memeorandum: The Current Attack on Abortion Pills Will Fail. The Next One Will Be So Much Worse. (Slate)

7:10 AM ET, March 27, 2024

Top Items:

Karissa Waddick / USA Today:

A victory for reproductive rights? Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands wins Alabama special election — Democrat Marilyn Lands won a contentious special election for a state house seat in deep-red Alabama on Tuesday night, in a race that could signal the dominant role of abortion …

Discussion: al.com, Politico, Axios, Associated Press, MeidasTouch, NBC News and Alabama Reflector

Arit John / CNN:

Democrat who made reproductive rights a campaign focus will win Alabama special election, CNN projects — Marilyn Lands, a Democrat who made reproductive rights a central part of her campaign, will win a special election Tuesday for an Alabama state House seat, CNN projects.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:

Democrat wins Alabama special election after focusing on IVF, abortion — Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands is projected to win the special election in Alabama state House District 10, according to Decision Desk HQ. — Lands, a licensed professional counselor, beat Republican Teddy Powell …

Discussion: Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, al.com, ABC News, USA Today and Daily Kos

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Scoop: House Democrats find new opening to hit GOP on IVF … - The policy funds fertility services for unmarried veterans, those in same-sex marriages and those who sustained service-related disabilities. — “IVF is morally dubious and should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Pluribus News and CPAC Digital

Bryan Schott / Salt Lake Tribune:

Baltimore bridge collapse caused by DEI efforts, Utah Rep. Phil Lyman says — Lyman, who is also running for Utah governor, blamed diversity efforts for the disaster. — Phil Lyman, a Utah Republican lawmaker and candidate for governor, quickly used Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse …

Discussion: Ship Management Company, The Western Journal, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Raw Story, The Baltimore Banner and WEB OF EVIL

The Baltimore Banner:
6 missing construction workers likely died in Francis Scott Key bridge collapse

Rebecca Shabad / NBC News:
Biden says Baltimore bridge rebuild should be paid for by the federal government after collapse

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

‘Assured failure’: Ex-White House lawyer provides new details of final days of Trump's 2020 election gambit — Pat Philbin gave his first public testimony about the chaotic final days of the Trump presidency. — Donald Trump's deputy White House counsel, Pat Philbin, was nervous.

Discussion: Associated Press and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:

Trump ally Clark attempted ‘coup’ at US Justice Dept, ethics counsel says — Jeffrey Clark, a former senior official in the U.S. Justice Department, made false claims as he attempted to enlist the agency in former President Donald Trump's efforts to undo his 2020 election loss, a Washington ethics lawyer said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Kali Holloway / The Daily Beast:

The Utter Ridiculousness of ‘Trump Bibles’ — LONG CON DON — The criminally indicted, twice-divorced, sexual-assaulting ex-president doesn't have many people left to con—so he's going back to evangelicals as his marks. … Is there any better way to celebrate the glory of the Resurrection …

Discussion: Axios, The Bulwark, Rolling Stone and al.com

Jill Colvin / Associated Press:
Trump is selling ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles for $59.99 as he faces mounting legal bills

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Magazine, Business Insider, New York Times, IJR, MeidasTouch, New York Daily News, CNBC and Associated Press

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
An all-American Bible — with a cut of the sales going to Trump

Discussion: Raw Story, Twitchy, Metro.co.uk, The Hill, Blaze Media, HuffPost, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Guardian and The Daily Beast

Matt Egan / CNN:

Trump's Truth Social is now a public company. Experts warn its multibillion-dollar valuation defies logic — New York CNN — For the first time in almost 30 years, part of Donald Trump's business empire has gone public. Trading started with a bang, but the frenzy eased considerably …

New York Times:
Trump's Media Company Worth Nearly $8 Billion on First Trading Day

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Examiner, CBS News, Associated Press, Breitbart, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal and Althouse

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:

Trump slow to invest in states that could decide election as some in GOP fear ‘skeleton’ campaign — In his bid to retake the White House, few states hold as much promise for Donald Trump as Michigan. The former president has already won the state once and President Joe Biden …

Associated Press: AP-NORC Poll: Trump evokes more anger and fear from Democrats than Biden does from Republicans

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:
‘Biden bump is real’: president gains on Trump in six battleground states

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Daily Mail, Axios, Business Insider and Associated Press

Josh Dawsey / Washington Post:

Was the 2020 election stolen? Job interviews at RNC take an unusual turn. — Prospective hires say agreeing with Trump's false election claim appears to be a new litmus test for being hired by the party — Those seeking employment at the Republican National Committee after a Trump-backed purge …

Discussion: Raw Story, KDFX-TV, MeidasTouch and Political Wire

Ariel Zilber / New York Post:

NBC News to drop ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel after Rachel Maddow, ‘Morning Joe’ revolt — NBC News plans to drop former Republican National Committee boss Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor after network stars including MSNBC prime time headliner Rachel Maddow and the co-hosts of “Morning Joe” …

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
NBC reverses decision to hire Ronna McDaniel after on-air backlash

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
NBC News Ousts Contributor Ronna McDaniel After Anchors Revolt

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Missouri AG sues Media Matters over its X research, demands donor names — Media watchdog slams “meritless, expensive, and harassing investigations.” — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey yesterday sued Media Matters in an attempt to protect Elon Musk and X from the nonprofit watchdog …

Discussion: Twitchy, Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

Chris Geidner / Law Dork:

Justices likely to keep medication abortion available on current terms — The argument that courts should overrule the FDA's mifepristone decisions faced a skeptical Supreme Court. But, the Comstock Act waits in the wings. — Mifepristone — one of two drugs prescribed in the U.S …

Discussion: Mediaite, Law & Crime, Fox News, Associated Press, New Republic, New York Times, Axios, Talking Points Memo, WGN-TV and Reason

Slate:
The Current Attack on Abortion Pills Will Fail. The Next One Will Be So Much Worse.

Discussion: KDFX-TV, Off the Kuff, SCOTUSblog, KSDK-TV, New Republic, The Hill, ABC News, NBC News, Mother Jones, Roll Call, BizPac Review, Alabama Reflector and New York Times

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Trump Goes on Bizarre Rant About ‘CROOKED JOE BUDEN’ Who 'DISINFORMATES AND ‘MISINFORMATES’ About Obamacare — Former President Donald Trump appeared to announce he supports Obamacare — or at least is not running to end the ACA -but that's the least newsworthy part of his latest ALL CAPS rant …

Discussion: HuffPost, NBC News and Raw Story

New York Times:

Judge Imposes Gag Order on Trump in Manhattan Criminal Trial — The order limiting the former president's speech came the day after Justice Juan M. Merchan set an April 15 trial date for the hush-money case. — The New York judge presiding over one of Donald J. Trump's criminal trials imposed …

Discussion: New Republic, Axios, The Guardian, Raw Story, Mediaite, PoliticusUSA, Associated Press, MeidasTouch, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion and The Hill

Michael R. Sisak / Associated Press:
Judge issues gag order barring Donald Trump from commenting on witnesses, others in hush money case

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:

Facebook snooped on users' Snapchat traffic in secret project, documents reveal — In 2016, Facebook launched a secret project designed to intercept and decrypt the network traffic between people using Snapchat's app and its servers. The goal was to understand users' behavior …

Discussion: Quartz, more at Techmeme »

Marianna Sotomayor / Washington Post:

The House GOP thought it was moving past internal drama. Then more showed up. — Republicans are once again dealing with the threat of removal for the speaker while critical legislation faces an unclear future — House Republicans finally felt they were done going through the stages of grief.

Discussion: MeidasTouch

Arthur Delaney / HuffPost:

Rep. Jamie Raskin Calls For Hearing On ‘Influence Peddling’ By Jared Kushner — Donald Trump's son-in-law has been a poster boy for cashing in on government service in basically the same way that Republicans claim the Bidens have done. — LOADING — WASHINGTON ― …

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
James Comer makes his final anti-Biden push ... to prospective donors

Discussion: New Republic, Raw Story and Vanity Fair

Axios:

Misinformation runs rampant after Baltimore bridge collapse … - The crew of the Singapore-flagged Dali issued a mayday call before striking the bridge and notified authorities that it was experiencing a power issue, according to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. — Paul Wiedefeld …

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, NPR, Agence France-Presse, Frontpage Mag, Media Matters for America, New Republic, Rolling Stone and HuffPost

Erin Mansfield / USA Today:

A Georgia man created a tool to challenge voter registrations. Trump's allies may use it. — Election deniers and allies of former President Donald Trump want to help regular citizens ask election officials to clean the voter rolls. That effort has alarmed experts who worry …

Tara Suter / The Hill:

Breyer says Supreme Court risks creating ‘Constitution that no one wants’ — Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said the Supreme Court risks creating a “Constitution that no one wants” if it follows its current way of interpreting law. — In an interview with Politico magazine published Tuesday …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Ankush Khardori / Politico:
A Supreme Court Justice Sounds a Warning

Discussion: Raw Story and Fox News

Jasper Scherer / The Texas Tribune:

Ken Paxton agrees to community service, paying restitution to avoid trial in securities fraud case — Paxton, who will not have to enter a plea under the terms of the agreement, faced the prospect of decades in prison if he had been convicted of fraud. — HOUSTON — Prosecutors on Tuesday agreed …