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☆ In Abortion Cases, Legions of ‘Friends’ Seek to Persuade Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, establishing a constitutional right to abortion, it noted that it had received 14 friend-of-the-court briefs and listed them in a snug footnote at the beginning of the decision. By 1992, when the court reaffirmed Roe’s core holding in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the number of such filings, which lawyers call amicus briefs, had swelled to more than 30, and the footnote reciting them had grown unwieldy, taking up more than a page. In the decision that overturned Roe in 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court was flooded with more than 140 amicus briefs. The footnote had metastasized, spanning seven pages. Those 50 years of amicus briefs tell a cumulative story, one explored in a new study published in The Missouri Law Review, “The Rhetoric of Abortion in Amicus Briefs.” Using corpus linguistics, a social-science tool that analyzes patterns of words in large databases, the study found that the briefs “serve as a barometer revealing how various constituencies talk about abortion, women, fetuses, physicians, rights and harms over time.”

Persons: Roe, Wade, Casey, Dobbs, “, ” Organizations: Supreme, Jackson, Health Organization, Missouri Law, Amicus Locations: Missouri

☆ A man charged with killing his hospitalized wife told police he couldn't afford her medical bills
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A man said he killed his wife because he couldn't pay her medical bills, per a police statement. AdvertisementA man charged with strangling and killing his wife at the hospital said he did it because he couldn't pay her medical bills, according to a detective's probable cause statement. AdvertisementHe admitted to killing his wife by choking her and covering her mouth and nose to keep her from screaming, before leaving the hospital, according to the statement. Medical debt has surged over the last decade, becoming the largest source of debt in collections, per the National Institutes of Health. AdvertisementAs Business Insider previously reported, about a quarter of Gen Z and millennials are skipping rent and mortgage bills to pay off medical debt.

Persons: Ronnie Wiggs, —, Todd Winborn, Winborn, Wiggs, Miranda, he'd, Jean Peters Baker, Gen Organizations: Service, Centerpoint Medical Center, NPR, Family Foundation, National Institutes of Health Locations: Missouri, Independence , Missouri, Jackson County

☆ How the fortune of one of America’s biggest pharmaceutical families has quietly funded conservative causes
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Casey Tolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +21 min

From The Searle Freedom TrustThis year, the Searle trust is poised to play an even bigger role as it empties out its coffers. Researchers who study political nonprofits say that the Searle trust has had a major impact, even as the Searle family has stayed under the radar compared to more well-known conservative benefactors. The Searle trust is one of the most prolific funders of conservative groups among all private foundations, according to a CNN analysis of nonprofit tax data. The Searle trust has given millions to the Foundation for Government Accountability, which has worked behind the scenes to push conservative policies such as stricter voting laws. Dennis, the CEO of the Searle trust, is also the chair of DonorsTrust.

Persons: Searle, Daniel C, Trump, Donald Trump, ”, Galen Hall, who’s, Kimberly Dennis, ” Searle, “, Sarah Scaife, doesn’t, Michael B, Thomas, SPN, They’ve, ” Brendan Fischer, Brendan Fischer, “ They’ve, ” Hall, Caleb Rossiter, ” Galen Hall, movement’s MAGA, It’s, Mike Pence, that’s, Dennis, Henry Ford, John D, Rockefeller, ” Fischer, Gideon, Michael Searle, ” Dennis, “ We’re, Dan, Gideon Daniel Searle, Daniel Searle, Jonathan Eig, Jack Searle, Daniel Searle’s, Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Pincus, weren’t, –, Sue, Eig, Margaret Marsh, Enovid, misoprostol, Searle –, Pfizer –, ” Daniel Searle, Donald Rumsfeld, Searles, Biden, Wade, Dobbs, Kristen Batstone Organizations: CNN, Searle Freedom Trust, University of Michigan, Sarah Scaife Foundation, Searle, American Enterprise Institute, Reason Foundation, Tax Foundation, Manhattan Institute, Cato Institute, Foundation, Government, State Policy Network, American Legislative Exchange Council, Fair, Pacific Legal Foundation, Federalist Society, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Environment Research Center, CO2 Coalition, Heartland Institute, ”, CO2, Heartland, Republican Party, movement’s, America, Policy Institute, Trump, American Freedom Foundation, Everett, FDA, Rutgers University, Pfizer, Monsanto, Heritage Foundation, Reason, Affordable, New Civil Liberties Alliance, Public Policy Center, Claremont, National Women’s Health Network, Trust, IRS Locations: Missouri, St, Louis , Missouri, California, judgeships, ”, Omaha, Metamucil, Dramamine, Puerto, Brazil, Diet Coke, America

(AP) — A divided Missouri Supreme Court upheld voting districts drawn for the state Senate on Wednesday, rejecting a legal challenge that claimed mapmakers should have placed a greater emphasis on keeping communities intact. The high court's 5-2 decision means the districts, first used in the 2022 elections, will remain in place both for this year's elections and ensuing ones. While a Republican Senate committee supported the Senate map enacted in 2022 by a panel of appeals court judges, a GOP House committee sided with Democratic-aligned voters suing for the districts to be overturned. The third prioritizes “contiguous” and “compact” districts, and the fourth requires communities to be kept whole in districts if possible under the equal population guidelines. The Supreme Court said a trial judge correctly decided that the constitution makes “compact” districts a higher priority than keeping communities intact.

Persons: Judge Kelly Broniec, Mike Parson's, Judge W, Brent Powell, Judge Paul Wilson, ” Powell, Chuck Hatfield, ” Hatfield, I’m, Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, ” Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, Republicans, Republican, GOP, Democratic, Republican Gov, Pro Locations: Mo, Missouri, Buchanan, Louis, Hazelwood, ”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The vote will be the culmination of months of examination by House Republicans as they've aimed to make immigration and border security a key election issue. Republicans have laid the blame for all of this on the Homeland Security secretary and said that because of it, he needs to go. The House Homeland Security Committee has been holding hearings over roughly the last year where Republicans have repeatedly lambasted Mayorkas. That's the body that would decide whether to convict the secretary or not and if he's convicted then Mayorkas is no longer Homeland Security secretary.

Persons: Alejandro Mayorkas, It's, they're, Biden, Trump, Mayorkas, Witnesses, he's, Mike Johnson, “, ”, Biden’s, impeachable, Frank O, Bowman, it's, Mayorkas —, ” Mayorkas Organizations: WASHINGTON, Homeland, Republicans, Border Patrol, Border, Migrants, Democratic, Homeland Security, House Homeland Security, Trump, Trump . U.S . House Republicans, Republican, University, Missouri, MAYORKAS, Senate, Associated Press Locations: U.S, United States, Mexico, America, China, Afghanistan, Mauritania, Chicago , New York, Boston, Denver, Arizona, Trump ., Louisiana, Mayorkas

(AP) — Missouri's high court entertained arguments Thursday on whether to force changes to the state's Senate districts in a case that has divided majority-party Republicans over how to apply new voter-approved redistricting criteria. The lawsuit brought by voters contends that Senate districts in suburban St. Louis and western Missouri's Buchanan County violate the state constitution by needlessly splitting cities or counties into multiple districts. The outcome of the case won't affect immediate control of the Senate, where Republicans hold a 24-10 majority over Democrats. Deputy Solicitor General Maria Lanahan told judges that various other Senate districts — though not challenged by plaintiffs — also split counties while not following political subdivision lines. "Compact, contiguous territory is the first and most powerful line of defense against political and racial gerrymanders,” Senate Republicans wrote in a brief filed by attorney Eddie Greim.

Persons: Chuck Hatfield, Hatfield, Maria Lanahan, —, ”, Eddie Greim Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, Republicans, Republican, GOP, Democratic, Senate, Democrats, Missouri House Republican, ” Locations: Mo, St, Louis, Missouri's Buchanan, Missouri, Buchanan, Hazelwood

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri prosecutor now believes that inmate Marcellus Williams is innocent of the crime that landed him on death row and very nearly cost him his life, and he is seeking to overturn Williams' conviction. Gayle, a social worker and one-time St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, was killed at her home in 1998. Williams’ girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on such a hot day. They cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a St. Louis cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Last February, a St. Louis judge overturned the conviction of Lamar Johnson, who spent nearly 28 years in prison for a killing he always said he didn't commit.

Persons: Marcellus Williams, Williams, Wesley Bell, Lisha Gayle, Gayle, Louis, hasn't, Andrew Bailey didn't, Eric Greitens, Mike Parson, Bell, Parson, Greitens, Henry Cole, Cole, Kevin Strickland, Lamar Johnson, didn't, —, Johnson —, “, ”, Johnson Organizations: LOUIS, —, Louis Post, Dispatch, Innocence, Republican, Prosecutors, Authorities Locations: Missouri, Louis, Kansas City, St

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man who gained notoriety for pointing a gun at social justice demonstrators as they marched past his home asked a local judge to wipe the misdemeanor from his record. Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty in 2021 to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750. Mike Parson pardoned him, as well as his wife Patricia McCloskey, weeks later. Mark McCloskey filed a form Tuesday seeking to have the misdemeanor scrubbed from his record, multiple St. Louis media outlets reported. Mark McCloskey emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey waved a semi-automatic pistol, according to the indictment.

Persons: Louis, Mark McCloskey, Mike Parson, Patricia McCloskey, McCloskeys, George Floyd Organizations: LOUIS, Republican Gov Locations: Louis, Minneapolis, Missouri

There's no longer a nationwide right to abortion and 14 states have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Colorado has become an island of abortion protections as surrounding states installed restrictions after Roe was overturned. Since 2022, abortion rights supporters have prevailed on all seven statewide ballot measures. Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor's office and, under state law, abortion is allowed at any point throughout pregnancy, if it's deemed necessary by a doctor. MISSOURI ACTIVISTS CHOOSE AN AMENDMENT TO SUPPORTA coalition of abortion rights supporters in Missouri decided last week which of 11 amendment proposals to support.

Persons: Court's Roe, Wade, Roe, It's, Joe Biden's, ”, Nicole Hensel, Monday's Roe, it's, Tony Evers, BIDEN, what's, Biden, that’s, Trisha Ahmed, Jesse Bedayn Organizations: U.S, Life, MARYLAND, Colorado Capitol, New, Abortion, GOP, Democrat, U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Republican, Associated Press Locations: U.S ., Washington, St, Paul , Minnesota, Colorado, Maryland, New York, WISCONSIN, MAINE, Maine, Wisconsin, MISSOURI, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Denver

(AP) — A Missouri abortion-rights campaign announced Thursday that it's throwing support behind an amendment that would enshrine access to the procedure in the state constitution while allowing restrictions in later stages of pregnancy. Supporters include the ACLU of Missouri, local Planned Parenthood affiliates and Abortion Action Missouri. Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesAnd Missourians for Constitutional Freedom has funding difficulties, ending 2023 with no money in the bank. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom's announcement comes as abortion activists nationwide are divided over whether to support constitutional amendments that allow any regulation of abortion after viability. Current Missouri law includes an exception for medical emergencies, but not in cases of rape and incest.

Persons: Freedom, “, ”, Iman Alsaden, State Jay Ashcroft, Roe, Wade Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, —, Missouri, Constitutional, Republican, State, Freedom, American College of Obstetricians Locations: Mo, Missouri

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday kept a Missouri law on hold that bars police from enforcing federal gun laws, rejecting an emergency appeal from the state. A federal appeals court then blocked enforcement while the state appeals the district court ruling. The law would impose a fine of $50,000 on an officer who knowingly enforces federal gun laws that don't match up with state restrictions. Political Cartoons View All 1211 ImagesFederal laws without similar Missouri laws include registration and tracking requirements and possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders. An appeals court invalidated a federal law that aims to keep guns away from people facing domestic violence restraining orders.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas Organizations: WASHINGTON Locations: Missouri

☆ Justices Reject, for Now, Missouri’s Effort to Override Federal Gun Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Adam Liptak | More About Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court refused on Friday to reinstate an expansive Missouri law that restricted state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal gun laws and allowed private lawsuits against law enforcement agencies that violated the state’s understanding of the Second Amendment. The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications asking them to intervene in an early stage of litigation. An appeal of a judge’s ruling striking down the law will proceed, and the case could again reach the Supreme Court after that appeal is decided. The Missouri law, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, was enacted in 2021 and had several unusual provisions. One declared various kinds of federal laws — including ones requiring the registration of weapons and making gun dealers keep records — to be “infringements on the people’s right to keep and bear arms.”A second provision prohibited the state from hiring former federal employees who had enforced such laws or given “material aid and support” to efforts to enforce them.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, ” Locations: Missouri

That is especially concerning for parents of younger kids and those whose disabilities can make finding child care an extra challenge. One failed legislative proposal would have let students in four-day districts transfer or attend private schools, with their home districts picking up the tab. “If everybody becomes a four-day school week,” she said, “that is no longer a recruitment strategy.”In some communities, a four-day week is better for families. “They’re making the shift to the four-day week because all the districts around them have adopted a four-day week,” he said. However, the Rand Corporation found achievement differences in four-day districts, while initially hard to spot, became apparent over multiple years.

Persons: — It's, Callahan, contorts, Keegan, ”, Hudson, Brandi Pruente, “, Paul Thompson, Harry Truman, Dale Herl, Jon Turner, Margie Vandeven, Tony Warren, Warren, Thompson, Karyn Lewis, Will Pierce, hasn't, Frank James Perrone Organizations: French, Oregon State University, Economic Commission, Missouri State University, Rand Corporation, Indiana University, Associated Press, Carnegie Corporation of New, AP Locations: Mo, U.S, Independence , Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, Independence, Turner, Montana, Denver, 27J, ”, Carnegie Corporation of New York

(AP) — Abortion advocates asked a judge on Monday to rewrite what they call misleading descriptions of several constitutional amendments on abortion rights that voters could see on Missouri’s 2024 ballot. Missouri is among several states, including Ohio, where abortion opponents are fighting efforts to ensure or restore access to the procedure following the fall of Roe v. Wade last year. In Missouri, summaries of proposed constitutional amendments are provided on ballots to help voters understand what the measures would do. Ballot measures on abortion could also be put before voters in 2024 in states including Arizona, Maryland, New York and South Dakota. In all of them, including generally conservative Kansas and Kentucky, the abortion rights side prevailed.

Persons: Roe, Wade, State Jay Ashcroft, Tony Rothert, Jason Krol Lewis, Lewis, Rothert, Andrew Bailey, Scott, Fitzpatrick, Bailey, —, Geoff Mulvihill Organizations: JEFFERSON CITY, —, State, Supreme, Republican, Missouri Supreme, Associated Press Locations: Mo, Missouri, Ohio, U.S, Arizona , Maryland , New York, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Cherry Hill , New Jersey

CNN —A boat crashed into a home near the Lake of the Ozarks on Saturday night, injuring all eight people on board and extensively damaging the house, according to Missouri law enforcement. The boat’s occupants were thrown from the vessel when it crashed at the 1.5-mile mark of the main channel, Missouri State Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Missouri State Highway PatrolThe driver of the boat, aged 46, was arrested for boating while intoxicated, the highway patrol said. “The home sustained extensive damage,” according to the highway patrol. Troopers are reconstructing the crash scene using a drone, the highway patrol said Sunday.

Persons: “ Organizations: CNN, Highway Patrol, Twitter, Patrol, Regional Hospital Locations: Missouri, Osage Beach

☆ Missouri Governor Says Execution Will Proceed After Jurors Waver on Death Sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Julie Bosman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a clemency petition sent to Mr. Parson last month, several jurors who had voted to sentence Mr. Tisius to death said they now believe life imprisonment was appropriate. Mr. Tisius’s lawyers had also argued that another juror from the sentencing trial was unable to read, a requirement under Missouri law for jury service. Mr. Tisius’s legal appeals have been exhausted. That left the possibility that Mr. Parson would step in and halt the execution. A former sheriff, Mr. Parson was seen as unlikely to commute the sentence.

Persons: Mike Parson, Michael Tisius, Mr, Parson, Tisius, “, ” Mr, Catholic Church — Organizations: Republican, U.S, Supreme, American Bar Association, Missouri State Public Defenders, European Union, Catholic Church Locations: Missouri, Randolph County, The State

☆ Missouri Lawmakers Pass Bill to Ban Transition Care for Minors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Background: Transition care was already in flux in MissouriThe vote on Wednesday was not the first attempt to limit transgender care in Missouri this year. Why It Matters: New limits are emerging across the countryThe Missouri bill comes amid a national blitz of Republican legislation targeting transition care for transgender youth. The rapidly changing legal landscape has placed transition care out of reach for many transgender children in the Midwest and South, infuriating L.G.B.T.Q. Several states bordering Missouri — Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma — have passed new limits on transition care for minors this year. An attempt to ban care for minors in Kansas failed when lawmakers did not muster enough votes to override the Democratic governor’s veto.

☆ A Missouri lawmaker defended child marriage, saying kids he knows who got married at age 12 are 'still married'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Missouri State Sen. Mike Moon defended child marriage on Tuesday, citing a couple he knows. Moon said the couple married at age 12 and that they were still together. "You said actually that should be the law because it's the parents' right and the kid's right to decide what's best for them. "Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12?" In 2018 the Missouri legislature passed a bill raising the state's minimum marriage age from 15 to 16, with teens under 18 requiring parental consent.

☆ Some Red States Weigh Bans on Enforcing U.S. Gun Laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Shannon Najmabadi | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The new state bills are intended to stop law enforcement from helping the federal government apply gun restrictions. DES MOINES, Iowa — A 2021 Missouri law banning law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws has been challenged in the courts, questioned by dozens of police chiefs. The law has failed to gain the backing of the National Rifle Association. This year, it is being copied.

☆ Missouri's abortion ban declares 'Almighty God is the author of life.' Faith leaders beg to differ in new suit.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Stephanie Russell-Kraft | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Missouri's abortion ban completely outlaws abortion with limited exceptions. The clergy, who come from denominations of Christianity, Unitarian Universalism, and Judaism, said the abortion ban violates their religious freedom and subjects them to "the religious dictates of others." "It came from religious leaders and communities, who have been explaining for decades that they see reproductive freedom as essential to religious freedom." But Missouri lawmakers openly discussed their religious beliefs on abortion while writing the abortion ban in 2019 according to the lawsuit, saying things like "Life begins at conception. There have also been more than a dozen cases challenging abortion restrictions on religious freedom grounds since the Supreme Court's decision, according to Platt.

They were victorious in all six states that featured ballot initiatives around abortion access this year. If approved, it would require a 60% threshold of support for future ballot measures to pass, as opposed to the current majority. Ballot initiative groups say that’s the point. Critics have alleged the measure amounts to a test run for a more comprehensive measure that would raise the threshold for all such constitutional ballot initiatives. “They’re trying to use ballot measures — to change ballot measures,” said Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

Khorry Ramey entered the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, on Tuesday morning to visit her father, Kevin Johnson, for a final time. Khorry Ramey with her father, Kevin Johnson, and her son, Kiaus. While she could not be inside the prison, Johnson's witnesses included his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Khorry Ramey and her father, Kevin Johnson. Kevin Johnson at the courthouse in Clayton, Mo., in 2007.

The execution of a Black death row inmate can proceed Tuesday evening after Missouri's highest court rejected a claim that the case was tainted by racial bias and determined the claim would most likely not be successful in legal challenges. The Missouri Supreme Court's decision released late Monday allows the state to continue with its planned execution of Johnson, 37, by lethal injection. Mike Parson, a Republican, said in a statement he would not grant him clemency "for his horrendous and callous crime." Keenan said in a court filing that he also sought a stay in Johnson's execution because the team of prosecutors during his trial has declined to cooperate with his investigation. Johnson was arrested in July 2005 in the fatal shooting of Kirkwood Police Officer William McEntee in suburban St. Louis.

A 19-year-old Missouri woman can't be a witness to her father's execution after a judge ruled Friday that a state law barring her from being present because of her age is constitutional. Kevin Johnson, 37, has been in prison since Ramey was 2 for the 2005 killing of William McEntee, a police officer in Kirkwood, Missouri. But Missouri law says that no person younger than 21 can witness an execution. Johnson's fate remains unclear after a motion asking for his execution to be halted was filed by a special prosecutor, Edward Keenan. The Missouri Attorney General's Office, however, believes Johnson's execution should go on and that "the surviving victims of Johnson's crimes have waited long enough for justice."

☆ 19-year-old asks court to let her watch father’s execution
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

ST. LOUIS — A 19-year-old woman is asking a federal court to allow her to watch her father’s death by injection, despite a Missouri law barring anyone under 21 from witnessing an execution. Kevin Johnson faces execution Nov. 29 for killing Kirkwood, Missouri, Police Officer William McEntee in 2005. Meanwhile, Johnson has requested that his daughter, Khorry Ramey, attend the execution, and she wants to be there. The ACLU’s court filing said the law barring under 21s serves no safety purpose and violates Ramey’s Constitutional rights. In a court filing last week to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office stated there were no grounds for court intervention.

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