Poli Alert Politics & Civics

Last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortion, voters in Kansas, California, Michigan, Vermont, Kentucky, and Montana used the ballot initiative process to show their support for reproductive freedom, both by defeating GOP-backed anti-abortion measures and approving constitutional amendments aimed at preserving abortion access. Those …

Ashley Murray, Wisconsin Examiner  The Department of Veterans Affairs can continue providing service members with access to abortion in cases of life-threatening complications, rape or incest, after the U.S. Senate narrowly blocked a measure Wednesday that would have scrapped a new Biden administration rule. The VA policy, which also includes …

Jon Quealy, Common Dreams Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of throwing a ‘tantrum’ in his written dissent to Friday night’s ruling over the abortion medication mifepristone and said the Court’s right-wing majority has become an ideological political force that must be checked by the two …

Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout Gov. Bill Lee will call a special session to tackle gun reform after the Tennessee Legislature adjourned for the year Friday night without tackling gun reform nearly a month after a mass shooting at a Nashville private school. The governor said Friday night he made the …

Though the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked an effective ban on medication abortion, anti-abortion groups are not giving up on trying to fast-track a national abortion ban. And that means continuing to try to squash nationwide access to the most common form of abortion post-Roe, by whatever means necessary. …

Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune Mifepristone, a common abortion-inducing drug, will remain on the market without additional restrictions while a legal challenge proceeds, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday. The court ruled 7-2 to stay the lower court’s ruling, with Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito dissenting. The fate …

Tennessee Rep. Scotty Campbell, the vice chair of the state House Republican Caucus and a leader behind the effort last month to expel three Democrats who joined a gun control protest, resigned on Thursday weeks after a state House investigation found that he had sexually harassed at least one intern. …

Ariana Figueroa, Tennessee Lookout U.S. House Republicans voted Thursday to prohibit transgender student athletes from competing on girls sports teams consistent with their gender identity, at the same time multiple GOP-dominated states are making similar moves. The bill, H.R. 734, which would apply to K-12 schools as well as colleges …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams Backed by climate, health, and labor groups, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey on Thursday reintroduced the Green New Deal Resolution, which the progressive leaders have been fighting for since they first unveiled it in February 2019. “In the four years since we first …

Brian Lopez, The Texas Tribune Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom starting next school year under a bill the Texas Senate approved Thursday. Senate Bill 1515 by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, now heads to the House for consideration. This is the …

Orion Rummler Originally published by The 19th Florida’s Department of Education voted Wednesday to expand the state’s law banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, extending the restrictions through 12th grade. The expansion makes real a warning that LGBTQ+ advocates had repeated since the inception of the original …

Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder U.S. House Republicans unveiled a debt limit proposal Wednesday that would lift the nation’s borrowing capacity by $1.5 trillion or suspend it through March. The bill, introduced by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, carries along with it numerous Republican initiatives that are unlikely to get the bipartisan support …

Jennifer Shutt, Arkansas Advocate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern …

Ariana Figueroa, Ohio Capital Journal House members in a hearing on Tuesday questioned the head of a federal agency in charge of unaccompanied migrant children about multiple reports of their exploitation as workers in U.S. meatpacking plants and elsewhere. Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight & Accountability Subcommittee on National …

Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to replace California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee temporarily as she recovers from shingles at home. Senate Democrats are seeking to temporarily replace Feinstein on the powerful panel that processes judicial nominees as the California Democrat remains absent. Feinstein’s return …