Biden honors Roe anniversary as abortion foes convene
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision, which protected abortion rights nationwide until it was overturned by the conservative-dominated supreme court last year. The White House has issued a proclamation honoring the formerly precedent-setting case, and promising to continue fighting for abortion access.
“The Court got Roe right 50 years ago. It was a balanced decision with broad national consensus that the majority of Americans have continued to support for the last 50 years. And it was a constitutional principle upheld by justices appointed by Democratic and Republican Presidents alike,” Joe Biden wrote in the proclamation, which honors “generations of advocates who have fought for reproductive freedom, to recognize the countless women whose lives and futures have been saved and shaped by the Roe v. Wade decision, and to march forward with purpose as we work together to restore the right to choose.”
“I continue to call on the Congress to pass legislation to make those protections the law of the land once and for all. Until then, I will continue to use my Executive authority to protect women and families from harm in the wake of the Dobbs decision,” which overturned Roe, the president said.
But just blocks from the White House, anti-abortion advocates are gathering for the annual March for Life rally, the first since the supreme court ruling in Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization allowed states to ban the procedure. They’ve changed up their route this year and will finish near the Capitol, a recognition that the latest front in the abortion debate is in Congress and state legislatures nationwide.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino is on the scene at the rally:
Abortion opponents are beginning to gather on the mall before the annual March for Life rally and march, the first since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. The theme this year is “Next Steps: Marching Forward into a Post-Roe America.” pic.twitter.com/aQnnE5SLiT
— Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) January 20, 2023n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/laurenegambino/status/1616459953937465350?s=20&t=04n9fAjdh9ILCnJuX3gmEQ”,”id”:”1616459953937465350″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”ffde62e8-58a5-452e-8ccc-ff778692f7b4″}}”>
Abortion opponents are beginning to gather on the mall before the annual March for Life rally and march, the first since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. The theme this year is “Next Steps: Marching Forward into a Post-Roe America.” pic.twitter.com/aQnnE5SLiT
— Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) January 20, 2023
“,”elementId”:”aac50ffb-685b-448b-beb6-2415c79c8f2d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Here’s what else happened today:
“,”elementId”:”5521aa88-218c-4338-a17e-43fa7a78c455″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
- n
-
The supreme court will next week issue the first opinion of its current term after an unusually long period of silence.
-
Donald Trump has warned Republicans not to cut the popular Social Security or Medicare programs after the party’s leaders vowed to reduce government spending in exchange for raising the debt limit.
-
Today marked the halfway point of Biden’s first term in office, and reports indicate he still intends to seek a second term, with an announcement planned for after the 7 February State of the Union address.
-
Democrats breathed a big sigh of relief when Virginia senator Tim Kaine said he would seek re-election. Had he opted to retire, the party’s quest to hold on to the Senate in the 2024 election could have become more complicated.
-
Arizona’s new Democratic administration has paused executions and announced a review of the state’s use of capital punishment.
n
n
n
n
n
“,”elementId”:”ba41f7b1-29cf-4563-86fe-5665e70e4f07″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1674247631000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”15.47 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1674248457000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”16.00 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1674248457000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”16.00 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”16.00″,”title”:”Closing summary”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 20 Jan 2023 16.00 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 20 Jan 2023 08.41 EST”},{“id”:”63cadab38f080b4868ceddc9″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
In the wake of a federal judge ordering Donald Trump and one of his attorneys to jointly pay nearly $1m in penalties for pursuing a frivolous lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton and others, the former president today also withdrew his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“,”elementId”:”cf110dbe-3e0a-4aed-b35f-97cfb111cbf2″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The case against James, in federal court in Florida, had also been before US district court judge Donald Middlebrooks, the Associated Press reports.
“,”elementId”:”a1f9cd91-54d0-4762-accb-bbc1892d2fe3″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”
Just in: Trump withdraws suit against NY State AG Letitia James — the type of frivolous case that was cited by the judge who last night imposed sanctions of nearly $1 million against Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) January 20, 2023
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1616451669264601091″,”id”:”1616451669264601091″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”5d998a92-b268-4e30-a0e2-922f57f42876″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Trump sued James in November in response to her lawsuit alleging he and his company mislead banks and others about the value of assets in a practice she dubbed “The art of the steal” [a parody on Trump’s best-selling book about getting rich as a New York real estate mogul, The Art of the Deal.]
“,”elementId”:”7d2d60fd-1ace-418f-a835-13c948cf0283″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Trump, a Republican, also sought to prevent James, a Democrat, from having any oversight over the family trust that controls his company.
“,”elementId”:”cfa54fb4-7168-478e-8bdd-074f23d8074f”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
His 35-page complaint rehashed some claims from his previously dismissed lawsuit against James in federal court in New York, irritating Middlebrooks.
“,”elementId”:”af3ae7b3-c82d-453c-a9d8-65e527a09599″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Middlebrooks wrote in an order in December:
“,”elementId”:”7fda8b34-1074-4b5d-9d88-0b78fdfff3e4″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
This litigation has all the telltale signs of being both vexatious and frivolous.”
n
“,”elementId”:”9049a3e3-c457-4f5a-875c-d4c623cfe68c”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement”,”media”:{“allImages”:[{“index”:0,”fields”:{“height”:”3600″,”width”:”6000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/6000.jpg”},{“index”:1,”fields”:{“isMaster”:”true”,”height”:”3600″,”width”:”6000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg”},{“index”:2,”fields”:{“height”:”1200″,”width”:”2000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/2000.jpg”},{“index”:3,”fields”:{“height”:”600″,”width”:”1000″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/1000.jpg”},{“index”:4,”fields”:{“height”:”300″,”width”:”500″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/500.jpg”},{“index”:5,”fields”:{“height”:”84″,”width”:”140″},”mediaType”:”Image”,”mimeType”:”image/jpeg”,”url”:”https://media.guim.co.uk/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/140.jpg”}]},”data”:{“alt”:”New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem National Action Network event last Monday.”,”caption”:”New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Harlem National Action Network event last Monday.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Ron Adar/REX/Shutterstock”},”displayCredit”:true,”role”:”inline”,”imageSources”:[{“weighting”:”inline”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0bf469725e9a4b5a7f5e9bd357c671a5″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=1730e27d668be5191cced51bebd5cee6″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=4b5d6c2b0d681be4c5ead03d5fc21e04″,”width”:605},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=605&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=869d6b342000bb07653b73428831a85d”,”width”:1210},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2e974b1bb907fb5d5b23cc0f19155bd9″,”width”:445},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7167e121b1efcb10a367342362ed178b”,”width”:890}]},{“weighting”:”thumbnail”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7f4207c6b5d1f39742a2012dabc2d8d5″,”width”:140},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=140&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7c486567fec8ecef200098a3126263c0″,”width”:280},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=120&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d7ef374e778b19df838916a8592ef53a”,”width”:120},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=120&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=a1f2541dbeed7edf50cfe6c7af73feff”,”width”:240}]},{“weighting”:”supporting”,”srcSet”:[{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=380&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=c7c305d628381ab03041892f61d04c8a”,”width”:380},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=380&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=24a98f29e1b7517c399a223155445b1c”,”width”:760},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=d56b151d62f8af1dd9668ea2e73701f8″,”width”:300},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d12af5ff76712592e7d10bd9a30577e4″,”width”:600},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=0bf469725e9a4b5a7f5e9bd357c671a5″,”width”:620},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=1730e27d668be5191cced51bebd5cee6″,”width”:1240},{“src”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a806a3964f80ab6b5383cb127cca273d61d1f7b0/0_6_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=605&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=4b5d6c2b0d681be4c5ead03d5fc21e04″,”width”:605},{“src”:”http