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Idaho Governor Signs Abortion Ban Modeled on Texas Law

Idaho on Wednesday became the first state to enact a law modeled after a Texas statute that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and that can be enforced through lawsuits to avoid constitutional court challenges.

Republican Governor Brad Little signed into law the measure that allows people who would have been family members to sue a doctor who performed an abortion after cardiac activity had been detected in an embryo. Still, he said he had concerns about whether the law was constitutional.

“I stand in solidarity with all Idahoans who seek to protect the lives of preborn babies,” Little wrote in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin, who is also president of the Senate.

Yet he also noted: “While I support the pro-life policy in this legislation, I fear the novel civil enforcement mechanism will in short order be proven both unconstitutional and unwise.”

The law in the conservative state is scheduled to take effect 30 days after the signing, but court challenges are expected. Opponents call it unconstitutional, noting six weeks is before many women know they’re pregnant.

Advanced technology can detect the first flutter of electric activity within an embryo’s cells as early as six weeks. This flutter isn’t a beating heart; it’s cardiac activity that will eventually become a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus after the eighth week of pregnancy, and the actual heart begins to form between the ninth and 12th weeks of pregnancy.

The law allows the father, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of a “preborn child” to each sue an abortion provider for a minimum of $20,000 in damages within four years after the abortion. Rapists can’t file a lawsuit under the law, but a rapist’s relatives could.

‘Vigilante aspect’

“The vigilante aspect of this bill is absurd,” said Idaho Democratic Representative Lauren Necochea. “Its impacts are cruel, and it is blatantly unconstitutional.”

A Planned Parenthood official called the law unconstitutional and said the group was “committed to going to every length and exploring all our options to restore Idahoans’ right to abortion.”

“I want to emphasize to everyone in Idaho that our doors remain open. We remain committed to helping our patients access the health care they need, including abortion,” said Rebecca Gibron of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky, which operates Idaho’s three abortion clinics.

Backers have said the law was Idaho’s best opportunity to severely restrict abortions in the state after years of trying. Most recently, the state last year passed a six-week abortion ban law, but it required a favorable federal court ruling in a similar case to take effect, and that hasn’t happened.

The law is modeled after a Texas law that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to remain in place until a court challenge is decided on its merits. The Texas law allows people to enforce the law in place of the state officials who normally would do so. The Texas law authorizes lawsuits against clinics, doctors and anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion that is not permitted by law.

Other states are pursuing similar laws, including Tennessee, which introduced a Texas-styled abortion bill last week.

The Biden administration knew the Texas law would lead to other states passing similar laws, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, and called on Congress to send the president a bill to “shut down these radical steps.”

“This development is devastating for women in Idaho, as it will further impede women’s access to health care, especially those on low incomes and living in rural communities,” Psaki said in a statement Wednesday.

Republicans in Idaho have supermajorities in both the House and Senate. The measure passed the Senate 28-6 and the House 51-14 with no Democratic support. Three House Republicans voted against the measure.

Governor’s concerns

Little on Wednesday noted his concerns with the legislation.

“Deputizing private citizens to levy hefty monetary fines on the exercise of a disfavored but judicially recognized constitutional right for the purpose of evading court review undermines our constitutional form of government and weakens our collective liberties,” he wrote.

He said that he worried some states might use the same approach to limit gun rights.

He also noted his concern with the part of the law allowing a rapist’s relatives to sue.

“Ultimately, this legislation risks retraumatizing victims by affording monetary incentives to wrongdoers and family members of rapists,” he wrote.

He concluded the letter by encouraging lawmakers to fix those problems to avoid unintended consequences “to ensure the state sufficiently protects the interests of victims of sexual assault.”

Little is facing a primary challenge from the far-right in McGeachin, the lieutenant governor, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Republican state Representative Steven Harris, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement after the vote on March 14: “This bill makes sure that the people of Idaho can stand up for our values and do everything in our power to prevent the wanton destruction of innocent human life.”
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New Mexico Elected Official Guilty of Illegally Entering Capitol on Jan. 6

An elected official from New Mexico has been found guilty of two misdemeanor charges for his role in the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol that allegedly attempted to disrupt certification of the 2020 election results.

Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin was found guilty of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol but was acquitted of engaging in disorderly conduct.

The trial, presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, lasted one day without a jury.

McFadden, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump, said Griffin, who crossed over three barricades, knew he was in a restricted part of the building but stayed.

“All of this would suggest to a normal person that perhaps you should not be entering the area,” McFadden said from the bench.

When acquitting Griffin, a founder of the group “Cowboys for Trump,” of a more serious disorderly conduct charge, McFadden said Griffin was “trying to calm people down, not rile them up.”

Griffin could face up to two years in jail. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17.

Griffin’s trial was the second of hundreds of federal cases resulting from the January 6 riots.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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Judiciary Committee to Question Supreme Court Nominee Jackson

Confirmation hearings opened with Democrats largely praising nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Republicans telegraphed tough questioning ahead 
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Supreme Court Confirmation Process

The U.S. Supreme Court is made up of nine justices. Like all federal judges, they are appointed for life. When a justice chooses to step down, or dies in office, the process begins to select a replacement.
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Jackson Weathers First Day of Senate Confirmation Hearings for Supreme Court

In the first of four days of scheduled hearings to discuss the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that their treatment of Jackson would break along partisan lines, with Democrats highlighting her qualifications and Republicans raising questions about her record.

Currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jackson is the first Black woman, and only the third Black person overall, to be tapped for a seat on the nation’s highest court.

The first day of hearings consisted of the roughly twenty members of the committee delivering opening statements, as did Jackson herself. Some lawmakers used those statements to praise Jackson or to make broad statements about their feelings about the role of the Supreme Court in U.S. society. Others used their time to telegraph the sort of questions they will ask Jackson during the second and third days of hearings.

The hearing Monday, which lasted nearly five hours, was merely a warm-up. On Tuesday, each member will get 30 minutes to question the nominee, in a process expected to last from morning until evening.

Democratic leaders

The most senior members on the committee, on both sides of the aisle, made sure to praise Jackson’s service as a judge, which began with her confirmation in 2013 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She has also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission; worked as a public defender; clerked for more senior judges, including current Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she has been designated to replace; and worked in private practice.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat, used his opening statement to point out the historic nature of her nomination.

“In its more than 230 years, the Court has had 115 justices,” he said. “One hundred and eight have been white men. Just two justices have been men of color. Only five women have served on the Court — and just one woman of color. Not a single justice has been a Black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first.”

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving member, noted that he has participated in the confirmation of 20 other Supreme Court justices in his tenure, saying, “In Judge Jackson, I have found a distinguished nominee with an unassailable record that merits our respect, regardless of party.”

Leahy added, “Despite all the darkness in the world and the political brinksmanship that has unfortunately become a hallmark of Congress in recent years, your nomination fills me with hope — hope for the Court, hope for the rule of law, hope for the country.”

Republican leaders

Senator Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican on the panel, pledged to “conduct a thorough, exhaustive examination of Judge Jackson’s record and views.”

Members of his party, he said, will “ask tough questions about Judge Jackson’s judicial philosophy. In any Supreme Court nomination, the most important thing we look for is the nominee’s view of the law, judicial philosophy and view on the role of a judge. I’ll be looking to see whether Judge Jackson is committed to the Constitution as originally understood.”

Republican Senator Lindsay Graham promised that the hearings would be “challenging” for Jackson. However, he spent much of his time criticizing Democrats’ treatment of recent Supreme Court justices nominated by Republicans, specifically current Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose hearing in 2018 was marked by allegations of sexual assault decades in the past.

Pledging that members of his party would not personalize the hearings, he added, “You’re the beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down.”

Likely topics of questioning

Through their opening statements, Republicans on the panel signaled some of the areas of questioning that Jackson will likely face. Some were fairly general promises to probe her view of the proper role of the judiciary in the formation of public policy. Others were more specific.

Republican Senator John Cornyn said that he would raise the issue of Jackson’s work defending terrorism suspects who were, at the time, detained at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Jackson’s representation of defendants there was part of her work as a federal public defender.

“As someone who has deep respect for the adversarial system of justice, I understand the importance of zealous advocacy,” Cornyn said. “But it appears that sometimes this zealous advocacy has gone beyond the pale. And in some instances, it appears that your advocacy has bled over into your decision-making process as a judge.”

Jackson and her supporters have pointed out that not all of the four Guantanamo detainees she was assigned to represent while serving as a federal public defender were even charged with crimes. Those who were charged eventually had those charges dropped. All four were eventually released.

Child pornography decisions

In the days leading up to the hearing, Republican Senator Josh Hawley had tweeted out accusations that in her judicial decisions, Jackson had a record of being “soft” on child pornography defendants.

Hawley’s claims faced serious pushback in the media, even from opponents of Jackson’s nomination. Many, including conservative attorney and former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, claimed that he was misrepresenting Jackson’s record. Writing in The National Review, McCarthy called the claims “meritless to the point of demagoguery.”

Nevertheless, Hawley on Monday raised the issue in his opening remarks, saying he would address seven separate cases in which Jackson issued rulings. “What concerns me is that in every case, in each of these seven, Judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended and below what the prosecutors requested.”

In remarks last week meant to blunt Hawley’s criticism, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “In the vast majority of cases involving child sex crimes broadly, the sentences Judge Jackson imposed were consistent with or above what the government or U.S. probation recommended.”

Jackson’s remarks

After several hours of opening statements by senators, Jackson was allowed to deliver her own remarks, which she prefaced by noting that her nomination was a great honor and by introducing her extended family, who were in attendance at the hearing.

“If I am confirmed, I commit to you that I will work productively to support and defend the Constitution and the grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years,” Jackson said.

“During this hearing, I hope that you will see how much I love our country and the Constitution, and the rights that make us free,” she continued.

Jackson invoked the name of Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to be appointed to a federal judgeship.

“Like Judge Motley, I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building — ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ — are a reality and not just an ideal,” Jackson said. “Thank you for this historic chance to join the highest Court, to work with brilliant colleagues, to inspire future generations, and to ensure liberty and justice for all.”
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