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Zoe Tillman Profile picture
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17 May, 4 tweets, 3 min read
Anti-abortion activists had a plan to get to the Supreme Court. It worked.

On today's news that SCOTUS will take up Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, from me and @o_ema: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Judges repeatedly blocked abortion bans like the one passed in Mississippi, noting SCOTUS precedent made clear they were unconstitutional. Anti-abortion activists expected this — the goal was to tee up new cases for SCOTUS to revisit the issue entirely buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Judge James Ho, a prominent conservative confirmed under Trump, was on the 5th Circuit panel that blocked Mississippi's abortion ban. He noted the state's lawyers didn't even ask for argument — a sign they knew they were going to lose on the way to SCOTUS buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Ho used his concurring opinion to make clear where his sympathies lie, even though he was bound for now to follow precedent as it stands: "I am forced to agree with the majority’s application of Supreme Court precedent to this ... sincerely motivated law"
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

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More from @ZoeTillman

Zoe Tillman Profile picture
6 May
Blaming Trump for inciting the riots on Jan. 6 isn't helping his supporters get out of jail once they've been arrested.

Latest deep dive into the state of the Jan. 6 prosecutions: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
As much as Trump's impeachment trial focused on his responsibility for the Jan. 6 insurrection, the incitement defense isn't landing with judges trying to figure out which people charged in the riots are still a danger and should stay in jail pending trial buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Even in cases where judges agreed to release a defendant over the government's objections, they're making clear that it wasn't because they were persuaded by the "Trump made me do it" argument buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 4 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
6 May
Hello from my computer, where I'll be covering a 10am status hearing in the case of alleged Capitol rioter Brandon Fellows. Last night, DOJ asked the judge to put him in jail, saying he'd blown off his release conditions and failed to report a new arrest assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2069… ImageImage
Update: This was supposed to start 35 minutes ago and I'm still hearing hold music on the public line, so it's either very delayed or there won't be remote access :( It's in the courtroom instead of telephonic, so perhaps there was a hiccup with connecting. Stay tuned.
Aha the public line *just* connected, sounds like they're mid-hearing, the judge is explaining to Fellows what home detention means, not clear what's happened before this
Read 4 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
5 May
A federal judge in DC has vacated the CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium (currently set to expire June 30), finding the Public Health Service Act didn't give the agency the power to do something like this on its own assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2069…
As the judge notes, before the CDC extended the moratorium again through June 30, several courts had ruled against the CDC's authority to do this and some courts had rebuffed challenges
DOJ has filed a notice of appeal of this morning's ruling vacating the CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium (see thread for more)
Read 4 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
27 Apr
Hello from Judge Chris Cooper's virtual courtroom, where arguments are starting soon on Richard Barnett's motion for release — he's the one who told reporters he left Pelosi a note that said, "Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch" (looks like "bitch" was misspelled on the actual note)
Barnett lost the last time he tried to argue for release in January, with Chief Judge Howell saying that his "entitled behavior ... shows a total disregard for the law": buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

He's arguing the legal landscape is very different now, given rulings in other cases
If you'd like to listen to the hearing in Barnett's case, here's the public dial-in info for the court, it's before Judge Cooper: dcd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-emerg…
Read 18 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
27 Apr
Hello from Judge Thomas Hogan's virtual courtroom, where arguments are set to begin shortly on release motions filed by the two men charged with conspiring to assault Officer Sicknick at the Capitol, Julian Khater and George Tanios.

On their motions:
If you'd like to listen in to the Khater/Tanios detention hearing, here are the court's public lines, it's before Judge Hogan: dcd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-emerg…
Khater's lawyer Joseph Tacopina goes first, reiterates the argument from his brief that what Khater is accused of — spraying pepper spray at police — was a "limited and isolated" act, and contends he's unlike other rioters who crossed police barriers and went into the Capitol
Read 16 tweets
Zoe Tillman Profile picture
26 Apr
Several hours behind, but: A judge explained his ruling last week to keep Scott Fairlamb — charged with assaulting police on Jan. 6 — in jail.

"...the defendant’s history of punching people in the face suggests that he may punch people in the face again"
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2069…
Judge Lamberth writes that Fairlamb fits the profile of a Jan. 6 defendant warranting detention that the DC Circuit had in mind when it wrote the Munchel opinion, which set the bar higher for pretrial detention for people not charged with specific acts of violence
Lamberth also not buying a "puffery" arg re: Fairlamb's pre-Jan. 6 social media posts.

"He said it was time to 'put up or shut up' and then he, as promised, put up, assaulting a police officer. When a person follows through on a threat, his words cannot be taken as hyperbolic."
Read 5 tweets

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