Here are this week’s SWAJ Research Links, compiled by SWAJ Team Member Mark Kurth.
National Inquiries
National Security Officials File Amicus Brief Slamming Donald Trump
Fifteen former national security officials have filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in advance of the late-April oral arguments in Trump v. United States, a case that could decide whether Donald Trump is criminally immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith's D.C.-based prosecution. The brief filed today argues that nobody, not even the former President of the United States, is above the law and that nobody should be entitled to the absolute immunity Trump is asking for in his filings.
Ron Johnson tried to hand fake elector info to Mike Pence on Jan. 6, panel reveals
A top aide to Sen. Ron Johnson attempted to arrange a handoff of false, pro-Trump electors from the senator to Mike Pence just minutes before the then-vice president began to count electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
The aide, Sean Riley, told Pence’s legislative director Chris Hodgson that Johnson wanted to hand Pence lists of the fake electors from Michigan and Wisconsin for Pence to introduce during the counting of electoral votes that certified Joe Biden’s win. The attempt was revealed in text messages obtained by the Jan. 6 select committee during its fourth public hearing on Tuesday.
Column: Trump hoped to sidestep the abortion issue. Arizona’s near-total ban shows why he can’t
Donald Trump hoped to sidestep the abortion debate by suggesting he would turn the matter over to individual states, rather than having Congress and the president impose a nationwide ban.
But instead of deflecting, Trump’s move tied him even closer to the issue by placing his political fate in the hands of judges and state lawmakers willing to go far beyond where most voters stand.
It didn’t take long to see that dynamic, and its consequences, play out.
A day after Trump publicly announced his position, the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a near-total abortion ban, enforcing territorial legislation passed in 1864 — a time women couldn’t vote and chattel slavery and racial discrimination were perfectly legal in America.
Arizona’s Zombie Abortion Ban Is Back. It’s Every State’s Future If Trump Wins.
This zombie law was passed in 1864, long before Arizona was a state, and was codified in 1901, at which point it included a narrow exception to save the patient’s life. Much more recently, Arizona has passed less restrictive abortion laws, including a 15-week ban that appeared to wipe out more severe bans that preceded it. In late 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the two conflicting abortion laws in the state had to be reconciled, or “harmonized.” It maintained that abortion would remain legal through 15 weeks when provided by licensed physicians in compliance with the state’s other laws.
Trump, GOP scramble to contain abortion ‘earthquake’
The one-two punch of both Sun Belt decisions will have seismic implications for campaigns up and down the ballot in the run-up to November, and Republicans were scrambling to contain the fallout by distancing themselves from an issue that still animates whole swaths of the GOP.
“Republicans were on offense, they won constantly on this,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist. “Now, post-Dobbs, the situation is reversed. Republicans are having to react, and they don’t know where they’re going to have to react … They’re constantly responding, and the conversation is going to revolve around those places where the restrictions are the strictest.”
California’s Planned Parenthood president isn’t buying what Trump says about abortion
POLITICO spoke to Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood California, on the lessons learned from that fight and what this busy week of abortion news — former President Donald Trump appearing to side against a national ban and the Arizona Supreme Court upholding a 1864 state law imposing a near total ban — means for the abortion rights movement.
Lara Trump’s RNC robocall falsely claims ‘massive fraud’ in 2020 election
The Republican National Committee sent out a scripted robocall on behalf of its new co-chair Lara Trump, falsely claiming Democrats were guilty of “massive fraud” in the 2020 election.
Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who repeatedly defeated Trump in cases over alleged electoral fraud after the 2020 election, said the RNC robocall showed the Republican party to be “more committed to the big lie than ever”.
Conservatives clash with Trump on leaving abortion up to voters
The gulf between Trump’s “let that be to the states” view and the anti-abortion movement’s efforts underscores divisions that have dogged conservatives for two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“This near-term utilitarian, means-to-an-end, political-expediency type of stance that many in the Republican Party have taken, marginalizes the unborn and undermines this cause of justice,” said Jesse Southerland, the federal policy director of Americans United for Life. “We don’t get to choose who lives and dies. Human rights for women and the unborn shouldn’t be up for a vote.”
States Fights
Louisiana HB 777 Would Criminalize Librarians and Libraries Who Join the American Library Association
We’ve seen Utah pass a bill that would pull books off shelves in school libraries if the title is pulled in other districts in the state, a blatant removal of the local control the very anti-library advocates themselves demand. Idaho attempted to push through similar legislation, despite clear links of the rhetoric around “pornography in libraries” to QAnon conspiracy. Georgia attempted, but narrowly failed, to pass a bill this session that would ban the American Library Association from school and public libraries statewide (and the respective funding from the nation’s largest professional association for library workers).
Louisiana continues these efforts in an ongoing move by politicians in the state to damage public libraries with House Bill 777. HB 777 was introduced March 25 by Representative Kellee Dickerson, who helped fund the Louisiana Freedom Caucus. The bill would criminalize library workers and libraries for joining the American Library Association.
Arizona Supreme Court rules state must adhere to century-old law banning nearly all abortions
The law can be traced to as early as 1864 – before Arizona became a state – and was codified in 1901. It carries a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers – and it puts Arizona among the states with the strictest abortion laws in the country, alongside Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, where bans exist with almost no exceptions.
The state Supreme Court has delayed enforcement of the law for 14 days to give the plaintiffs an opportunity to pursue other challenges in a lower court if they wish to do so, including whether the law is constitutional.
Arizona Republicans block attempt to repeal abortion ban
House Democrats and at least one Republican tried to open discussion on a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban, which holds no exceptions for rape or incest. GOP leaders, who command the majority, cut it off twice and quickly adjourned for the week. Outraged Democrats erupted in finger-waving chants of "Shame! Shame!"
Republican state Rep. Teresa Martinez, of Casa Grande, said there was no reason to rush the debate. She accused Democrats of "screaming at us and engaging in extremist and insurrectionist behavior on the House floor." The GOP-led Senate briefly convened without debate on abortion.
Chaos and confusion ensue at abortion clinics after Arizona court rules 1864 ban is enforceable
Abortion providers in Arizona faced chaos and confusion after the state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled that a 160-year-old abortion ban is enforceable, throwing abortion access into question.
Dr. DeShawn Taylor, founder and president of the Phoenix-based Desert Star Institute for Family Planning, said she was initially unsure how quickly the change could go into effect, so she rushed her staff to call seven patients with appointments on Tuesday to ask them to come in earlier in the day.
“We just concentrated on getting patients seen,” Taylor said, adding, “We needed to make sure that we got those abortions done.”