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Zoe Tillman

9 Sep, 11 tweets, 7 min read

@sgurman

AG Merrick Garland will be announcing a "civil enforcement action" at 2:30pm. Release doesn't specify what it's about, but @sgurman broke last night that legal action is imminent re: Texas's abortion ban, so stay tuned. Live stream will be here: justice.gov/live

DOJ's "civil enforcement action" presser was set for 2:30pm, live stream page updated to say 2:45pm, now says 3pm. There is a case docketed in WD-TX for United States v. Texas involving a constitutional claim, but nothing to 100% confirm it's about SB 8. So that's where we are.

NOW: DOJ is suing Texas over SB 8, the state's 6-week abortion ban, case is live: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2106…

More to come shortly, stay tuned

AG Merrick Garland is now up announcing the lawsuit against Texas: "The act is clearly unconstitutional"

Story, with more to come: The Justice Department is suing Texas over the state's 6-week abortion ban.

Attorney General Merrick Garland: "The act is clearly unconstitutional."
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

DOJ wants a judge to declare SB 8 unconstitutional and block Texas and its "agents" — aka private citizens that the law deputizes to sue abortion providers and others involved in aiding abortion access — from taking action buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

DOJ's lawsuit against Texas argues that the private citizens authorized to sue to enforce SB 8 become an arm of the state, and that gives the feds legal grounds to go to court and get an injunction against Texas and its "agents" buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

The DOJ suit features a sweeping argument that the fed govt has an interest in protecting the rights of people to vindicate their constitutional rights, but also a more nuanced arg that SB 8 in fact interferes with federal govt functions in Texas buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

The suit lists examples of federal govt functions affected by SB 8, incl:
- federal program where contractors must provide abortion services
- federal prisons where incarcerated people have a right to an abortion
- DoD facilities that perform abortions buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

A few other things to note: DOJ designated its new SB 8 lawsuit as "related" to the earlier constitutional challenge filed by abortion providers. This would mean the new case is assigned to the same judge, who had rejected Texas et al.'s efforts to get the first case dismissed

DOJ quotes from Roe v. Wade about the Constitution protecting a "woman's decision" about whether to get an abortion, and then includes a footnote making clear this case covers all pregnant people who want an abortion, regardless of gender identity

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Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

14 Sep

New: Defendants in the Jan. 6 Oath Keepers conspiracy case have lost part of their effort to get charges tossed out — no ruling yet on the conspiracy/obstruction counts, but the judge largely rebuffed other challenges s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2106…

The judge rejected challenges to the following charges in the Oath Keepers case:
- entering/remaining in restricted area or building
- destruction of govt property/tampering w/ evidence

The judge does find that defendant Joshua James is entitled to more information about which officer(s) he's accused of assaulting, but his lawyer already acknowledged that getting that info nullifies his motion to dismiss the count altogether

Read 4 tweets

Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

14 Sep

Hello from Judge Thomas Hogan's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is about to begin for Jan. 6 defendant Andrew Hatley. Feds confirmed he was there via Life360 cell location data. This is a misdemeanor-only case
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2045…

When Hatley was contacted by an FBI agent shortly after Jan. 6, Hatley "advised he was not sure how much he should say without legal counsel because he could be in a great deal of trouble"

Hatley is pleading guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol, a charge that carries a max sentence of 6 months in jail — this is the same class B misdemeanor we've seen in most Jan. 6 plea deals to date

Read 10 tweets

Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

13 Sep

Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs, charged in a Jan. 6 Proud Boys conspiracy case, are in court today arguing to be released. The thrust of the defense position is that they're on track for trial, and they argue they cannot prepare given complexity of the case w/ clients behind bars

Judge Timothy Kelly says he's sympathetic to concerns about trial prep — and notes that it's a problem they'll have to address even if he keeps them jailed — but notes that trial prep isn't one of the main factors courts can weigh in deciding whether to order pretrial detention

Nordean's lawyer Nicholas Smith begins by arguing the govt hasn't shown a specific risk that Nordean poses going forward, Kelly stops him to remind Smith they already argued this, the judge disagreed, *and* the DC Circuit upheld the detention decision

Read 5 tweets

Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

12 Sep

In 2016, Trump pitched to skeptical Republicans that even if they didn't like him, they needed him. Why? Judges.

The fight over Texas's 6-week abortion ban showed the lasting impact of Trump's nominees, not just at SCOTUS, but across the federal courts:
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

The justices didn't have to do anything for SB 8 to take effect — they simply didn't disturb a 5th Circuit order, which refused to halt the law and cut off the possibility of an immediate injunction. That three-judge panel featured two Trump nominees. buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

It's not just Texas, and it's not just the 5th Circuit. Trump + Senate Rs deepened conservative majorities in circuits that cover many states trying to restrict abortion access. Some of these judges fast became leading anti-abortion voices on the bench
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Read 5 tweets

Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

10 Sep

Now: The 5th Circuit has issued a new order in the SB 8 case brought by abortion providers, and the short version is that it leaves the law in place for now.

It explains why it's keeping a stay in place that prevents any action in the district court: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2106…

This order does a few things:
- First, the 5th Circuit says the state defs (state judges, clerks, medical licensing officials, AG Paxton) win in arguing immunity — they don't enforce SB 8, so they can't be enjoined from doing anything, so they're not proper parties

- Next, there's the matter of antiabortion activist Mark Lee Dickson. Dickson can't claim immunity, and the district judge rejected his other args for dismissal. 5th Circuit says it'll hear his appeal of all that on an expedited basis, and keep the district court case on hold

Read 6 tweets

Zoe Tillman

@ZoeTillman

9 Sep

Hello from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is getting underway for Jan. 6 defendant Virginia (Jenny) Spencer, who agreed to speak with the FBI and admitted going inside, showed the "Fuck Gun Control" jacket she wore s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2047…

Jenny Spencer went to the Capitol with her husband Christopher Spencer. She's charged with misdemeanors, he's also facing a felony obstruction count (she's pleading guilty solo, his case remains pending) s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2051…

The Spencer plea hearing has been delayed a few times now due to technical difficulties this morning. They put Spencer and her lawyer in a breakout room while they sorted out issues with the judge's connection, and now sounds like they're having trouble bringing everyone back

Read 5 tweets

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