Abortion
Molly Jong-Fast calls for protests in defense of abortion rights.[1] But social movements succeed only at a glacial pace, in incremental steps over a period of years or even decades.[2] I’m thinking that restoring abortion rights is an awfully large bite for a Democratic Party that has failed on so much.[3] Meanwhile, a couple of Republican senators have egg on their faces:
[Susan] Collins voted to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018. [Lisa] Murkowski voted to confirm Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. Politico, which first published [Samuel] Alito’s draft opinion, reported that all three Trump-nominated justices initially voted with Alito to wholly overturn Roe. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement Tuesday that the draft is authentic but that the court’s decision is not final.[4]
The justices appointed by Donald Trump had, as nominees, Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski claim, promised to respect precedent and uphold Roe v. Wade.[5] No one else believed this promise at the time. But if these senators really believed these nominees, they were hearing what they desperately wanted to hear. It should go without saying that this is a tendency to watch out for when dealing with lawyers, even when they’ve become judges, especially when they’re seeking confirmation to the country’s highest court.
Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward, “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows,” Politico, May 2, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473
Caroline Kitchener, “The next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban,” Washington Post, May 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/02/abortion-ban-roe-supreme-court-mississippi/
Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, “Roberts directs investigation into leaked draft of abortion opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/supreme-court-leak-investigation-abortion-roe-wade/
Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/
Oriana Gonzalez, “Collins says Kavanaugh and Gorsuch possibly broke promise on Roe v. Wade,” Axios, May 3, 2022, https://www.axios.com/susan-collins-kavanaugh-gorsuch-abortion-court-leak-d6d1dad3-15d4-4269-b2ee-b5b5b2a4ea94.html
Molly Jong-Fast, “My Mother Was Wrong,” Atlantic, May 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/supreme-court-overturn-abortion-peaceful-protest/629746/
Theodore Schleifer, “Elon’s Eccentric Empire,” Puck News, May 3, 2022, https://puck.news/elons-eccentric-empire/
Ukraine
CTV, “Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking world war,” April 26, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/top-russian-diplomat-warns-ukraine-against-provoking-world-war-1.5876149
Maciej Onoszko, Maciej Martewicz, and Slav Okov, “Russia to Cut Gas to Poland and Bulgaria, Making Energy a Weapon,” Bloomberg, April 26, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/russia-halted-gas-supplies-to-poland-onet-pl-reports-l2gapmmd
British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Poland says it will manage without Russian gas,” April 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519
Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus,” Puck News, April 27, 2022, https://puck.news/bidens-new-ukrainian-calculus/
Julian O’Shaughnessy, “War in Ukraine: West’s Bucha massacre claims killed hopes of peace, says Putin,” Times, April 27, 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/war-in-ukraine-wests-bucha-massacre-claims-killed-hopes-of-peace-says-putin-6fk7g8t0d
Johan Ahlander, “Swedish PM rejects referendum on possible NATO membership,” Reuters, April 28, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-rejects-referendum-possible-nato-membership-2022-04-28/
Catherine Belton and Greg Miller, “Cracks emerge in Russian elite as tycoons start to bemoan invasion,” Washington Post, April 29, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/29/russia-oligarchs-ukraine-invasion-dissent/
Bloomberg, “Russia Will Quit International Space Station Over Sanctions,” April 30, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-30/russia-will-quit-international-space-station-over-sanctions
Paula Erizanu, “‘I don’t feel safe here’: Transnistria fears could spark Moldova exodus,” Guardian, May 1, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/i-dont-feel-safe-here-transnistria-fears-could-spark-moldova-exodus
Joseph Menn, “Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all,” Washington Post, May 1, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/01/russia-cyber-attacks-hacking/
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “‘I want to see Putin hanged’, says Gazprom executive who fled Russia,” Telegraph, May 1, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/05/01/want-see-putin-hanged-says-gazprom-executive-fled-russia/
Cnaan Liphshiz, “Speaking about Zelensky, Russian foreign minister says Hitler also had Jewish ancestry,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 2, 2022, https://www.jta.org/2022/05/02/global/speaking-about-zelensky-russian-foreign-minister-says-hitler-also-had-jewish-ancestry
Missy Ryan et al., “Russia planning to annex new areas of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence finds,” Washington Post, May 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/02/russian-annex-territory-invasion/
Julia Ioffe, “Putin vs. His Oligarchs,” Puck News, May 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putin-vs-his-oligarchs/
- [1]Molly Jong-Fast, “My Mother Was Wrong,” Atlantic, May 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/supreme-court-overturn-abortion-peaceful-protest/629746/↩
- [2]Bill Moyer, with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley, and Steven Soifer, Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements (Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: New Society, 2001).↩
- [3]David Benfell, “The illusory solidarity of the Left,” Not Housebroken, May 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/05/03/the-illusory-solidarity-of-the-left/↩
- [4]Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/↩
- [5]Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/↩