| The Supreme Court has ended the only federal protections for abortion in America — the constitutional right to have an abortion up until about halfway through a pregnancy. It's a monumental decision that overturns one of the most famous Supreme Court rulings in modern history, Roe v. Wade, reversing nearly 50 years of precedent. What the opinion says It compares Roe v. Wade to upholding racial segregation: Justice Samuel Alito says that "like the infamous decision in Plessy v Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided." Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 case that affirmed racial segregation and that the court later overruled. When it comes to abortion, Alito's central argument is that "the Constitution makes no express reference to a right to obtain an abortion." And so back in 1972, when the court extended protections to abortion, he argues, it overstepped its authority just as it did with allowing racial segregation. The tax credits that 13 million people currently receive to help lower premiums are set to expire. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are working with Congress to ensure everyone has access to affordable care, for the health of America. | | | | | The five other conservative justices agreed with Alito that Roe should be overturned: But Chief Justice John Roberts didn't fully agree with the decision. He signed onto upholding the Mississippi law in question that bans abortion at 15 weeks. But he said he thought the court went too far in overturning Roe entirely, allowing states to ban abortion much earlier in a pregnancy than 15 weeks. Meanwhile, the three liberal justices dissented, calling the decision devastating for women: "It says that from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of," they wrote. "A State can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs." What the opinion means Many states are moving to ban abortion ASAP: Thirteen states that have "trigger bans," laws that will ban abortion within 30 days of Roe being overturned. Other states (including South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama) are also expected to act soon to ban abortion. It all means that abortion could soon be illegal or strongly curtailed in as many as 25 states.  (The Washington Post) | Democrats in Congress can't do much: Democrats don't have much of an option other than to urge Americans who support abortion rights to vote in November. President Biden did that Friday, explaining that he can't issue an executive order keeping abortion legal nationwide. There is no federal law to that end, though House Democrats have passed a bill. But, as usual, the filibuster in the Senate means that's going nowhere, and Democrats don't have the votes to get rid of it. "The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said after the Uvalde, Tex., massacre when asked whether he would reconsider his opposition to it to get gun control through Congress.  Antiabortion demonstrators celebrate outside the Supreme Court on Friday. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) | Will other rights be on the chopping block in the courts?: Justice Clarence Thomas suggested he and his colleagues "should reconsider" the court's past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex marriage and even same-sex relationships. The three liberal justices raised this prospect in their dissent, writing that "no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work." But: The five other conservative justices said today's opinion would not affect other issues. If public polling is any clue, public support for same-sex marriage has steadily and rapidly grown in the past decade and use of contraception is widespread, including among conservative women. In contrast, abortion has remained a sharply divisive issue for decades. Supreme Court decisions we're still waiting on  Former high school football coach Joe Kennedy takes a knee in front of the Supreme Court in April as he awaits the court's decision on his praying in games. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) | This week, the Supreme Court also dramatically expanded the right to carry guns in public (keep reading for more on that below). In the next few days, it is expected to release some other big decisions before breaking for the summer. Such as: Church and state: Can a high school football coach kneel in prayer during a game? A school district in Washington state says no. The coach says his prayer circle, which some players participated in, was private speech. Can the Biden administration be forced to maintain Trump's "Remain in Mexico" program? The program denied entry to Central American asylum applicants while they await hearings, and the Biden administration said it subjected migrants to unsafe conditions. But Missouri and Texas say the government has to deny the migrants entry or arrest them. Will the EPA's power be limited? A group of small coal producers and Republican states are arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency can't use broad measures that the agency says are effective to combat greenhouse gases. Congress just limited gun rights  Democrats celebrate Friday after the passage of gun legislation in Congress. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) | When I talked to gun-control experts after the Uvalde and Buffalo massacres, they were almost certain nothing limiting gun use would come out of this. But on Friday, Congress passed the first significant gun-control legislation in 30 years, meaning it goes to Biden's desk to become law. Along with mental health funding and funding for school security, it encourages states to set up red-flag laws to take away guns from troubled individuals. It requires more-thorough background checks for buyers under 21 (who can still buy assault rifles). And it bans a larger group of domestic-violence offenders from buying or having guns (by closing what's called the "boyfriend loophole"). What Congress did isn't much from the gun-control point of view. But it's much more than advocates thought would happen. | 
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