf"><em>Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA</em></a>, won’t go into effect for seven days, but it is <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/1644469957952978946?s=20">clear about its stance</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmE7X9">
|
||
Make no mistake, there is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/22/23539363/abortion-medication-mifepristone-supreme-court-pills-comstock-matthew-kacsmaryk">no legal basis whatsoever</a> for a federal judge to endorse a lawsuit trying to ban this medication, which has been lawful in the United States since 2000.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FrBcLo">
|
||
But now that Kacsmaryk has ruled in a way that won’t surprise anyone familiar with his <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">record of partisan rulings</a>, it will immediately test whether the rule of law still exists in a judiciary dominated by Republican appointees.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ULc9Xd">
|
||
Here’s what happens next in the federal court system: There will likely be two parallel appeals processes — a relatively quick process seeking to temporarily block Kacsmaryk’s order, and then a much more drawn-out process seeking to permanently reverse his decision. (In fact, Kacsmaryk explicitly acknowledges the likelihood that the US government will quickly seek an emergency stay; that’s why he says he’s delaying his ruling from taking effect for seven days.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="Hnkrkh">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PC2uWc">
|
||
This ordinary process may be fast-tracked, however, because a different federal judge in Washington State handed down a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/7/23593396/medication-abortion-pills-mifepristone-misoprostol-pregnancy-texas">contradictory order</a> requiring the FDA to allow mifepristone to be sold in 17 states. That means that, once Kacsmaryk’s order takes effect, FDA will be subject to competing orders and it will literally be impossible for it to comply with both.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hln6rh">
|
||
In these sorts of extraordinary circumstances, the Supreme Court may permit the federal government to bypass the ordinary appeals process and seek immediate relief from the justices themselves — assuming that the Justice Department asks the high Court to do so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oPoUiO">
|
||
If the federal courts could be trusted to apply the law in a fair and non-partisan manner, even when <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/10/22827899/supreme-court-texas-abortion-law-sb8-decision-whole-womans-health">hot-button issues like abortion are at stake</a>, then we could expect a higher court to step in almost immediately to quash a decision seeking to ban mifepristone. As attorney Adam Unikowsky, a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, <a href="https://adamunikowsky.substack.com/p/mifepristone-and-the-rule-of-law">writes</a> in a scathing prebuttal of Kacsmaryk’s expected decision, “if the subject matter of this case were anything other than abortion, the plaintiffs would have <a href="https://adamunikowsky.substack.com/p/mifepristone-and-the-rule-of-law">no chance of succeeding in the Supreme Court</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e7FFZE">
|
||
But in these courts … well, buckle up, because it’s not entirely clear where this ride ends.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="HDQyB5">
|
||
The fight to swiftly block Kacsmaryk’s expected decision, briefly explained
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hsActj">
|
||
Now that Kacsmaryk has issued an order seeking to remove mifepristone from the market, President Joe Biden said <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1644538497951227904">the Justice Department will file an appeal and seek an immediate stay of the decision</a> to temporarily block that order as fast as it can. This is ordinarily the first step the government takes when a judge imposes a nationwide injunction upon it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GwMjpp">
|
||
Realistically, the DOJ will probably need at least several days to review Kacsmaryk’s opinion, to consult with other federal agencies that are impacted by that decision, and to draft a motion seeking a stay of Kacsmaryk’s decision. But, in a case as important as this one, it is likely that the Justice Department will move as fast as it reasonably can to invoke the authority of a higher court.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="usCWSv">
|
||
Federal appellate courts are <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/u.s._federal_courts_circuit_map_1.pdf">divided into 13 different circuits</a>, most of which have jurisdiction over appeals from federal trial courts in a handful of states. Appeals arising out of Texas are typically heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is probably the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/27/23496264/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-trump-court-immigration-housing-sexual-harrassment">most right-wing appeals court in the entire federal system</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="rAvH6I">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="khRv7s">
|
||
In the last year or so, the Fifth Circuit <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/20/23414311/cfpb-unconstitutional-fifth-circuit-supreme-court-trump-community-financial">declared an entire federal agency unconstitutional</a>. It permitted Texas Republicans to effectively <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/19/23361050/supreme-court-texas-twitter-facebook-youtube-social-media-fifth-circuit-netchoice-paxton">seize control of content moderation</a> at social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. And it even <a href="https://www.vox.com/22965738/supreme-court-navy-seals-vaccine-covid-joe-biden-commander-mandate">tried to override the US Navy’s decisions</a> about which military personnel are fit for deployment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9ZFVzm">
|
||
Simply put, this court is not where you want to be if you are trying to block a trial judge’s decision restricting abortion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O7k9Id">
|
||
That said, it is possible to draw a reasonable panel of judges in the Fifth Circuit. Typically, federal appeals courts hear cases in three-judge panels, randomly selected from among the court’s judges. Four of the Fifth Circuit’s 16 active judges were appointed by Democrats, and some of the Court’s older Republican appointees are more moderate than the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/27/23496264/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-trump-court-immigration-housing-sexual-harrassment">newer crop appointed by Trump</a>. So it is still possible that the Fifth Circuit will grant the DOJ’s request to temporarily block Kacsmaryk’s order.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5iOvKX">
|
||
Should the Fifth Circuit deny this request, however, the Justice Department’s next move is to ask the Supreme Court to block Kacsmaryk’s order by invoking the Supreme Court’s enigmatic “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/11/21356913/supreme-court-shadow-docket-jail-asylum-covid-immigrants-sonia-sotomayor-barnes-ahlman">shadow docket</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ASkmCU">
|
||
The shadow docket is a mix of emergency motions and other matters that the Court decides on an expedited basis, often without full briefing or oral argument. Although most shadow docket orders are brief and say little more than whether the Court has decided to block a lower court decision or not, the Court occasionally hands down important precedent-setting decisions on its shadow docket. Its shadow docket decision in<em> </em><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf"><em>Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo</em></a> (2020) revolutionized the law governing <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/2/21726876/supreme-court-religious-liberty-revolutionary-roman-catholic-diocese-cuomo-amy-coney-barrett">when people with religious objections to a law may violate it</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eTe2QW">
|
||
Unfortunately, the shadow docket has become a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/29/23530842/supreme-court-arizona-mayorkas-title-42-mexican-border-immigration">politicized area of the Court’s work</a>. When Trump was in the White House, the justices frequently blocked lower court decisions within days or a few weeks of the Trump Justice Department’s request asking them to do so. Under Democratic President Joe Biden, by contrast, the justices’ ordinary practice has been to reject such requests — even in cases where the Court ultimately concludes, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189965/supreme-court-biden-texas-remain-in-mexico-john-roberts">months later</a>, that the lower court decision was wrong.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g3brjs">
|
||
That said, the Court did intervene on the Biden administration’s behalf in at least one truly egregious case. In <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a477_1bo2.pdf"><em>Austin v. U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26</em></a> (2022), the Court largely halted the decision ordering the Navy to deploy servicemembers that the military deemed unfit for such service. As Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a brief concurring opinion, the lower court in the <em>Navy SEALs</em> case “in effect inserted itself into the Navy’s chain of command, overriding military commanders’ professional military judgments.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TJrBEO">
|
||
Kacsmaryk’s decision ordering the FDA to withdraw its approval of mifepristone is no less egregious than the lower court’s action in <em>Navy SEALs</em>. Among other things, it effectively strips the FDA — an agency made up of scientists with considerable expertise in drug efficacy and safety — of its ability to definitively rule on which medicines should be available in the United States, making the judiciary the final word on such decisions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EatIXU">
|
||
That’s an extraordinary threat to public health. And one that five justices may have the good sense to avoid.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BnuoTt">
|
||
One additional complicating factor here is that a federal judge in Washington State issued a directly contradictory <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.waed.102225/gov.uscourts.waed.102225.80.0.pdf">ruling</a> on Friday evening, moments after Kacsmaryk’s, prohibiting the FDA from pulling mifepristone from the market.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LwZXSp">
|
||
That increases the likelihood that this case makes its way up to the Supreme Court quite quickly. Even if the Supreme Court doesn’t rule on the underlying issue about whether mifepristone should be legal or not, the two conflicting orders put the FDA in such a legal bind — it cannot comply with both — that they may ask the justices to invoke a rarely used process, known as “certiorari before judgment,” which allows the Supreme Court to hear a case before it is decided by an appeals court.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lAwfFD">
|
||
Under the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/filingandrules/2023RulesoftheCourt.pdf">Court’s rules</a>, a request to use this process “will be granted only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court.” But the justices may very well determine that this highly unusual situation, where the federal government faces contradictory orders from competing federal judges, warrants such review.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="tEIPFm">
|
||
If the courts do not swiftly block Kacsmaryk’s decision, can anything else be done?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LOZELG">
|
||
Regardless of whether the Fifth Circuit or the Supreme Court grants emergency relief to the Justice Department, blocking Kacsmaryk’s order while the case is fully litigated on appeal, at least one appeals court will need to determine whether to reverse Kacsmaryk and permanently restore the FDA’s authority to determine which medicines should be available.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXu8Ce">
|
||
This process, however, will move very slowly if no court grants emergency relief blocking Kacsmaryk’s decision. Each side will likely need weeks to prepare briefs for the Fifth Circuit, and the panel of Fifth Circuit judges assigned to the case will most likely take just as much time to prepare for an oral argument. Then, after that argument takes place, the Court could spend months pondering the case before a final decision is released.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KZzC1Z">
|
||
And then, whichever side loses is likely to seek review in the Supreme Court — which will require its own time-consuming process of briefing, oral arguments, and deliberation if it agrees to hear the case (which it almost certainly will if the Fifth Circuit does not reverse Kacsmaryk).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dFKEw">
|
||
To give you a sense of how long this process could take, in August of 2021, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-immigration-asylum-joe-biden-donald-trump">Kacsmaryk handed down an unlawful order</a> requiring the Biden administration to reinstate a Trump-era border policy known as “Remain in Mexico.” The Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s request to block this order on the Court’s shadow docket, but it did eventually reverse Kacsmaryk — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189965/supreme-court-biden-texas-remain-in-mexico-john-roberts">10 months later at the end of June 2022</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FG4WLB">
|
||
Realistically, in other words, if the Justice Department cannot obtain emergency relief from either the Fifth Circuit or the Supreme Court, Kacsmaryk’s unlawful order attacking mifepristone could be in effect for months, if not longer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eztnPk">
|
||
That said, the conflicting Washington order significantly increases the chances that higher federal courts will move quickly here as, again, the Biden administration cannot comply with Kacsmaryk’s order and the Washington order simultaneously.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="zOMf7U">
|
||
But will the Biden administration actually win this case after this lengthy process plays out?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yQOann">
|
||
The answer is unclear.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y6b8Ll">
|
||
There is no plausible legal argument that could justify a federal court decision requiring the FDA to unapprove mifepristone. To list just a few reasons why, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, <a href="https://adfmedialegalfiles.blob.core.windows.net/files/AllianceForHippocraticMedicineComplaint.pdf"><em>Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA</em></a>, waited too long to bring their suit — the statute of limitations to challenge the FDA’s approval of a drug is <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/2401">six years</a>. Kacsmaryk also does not have jurisdiction over this lawsuit. And, as Unikowsky writes in his prebuttal of Kacsmaryk’s expected decision, “<a href="https://adamunikowsky.substack.com/p/mifepristone-and-the-rule-of-law">no statute exists that the FDA could possibly have violated</a>” when it approved mifepristone.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YO3c4F">
|
||
But five of the current justices have shown an extraordinary willingness to bend the law in order to restrict access to abortion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rRLasI">
|
||
Specifically, the Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-463_3ebh.pdf"><em>Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson</em></a> (2021), which was decided before the Court overruled <em>Roe v. Wade</em>,<em> </em>held that states can effectively <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/10/22827899/supreme-court-texas-abortion-law-sb8-decision-whole-womans-health">immunize an anti-abortion law from federal judicial review</a> if the law can only be enforced by private bounty hunters, and not by state employees. Indeed, the Court’s reasoning in <em>Jackson</em> was so sweeping that it could effectively allow a state to neutralize any constitutional right using this same tactic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HLSooi">
|
||
That said, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf"><em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</em></a> (2022), the decision overruling <em>Roe</em>, the Court did claim that there were limits to its efforts to restrict abortion rights. Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion declared that “it is time to heed the Constitution and <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives</a>.” In a concurring opinion, Kavanaugh added that his Court “must scrupulously adhere to the Constitution’s neutral position on the issue of abortion.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KHCTLs">
|
||
We are likely to find out in the coming months, in other words, whether we can trust the justices to draw the line where they said they would draw it in <em>Dobbs.</em> Or whether the judiciary will decide for all of us — regardless of whether we live in red states or blue states — if medication abortion is legal.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GPHMIU">
|
||
<em><strong>Update, April 8, 3 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This story, originally published March 16, has been updated with news of Kacsmaryk’s decision.</em>
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Knotty Dancer claims the Stewards Trophy</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PM Modi extends best wishes to 35th Australian Sikh Games</strong> - The games organised by Australian National Sikh Sports and Cultural Council are being held in Brisbane from April 7- 9</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tiger Woods withdraws from Masters due to injury</strong> - The golf player completed seven holes of his third round at the tournament before withdrawing</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2023 | Vijay Shankar, Sai Sudharsan power Gujarat Titans to 204/4 vs KKR</strong> - GT made one forced change, bringing in Vijay Shankar in place of regular skipper Hardik.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ahead of IPL practice match in Bengaluru on April 10, here is a list of ‘no parking’ spaces</strong> - Bengaluru Traffic Police issues advisory on traffic diversions and no parking spaces during IPL</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supreme Court to hear on April 10 Delhi Govt’s plea challenging nomination of members to MCD by L-G</strong> - Delhi Govt has challenged the decision of the L-G to nominate the members allegedly without the “aid and advice” of the elected dispensation and its Council of Ministers</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pilot opens new front against CM Gehlot, demands action against ‘corruption’ during BJP rule in Rajasthan</strong> - The development again brings into open the power tussle in the Congress between the Pilot and the Gehlot factions in the state, putting pressure on the central leadership to resolve it before the year-end polls.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Around 2.82 lakh passport applications cleared, 805 rejected in past three years: Jammu and Kashmir Police</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘This has inspired every Indian’, says PM Modi on President Murmu taking sortie on Sukhoi-30 fighter jet</strong> - President Droupadi Murmu took a sortie on the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet at Assam’s Tezpur Air Force Station on Saturday</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India does not believe in conflict between ecology and economy, says PM Modi</strong> - Protection of wildlife was a universal issue, PM Modi said, launching the International Big Cat Alliance that endeavours to protect and conserve big cats</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine to export electricity again after months of Russian attacks</strong> - Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure led to blackouts throughout winter.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vitaly Votanovsky flees Russia after documenting a Wagner cemetery</strong> - How an activist documented Russia’s war dead by counting graves - and was forced to flee.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One Romanian family’s fatal attempt to reach the US</strong> - What drove the Iordache family to make a desperate bid to reach the US from Canada?</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evan Gershkovich: Russia charges US journalist with spying - reports</strong> - Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested last week, categorically rejects the accusations, reports say.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Charles Leclerc: Ferrari driver asks fans to stop gathering outside his home</strong> - Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc asks fans to respect his privacy and stop turning up outside his Monaco apartment.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Black hole is soaring between galaxies, leaving stars in its wake</strong> - A galaxy merger may have set a supermassive black hole free. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1930219">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Klaus Teuber made Catan, and it changed the world’s expectations for board games</strong> - One man’s quest to re-create ancient exploration opened up new tabletop worlds. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1929865">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>We’re one step closer to reading an octopus’s mind</strong> - A recording device and electrodes were implanted in the very flexible cephalopods. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1930115">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New photo reveals extent of Centaur V anomaly explosion [Updated]</strong> - “A column of burning, clear hydrogen shot up into a mushroom cloud.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1929875">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Artists astound with AI-generated film stills from a parallel universe</strong> - A Q&A with “synthographer” Julie Wieland on the #aicinema movement. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1904461">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On day six of the Creation, God announced to his archangel underlings, "Today we’re creating a place called Canada.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Today we’re creating a place called Canada. Pull out all the stops. Give it beautiful mountains, lakes, planes, forests, and sandy beaches. Underground, give it oil, gold, etc. Oh, and plenty of fish and wildlife.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Sir,” interjected an archangel, “aren’t you being overly generous to these Canadians?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Don’t worry, I’ll balance it out,” said God. “Wait ’till you see the neighbours I’m giving them.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Boofrick"> /u/Boofrick </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12fx3z9/on_day_six_of_the_creation_god_announced_to_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12fx3z9/on_day_six_of_the_creation_god_announced_to_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wife: Am I the only one you’ve ever slept with?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Husband: Yes. The others were sixes and sevens.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/xboxgamer2122"> /u/xboxgamer2122 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12g3d9y/wife_am_i_the_only_one_youve_ever_slept_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12g3d9y/wife_am_i_the_only_one_youve_ever_slept_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a prostitute and Jesus?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The sound they make when you’re nailing them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Happy Easter you filthy degenerates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DavetheGeo"> /u/DavetheGeo </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12g19kg/whats_the_difference_between_a_prostitute_and/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12g19kg/whats_the_difference_between_a_prostitute_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As it is the month of Ramadan</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A man goes to an imam and says “I want to get married, find me a spouse.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The imam says “I can’t promise I can find you a spouse but if you fast tomorrow, by sunset you’ll have a date.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dajjalnextdoor"> /u/dajjalnextdoor </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12gel49/as_it_is_the_month_of_ramadan/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12gel49/as_it_is_the_month_of_ramadan/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rest in peace, boiling water.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
You will be mist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jharish"> /u/jharish </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12fq7f2/rest_in_peace_boiling_water/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12fq7f2/rest_in_peace_boiling_water/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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