The United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to an abortion medication, and former President Donald Trump met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Supreme Court unanimously rejects challenge to abortion medication mifepristone
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected a case challenging the abortion medication mifepristone, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug.
The court upheld access to the widely used abortion medication, rejecting the challenge from a group of anti-abortion rights doctors who argued that the FDA's loosening of restrictions on the drug in 2016 and 2021 was dangerous to the health of women. The high court sided with the Biden administration and the drug's manufacturer, who both argued that restricting access to the drug and ruling in favor of the anti-abortion rights activists could undermine the FDA's regulatory authority.
"Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff's desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue," conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion of the unanimous court. "Nor do the plaintiffs' other standing theories suffice. Therefore, the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge FDA's actions."
Kavanaugh also wrote that "federal courts are the wrong forum" to challenge the FDA's actions, and said that the plaintiffs should "present their concerns and objections to the President and FDA in the regulatory process, or to Congress and the President in the legislative process."
"And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes," he added.
It's the high court's first major abortion ruling since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The high court is also weighing another abortion case to determine whether a federal emergency medical treatment law overrides state-level abortion bans.
"Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues," President Joe Biden said in a statement after the ruling. "It does not change the fact that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.
"It does mean that mifepristone, or medication abortion, remains available and approved," he continued. "Women can continue to access this medication – approved by the FDA as safe and effective more than 20 years ago."
Trump returns to Capitol Hill for first time since Jan. 6 attack to meet with GOP lawmakers
Former President Donald Trump made his return to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with House and Senate Republicans, his first since sending the mob to "fight like hell" ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, as GOP lawmakers find themselves newly energized and reinvigorated by his bid to retake the White House.
Despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial, the Republican former president arrives Thursday emboldened as the party's presumptive nominee. He has successfully purged the GOP of critics, silenced most skeptics and enticed once-critical lawmakers aboard his MAGA-fueled campaign.
“Great meeting with Republican Representatives. Lots discussed, all positive, great poll numbers!” Trump posted on social media after meeting with House Republicans.
A packed room of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump in the private breakfast meeting at GOP campaign headquarters across the street from the Capitol. The lawmakers gave him a baseball and bat from the annual congressional game.
Michigan Rep. Tom Emmer, the third-ranking House Republican, said the former president received multiple standing ovations and discussed his plans for the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the economy and inflation, and the upcoming election.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Trump “brought an extraordinary amount of energy and excitement and enthusiasm this morning” at a press conference afterward.
“We talked about how to grow this House majority and how he will help in doing so and then how we'll help him as well. And this is a unified effort by the party,” said Johnson, who led one of the lawsuits challenging the 2020 election, and had his biggest fundraising day yet after Trump's felony conviction. “President Trump has set fundraising records. He raised $53 million in the first 24 hours after the verdict in that terrible, bogus trial in Manhattan. And I think that shows that people understand what's happening here.”
“Because people see that that is a threat to our republic," Johnson added. "They see that as a threat to our system of justice, and they don't — they want to push back."
Prior to the Thursday meeting, the Republican speaker demurred over whether he's asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and commit to not pursuing another Jan. 6.
"Of course he respects that, we all do, and we've all talked about it, ad nauseam," Johnson said.
The Biden campaign denounced Trump’s return to Capitol Hill, issuing statements from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chaired the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.