SCOTUS Makes Suprise Ruling Against Trump...

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3:03Michael Popok:Got some breaking news and it comes out of the United States Supreme Court and Justice Alito's pen, of all things, as he issues an administrative stay for a week to block the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and its decision in the last 48 hours to stop the use of mifepristone for medication abortions, not only in Louisiana, but a nationwide block of the use of medication abortion pills that are provided to women in the safety of their own home through telehealth and telemedicine and mail order and mail order pharmacies. That was the order that I reported on on the 1st of May in a three-judge panel led by a Trump appointee, Judge Duncan, three white men blocking nationally the use of medication abortion pills.

4:02Michael Popok:That led two laboratories that make the pills, Danko Laboratories and GenBioPro to rush in the last 36 hours to the United States Supreme Court, seeking a stay because this, of course, upends immediately the right of a woman to choose and make these very intimate decisions about her reproductive health and whether she's going to carry a child or carry a pregnancy or not. And so now you've got Alito. And why Alito? one of the most rightest of right wing, MAGA right wings of the Supreme Court. Why is he involved? Because he sits over the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is in New Orleans, and he's the first stop on the train as to whether an administrative stay is going to be granted while the court has full briefing.

4:58Michael Popok:That's our reporting now, that there has been an administrative stay issued by Judge Alito, not by the entirety of the panel, not of the rest of the eight members of the United States Supreme Court. I'll tell you what happens next. Stay tuned right here on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Now, I reported on the 1st of May that the three-judge panel in Louisiana, in a case brought by Louisiana against the Food and Drug Administration, now under the control of RFK Jr. There they were arguing that more women die because they're getting the pills by mail and because they're getting their health counseling through telemedicine.

5:41Michael Popok:Since COVID, the FDA has allowed these pills to be given through a remote consultation with a doctor and mail delivery through remote pharmacies into states. Problem is that runs up against Louisiana's near total ban on abortion. Because three years ago, this same United States Supreme Court ruled in a six to three decision that a woman no longer had, even though she had it for 50 years, no longer had a constitutional right to privacy or right to choose. And once they threw out Roe versus Wade in the Dobbs decision, all hell broke loose. We've now got to split. Half the states in America are banning or near total ban of abortion, and the other half allow it under many circumstances.

6:38Michael Popok:So women in red states are second-class citizens because they have less rights, less rights than my mother did in the 1950s and 1960s, or at least in the 1970s. So the way the three-judge panel in Louisiana set it up is that it basically said that since the Dobbs decision, since Louisiana has a near total ban, the use of these drugs, methoteprestone, is leading to what they refer to as illegal abortions. They say that, in fact, in Louisiana alone, there have been approximately 1 ,000 what they refer to as illegal abortions on page 10 of the order in Louisiana per month. That says, to me, there are 1 ,000 women making a critical choice about their own bodily autonomy, but you see how it's being characterized here.

7:40Michael Popok:They think they have declared without any medical evidence that the FDA's approval of mifepristone to be dispensed through telehealth and through remote pharmacies, mail-in pharmacies and mail-order pharmacies is somehow creating more deaths. There seems to be no statistics that support that. Mifepristone has been found to be as safe as aspirin, not Tylenol, aspirin in most of the studies. And now you've got the peculiar situation where the most conservative judge who ruled against a woman's right to choose is making a decision on the administrative stay. Here's what he's done. He is given Louisiana until 5 p.m.

8:25Michael Popok:on May 11th to brief the issue for the court, the full court. So we'll have a short-circuited on one of the most major and critical issues related to a woman's autonomy over her own body. We're going to have this on a short-track, short-circuit, with a very minimal record below on just two briefs, not three, with a scramble for other organizations to file Friends of the Court brief, with no oral argument, likely. and with Alito holding the pin on and blocking for now, for now, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, that means as of right now, women can still obtain medication, abortion pills, mifepristone in Louisiana through mail order, through telehealth as of this moment.

9:21Michael Popok:What's going to happen after May 11th and the final brief comes in? It's up for grabs. Now, in the past, the United States Supreme Court did rule against a similar Texas ban that was brought in front of a single judge and ended up at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals as well. It was brought before Judge Kazmarek by an astroturf group that was literally artificially created just to file a case in Abilene, Texas, and get Judge Kaczmarek, who had worked for anti-abortion organizations, pro-life movements, before he became a federal judge. So he was handpicked by this phony organization. Supreme Court got wind of it, and after much debate, decided that that organization of doctors who had been formed really for the purpose of bringing the case did not have standing to argue against those regulations and throughout the case.

10:25Michael Popok:So it wasn't on the merits of whether the FDA can allow medication abortions to happen in states that are not allowing abortion. We're going to get to that issue, I'm sure, now with this new briefing, with an interesting array of parties. You've got the labs who are making the drug on one side and a state on the other. I'd like to see some other entities enter the fray with amicus, friends of the court brief to support a woman's reproductive rights. There are reproductive rights organizations that should be busy working on briefs to submit. And as they do, I think they will. We'll support them.

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11:56Michael Popok:Take back control of your health. We've worked out a special offer from my audience. Receive 30 % off your first subscription order. Go to armra.com slash legal AF or enter Legal AF to get 30 % off your first subscription order. That's A-R-M-R-A dot com slash Legal AF. The headline is, as of right now, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that was rendered by Judge Leslie Southwick, Judge Duncan, and Judge Englehart, three men, in the Fifth Circuit to stop the use of mifepristone by telehealth and pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, has been blocked by Judge Alito at least through May 11th.

12:44Michael Popok:After full briefing, we're going to see what the Supreme Court does next. Now, the Supreme Court is basically on their summer vacation, even though we're waiting for major rulings. And look at this clip of a smiling, glad-handing Neil Gorsuch, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Fox News. Why doesn't he come on Legal AF? Here's my offer. Any of the Supreme Court justice, but certainly the ones on the right, you want to reach an audience that wants to hear from you? You want to reach millions and hundreds of millions of people? Come on, Legal AF, be interviewed by me and be platformed by me. That would be a good counterbalance to your dining and champagne-soaked state dinners with the King of England a couple of days ago, or showing up only on Fox News.

13:39Michael Popok:You can't hide in the Supreme Court. You're supposed to be the Supreme Court for all people. Come talk to our liberals and moderates and progressives and socialists and Democrats on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. How about that? Here's Neil Gorsuch, so you know what I'm talking about. Your book is fantastic. I think it's great for adults, too. And I look forward to reading it with my daughter. What was the motivation behind this? Well, I guess two things. One, it's our 250th anniversary. And there are, we're going to have fireworks, we're going to have celebrations, and we should, but I hope, too, we might find a little time to reflect on the men and women whose courage and sacrifice gave us the Declaration of Independence.

14:21Michael Popok:And I've been complaining a lot about the lack of civic education in the history education in our country. And my co-author, Janie Nitze, said, you know, old man, it's time for you to do something about it. She has three young children, founded a preschool. And this was a journey and a wonderful journey. I just love how it turned out. Well, let me read an excerpt that was one of our favorites. You write, first, all men are created equal, the rich and the poor, the popular and the unpopular, all are equal in God's eyes and should be equal under law. Second, each person enjoys rights among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that are God given.

15:03Those rights are unalienable beyond the reach of government. Third, to preserve those rights, the people have another right, the right to rule themselves. The government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. I love that you highlight that our rights are actually from God and our founders knew that. What do you think that our children need to learn about the Constitution and our founders?

15:26Michael Popok:Well, those three great ideas in the Declaration are perfect. And it's a journey to realize them, and it has been throughout our history. But each generation has to recommit themselves to those ideas. You know, we're not a nation founded on a common religion or heritage. We're founded around ideas. And so the torch passes to each new generation to carry on those ideas. And the sacrifice that the men and women during the revolution, we forget it was eight long, bloody years. And ordinary people, not just Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, but people like Mary Catherine Goddard and Emily Geiger, whose stories we tell in the book, helped make those ideals possible for us.

16:08Yes, sir. As an originalist, how do you how do you balance the literal text of the Constitution with more modern issues that maybe the framers couldn't have anticipated, like A.I. or Internet issues?

16:21Michael Popok:Well, you know, one of the things that the framers of the Declaration really wanted was independent judges to interpret and apply the law who are not bound down by politics. They fought a revolution against a king who had taken control of the judiciary himself. And so an originalist tries to be faithful to the original written word of the Constitution and apply it. Yes, it has to be applied to new facts and circumstances. But the terms of that document cannot be changed by nine old people in Washington. That's not our job. So I'm following this story closely. Next development is going to be in about seven days when I get the brief from Louisiana and we see what happens next.

17:05Michael Popok:I don't think they're going to do oral argument. I think their amicus briefs or amici briefs are really, really important, especially for reproductive rights groups to get on the ball. I know they're working on it right now. Get those on file and accept it, and let's see what happens and hope it's not a six to three debacle. I don't love the makeup of the Supreme Court on these issues, just as I didn't during the Dobbs decision. You got Amy Coney Barrett, who was a Catholic law school law professor, member of ultra right wing conservative religious legal entities who has like seven adopted children who thinks it's OK.

17:47Michael Popok:You know, she says, oh, since there's statutes on the books that allows women to drop off their their babies at at firehouses with no repercussion, that's the solution. We don't need abortion any longer. I mean, she's got some crazy thought processes that are up there on that. And a bunch of old white guys and old black guys who have never had a child. And they're making the decisions about the most intimate and personal bodily decision that a human being can make. And look how it's being made. Look at this process. We'll follow it closely. I'm Michael Popak until my next report. Can't get your fill of Legal AF?

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