memeorandum: A Civil War-era abortion ban will soon control lives in Arizona

10:40 AM ET, April 10, 2024

Top Items:

Arizona Republicans denounce revived 1864 abortion ban in sudden reversal — As the party struggles to talk about abortion, response marks fastest and strongest rebuke of bans since the fall of Roe — Hours after Arizona's supreme court declared on Tuesday that a 160-year-old abortion ban …

Discussion: New York Times, Esquire, Axios, Copper Courier, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Al Jazeera, One America News Network, Associated Press, The Hill, Rolling Stone, CBS News and Arizona Mirror

Andrew Solender / Axios:

Republicans rush to distance from “disaster” Arizona abortion ruling … - Just on Monday, former President Trump put vulnerable House Republicans at ease by stopping short of endorsing a nationwide abortion ban. … - The 19th century law provides exceptions only to save the life of the mother.

Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:

Welcome to 1864 — When the Supreme Court decided Dobbs, it opened up Pandora's Box, undoing fifty years of protection for abortion rights under Roe v. Wade. In the wake of that decision, states pulled lots of horribles out of the box and used them to prevent women from making their own choices about reproductive health care.

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, New York Times and CBS News

New York Times:

Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Near-Total Abortion Ban Enacted in 1864 — The state's highest court said the law, moribund for decades under Roe v. Wade, was now enforceable, but it put its decision on hold for a lower court to hear other challenges to the law.

Brenna Gauchat / Arizona Republic:

Arizona lawmaker leads prayer circle on state seal at Capitol building, sparking backlash — Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern invited a prayer group to the Senate floor on Monday. — Seen in a video filmed by an anonymous attendee, Kern led the group, who spoke in tongues, through a prayer as they knelt over the state seal.

Discussion: HuffPost and Copper Courier

Politico:

Trump's abortion stance could put Florida Republicans in a bind — The state GOP's strict abortion bans could be repealed if voters approve a ballot initiative in November. — MIAMI — There's no state that will need to navigate Donald Trump's abortion stance quite like Florida …

Discussion: Resolute Square, Washington Post, Florida Politics and Talking Points Memo

Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
A Civil War-era abortion ban will soon control lives in Arizona — for now

Discussion: Axios, New York Times, CBS News, Metro.co.uk, Arizona Mirror, Law & Crime, Raw Story, The Japan Times and Washington Examiner

Eliza Collins / Wall Street Journal: Why Arizona Will Be Ground Zero for the 2024 Abortion Fight

Washington Post:
‘Catastrophic,’ ‘a shock’: Arizona's abortion ruling threatens to upend 2024 races

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Examiner, KTAR.com, Cronkite News, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Associated Press and Axios

Ray Stern / Arizona Republic:
Abortion in Arizona set to be illegal in nearly all circumstances, state high court rules

Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Kari Lake disavows Arizona abortion ban ruling

NBC News:

Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg to be sentenced for perjury in Trump civil fraud trial — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is recommending a five-month jail sentence for Weisselberg after he pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.

Discussion: New York Daily News and New York Post

Michael R. Sisak / Associated Press:

Former Trump executive Allen Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months in jail for lying in civil fraud case — Allen Weisselberg, a retired executive in Donald Trump's real estate empire, was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in the civil fraud lawsuit brought …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, MeidasTouch, Axios, CNBC, HuffPost, Business Insider, CBS News, Forbes, The Guardian, Associated Press, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

Axios:

RFK Jr. sounds like Trump as he courts MAGA voters … - Kennedy is now drawing fire from Trump and other conservatives who once hailed Kennedy's campaign. … - “This is a humanitarian crisis because of the understanding across the globe that we now have an open border here,” …

Discussion: The Bulwark and New Jersey Online

New York Times:
Trump Allies Have a Plan to Hurt Biden's Chances: Elevate Outsider Candidates

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Robert Reich, Raw Story and Salon

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
RFK Jr. campaign official attended Jan. 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally and wanted ‘favorite President’ Trump to run for third term

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Mediaite, USA Today and New York Post

Axios:

Scoop: Biden plans order to limit southern border crossings by end of month … But Biden, briefed on polls of rising voter anger, wants a dramatic step. … - Biden would use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president broad leeway …

Discussion: Fox News, HuffPost and Bloomberg

KABE-LP:

Biden on Univision: the president talks about immigration, Mexico, Israel and the risks to democracy — President Joe Biden talked to Enrique Acevedo in the Oval Office, at the White House, to review multiple topics: from the situation at the border or student loans, to NATO expansion …

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, UPI, Bloomberg, New York Times, Forbes, Power Line, Deadline, Newsbusters, Informed Comment, HuffPost, NBC News, CBS News and Daily Kos

Lauren Irwin / The Hill:

Zelensky ups pressure on Trump to visit war-torn Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging former President Trump to come and visit war-torn Ukraine, amid reports that he would pressure Ukraine to cede land to Russia if he return to the White House.

Discussion: Politico, New York Post, The Kyiv Independent, Business Insider and RedState

Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Zelensky says he doesn't need ‘primitive’ ideas from Trump on Ukraine

Discussion: Interfax-Ukraine

Davidrlurie / Public Notice:

Trump's deeply misogynist lie about moms killing babies — It reveals a fear of women's empowerment he shares with the Christian right. … On Monday, Donald Trump released a video announcing his much heralded abortion “policy.” The statement was typically garbled, deliberately vague, and chock full of absurd assertions.

Discussion: New Republic, New York Daily News and PolitiFact

Michael Phillis / Associated Press:

Biden administration imposes first-ever national drinking water limits on toxic PFAS — The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized strict limits on certain so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level they can be reliably measured.

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, NPR, UPI, The Hill, CR Advocacy, Raw Story, ABC News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, Grist, CBS News and The Colorado Sun

The White House:
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Critical Action to Protect Communities from PFAS Pollution in Drinking Water

Discussion: US EPA

Hyung-Jin Kim / Associated Press:

Exit polls suggest a big win by South Korea's liberal opposition parties in parliamentary election — (AP Video/Yong Jun Chang and Yong-ho Kim) — South Koreans prepare to vote for new 300-member parliament, AP explains — South Korea's liberal opposition parties were expected to win …

Discussion: UPI, Bloomberg, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters and The Japan Times

NBC News:

Biden's strategy to reach tuned-out voters: Content over crowds — Biden's re-election hinges on disengaged voters. His campaign is trying to reach them one video at a time. — President Joe Biden's recent battleground state campaign tour didn't draw major crowds.

Monica Alba / NBC News:
How the Biden campaign quickly mobilized on Trump's abortion stance

Discussion: Fox News

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

America's moment of truth on Ukraine — Republicans have a stark choice: help Zelenskyy or pay fealty to Trump — The last time David Cameron, Britain's foreign secretary, urged Capitol Hill to pass Ukraine aid, he was told to “kiss my ass” by Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the most vocal pro-Russia Republicans.

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, BizPac Review, Breitbart, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and ABC News

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:

Operatives must pay up to $1.25 million for robocall scheme to suppress Black votes — Two right-wing political operatives must pay up to $1.25 million in fines after they were found liable for launching a robocall campaign designed to keep Black New Yorkers from voting in the 2020 election …

Discussion: Associated Press and Raw Story

NY State Attorney General:
Attorney General James Secures Up to $1.25 Million from Conspiracy Theorists Who Intimidated Black Voters with Threatening Robocalls

Discussion: New York Times, Reuters, UPI, Axios, NBC News, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, New Republic, Law & Crime, Daily Kos, The Hill, The Daily Beast and MeidasTouch

Politico:

Siding with special counsel, Cannon agrees to keep witness identities secret — Despite sharp words for prosecutors, the Trump-appointed judge in the classified documents case said they presented evidence to justify the sealing. — The judge handling the classified documents case …

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Examiner and Reuters

Gabriel Schoenfeld / The Bulwark:

Trump's ‘Virtues’ and Other Fairy Tales — FOLLOW THE MONEY. That phrase—a legendary Hollywood screenwriter's addition to the Watergate lore—turns out in fact to be excellent advice for an investigation. And if one is investigating how the Claremont Institute, the California-based think tank …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Nuclear deal in tatters, Iran edges close to weapons capability — Six years after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord, Tehran is rapidly accumulating enriched uranium, some of it very close to weapons grade. Experts fear that a bomb could be a short dash away.

Discussion: The Sun

Politico:

Becerra weighs exit from Biden administration for California gubernatorial bid — Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general, would jump into an already crowded field of Democratic contenders. — SACRAMENTO, California — Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra …

Discussion: KFF Health News

Andrew Kerr / Washington Free Beacon:

Justice Department Uncovers ‘Inconsistencies’ in Fani Willis's Use of Federal Grant Funds — President Joe Biden's Justice Department has uncovered “inconsistencies” in Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis's use of federal grant funds, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Pew Research Center:

Changing Partisan Coalitions in a Politically Divided Nation — Party identification among registered voters, 1994-2023 — Party identification among registered voters, 1994-2023 — How we did this — The contours of the 2024 political landscape are the result of long-standing patterns …

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Hill and New York Times

Phil Stewart / Reuters:

US has no evidence of unfolding genocide in Gaza: Pentagon — The United States does not have evidence that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as it carries out its war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate hearing on Tuesday.