Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Top Abortion-Rights Lawyer Confirmed To Be Appeals Court Judge
The Wall Street Journal: Senate Confirms Abortion-Rights Lawyer To U.S. Appeals Court
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed abortion-rights lawyer Julie Rikelman to a U.S. appeals court, resolving a high-profile nomination by President Biden that had been pending nearly a year. Rikelman, 51 years old, will join the Boston-based First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over four northeastern states, plus Puerto Rico. She has worked as an advocate for abortion rights for more than a decade, most recently leading U.S. litigation for the Center for Reproductive Rights. (Kusisto, 6/20)
Vox: The Abortion Rights Movement’s Top Supreme Court Lawyer Is Now A Federal Judge
Julie Rikelman is arguably the nation’s preeminent attorney representing the cause of abortion rights. She is almost certainly the most important pro-abortion rights litigator of her generation. And now she will serve as a federal appellate judge. Among other things, Rikelman made a doomed effort to save Roe v. Wade from a hostile Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center (2023). Three years earlier, in June Medical Services v. Russo (2020), she unexpectedly convinced conservative Chief Justice John Roberts to preserve abortion rights for a few years before the Court’s new 6-3 Republican majority eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs. (Milhiser, 6/20)
In other abortion news from the federal government —
The Hill: Democrats Fed Up With Tuberville Want To Change Senate Rules
Senate Democrats say they’re ready to take another look at rules reform to break through the blockade Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has put in place against more than 200 military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy. (Bolton, 6/20)
Politico: The Sleeper Legal Strategy That Could Topple Abortion Bans
As the nation nears the one year anniversary of the fall of Roe, a Missouri case is one of nearly a dozen challenges to abortion restrictions filed by clergy members and practitioners of everything from Judaism to Satanism that are now making their way through state and federal courts — a strategy that aims to restore access to the procedure and chip away at the assumption that all religious people oppose abortion. (Ollstein, 6/21)
AP: Jill Biden: Consequences Of Overturning Roe V. Wade 'Go Far Beyond The Right To Choose'
Jill Biden said Tuesday that the consequences for women of losing the constitutional right to an abortion “go far beyond the right to choose” as she hosted a conversation with four women, including a Texas doctor, who shared emotional stories of being denied necessary reproductive care. (Superville, 6/20)
Billboards, protests are planned later this week —
CBS News: DNC To Raise Billboards In Times Square, Across U.S. To Highlight Abortion Rights A Year After Roe V. Wade Struck Down
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will launch a billboard campaign beginning on Thursday in Times Square and battleground states across the country. The ads will highlight the contrast between Democrats' efforts to protect abortion rights and Republicans' attempts to ban abortion, according to a DNC official. (Ewall-Wice, 6/21)
Reuters: Abortion Rights Supporters And Opponents Mark One Year Without Roe V. Wade
Ahead of a rally set for Saturday in Washington, Rachel Carmona, executive director of the Women's March activist organization, acknowledged the devastating blow dealt to reproductive rights by the Supreme Court's reversal last year. "We are framing this to lift up the wins that we've had in the last year, but of course it's a somber day for us," Carmona said. (Harte, 6/20)
