Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
NPR:
Abortion providers back to ‘business as usual’ after high court's mifepristone ruling
Some abortion providers were stockpiling mifepristone. Others were preparing to use alternative drug regimens to terminate pregnancies. But the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to uphold the FDA’s rules on abortion medication means none of that is necessary, at least right now.
"We continue business as usual,” says Lauren Jacobson, a nurse practitioner in Massachusetts who provides abortion pills, including mifepristone, by mail. “The Supreme Court has not made it more difficult than it already is for people to get access to abortion pills.” Jacobson, who works for Aid Access, one of the largest abortion-by-mail organizations that sends pills to all 50 states, says so far today, she’s written about 30 prescriptions for mifepristone.
Reuters:
Reactions to US Supreme Court ruling to preserve access to abortion pill
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH INTERIM PRESIDENT HAYDEE MORALES
"This case should never have made it to the Supreme Court in the first place. Anti-abortion operatives brought this case with one goal in mind – to ban medication abortion and they failed. This case was a near miss for the science and medicine community and it won’t be the last attack."
NATIONAL LATINA INSTITUTE FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LUPE RODRIGUEZ
"While we are relieved that the Supreme Court saw through the politics and lies about mifepristone, an incredibly safe and effective FDA-approved medication used in medication abortion care, this case should never have made it this far. We know that these attacks on abortion care will only continue."
After ruling, the future of abortion pills rests with Biden or Trump
Antiabortion advocates hope Trump endorses restrictions after the Supreme Court refused to limit access to a key abortion drug.
Because a president has enormous power to influence federal agencies that oversee abortion policy, a potential Trump administration could unilaterally choose to do what the Supreme Court did not: impose strict restrictions on
mifepristone, one of two drugs used in
over 60 percent of abortions — or even move to
take the drug off the market entirely.
“This decision means the ball is squarely in the next administration’s court,” said Roger Severino, who oversees abortion policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation and led abortion-related initiatives in the Department of Health and Human Services under Trump. “It’s up to the next administration to restore some semblance of safety to this largely unregulated regime of chemical abortion.”
Howard responded that he was Fineman "Unplugged" or "Unchained" (I can't remember which one). This is a gentle nudge to reporters out there to approach each story you write now like Howard would have. Pancreatic cancer had made him "Unplugged" or "removed the chains".
So much is on the line. When I was slogging through Presidential Primary states I always felt there was a kinship between the press and us political hacks. Each of us revered this great but imperfect system of American Democracy.
You know what these people are trying to do, write what is in your heart, and in your soul. Stop acting like so many other impotent defenders of Democracy who are refusing to adapt to this new threat, stop playing by the old rules.
David Rothkopf/Daily Beast:
Trump Returns to the Scene of the Crime—and the GOP Cheers
Trump was back on Capitol Hill for the first time since the Jan. 6 riot on Thursday, with a GOP fully compliant to his demands.
There on Capitol Hill, Trump continued the work of the mob he incited that January day in the wake of his crushing election defeat. Like the thugs and losers he urged to attack the Congress, some of whom as it happened carried Confederate flags or ones based on the Nazi swastika, Trump debased the seat of American democracy with his presence, with his words, and perhaps most shockingly of all, with the enthusiastic assistance of virtually the entire Republican Party delegations to the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. (Note: The Republican Party once actually led opposition to Davis and the Confederacy. But that was long, long ago.)
Republicans, some of whom cowered to avoid the Jan. 6 mob or who scampered away to avoid becoming their victims, were victimized by Trump in a different way during the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s visit to the Capitol. After having led an assault that put many of them in peril, Trump demonstrated his control over the party and the complete lack of character of virtually all of its members, by demanding that they publicly bend the knee before him. They slavered. They sang his praises. They collectively sought to wash away his sins in one of those most repugnant displays of public ass-kissing in American history.
France24:
French right fractures ahead of Macron’s snap poll as left launches 'New Popular Front'
French right-wing parties were mired by infighting Thursday as campaigning intensified for snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron, but his government faces a more unified challenge from the left.
Macron's gamble on early elections comes two years after he failed to secure a majority in parliament to buttress his second presidential term. It risks strengthening the far-right National Rally (RN) and has sparked a meltdown among traditional conservatives.
Eric Ciotti of the mainstream right Republicans party announced a surprise alliance with the RN this week, which prompted the rest of the leadership team to vote him out Wednesday.
But on Thursday Ciotti insisted he was still party leader, dismissing the effort to oust him as “quibbles, little battles by mediocre people... who understand nothing about what’s going on in the country”, adding that it was legally void.
“I’m president of the party, I’m going to my office and that’s it,” Ciotti told reporters as he arrived at Republicans headquarters in Paris, calling his opponents’ vote a “takeover” attempt and saying he had challenged its validity in court
Wow. Who knew the Conservatives in France were such great fans of the Michigan GOP?
Robert Zaretsky/Foreign Policy:
What Was Macron Thinking?
France’s president is forcing voters to decide if they really want the National Rally in power—and betting that governing could dent the far-right's popularity before 2027.
Two seismic events rocked France last Sunday. Politicians are only now pulling themselves from the rubble and scrambling to make sense of their upended world.
The initial quake arrived shortly after the French polls closed for the European Parliament election. Almost immediately, Marine Le Pen’s electoral list for the far-right National Rally (RN) was projected as the winner. This was not a surprise, of course. For weeks, pollsters had reported that the RN list, led by Jordan Bardella, was hovering over 30 percent, more than doubling the government’s Renaissance list, led by Valérie Hayer.
As the numbers rolled in, the shock deepened. The RN had already beaten majority parties in past European elections, but this time, the margin was nearly 17 percentage points. Moreover, the party carried every region, including republican ramparts such as Brittany and Île-de-France—though not the latter’s largest city, Paris—and made inroads with swaths of the population once beyond its reach, including voters over 65 as well as those with university and professional degrees.
Then came the aftershock. Less than an hour after the results were announced, President Emmanuel Macron declared the dissolution of the National Assembly and scheduling of new legislative elections. The announcement caught not only all his opponents on the back foot but also many of the leading figures of his own party.
Cliff Schecter highlights Rep. Ted Lieu of California:
