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<title>09 January, 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>Kevin McCarthy Is Not the Only Loser in the House G.O.P.’s Speaker Mess</strong> - Notes from a historic debacle on Capitol Hill. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/kevin-mccarthy-is-not-the-only-loser-in-the-house-gops-speaker-mess">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Conservative Who Wants to Bring Down the Supreme Court</strong> - The lawyer who wrote Texas’s abortion ban has a bigger project—disempowering the judiciary—that may appeal to liberals, too. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-conservative-who-wants-to-bring-down-the-supreme-court">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Profound Defiance of Daily Life in Kyiv</strong> - In the capital, Ukrainians track the trajectory of Russian missiles on smartphone apps, but refuse to be defeated by fear. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-profound-defiance-of-daily-life-in-kyiv">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kevin McCarthy’s Hollow Victory Will Have Economic and Political Consequences</strong> - If the new House Speaker is to get anything done, he will need to retain the support of far-right extremists. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/kevin-mccarthys-hollow-victory-will-have-economic-and-political-consequences">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Netanyahu’s Government Takes a Turn Toward Theocracy</strong> - The Israeli Prime Minister’s new coalition includes members who would enforce religious prohibitions over democratic liberties. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/netanyahus-government-takes-a-turn-toward-theocracy">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>The Supreme Court hears a case this week that endangers workers’ ability to strike</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="St. Anthony, Minnesota, Starbucks workers across the country strike to protest unfair labor practices and union busting going on at the company. Workers complain they are closing stores and short-staffing." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/c0n3iVhWTwmQwkeWg4oGYuCZa30=/1013x419:5342x3666/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71843039/1450371794.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Starbucks workers across the country strike. | Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group 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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Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters should be a straightforward case. But nothing is ever straightforward in this Supreme Court.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LGZJTa">
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The Supreme Court hears a labor dispute on Tuesday involving striking truck drivers who walked off the job to try to secure a better contract from their employer, a company that provides premixed concrete for construction projects. Yet, while <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/glacier-northwest-inc-v-international-brotherhood-of-teamsters/"><em>Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters</em></a> is a fairly unremarkable case, the stakes for unionized workers could be enormous.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A2Ogvc">
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Glacier Northwest, the employer beyond this case, seeks to upend a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4204950691768143719&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">more than 60-year-old rule</a> protecting unions from lawsuits when workers exercise their federally protected right to strike.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ewrnK">
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It’s an audacious ask, and the case could potentially be decided more narrowly. But the two-thirds of the Court that was appointed by Republicans has shown <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/23/22547182/supreme-court-union-busting-cedar-point-hassid-john-roberts-takings-clause">extraordinary hostility toward unions in the past</a>. So we can’t dismiss the risk that the Court hands down a maximalist decision that upends the balance of power between employers and labor unions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gQLdPG">
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The case hinges on a rule protecting workers’ right to strike, and laying out how companies can claim that this rule does not apply to a particular strike.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JdwhbI">
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The Teamsters, the union in this case, allegedly timed a 2017 strike so that it would begin after some of Glacier Northwest’s mixing trucks were <a href="https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/993190.pdf">already filled with concrete</a>, forcing the company’s non-union employees to race to dispose of this material before it hardened in the trucks. But the company was able to remove this wet concrete from the trucks before they were damaged, and there are a wealth of cases establishing that workers may strike even if doing so will cause some of their employer’s product to spoil.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YvgfMN">
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In one case, for example, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — a kind of quasi-court that hears disputes between unions and employers — sided with milk truck drivers who struck, even though their <a href="https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d45800a12ab">strike risked spoiling the milk</a> before it was delivered to customers. Another case, handed down by a federal appeals court, reached a similar conclusion regarding <a href="https://casetext.com/case/nlrb-v-leprino-cheese-company">striking cheese workers</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dMbtPd">
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That said, there are also some cases establishing that workers may not walk off the job at a time that could result in truly egregious damage to their employer’s business. In one such case, for example, a federal appeals court ruled that foundry workers who <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/218/409/61108/">work with molten lead</a> could not abruptly walk off the job and leave the lead in a state where it could melt the employer’s facilities or injure other workers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4pXOnJ">
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In any event, the Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4204950691768143719&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr"><em>San Diego Trades Council v. Garmon</em></a> (1959) lays out the process that employers must use if they believe their workers timed a strike so recklessly that the union should be held liable. In nearly all cases, the employer must first obtain a ruling from the NLRB establishing that their workers’ strike was not protected by federal law. Only then may they file a lawsuit against the union.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZHNFxG">
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The employer in <em>Glacier Northwest</em>, however, wants the Supreme Court to water down <em>Garmon</em> considerably, potentially enough to render that decision toothless.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KCJZlK">
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If that happens, it would be a tremendous blow to workers. One important reason the <em>Garmon </em>process exists is that it shields unions from lawsuits that could drain their finances and discourage workers from exercising their right to strike — after all, that right means very little if well-moneyed employers can bombard unions with lawsuits the union cannot afford to litigate.
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</p>
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<h3 id="1V7Nrs">
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Why the <em>Garmon</em> process exists
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rb1PTs">
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To understand the <em>Glacier Northwest</em> case, it’s helpful to first understand two foundational principles of US labor law.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DVldJi">
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The first is that the right to strike is protected by federal law. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides that workers have a right to engage in “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/157">concerted activities</a> for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” A separate section of the NLRA states that the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/163">“right to strike” shall be “preserved.”</a>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrIHRM">
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The second principle is that federal law trumps state law when the two conflict. This principle is <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-6/">stated in the Constitution itself</a>, which provides that “Laws of the United States … shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9GsrXU">
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Taken together, these first two principles establish that any state law that infringes on the federal right to strike must yield to the NLRA. That typically includes state tort laws that permit employers to sue unions that organize strikes, even if that strike does some economic damage to the company. After all, placing economic pressure on an employer to extract pro-worker concessions from that employer is the entire point of a strike.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eqcTKl">
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As a practical matter, however, the exact scope of the right to strike (along with many other rights protected by the NLRA) is ill-defined. As noted above, federal law does typically protect strikes that cause some of an employer’s product to be spoiled or otherwise destroyed. But it does require striking workers to take some reasonable steps to protect their employers’ property in extreme cases, such as the case involving molten lead.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nBj54u">
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Many decades ago, this uncertainty created a difficult problem for federal courts. Frequently, workers and employers would allege that some state law trampled on their rights under the NLRA, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were correct — to the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6660275203284156756&hl=en&as_sdt=6,47&as_vis=1">consternation</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6vJgjA">
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In <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4204950691768143719&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr"><em>Garmon</em></a>, the Court announced a process that would enable the judiciary and federal labor officials to sort out these cases. Under <em>Garmon</em>, when either a labor union or an employer engages an activity that is “arguably” protected by the NLRA, then the case must first be heard by the National Labor Relations Board.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ABRRcp">
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As Justice Felix Frankfurter explained in <em>Garmon</em>, the NLRB is a “centralized administrative agency, armed with its own procedures, and equipped with its specialized knowledge and cumulative experience.” Because this board specializes in disputes arising under federal labor law, Frankfurter reasoned, it was better equipped than a federal or state judge to sort through difficult questions about which strikes (and other labor actions) are protected by the NLRA.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="09DNVm">
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If the board determines that a union’s or employer’s action is protected by the NLRA, then, under <em>Garmon</em>, “the matter is at an end, and the States are ousted of all jurisdiction.” Conversely, if the board determines that the NRLA has nothing to say about a labor dispute, then state courts may hear that dispute and potentially order one party to the dispute to compensate the other for violations of state law.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I39Kzk">
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Under <em>Garmon</em>, there should be little doubt that <em>Glacier Northwest</em> must be heard first by the NLRB before the employer’s suit against its truck drivers’ union can go forward. Although there is some legal uncertainty about just how much risk of property damage striking workers can impose on their employer before that strike loses its federal legal protections, <em>Garmon</em> doesn’t require the union to show that its actions were protected by the NLRA. It only requires it to show that its actions were “arguably” protected, and that’s a very low bar.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IHaphA">
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Moreover, as the union points out in its <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1449/248846/20221201134527353_21-1449bs%20-%20for%20filing.pdf">brief to the Supreme Court</a>, the NLRB’s general counsel — an official who acts similarly to a prosecutor when companies or unions are accused of violating federal labor law — has already issued formal complaint against Glacier Northwest, claiming that it violated the NLRA when it took action against some of the striking workers. So one of the nation’s top labor officials has already concluded that the union’s actions were protected by the NLRA. That, alone, should be enough to establish that the unions actions were, at least, “arguably” protected by federal law.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dse9Si">
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Nevertheless, the company <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1449/244536/20221101152235433_21-1449%20-%20Brief%20for%20Petitioner.pdf">proposes several modifications</a> to <em>Garmon</em> that would allow it to bypass the NLRB. Its primary argument is that a union may not intentionally time a strike in order to cause damage to a company’s property, but it also claims that <em>Garmon</em> relied on an “idiosyncratic approach” — suggesting that maybe the decision should be abandoned or strictly limited.
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</p>
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<h3 id="bTD9to">
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There’s no guarantee that this Supreme Court will honor <em>Garmon</em>
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IXENj8">
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The <em>Garmon</em> decision was primarily rooted in the Supreme Court’s belief that someone has to sort through labor disputes to determine which ones cannot be heard by state courts, and that the NLRB, as the federal agency with the most expertise in labor management disputes, is better suited than anyone else to perform this task.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1cy0bL">
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But it’s also a very beneficial decision for labor unions, because it limits employers’ power to harass unions with lawsuits in state court. As the text of the NLRA itself acknowledges, there is often tremendous “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/151">inequality of bargaining power</a>” between workers and employers. Absent <em>Garmon</em>, many unions would be reluctant to strike, because doing so could lead to financially disastrous litigation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zLTPHI">
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But there are reasons to doubt that this Court, with its supermajority of Republican appointees, will follow the labor-friendly rule laid out in <em>Garmon</em>. The first is this Court’s record of hostility to unions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I5Uouy">
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In <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/cedar-point-nursery-v-hassid/"><em>Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid</em></a> (2021), for example, the Court voted on party lines to strike down a nearly half-century-old California regulation that allowed union organizers to briefly enter agricultural worksites in order to speak to farmworkers. The Constitution permits the government to require businesses to allow unwanted persons on their property — think of laws requiring restaurants to admit health inspectors, or requiring factories or mines to admit safety inspectors — but <em>Cedar Point</em> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/23/22547182/supreme-court-union-busting-cedar-point-hassid-john-roberts-takings-clause">invented a new rule that excludes union organizers</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aLGqz4">
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Similarly, in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/janus-v-am-fedn-of-state-cnty-mun-emps-council-2"><em>Janus v. AFSCME</em></a> (2018), the Court voted along party lines to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/6/27/17509460/supreme-court-janus-afscme-public-sector-union-alito-kagan-dissent">cut off an important source of funding for public sector unions</a>. Under <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/431/209/"><em>Abood v. Detroit Board of Education</em></a><em> </em>(1977), these unions were allowed to charge “agency fees” to non-members in order to reimburse the union for services it provides to these non-members, such as bargaining on their behalf to secure pay raises. <em>Janus </em>overruled <em>Abood</em>, effectively forcing unions to provide these services to non-members for free.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XzHrMW">
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The other reason unions should worry about how this Court will decide <em>Glacier Northwest</em> is the Court’s current Republican majority is very hostile to arguments that it should defer to other institutions, like the NLRB, which have specialized expertise that the justices do not possess.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SrN7lM">
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Until very recently, one of the fundaments of federal administrative law — the body of law governing federal agencies and their power to issue binding regulations when authorized to do so by Congress — was that courts should typically stay away from questions about how these agencies should regulate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ROo80J">
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Thus, in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10855858816503634838&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr"><em>Mistretta v. United States</em></a> (1989), the Supreme Court held that federal judges should normally defer to Congress’s decision to delegate regulatory powers to a federal agency, rather than questioning the amount of power Congress gave to that agency. And, in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/467/837"><em>Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council</em></a> (1984), the Court also held that judges should ordinarily defer to agencies when there is doubt about whether a federal law authorizes that agency to regulate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tKlnsS">
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As <em>Chevron</em> explained, “judges are not experts” in the matters regulated by agencies, so they should be reluctant to second-guess decisions made by officials who know vastly more than they do.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DZHkmY">
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But this sort of humility is absent in the Court’s current majority. Indeed, the Court’s GOP supermajority has largely replaced cases like <em>Mistretta</em> and <em>Chevron </em>with a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189610/supreme-court-epa-west-virginia-clean-power-plan-major-questions-john-roberts">judicially created doctrine known as “major questions,”</a> which effectively permits the justices to veto any regulation they do not like on the grounds that it is too ambitious.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hqgJ2y">
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There are many other examples of this Court <a href="https://www.vox.com/22662906/supreme-court-conservatives-abortion-constitution-roe-wade">abandoning</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/31/23433183/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc-race">likely planning to abandon</a> longstanding principles of judicial humility in favor of new legal rules that centralize power within the Supreme Court, but there’s no need to belabor this point. This shift toward judicial supremacy matters for unions because, again, <em>Garmon</em> was rooted in the proposition that a federal agency with subject-matter expertise on labor management disputes should get the first crack at resolving those disputes. And the current Court has shown very little sympathy for past decisions arguing that the justices should be mindful of the views of expert institutions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VFsgx7">
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And that means that this Court could open labor unions up to lawsuits that they haven’t had to worry about for more than 60 years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M8loEH">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VXs3W5">
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The anti-abortion movement’s war on drugs</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4v4g2eEhbzum6k6ogS3-sMgRiRk=/0x0:3467x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71842928/AP22185676269899a.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Abortion rights activists staff an abortion pills educational booth as they protest outside the US Supreme Court on July 4, 2022. | Jose Luis Magana/AP
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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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The effort to restrict abortion pills is ramping up in 2023.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bNN3yP">
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||
The Biden administration helped expand access to medication abortion last week, with the US Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/03/1146860433/the-fda-finalizes-rule-expanding-the-availability-of-abortion-pills">finalizing</a> a rule to make the pills more readily available in pharmacies. But this effort to help patients get pills to end a pregnancy could be dwarfed by a major push to restrict access to the medication from anti-abortion leaders and their Republican allies.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yBwRWp">
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As lawmakers head back to state<strong> </strong>legislatures this month, many for the first time since <em>Roe v.</em> <em>Wade</em> was overturned in June, Republicans face new pressure to restrict access to the combination of abortion-inducing drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, used typically within the first 10 to 12 weeks of a pregnancy. Medication abortion <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/02/medication-abortion-now-accounts-more-half-all-us-abortions">has 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<strong> </strong><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.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="73z1rc">
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Restricting access to the pills is not a new goal for the anti-abortion movement; the Guttmacher Institute tracked 118 medication abortion restrictions introduced last year across 22 states, and many conservative states already have laws on the books for dispensing the drugs that go beyond what the FDA requires and what leading health organizations recommend.
|
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</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gAVQxc">
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But efforts to crack down on abortion pills have taken on new urgency since the <em>Dobbs </em>v. <em>Jackson </em>decision. More women are finding ways to bypass abortion bans through organizations <a href="https://www.vox.com/23056530/aid-access-abortion-roe-wade-pills-mifepristone">like Aid Access</a> in Europe, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/18/illegal-abortion-pill-network/">pill suppliers from Mexico</a>, and methods like mail forwarding from states where abortion is legal. While <a href="https://www.societyfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/SFPWeCountReport_AprtoAug2022_ReleaseOct2022-1.pdf">a study</a> from the Society of Family Planning estimated that legal abortions nationwide declined by more than 10,000 in the two months following the Supreme Court’s decision, some or many of those abortions may have been replaced by pills women privately obtained and researchers couldn’t count.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q02odI">
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“Everyone who is trafficking these pills should be in jail for trafficking,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/abortion-pills-bans-dobbs-roe/">told the Washington Post in December</a>. “It hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.”<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TDRodi">
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||
Some of the restrictions on<strong> </strong>medication abortion leaders are<strong> </strong>considering<strong> </strong>extend well beyond those pursued by lawmakers in previous years, when their focus was generally on banning telemedicine and adding more requirements for<strong> </strong>dispensing pills in person, like mandatory ultrasounds, waiting periods, and visits with doctors.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="25zFW2">
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||
Anti-abortion activists are exploring new strategies, such as laws to <a href="https://jezebel.com/texas-republicans-aim-to-censor-abortion-pill-websites-1849892552">ban websites</a> like Aid Access and Plan C and laws to make health care providers <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/23/abortion-pills-opponents-environmental-laws-00070603">newly liable for disposing</a> of<strong> </strong>aborted fetal tissue. In a <a href="https://aboutblaw.com/5Nj">federal lawsuit</a> filed in November, one religious conservative group has <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/abortion-pill-opponents-seize-new-chance-to-target-fda-approval">challenged the FDA’s approval</a> of mifepristone writ large, alleging the agency abused its authority 23 years ago in authorizing the drug at all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uzwK8c">
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||
Some lawmakers are looking to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/27/23183835/roe-wade-abortion-pregnant-criminalize">test the limits of their extraterritorial powers</a>, exploring how and whether they could punish a resident for getting an out-of-state abortion, or retaliate against providers in other states who facilitate them.
|
||
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pb4pVi">
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“Anti-abortion advocates are throwing the kitchen sink in an attempt to see what might work,” said Jenny Ma, a senior attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “That’s the same playbook the anti-abortion movement had before <em>Dobbs … </em>but they’ve become emboldened.”
|
||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IHQJ1z">
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Sue Liebel, the director of state affairs with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Vox she expects states to pursue “creative” strategies for enforcement, including through state health departments, boards of pharmacy, and the police. “Everyone’s trying something different,” she said. “If there’s one thing I can anticipate, in this particular year of legislative sessions, when we’re not even quite 200 days from <em>Dobbs</em>, I think the keyword this year is ‘variety.’ While things are a little early right now, I know it’s going to explode very soon.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="UsaTaH">
|
||
Leaders are looking at new ways to enforce anti-abortion laws
|
||
</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="db8Svg">
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Some states have banned abortion entirely — including abortion pills — while others have banned telemedicine abortion, meaning individuals can only obtain the drugs in person from a doctor. But there are workarounds. If you live in a state like Texas, you can still order pills from Aid Access, which ships internationally to restrictive states. Or you could travel to a less restrictive state, connect with a provider there, and <a href="https://carafem.org/traveling-for-abortion/">then pick up the pills from a discreet location</a>. Others rely on friends, acquaintances, and activist networks in abortion-friendly areas to help them get the medication.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1gne54">
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||
To crack down on these options,<strong> </strong>anti-abortion leaders are exploring new ways to ramp up enforcement of existing rules and restrictions. With <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23059057/privacy-abortion-phone-data-roe">poorly regulated data privacy laws</a>, aggressive prosecutors could amass a lot of evidence if they suspect a person obtained an illegal abortion, or an abortion that would not be legal in their home state.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cbKGZS">
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One proposal, which is expected to be introduced next week in Texas, would expand the ability of private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against anyone thought to have terminated a pregnancy illegally with abortion pills. This would build on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/31/22650303/supreme-court-abortion-texas-sb8-jackson-roe-wade-greg-abbott">a six-week abortion ban</a> that took effect in Texas in 2021, which included the novel citizen enforcement mechanism.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AdkRiV">
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||
John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, told Vox they’re looking to “utilize those civil liability tools” for abortion before six weeks, and his group is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/abortion-pills-bans-dobbs-roe/">working to identify examples</a> of people who might be distributing abortion pills illegally for local prosecutors to then charge.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fh6glQ">
|
||
Seago said Texas lawmakers are also going to explore ways to hold groups with ties to abortion pill distributors “financially and criminally accountable.” Though some medication abortion<strong> </strong>providers are outside Texas and outside the United States, Seago said elected officials are looking to target entities with connections to the providers that might have subsidiaries in Texas. “If there is still an affiliation or cooperation of other entities with that pharmacy or physician dispensing the pills, then legislators can look at our law and spread out the accountability,” he said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0ZXq8z">
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||
In October, Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma asked their state’s attorney general <a href="https://app.box.com/v/2022-10-13-ok-ag-request">for a formal opinion</a> clarifying whether self-managed abortions constitute murder under their strict abortion ban. A spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor told Vox that request is still “being evaluated.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LiEpu2">
|
||
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has been speaking with conservative governors regarding ways to restrict shipments of abortion medication. Liebel, the state affairs director, acknowledged that internet sales makes enforcement of existing rules difficult.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WBVdXr">
|
||
“But we are also aware that states have requirements for parental consent that may or may not be followed by these [online] providers,” she said, adding that they’re working to craft legislation to address this.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2ucj8">
|
||
To crack down on medication abortion, experts anticipate more politicians will follow in the wake of Missouri lawmakers, who in <a href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/21info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=59479360">2021 </a>and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/missouri-considers-law-to-make-illegal-to-aid-or-abet-out-of-state">2022</a> began testing the limits of restricting abortion outside their borders. Advocates expect to see more bills targeting out-of-state doctors who prescribe pills to their residents, and bills targeting those who may “aid and abet” a pregnant person in traveling out of state.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="affbm3">
|
||
“Anti-abortion states will not be satisfied with just banning abortion in their states and are looking to flex their extraterritorial muscles,” said Lorie Chaiten, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="CVlRrx">
|
||
To restrict medication abortion, activists are leaning into misleading and false arguments about women’s health and safety
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xCk4zM">
|
||
Medication abortion in the US has<strong> </strong>long been subject to more rules and restrictions than other drugs with higher risks of death or adverse complications.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XGMJNr">
|
||
Over the <a href="https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2016/03/acog-statement-on-medication-abortion">objections</a> of groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the FDA has long had mifepristone on its <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/risk-evaluation-and-mitigation-strategies-rems">Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies</a> (REMS) list, a designation used when the government determines that increased restrictions are necessary for a drug’s benefit to outweigh its risks. As a result, the FDA could require that only certified medical professionals in hospitals, medical offices, or clinics administer the pills, meaning someone couldn’t just fill a prescription at their local pharmacy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gu4HRk">
|
||
In 2017, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/abortion-pill-safe-and-effective-and-were-suing-make-it-more">sued</a><strong> </strong>the FDA, arguing its mifepristone restrictions were not medically justified.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJqVKb">
|
||
In part due to pressure from the ACLU’s still-pending lawsuit, during the pandemic<strong> </strong>the FDA temporarily lifted its requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person at a clinic or a hospital. In December 2021, the FDA announced it would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/health/abortion-pills-fda.html">permanently lift</a> the in-person dispensal requirement, and last week the FDA <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">officially clarified</a> that certified pharmacies can dispense mifepristone.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lyVpWc">
|
||
While that is still more restrictive than what leading health groups recommend, advocates<strong> </strong><a href="https://urge.org/press-release/statement-from-urge-on-the-f-d-a-expanding-access-to-abortion-pills-to-be-offered-at-retail-pharmacies/">praised</a> these changes as measures in the right direction toward expanding abortion access.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="leAygs">
|
||
But for many leaders in the anti-abortion movement, these actions <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/11/the-abortion-lobby-doubles-down-on-risky-chemical-abortion-pills/">were cast as proof</a> that lawmakers are “lowering medical standards” and putting women at risk. In an <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/11/the-abortion-lobby-doubles-down-on-risky-chemical-abortion-pills/">op-ed published last year</a>, Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, laid out the case that loosening the REMS restrictions is “anti-woman and anti-science.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kcTNmY">
|
||
Hawkins emphasized that “<a href="https://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PV19E03">more than 20</a>” women have died of complications from abortion medication since 2000. (This is out of the nearly <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/154941/download">5 million women </a>in the US who have taken the drugs in that period. The FDA reports a total of 4,207 “adverse events” in that time, or a rate of 0.09 percent, less than one-tenth of 1 percent; overall,<strong> </strong>legal abortion by any method <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-abortion/abortion-safer-than-giving-birth-study-idUSTRE80M2BS20120123">was found to be 14 times less deadly</a> than childbirth.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t2J2XP">
|
||
Hawkins also argued that medication abortion “causes four times the complications as surgical abortion” and comes with a “risk of death that is ten times higher,” citing<strong> </strong>research <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19888037/">from 2009</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1785176/">2006</a>. Both studies are “outdated and rely on outdated medication abortion protocols,” Ushma Upadhyay, a professor with <a href="https://www.ansirh.org/">Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health</a> at the University of California San Francisco, told Vox. The 2009 study in particular, Upadhyay added, “is simply not credible or rigorous.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ExMaEp">
|
||
Anti-abortion leaders also claim that easing up on requirements for in-person doctor visits endangers women at risk of ectopic pregnancies, and threatens the fertility of women with Rh-negative blood type. (Approximately 1 to 2 percent of all pregnancies in the US are ectopic, and 15 percent of the population has Rh-negative blood type.) In a new <a href="https://thisischemicalabortion.com/citizenspetition/">citizen petition</a> Students for Life filed last month, the activists called on the FDA to return to its previous REMS standard, partly for these reasons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SDEg1D">
|
||
“We have a long track record of working to restore the health and safety standards that the Biden Administration has stripped from Chemical Abortion Pills,” Kristi Hamrick, a spokesperson for Students for Life, told Vox in an email. “Chemical Abortion Pills lead to injury, infertility, and even death as well as exposing women to abusers who have used the drugs without women’s knowledge or consent.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ukmBxc">
|
||
Liebel of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America told Vox they are encouraging state lawmakers to pass “additional health and safety standards” around the distribution of medication abortion pills, citing the loosening of the REMS rules. In addition to requiring in-person screenings, Liebel said they’re pushing for more emergency room reporting requirements, to ensure that any complications from the drugs are not miscoded as miscarriages.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XX0nIO">
|
||
“We think there’s a real public health threat there,” she said. “A lot of state laws on abortion-inducing drugs are pretty old, pretty stale, so [lawmakers] are playing a little bit of catch-up.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kO75Hz">
|
||
Health experts say the medical concerns raised by anti-abortion activists are not backed by evidence. Unknowingly treating a patient who has an ectopic pregnancy with mifepristone and misoprostol will not harm the patient, said Upadhyay, and “there is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12956838/">absolutely no evidence</a>” that Rh in the context of abortion protects against future fertility.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists <a href="https://www.acog.org/en/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2020/10/medication-abortion-up-to-70-days-of-gestation">maintains</a> that medication to manage Rh-negative pregnancies should not be a barrier to the provision of medication abortion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UH06MY">
|
||
When it comes to safely ending pregnancies, medication abortion <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/evidence-you-can-use/medication-abortion">is over 95 percent successful</a>, according to Guttmacher, with less than 0.4 percent of patients requiring hospitalization. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24950/the-safety-and-quality-of-abortion-care-in-the-united-states">has also affirmed</a> medication abortion as a safe method to terminate pregnancy, and concluded that there is no medical need for the drugs to be administered in the physical presence of a health care provider.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iianPn">
|
||
Earlier this week, Patrizia Cavazzoni, the director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, sent a response to Students for Life’s December petition, denying its request. She noted the anti-abortion activists had provided no “new data or evidence beyond what was provided” in a similar 2019 petition <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2019-P-1534-0016">the FDA also denied</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Aj7Na">
|
||
Kirsten Moore, the director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access project, says she’s not surprised anti-abortion activists are trying to scare the public about mifepristone, especially since most people are still not very familiar with medication abortion, let alone how reproductive systems work.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1SjpOq">
|
||
“I want policy that is grounded in evidence and data, but I don’t believe fighting it out at that level with antis, saying my fact is better than your fact, will really matter in the court of public opinion,” she told Vox. “What I know for sure is that when we just stick to the simple fact that this is an FDA-approved drug that has been in use for more than 20 years, with a complication rate of less than 0.5 percent and is a safe, non-invasive option for early abortion, people like that idea and feel comfortable with it.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="rYV0qY">
|
||
Anti-abortion activists are exploring new emboldened challenges
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lKWWZC">
|
||
While Students for Life’s December FDA petition was recently rejected, another citizen petition the group <a href="https://thisischemicalabortion.com/citizen-petition/">filed in November</a> is still pending — and this one makes a more novel demand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XF4gKW">
|
||
As first <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/23/abortion-pills-opponents-environmental-laws-00070603">reported by Politico</a>, the group has asked the FDA to require any doctor who prescribes abortion pills to bag the fetal tissue as medical waste, rather than allow the remains to be flushed down the toilet. (There is no direct evidence that abortion pills contaminate water supply, and experts have dismissed the notion that flushing these drugs poses a legitimate environmental threat.) Students for Life is also working with Republican lawmakers to push bills, in state legislatures and in Congress, that would promote this new medical waste disposal requirement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="76UJVt">
|
||
“They are shamelessly co-opting the environmental movement’s messaging for their own agenda,” said Ma, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who raised concern about the chilling effect it may have on providers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YqRGkh">
|
||
Similarly, in November, Alliance Defending Freedom, the religious conservative group known for defending a baker’s right to refuse to make a wedding cake for an LGBTQ couple, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/lawsuit-filed-against-fda-to-block-access-to-abortion-pill">filed a lawsuit</a> before a Trump-appointed judge in Texas arguing that the FDA abused its authority when it approved mifepristone 22 years ago. The plaintiffs demand<strong> </strong>the FDA withdraw its approval for mifepristone entirely.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1HI2bX">
|
||
The judge overseeing the case, Matthew Kacsmaryk, “has shown an extraordinary willingness to interpret the law creatively to benefit right-wing causes,” as <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/13/23505459/supreme-court-birth-control-contraception-constitution-matthew-kacsmaryk-deanda-becerra">Vox has previously reported</a>. Last month, Kacsmaryk handed down a decision claiming that Title X, a federal program that funds voluntary family planning services including birth control, “violates the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ta41V">
|
||
Lorie Chaiten, with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, told Vox that with such politicized courts, the public can’t count on the case to disappear. “The lawsuit is completely and utterly baseless, and has so many procedural defects and in a normal world it goes away quickly,” she said. “But unfortunately, we may not be in a normal world.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="fZgtPy">
|
||
The stakes of 2024
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c4WyHy">
|
||
Activists’ goal has never been to just allow abortions to continue in Democratic-controlled areas. Rather, anti-abortion leaders are organizing to make abortion illegal and inaccessible nationwide.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4YEK5r">
|
||
To do that will require winning<strong> </strong>back the White House in 2024, especially as the Biden administration has shown willingness to use executive power to defend reproductive freedom, via agencies like the FDA, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-statement-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson-women-s">the Justice Department</a>, <a href="https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/01/usps-can-continue-deliver-abortion-pills-anywhere-america-doj-says/381441/">the Postal Service</a>, and <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/08/26/hhs-takes-action-strengthen-access-reproductive-health-care-including-abortion-care.html">Health and Human Services</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="haeKj8">
|
||
One unsettled question looming for anti-abortion activists is whether states<strong> </strong>have the legal authority to pass rules that exceed what the FDA requires, or even outright ban drugs that the FDA has approved.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZHlYJ2">
|
||
Through the passage of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act<strong> </strong>in 1938, Congress empowered the FDA as the sole agency to approve drugs in the US. It’s responsible for reviewing a drug’s safety, weighing its risks and benefits, and regulating appropriate conditions for safe and effective use. The question is whether federal regulation of drugs would take precedence, or preempt, any state restrictions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="URYeFC">
|
||
For now, legal scholars say it’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/29/23186564/medication-abortion-genbiopro-roe-dobbs-pills">unclear how these questions will play out</a> in court. Courts often grant deference to the FDA, though there are relatively few examples involving drugs. The main precedent is a 2014 case where a federal judge struck down a Massachusetts effort to restrict the opioid Zohydro, since the FDA had approved the painkiller.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Ayi93">
|
||
As lawyers wrestle with these questions, anti-abortion advocates recognize they can bypass some of the confusion simply by gaining control over the federal government. As a result, they’re <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/abortion-pills-bans-dobbs-roe/">pressing Republican lawmakers</a> who express presidential ambitions with questions about how they’d intend to crack down on medication abortion. An anti-abortion president could do things like pressure the FDA and other federal agencies to restrict access to abortion, or simply refuse to engage state preemption challenges.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Bolsonaro supporters storm Brazil’s seat of power</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="BRAZIL-POLITICS-BOLSONARO-SUPPORTERS-DEMONSTRATION" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-oQfyGvpJgIMGQ3jnXLy8ehrHP4=/345x0:5844x4124/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71841225/1246090509.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Thousands of Brazilians breached federal buildings just a week after Lula’s inauguration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ceIkFp">
|
||
Supporters of populist former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace Sunday, a week after Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, commonly known as Lula, was sworn in as Brazil’s new president.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="spMKJJ">
|
||
Thousands of people loyal to the right-wing Bolsonaro broke through police barricades and entered the Congress and Supreme Court buildings, Bolsonaro’s supporters — called Bolsonaristas — also surrounded the presidential palace, calling for Lula’s resignation, though the president was on an official state trip to <a href="https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/lula-vai-a-araraquara-amanha-para-examinar-danos-causados-por-chuvas/">Araquara </a>and not in the capital, Brasília. Congress was also on recess, leaving the building mostly empty.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pQbwN7">
|
||
Lula <a href="https://twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1612190910325964801">made an official statement</a> at 4:00 pm ET, saying he would sign an <a href="https://twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1612193475369336832">emergency decree,</a> in effect till January 31, allowing the federal government to implement “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro?partner=slack&smid=sl-share#8a4b624a-be3e-593e-ac38-d85be1e7a6af">any measures necessary</a>” to calm the unrest in the capital.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJnCdp">
|
||
“They took advantage of the silence on Sunday, when we are still setting up the government, to do what they did,” <a href="https://twitter.com/LulaOficial/status/1612194283796434945">Lula’s account tweeted Sunday</a>. “And you know that there are several speeches by the former president encouraging this. And this is also his responsibility and the parties that supported him.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HQQwYM">
|
||
Videos of Bolsonaristas draped in yellow flags and sitting at the desks of lawmakers appeared on Twitter Sunday afternoon in a scene reminiscent of the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol building by right-wing supporters of former US President Donald Trump. Throughout the afternoon, protesters <a href="https://t.me/O_Despertar/166154">destroyed windows</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/492216dd-0834-5e01-82f1-0aba214d0a5d?smid=url-share">in the Supreme Court</a> building, flew the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Brazil">Brazilian imperial flag</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/309b8594-a2ff-5979-9d52-03f0dfa72734?smid=url-share">above the Congress building</a>, set fire to a carpet in the lower house of Congress, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/89768904-dc17-58ec-82a4-23ab839f9af9?smid=url-share">looted gifts from foreign dignitaries</a>, and reportedly attacked a photojournalist from the news outlet <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/383d0455-6020-55c8-8e2a-25fd7ebd2e77?smid=url-share">Metropoles</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MU11U0">
|
||
Police forces at the capitol initially used tear gas against the protesters; however, that failed to deter protesters and drove the guards to seek cover behind the building. The Brazilian Armed Forces and anti-riot police, as well as the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/8a4b624a-be3e-593e-ac38-d85be1e7a6af?smid=url-share"> entire police force of the state of Brasilía</a>, have been called up in an attempt to quell the protests, but as of this writing, the Bolsonaristas remain in the federal buildings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lUwQce">
|
||
By 3:30 pm Eastern time, dozens of army officers had arrived on the scene, some storming the presidential offices; two helicopters also hovered above the presidential offices, with officers aboard deploying what New York Times reporter<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/229caea2-a9e8-54b6-aa3a-42063972b4dc?smid=url-share"> André Spigariol</a> described as tear gas canisters and anti-riot ammunition.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ah5f4i">
|
||
Similar to rioters who stormed the US Capitol building almost exactly two years ago, the Bolsonaristas are animated by the belief that Brazil’s 2022 elections were rigged, and that Bolsonaro is the true winner of the election. Bolsonaro has been in the United States since Lula’s January 1, 2023 inauguration and has not yet publicly commented on the situation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B5hZXi">
|
||
Lula won a runoff election between himself and Bolsonaro in October of last year, marking a return to power after a stint in prison on corruption charges. Lula, a left-wing former president who helped raise the standard of living <a href="https://nacla.org/article/brazil%E2%80%99s-social-safety-net-under-lula">for millions of Brazilians</a> by strengthening the country’s social programs, first served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010. He was in prison from 2018 to 2021.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ce1CmB">
|
||
Bolsonaro repeatedly intimated that the election was rigged or unfair, and instructed his followers to “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/world/americas/brazil-election-bolsonaro-coup.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article">go to war</a>” if Lula “stole” the election. Even before Lula’s victory in the second round of elections, Bolsonaro’s supporters were protesting, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/08/world/brazil-congress-protests-bolsonaro/two-months-after-bolsonaros-loss-his-supporters-are-staging-a-major-protest?smid=url-share">camping out near military bases</a> and pleading with the armed forces to step in and keep Bolsonaro in power by preventing Lula’s inauguration. Other protests involved blockades of roads and highways, including blockades by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/18/brazil-bolsonaro-truck-drivers-threaten-road-blockades">semi truck drivers</a>, after Bolsonaro posted a video of himself driving a tractor, a semi and a bus, which was interpreted by some of his supporters as encouragement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oui4DV">
|
||
“Whoever did this will be found and punished,” Lula wrote on Twitter. “Democracy guarantees the right to free expression, but it also requires people to respect institutions. There is no precedent in the history of the country what they did today. For that they must be punished.”
|
||
</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>Vyasa, Devils Magic and Auspicious Queen please</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>I have not given up on T20 format, will see after IPL, says Rohit Sharma</strong> - According to sources, the BCCI wants a young team to be built under Hardik's leadership for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA in 2024.</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>Messi and Ronaldo to meet in friendly between PSG and Saudi select</strong> - Messi returned to PSG training after Argentina’s World Cup triumph while Ronaldo joined Al Nassr recently, agreeing a contract until 2025 reportedly worth more than €200 million</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>Star India asks BCCI for discount in current deal, exiting Byju's wants board to encash bank guarantee</strong> - In November, Byju's communicated to the BCCI that it wants to exit as the jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team but the board asked the edtech company to continue until at least March 2023</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>Bumrah's injury tempers return of stalwarts for ODIs against Sri Lanka</strong> - Jasprit Bumrah’s return has been delayed further after he failed to recover completely from the stress fracture in the lower back</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>Delhi hit-and-run case | Court sends 6 accused to 14-day judicial custody</strong> - The prosecution said it was found during their custodial interrogation that the accused were aware of the victim's body being dragged under the wheels</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>Govt. designates Canada-based Aarshdeep Singh Gill as terrorist</strong> - He is associated with the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and runs terror modules on behalf of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist.</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>‘Shaakuntalam’ trailer: Samantha Ruth Prabhu steps into mythological space</strong> - The trailer of director Gunasekhar’s ‘Shaakuntalam’ starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu promises a retelling of Kalidasa’s romance saga steeped in visual effects</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>Religious conversion a serious issue, should not be given political colour, says Supreme Court</strong> - The observation came when senior advocate P. Wilson, for Tamil Nadu, said the case was “politically motivated”</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>MUDA plans layouts on 1,000 acres at Bommenahalli, Daaripura in Mysuru</strong> - Sites to be developed in 50:50 ratio under a joint venture with farmers and landholders; MUDA Chairman claims many farmers have already given letters of consent to MUDA</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 denies Russian claim it killed 600 soldiers</strong> - Moscow says it killed Ukrainian forces in a “mass missile strike” but hasn’t provided any evidence.</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>Lützerath: German coal mine stand off amid Ukraine war energy crunch</strong> - Activists and police are facing off in Lützerath, where diggers plan to expand a giant coal mine.</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>Iranian man held in Germany over suspected chemical attack</strong> - Police raided the man’s residence but say no toxic chemicals were found.</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>Ukraine war: The Christmas ceasefire that wasn’t</strong> - Few in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut expected Russia’s declared truce to be matched with action.</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>In pictures: Orthodox Christians around the world mark Christmas</strong> - Some 200 million people are marking the holiday, one of the most important dates in the faith.</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>The 7 most interesting PC monitors from CES 2023</strong> - Office-ready OLED, over-the-top sizes, and all the hertz? Yup, sounds like CES. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908335">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts</strong> - It’d be better than watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908432">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Twitter’s 200 million email leak really means</strong> - Exposure of email addresses puts pseudonymous users of the social network at risk. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908413">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ancient Roman concrete could self-heal thanks to “hot mixing” with quicklime</strong> - Mysterious lime clasts, dismissed as defects, turn out to serve a useful purpose. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908331">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple rolls out AI-narrated audiobooks, and it’s probably the start of a trend</strong> - “This audiobook features ‘Madison’—a digital voice based on a human narrator.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908528">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>My Chinese waiter thinks all white people look alike and gave my food to the wrong customer</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Wait. Never mind. That wasn’t my waiter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/vartha"> /u/vartha </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106v0qf/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106v0qf/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Do you know the Football player whose missing 75% of his spine?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He’s the Quarterback.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
(My 2nd joke attempt X_X)
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Lord_Zahkrosis"> /u/Lord_Zahkrosis </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1071c5c/do_you_know_the_football_player_whose_missing_75/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1071c5c/do_you_know_the_football_player_whose_missing_75/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between an Indian and an African elephant?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
One’s an elephant.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/heyandy1"> /u/heyandy1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/107bb05/whats_the_difference_between_an_indian_and_an/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/107bb05/whats_the_difference_between_an_indian_and_an/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>99.99% of people are idiots</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I’m just happy I belong to the 1%
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Forged04"> /u/Forged04 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106ocqn/9999_of_people_are_idiots/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106ocqn/9999_of_people_are_idiots/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Twenty years ago, my friend made a website where you compare getting high from different drugs.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
It was the original trip advisor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106iv5d/twenty_years_ago_my_friend_made_a_website_where/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/106iv5d/twenty_years_ago_my_friend_made_a_website_where/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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