Justices back anti-abortion centers’ policy
WASHINGTON— Ruling for opponents of abortion on free speech grounds, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday that the State of California may not require religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to supply women with information about how to end their pregnancies.
The case was a clash between state efforts to provide women with facts about their medical options and First Amendment rulings that place limits on the government’s ability to compel people to say things at odds with their beliefs.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the five-justice conservative majority, accepted the free-speech argument, ruling that the First Amendment prohibits California from forcing the centers, which oppose abortion on religious grounds, to post notices about how to obtain the procedure. The centers seek to persuade women to choose parenting or adoption.
GOP immigration vote
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are set to vote Wednesday on a hard-fought immigration compromise between conservative and moderate GOP flanks, but the bill has lost any real chance for passage despite a public outcry over the crisis at the border.
Instead, lawmakers are expected to turn toward a narrow bill to prevent immigrant family separations in hopes of addressing that issue before leaving town for the Fourth of July recess.
GOP leaders set out to pass the sweeping immigration measure on their own, without Democratic input, after some members agitated for action. Now they are facing almost certain defeat, stung by their own divisions and President Donald Trump’s wavering support.
It remained unclear late Tuesday what the final version of the immigration legislation would contain. GOP negotiators had been working over the weekend on an amendment to tack on provisions to draw more support. But it was not expected to be included.
States sue Trump team
LOSANGELES — Seventeen states, including New York and California, sued the Trump administration Tuesday to force it to reunite the thousands of immigrant children and parents it separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the legal and political pressure on the White House to reconnect families more quickly escalated.
The states, all led by Democratic attorneys general, joined Washington, D.C., in filing the lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they are being forced to shoulder increased child welfare, education and social services costs. Separately, immigration-rights activists asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to order that parents be released and immediately reunited with their children.
Manafort to go on trial
WASHINGTON— The prosecution of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will go forward in federal court in Virginia, a judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III made waves in May when he grilled prosecutors from the special counsel’s office, questioning whether bank and tax fraud crimes Mr. Manafort is accused of committing were outside the scope of their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Judge Ellis ultimately concluded that special counsel Robert Mueller had the right to bring the case, setting the stage for a trial that is scheduled to begin July 25. If there are no further delays, it will be the first case brought by Mueller’s team to come before a jury.