The Boston Globe - 05.19.2019

6
OCTOBER 5, 2019

THE NATION

By Adam Liptak
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — The Su-
preme Court on Friday agreed
to hear a challenge to a Louisi-
ana law that requires doctors
performing abortions to have
admitting privileges at nearby
hospitals, its first abortion case
since President Trump’s ap-
pointments of two justices
shifted the court further to the
right.
The court’s ruling, expected
in June as the 2020 presidential
campaign enters its final
stretch, could reshape the con-
stitutional principles governing
abortion rights.
Opponents say the law, en-
acted in 2014, would leave the
state with only one doctor in a
single clinic authorized to pro-
vide abortions. And it is very
likely to yield an unusually tell-
ing decision because, in 2016,

thecourtstruckdownanessen-

tially identical Texas law.

The vote in the 2016 deci-

sion was 5-3, with Justice An-

thony M. Kennedy joining the

court’s four-member liberal

wing to form a majority. It was

decided by an eight-member

court after the death of Justice

Antonin Scalia that February.

Since then, Justice Neil M. Gor-

such was appointed to replace

Scalia and Justice Brett M. Ka-

vanaugh to replace Kennedy.

The federal appeals court in

New Orleans upheld the Louisi-

ana law last year notwithstand-

ing the 2016 decision. In No-

vember, the Supreme Court

granted a last-minute request

from abortion providers to

block it while they pursued an

appeal in the case, Gee v. June

Medical Services, No. 18-1460.

That interim ruling featured

an unusual 5-4 coalition, with

Chief Justice John Roberts join-

ing the court’s liberals. He had

dissented in the 2016 decision.

The meaning of Roberts’s

vote to block the Louisiana law

is contested, and it is hardly cer-

tain he will vote to uphold the

law on the merits. Instead, he

might have meant only to en-

sure an orderly process in which

the Supreme Court, rather than

an appellate panel, makes the

momentous decision of wheth-

er to limit or overrule a recent

Supreme Court precedent.

Other abortion cases are

likely to follow the one from

Louisiana, as several state legis-

latures have enacted laws that

seem calculated to try to force

the Supreme Court to consider

overruling Roe v. Wade, the

1973 decision that established

a constitutional right to abor-

tion. Trump has vowed to ap-

point justices who will vote to

the overrule the decision.

The Louisiana law was

struck down in 2017 by Judge

John W. deGravelles of US Dis-

trict Court in Baton Rouge, who

said that doctors willing to per-

form abortions were often un-

able to obtain admitting privi-

leges for reasons unrelated to

their competence and that the

law created an undue burden

on women’s constitutional right

to abortion.

The law, deGravelles ruled,

was essentially identical to one

from Texas that the Supreme

Court struck down in the 2016

decision, Whole Woman’s

Health v. Hellerstedt. Justice

Stephen G. Breyer, writing for

the majority in that decision,

said courts must consider

whether the claimed benefits of

laws that put restrictions on

abortion outweigh the burdens

theyputontheconstitutional

right to the procedure.

There was no evidence that

the Texas law’s admitting-privi-

leges requirement “would have

helped even one woman obtain

better treatment,” Breyer wrote.

But there was good evidence,

headded,thattherequirement

caused the number of abortion

clinics in Texas to drop to 20

from 40.

A divided three-judge panel

of the US Court of Appeals for

the 5th Circuit reversed de-

Gravelles’s decision and upheld

the Louisiana law, saying its

benefits outweighed the bur-

dens it imposed.

“Unlike Texas, Louisiana

presents some evidence of a

minimal benefit,” Judge Jerry

E. Smith wrote for the majority.

In particular, he wrote, “the ad-

mitting-privileges requirement

performs a real, and previously

unaddressed, credentialing

function that promotes the

well-being of women seeking

abortion.”

He added that the Louisiana

law “does not impose a substan-

tial burden on a large fraction

of women.”

In dissent, Judge Patrick E.

Higginbotham wrote that the

majority’s ruling was impossi-

ble to reconcile with the Su-

preme Court’s 2016 decision in

the Texas case and with its

landmark 1992 ruling in

Planned Parenthood v. Casey,

which banned states from plac-

ing an “undue burden” on the

constitutional right to abortion.

“I fail to see,” Higginbotham

wrote, “how a statute with no

medical benefit that is likely to

restrict access to abortion can

be considered anything but ‘un-

due.’ ”

By David A. Fahrenthold,
Ann E. Marimow,
and Robert Barnes
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — As Presi-
dent Trump tries to fight off
multiple inquiries into his pri-
vate finances — from state
prosecutors, congressional
committees, and legal plain-
tiffs — he has gotten help from
a powerful ally: the Justice De-
partment.
In at least three recent cas-
es, the department — led by
Attorney General William
Barr, a Trump appointee — has
intervened in lawsuits where
Trump has personally sued
those investigating him.
In the most recent instance,
on Wednesday, the depart-
ment took Trump’s side in a
federal lawsuit against the
Manhattan district attorney. In
that case, Trump has sought to
block a subpoena for his tax re-
turns — using the precedent-
shattering argument that a sit-
ting president shouldn’t be in-
vestigated by any prosecutor,
for any reason, anywhere.
The Justice Department
didn’t explicitly embrace
Trump’s broad arguments. But
it did urge the judge in the
case to take extra time to con-

sider them, given ‘‘the weighty

constitutional issues involved.’’

The Justice Department

has long defended presidents

when they’ve been sued. Now

it is also jumping in to support

Trump when he sues others —

backing him up as he pushes

for an expansion of presiden-

tial immunity.

‘‘The DOJ has elected to in-

sert itself into this private law-

suit to support [Trump’s] ex-

travagant claim’’ of presiden-

tial privilege, District Attorney

Cyrus Vance, a Democrat,

wrote in a letter to the judge

Thursday.

Vance accused the Justice

Department of helping Trump

avoid investigation, by playing

for time: ‘‘[Trump’s] only goal

in this litigation, now support-

ed by the DOJ itself, is to ob-

tain as much delay as possible,

through litigation, stays, and

appeals.’’

Some critics of Trump are

hoping that the new impeach-

ment inquiry launched by

House Democrats — while not

connected to any of these ex-

isting suits — may help speed

their path through the federal

judiciary. The argument would

be that, if Congress needs to

know something about

Trump’s private conduct, now

is the time.

‘‘The clock is ticking on this

presidential term,’’ said Bri-

anne Gorod, chief counsel of

the Constitutional Account-

ability Center, which is seeking

records about Trump’s private

business dealings with foreign

governments. ‘‘Where the

House is seeking information

that is relevant to its determi-

nation whether to impeach the

president, it needs that infor-

mation as quickly as possible.’’

But it’s too early to tell

whether that will be the case —

or if, instead, the House’s focus

on a separate investigation in-

to Trump’s dealings with

Ukraine will sap the urgency

from these cases.

During Trump’s term, fed-

eral lawyers have defended

him against three lawsuits al-

leging he is violating the Con-

stitution by continuing to do

business with foreign govern-

ments through his family busi-

ness. Two of those lawsuits,

which focus on the Constitu-

tion’s ‘‘foreign emoluments’’

clause, are still pending. An-

other was dismissed, but the

plaintiffs are asking for a re-

hearing.

But, under Trump, the de-

partment has also taken on an

expanded role — as legal fire-

power to a highly litigious

president, who has carried

over his longtime habit of us-

ing lawsuits to stymie his ene-

mies.

For Trump, ‘‘the idea is to

beat the system,’’ even if he

can’t beat the cases, said

James Zirin, a former federal

prosecutor and the author of a

new book called ‘‘Plaintiff in

Chief: A Portrait of Donald

Trump in 3,500 Lawsuits.’’

‘‘It’ll achieve delay.... The

wheels of justice grind very

slowly.’’

Jay Sekulow, a private at-

torney for Trump, said his

team consults with the Justice

Department when necessary.

The team Sekulow oversees

has the job of advocating for

the president’s personal inter-

ests. The Justice Department

has an interest in preserving

executive authority.

The two confer, he said,

when Trump’s personal argu-

ments intersect in some way

with presidential power.

‘‘Any discussions that

would take place would be be-

cause of the institutional inter-

ests the Justice Department

would have regarding legal is-

sues we had raised, to include,

[constitutional] authority, sep-

aration of powers, among oth-

er things,’’ Sekulow said.

The Justice Department de-

clined to comment for this sto-

ry.

Top court will consider La. abortion law

RulemirrorsTexasstatutethatwas

struckdowninprevioussession

September 2019 was the

warmest such month on re-

cord, tying the old record set

in 2016, according to the Co-

pernicus Climate Change Ser-

vice, an organization that

tracks global temperatures.

This makes September the

fourth-straight month ‘‘to be

close to or breaking a temper-

ature record,’’ according to an

agency statement.

Based on the Copernicus

data, June 2019 set a record

high for that month, July 2019

was the warmest month ever

recorded, and August 2019

was the second-warmest such

month globally.

According to Copernicus,

September was about 1.02 de-

grees above the 1981-2010 av-

erage for the month, and

about 1.2 degrees above the

preindustrial level. It was also

slightly warmer, by about 0.

degrees, than September 2016,

which had been the warmest

such month on record.

WASHINGTON POST

Earth has hottest

Sept. on record

WASHINGTON — Immi-

grants applying for US visas

will be denied entry into the

country unless they can prove

they can afford health care, ac-

cording to a proclamation

signed Friday by President

Trump.

The new rule applies to

people seeking immigrant vi-

sas from abroad, not those in

the United States already. It

does not affect lawful perma-

nent residents.

It does not apply to

asylum seekers, refugees, or

children.

But it would apply to the

spouses and parents of US citi-

zens. That could have an im-

pact on families who are try-

ing to bring their parents to

the United States.

The proclamation says im-

migrants will be barred from

entering the country unless

they are to be covered by

health insurance within 30

days of entering or have

enough financial resources to

pay for any medical costs. The

measure will be effective Nov.

3.

The Trump administration

is trying to move away from a

family-based immigration sys-

tem and into a merit-based

system, and Friday’s proclama-

tion is another effort to limit

immigrant access to public

programs.

The Trump administration

earlier this year made sweep-

ing changes to regulations that

would deny green cards to im-

migrants who use some forms

of public assistance.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Health care rule

for immigrants

MARK LENNIHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brian Mulkeen, father of slain police Officer Brian Mulkeen, embraced an officer at a service for his son on Friday at

Church of the Sacred Heart in Monroe, N.Y. Mulkeen was fatally struck by two police bullets while struggling with an

armed man Sunday in the Bronx borough of New York.

FALLEN

OFFICER

Justice Department defends Trump in probes

Intervenesin

multiplepersonal

financesuits NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — The
Treasury Department’s in-
spector general is investigat-
ing how the Treasury han-
dled a congressional request
for President Trump’s tax re-
turns, which Treasury Secre-
tary Steven Mnuchin has re-
fused to turn over.
The investigation is in re-
sponse to a request from
Representative Richard
Neal, the Massachusetts
Democrat who chairs the
House Ways and Means
Committee, who has been
leading congressional efforts
to access Trump’s financial
information.

Trump is locked in a legal

battle with House Demo-

crats over the fate of his tax

returns and Mnuchin, one of

his closest aides, has said

that the House demand is

not legitimate because it

lacks a true legislative pur-

pose.

“Chairman Neal has

asked Treasury OIG to in-

quire into the process by

which the department re-

ceived, evaluated, and re-

sponded to the committee’s

request for federal tax infor-

mation,” said Rich Delmar,

the Treasury’s acting inspec-

tor general. “We are under-

taking that inquiry.”

Inquiry into Treasury planned

Thiswillbethecourt’sfirstabortion

casesincePresidentTrump’s

appointmentsoftwojusticesshifted

thecourtfurthertotheright.