Photo: Science Photo Library RF
1 Texas Supreme Court Rules Against Woman After She Says She’ll Leave State For Abortion
The legal battle over an abortion for a woman in Texas came to an end late yesterday…at least for now. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that the decision from a state district judge to allow Kate Cox, a mother of two who’s 20 weeks pregnant, to get an abortion should be vacated. The decision from the state’s highest court came just a few hours after Cox announced that she would be leaving the state to seek medical care. Her decision to get care elsewhere came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office was granted a pause in the lower court’s decision on Friday. Cox found out just after Thanksgiving that her fetus has trisomy 18, which is a likely fatal diagnosis. Not only would the baby have no chance of survival, but her doctor says that Cox’s health and future fertility could be impacted if she carries the baby to term. The Supreme Court said in its ruling that a judge couldn’t overrule the state’s law preventing abortions after six weeks and that it could only be waived by a doctor. Paxton publicly vowed late last week to prosecute any doctor who performed an abortion on Cox. Cox has already been to the emergency room four times for symptoms that included “severe cramps, leaking fluid, and elevated vital signs” according to her lawyers. The case is one of the first in the country to challenge a state’s abortion bans in court.
2 Supreme Court Will Decide Quickly If It'll Hear Case On Trump's Ability To Be Prosecuted
Special Counsel Jack Smith started the process yesterday to settle the question of whether or not former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted for actions while he was still in office. Smith asked the Supreme Court yesterday to take up the question and rule quickly on Trump’s eligibility to be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 elections. Late in the day yesterday, the justices said they would decide quickly whether or not to hear the case. That’s just the first step, though. The Court ordered Trump’s lawyers to respond to the case by next Wednesday, after which it will decide whether or not to hear the case. Smith is trying to keep his prosecution of Trump on schedule with the move, with the first hearing in his case against the former president set for March 4th. The Supreme Court is next scheduled to meet privately on January 5th, and it’s not clear if they would convene sooner to take up the request.
3 Man Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To Kill Vivek Ramaswamy
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy got the wrong kind of attention recently. Federal prosecutors said yesterday that New Hampshire man Tyler Anderson of Dover, New Hampshire was arrested and charged on Saturday after he allegedly sent two threatening replies to text messages he received from Ramaswamy’s campaign. According to a release from the Justice Department, the first of the messages read “Great, another opportunity for me to blow (Ramaswamy’s) brains out.” The department redacted the name of the candidate, but a spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign confirmed to CBS News that the threats were directed at him. Anderson reportedly admitted he sent the messages when he was arrested.