Supreme Court Suprise Move Undermines MAGA Case

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2:28Michael Popok:Are you sitting down for this one? In a remarkable 7-2 decision, the United States Supreme Court is going to allow the sale of mifepristone, one of two drugs used for medication abortions, throughout the country, even in states that ban abortion, at least for another year or year and a half, as the substance of the appeal makes its way back from the Fifth Circuit, back to the United States Supreme Court. But for now, we have a block that's going to last at least 18 months and probably indicates more about the thinking of the seven on the Supreme Court, other than Justice Alito and Thomas, about what they're going to ultimately rule about the legality of the sale of mifepristone, a drug so safe, the FDA and its studies has said it's safer than aspirin.

3:20Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network. This goes to the very heart of the most intimate and personal reproductive decision of a woman. Something that Sam Alito, when I read to you from his dissent, Alito and Thomas in dissent, said doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is not a woman's right to choose, but a state's right to regulate abortion, which he sees as being undermined for profit by two drug companies who are trying to do an end run around the United States Supreme Court's depraved decision almost four years ago to rip away a constitutional right of a woman to choose.

3:59Michael Popok:But we've got the new order. It is remarkable. It's something that we did not expect, even on Midas Touch. And I can be optimistic at times. In fact, I had a leader for the American Civil Liberties Union who was involved with the case about a week ago. And I'm going to show you a clip about what is and what was at stake coming into the case. How did we get here? Well, this is the second case in the last three years related to Mifepristone and the right-wing's attack on a woman's right to choose. we had the first one back in 2023 and 2024 when a judge judge Kazmarek in Abilene Texas a single judge district in response to a lawsuit filed by a phony organization that had just been created for the sole purpose of bringing the lawsuit ruled that Mifepristone was somehow not safe needed to be needed to have more studies conducted and try to do a nationwide ban That went up to the United States Supreme Court.

5:04Michael Popok:We covered it on Legal AF, and the Supreme Court at that time ruled that that plaintiff's group, this doctor's group that said, oh, we're harmed because we have to deal with women after they take medication abortion pills, did not have standing to bring the case and kick the case out, allowing unabated the sale of mifepristone, one of two medication abortion drugs. And medication abortions is about the way that more than 50, almost 60 percent of women obtain abortions is through medication abortions, usually at home. So that happened. Then another case got started by the state of Louisiana, who has standing, arguing that they have a lot of medical costs related to, I don't know, the use of Mifepristone that goes awry.

5:53Michael Popok:And therefore, they brought a case, went up from a Louisiana federal court up to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals again. And in a three-judge panel ruling, two to one, they ruled at the beginning of May and tried to do a nationwide block, even in states where abortion is legal, of the use of the drug Mifepristone. Now, the FDA had allowed it to be, after COVID, sold by mail order. You order it from remote pharmacies and you can have the decision to use it and to be supported by telemedicine, telehealth, right? Get the doctor or the provider on a screen or a phone and then get the drug. Well, that was the angle of attack for Louisiana.

6:35Michael Popok:Fifth Circuit said, oh, no, there may be complications related to mail order pharmacy medication. And it's not enough that they don't go into the office. They need to go into an office maybe hundreds of miles away. And so not only did a block in Louisiana where abortions are technically illegal, virtually illegal, but also banned it nationwide. Now, the Supreme Court last year in the birthright citizenship case said in generally trial court level judges can't do nationwide injunctions except in limited circumstances. Fifth Circuit said, well, we think this is the limited circumstance. And that went up to the United States Supreme Court in the last two weeks.

7:16Judge Alito first stopped on the train because he is in charge of the Fifth Circuit.

7:21Michael Popok:He did a temporary stay until Monday, this past Monday, meaning the sale of Mifepristone continued unabated nationwide while the court considered the issue and the briefing. Lots of briefs were filed. You know, ACLU involved, doctors groups, reproductive rights groups, women's rights groups all filed their briefs. And the court took a look at them and then extended the stay, meaning more sale of mifepristone unabated nationwide through yesterday at 5 o 'clock. Then at five o 'clock or so, they issued the order that I'm going to go over now, which extends the time for the sale of Mifepristone unabated in all 50 states by mail order while the case continues now through a normal track on appeal back up to the United States Supreme Court.

8:15Michael Popok:that could be a year, year and a half from now. And it's a good sign, and we'll talk more about it here on this hot take, about why seven of the Supreme Court justices continuing to allow for the second time the sale of Mifepristone is a good indicator of where they're going to rule ultimately when they get the case finally in a year or a year and a half. And now we know where Alito and Thomas stand, calling the two biomed companies that brought the case, two pharmaceutical companies that brought the case, a criminal enterprise only interested in profit and undermining, as Alito says, undermining our decision and the Dobbs decision, ripping away a woman's right to choose, overturning Roe versus Wade, written by who?

8:58Michael Popok:Sam Alito. Of course, he cares more about a state's rights to regulate a woman's right to choose than a woman's right to choose. Let's get into it here. I'm Michael Popok. You're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. Take a minute, hit the free subscribe button over on Legal AF YouTube channel. Now, about a week ago, I interviewed Jessica Ahrens, who's one of the policy directors at the American Civil Liberties Union, about this very case while we were waiting to see what the United States Supreme Court was ultimately going to do. And she sets the stage for what's at stake. And I want you to hear from her directly.

9:36Michael Popok:And here's a clip of my interview. The Fifth Circuit ruling last Friday that blocked the mailing and pharmacy dispensation of Mifepristone nationwide, upended care in the way it's delivered, and it has been delivered for the last several years, and really created a lot of chaos and confusion, which I think is by design. So we are, you know, of course, we welcomed the temporary pause that the Supreme Court put on the Fifth Circuit ruling while we await their response next week or anytime before 5 p.m. Eastern on Monday. It's no indication of what the Supreme Court will actually do. They might affirm the Fifth Circuit ruling and they might allow the medication to be blocked again in terms of the mailing, or they may allow the mailing to continue while this case goes back down and proceeds.

10:36So we are once again on pins and needles waiting to see whether people can access the care they need based on what's become really the whims of the courts and, you know, an attorney general from Louisiana who brought this case to try to impose a nationwide restriction on access to abortion care, even in the states where abortion rights are protected.

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11:47Michael Popok:Plus, over 500 ,000 suitcases sold and more than 12 ,000 flight attendants and pilots already use Noble. Noble gives you real travel peace of mind, security, design, and convenience all in one. Head to nobeltravel.com for up to 46 % off your entire order. That's nobeltravel.com for up to 46 % off. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. Now, let me read to you from the actual order, and then I'll translate it for you. It says, the application for stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the court are granted.

12:28Michael Popok:The May 1, 2026 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is stayed, blocked, meaning Mifepristone sales continue. pending disposition of the appeal in the Fifth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari if it's timely brought. Translation, we're going to allow the sale of Mifepristone and block the order that blocked the sale through normal appeal process, briefing at the Fifth Circuit below, and if somebody takes an appeal back here at the Supreme Court, we'll see you back here sometime next year or the year after. But Mifepristone's sales continue.

13:11Michael Popok:That got Justice Thomas and Justice Alito, who have been working against women's rights since every moment they've been on the court, to issue scathing dissents, ones that attack the pharmaceutical companies. In fact, Thomas, in his dissent, says that the pharmaceutical companies are only trying to obtain profits. And their case is based on lost profits, is on page two of his dissent, from their criminal enterprise. So he labels the whole pharmaceutical company a criminal enterprise that's illegally selling into states that ban abortion Mifepristone. And he respectfully dissents. Well, thank you.

13:54Michael Popok:We know where Thomas is. Alito, again, the author of one of the worst, most diabolical Supreme Court decisions in history, right up there with Dred Scott, is the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, penned by none other than Sam Alito, which for the first time in constitutional history had there was a right a constitutional right recognized by the supreme court in 1972 in the roe versus wade decision a woman's right to choose that right ripped away 50 years later in dobs first time ever a constitutional right once given taken away by the united states supreme court and here's what he has to say he comes right out and says in the first paragraph on page one of his dissent, the court's unreasoned order is remarkable.

14:52Michael Popok:What is at stake? Listen to these words. It's the perpetration of a scheme to undermine our decision in Dobbs, which restored the right, I'm waiting, the right of a woman to choose? No, the right of each state to decide how to regulate abortions within its borders, right? Care more about states' regulation of abortions than a woman's right to choose. He also calls it a criminal enterprise. He also says that they've been reaping profits from the felonious use in Louisiana. And he would not have. So let me translate this. Alito and Thomas would have women suffer 50 % of medication abortions and they'd have to refer to another drug that's not as good and the sale even in states that allow abortion.

15:41Michael Popok:So half the states allow abortion. What's the basis for blocking mifepristone? None. But that's what the result would be. Now, let me bring this, the law and politics part together. If you need it, if this matters to you, what I'm talking about here, that a woman's most intimate and personal reproductive right decision, reproductive decision about their body to carry a pregnancy to term, if this matters to you, then you want to make sure that Alito and Thomas, who are aged and aging are not replaced by Donald Trump during his term through the Senate with two people who are as bad or worse, and I can give you a list, who are in their 40s and 50s, which will block a woman's reproductive rights for the next 30 years.

16:30Michael Popok:And the way we avoid that is give the Senate to the Democrats because the Senate is what confirms United States Supreme Court justices. There are a couple on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court I've been talking about, who are trying out for the Supreme Court used to be Thomas clerks or Alito clerks like Judge Oldham or Judge Ho, who are as bad or worse, especially when it comes to women's rights and women's reproductive rights. We can't let them get on. So there may be any one, you know, I'm not sure what motivates a voter to vote other than, you know, patriotic duty to vote, send a message against the Trump administration.

17:10Michael Popok:I don't like immigration policy and migration policy. I don't like what he's doing to the economy and affordability. I don't like what he's doing to our global standing around the world. I don't like what he's doing in terms of our national security or undermining it. I I don't like him profiting on his presidency. I don't like the attack on a woman's right to choose and making them a second-class citizen. You can pick any or all of these things to motivate you, but we need to mobilize the vote. It starts here in this community on Midas Touch and Legal AF, and it ends in the polling booth, right, in your polling spot in your precinct.

17:50Michael Popok:and from podcast to precinct, we're gonna follow you and support you every step of the way. I'm Michael Popok. Until my next report, subscribe to Legal AF YouTube channel. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting.

18:27Michael Popok:We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe. Mom, can you tell me a story? Sure. Once upon a time, a mom needed a new car. Was she brave? She was tired, mostly. But she went to Carvana.com and found a great car at a great price. No secret treasure map required. Did she have to find a dragon? Nope. She bought it 100 % online. From her bed, actually. Was it scary? Honey, it was as unscary as car buying could be. Did the car have a sunroof? It did, actually. Okay. Good story. Car buying you'll want to tell stories about.

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