Summary
It is just past 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
The supreme court has rejected a bid to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The decision overturned an appeals court ruling that would have restricted mail-order prescriptions of the common abortion drug. The nation’s highest court arrived at the decision unanimously, in turn marking a win for reproductive rights across the country.
Joe Biden released the following statement on the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone: “Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. It does not change the fact that the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”
The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the supreme court’s decision on mifepristone, saying: “The supreme court just unanimously rejected a request by anti-abortion extremists to impose medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in most abortions nationwide.”
Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6 insurrection in 2021. Trump was invited to address House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club and also meet with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters.
Ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy. But make no mistake – Trump has already cemented his legacy of shame in our hallowed halls.”
That’s it as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.
Updated
When voters are asked to sum up Joe Biden in one word, the most popular response is “old”, according to a survey by polling firm JL Partners.
Facing the same question with regard to Biden’s election-challenger Donald Trump, the word “criminal” comes up more than any other.
The poll also found that voters expect Trump to perform better in the first presidential debate later this month in Atlanta. Some 70% expect “Biden to mess up his words” and 49% even expect “Biden to forget where he is”.
Responding to the findings at a panel discussion in Washington on Thursday, political consultant and pollster Patrick Ruffini said: “This age issue for Biden really ties into voter perceptions of his competence and his ability to get things done.
“I think why that has proven to be a such a devastating issue for him, that has really underlied the failure to message around accomplishments, is that when people look at him they don’t see somebody who is going to [have] the ability to do a whole lot to actively change the course of events in a potential second term.”
JL Partners, using a representative sample size of 500 people and conducting fieldwork on 10 and 11 June, asked: “Thinking about anyone alive today, who would be your dream President?” In the resulting word cloud, “Donald Trump” loomed largest, followed by “Obama” - a combination of both Barack and Michelle.
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Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, joined the Biden campaign press call and warned that anti-abortion advocates would likely pursue other means to block access to mifepristone after the supreme court’s decision.
“Regardless of today’s ruling, Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to ban medication abortion nationwide,” Timmaraju said.
“They want to try and use executive power to jail doctors and patients for sending or receiving abortion medication in the mail, and they could extend that strategy to try to jail those mailing anything intended for producing abortion.”
Anti-abortion advocates have already tried to argue that the Comstock Act, an 1873 anti-obscenity law, bans the mailing of abortion-related materials, and Trump could use that strategy to threaten reproductive rights across the country, Timmaraju said.
“The road ahead is long. The fight to restore rights will be hard,” she told reporters. “But we know President Biden and Vice-President Harris are on our side. So that’s why I’m so proud to be fighting alongside them.”
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Joe Biden’s campaign officials celebrated the supreme court’s ruling preserving access to the abortion medication mifepristone, but they emphasized that the case was “only one tactic in a broader relentless strategy to strip away access to reproductive freedom”.
“If Trump regains power in November, Trump’s allies will be ready to deploy their plans to ban abortion access nationwide without the help of Congress or the court,” Julie Chávez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said on a press call.
“President Biden is going to make Donald Trump answer for the state of reproductive rights in this country. There’s so much at stake in 2024, and we’re going to continue to make sure that every single voter knows it.”
As the country marks two years since Roe v Wade was overturned, Rodriguez indicated that Biden would make the issue of abortion access a central focus of the first general election debate, which will take place later this month.
“That’s the contrast we will continue to highlight leading into the debate, using the Dobbs anniversary as another core inflection point,” Rodriguez said.
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Here are some images coming through the newswires from Capitol Hill, where Donald Trump made his first visit since the January 6 riots in 2021:
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The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said that the Trump meeting was “entirely positive”, Punchbowl News reported.
McConnell specified that he and Trump “got a chance to talk”, adding that their meeting was policy focused.
The meeting between McConnell and Trump is the first time the two have spoken since December 2020.
NEW — McConnell says Trump meeting was “entirely positive” and says he and Trump “got a chance to talk.” Didn’t elaborate. Said meeting was policy focused.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 13, 2024
For context, McConnell and Trump hadn’t spoken since December 2020.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) June 13, 2024
Updated
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has issued a statement declaring that Republicans will win the White House, Senate and House of Representatives after he and other party members hosted Donald Trump.
Johnson said that Trump brought “an extraordinary amount of energy and excitement and enthusiasm” during the morning meeting.
Johnson said: “We believe we are going to win back the White House, and the Senate, and grow the House majority, and when we do that, we will not waste a moment.”
The House speaker promised an “aggressive agenda” with the new Congress in January. So far, such an agenda could look like pushing far-right legislation around immigration, gun control and other policies.
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Interim summary
Hello, US politics readers, it’s been a busy morning in Washington with an important decision from the US supreme court relating to reproductive rights and the first visit to Capitol Hill by Donald Trump since some of his extremist supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
We’ll have much more news for you coming up.
Here’s where things stand:
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) hailed the supreme court’s decision on mifepristone, while warning: “This fight isn’t over. Anti-abortion politicians have already pledged to continue their efforts in this case to deny people access to medication abortion.”
Joe Biden took a similar stance and said, in part: “Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. It does not change the fact that the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.” He additionally warned of “Republican elected officials’ extreme and dangerous agenda to ban abortion nationwide”.
The US supreme court has rejected a bid to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, with a unanimous decision from the nine-member bench that, essentially, the plaintiff did not have standing. FDA-approved mifepristone therefore continues to be available.
Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6 insurrection in 2021. Trump was invited to address House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club and also meet with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters.
A crowd of reporters, protesters and aides gathered outside the Capitol Hill Club. Former House speaker and sitting California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s visit was with the “mission of dismantling our democracy”.
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The Democratic National Committee has echoed similar sentiments as other Democratic leaders including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris following the supreme court’s decision on mifepristone.
In a statement on Thursday, the DNC said:
The supreme court’s unanimous ruling that the Maga extremists who sued the FDA in an attempt to ban medication abortion nationwide lacked standing does not change the dire stakes of this election for reproductive freedom.
It does not change the fact that because of Trump, millions of women in states across the country cannot access the health care they need. It does not change the fact that Trump bragged about overturning Roe and thinks women suffering extreme physical, mental, and emotional harm because they can’t access reproductive health care is a ‘beautiful thing to watch.’
And it does not change the fact that if elected, Trump and his allies want to effectively ban abortion nationwide with or without the help of Congress and the courts … The only way to stop the Maga movement’s attacks on our freedoms is to turn out the vote in November to win Democratic majorities in Congress and reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris – who will never stop fighting to guarantee women in every state have access to the care they need.
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In a statement on the supreme court’s ruling, Kamala Harris said that it “does not change the fact that millions of American women are today living under cruel abortion bans because of Donald Trump”.
The vice-president went on to add:
Nor does this ruling change the threat to medication abortion. We know the Trump team has a plan to try to end access to medication abortion and carry out a Trump abortion ban in all 50 states, with or without Congress, if they get the chance. We cannot and will not let that happen.
The contrast is stark: while Trump relentlessly attacks reproductive freedoms, President Biden and I will never stop fighting to protect them. Americans have repeatedly made it clear they want more freedom, not less, and they will make their voices heard at the ballot box once again this November.
Updated
ACLU hails supreme court's mifepristone decision: 'This fight is far from over'
The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the supreme court’s decision on mifepristone, saying:
The supreme court just unanimously rejected a request by anti-abortion extremists to impose medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, a safe and effective medication used in most abortions nationwide.
This fight isn’t over. Anti-abortion politicians have already pledged to continue their efforts in this case to deny people access to medication abortion.”
This fight isn’t over. Anti-abortion politicians have already pledged to continue their efforts in this case to deny people access to medication abortion.
— ACLU (@ACLU) June 13, 2024
Joe Biden: 'Fight for reproductive freedom continues'
Joe Biden has released the following statement on the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone:
Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. It does not change the fact that the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.
It does mean that mifepristone, or medication abortion, remains available and approved. Women can continue to access this medication – approved by the FDA as safe and effective more than 20 years ago.
But let’s be clear: attacks on medication abortion are part of Republican elected officials’ extreme and dangerous agenda to ban abortion nationwide … The stakes could not be higher for women across America.
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Washington’s Democratic representative Pramila Jayapal echoed similar sentiments as other Democrats following the supreme court’s mifepristone decision.
In a tweet on X, Jayapal wrote:
This is a massive victory for abortion access, but there is no question – we must codify access to reproductive care nationwide.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court just rejected an attempt to ban mifepristone.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 13, 2024
This is a massive victory for abortion access, but there is no question — we must codify access to reproductive care nationwide. https://t.co/i0ec7v0rS4
The Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren hailed the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone access, calling the challenge to reject it “meritless from the start”.
Warren, an outspoken reproductive rights activist, wrote on X:
This challenge to mifepristone was meritless from the start. Abortion medication is safe and effective. Make no mistake: Donald Trump and Republican politicians will not stop marching us toward a nationwide abortion ban. We must protect reproductive freedom everywhere.
This challenge to mifepristone was meritless from the start. Abortion medication is safe and effective.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 13, 2024
Make no mistake: Donald Trump and Republican politicians will not stop marching us toward a nationwide abortion ban.
We must protect reproductive freedom everywhere. https://t.co/4sBBcwUruU
Updated
The supreme court also issued another decision today in which it sided with Starbucks over the firing of seven pro-union workers in Memphis.
Reuters has more:
The justices threw out a lower court’s approval of an injunction sought by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordering Starbucks to reinstate the workers while the agency’s in-house administrative case against the Seattle-based company proceeds.
Starbucks had argued that the judge in the Memphis case should have used a stringent four-factor test to weigh the bid for an injunction, similar to the standard used by some other courts and in non-labor legal disputes. This test includes an assessment of whether the side seeking relief would suffer irreparable harm and is likely to succeed on the merits of the case.
In another decision on Thursday, the supreme court barred a federal trademark for the phrase “Trump too small.”
The court’s decision rejects a claim from a California lawyer that the trademark denial violated his constitutional free speech.
Reuters further reports:
The justices overturned a lower court’s decision that the US Patent and Trademark Office’s rejection of Steve Elster’s application to register the trademark to exclusively use it on t-shirts violated the US constitution’s first amendment.
The case centered on a provision in a 1946 federal trademark law that bans the registration of any trademark that uses a living individual’s name without their written consent. At issue was whether free speech protections for criticism of public figures outweigh the US Patent and Trademark Office’s concerns over Trump’s rights, as the lower court found.
New York’s attorney general has hailed the supreme court’s decision to uphold mifepristone access.
In a tweet following the supreme court’s decision, Letitia James wrote:
The US supreme court’s decision to maintain access to medication abortion is a major victory for reproductive rights across our nation. I fought to protect access to mifepristone in this case because it’s your body, and it should always be your choice.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to maintain access to medication abortion is a major victory for reproductive rights across our nation.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) June 13, 2024
I fought to protect access to mifepristone in this case because it's your body, and it should always be your choice.
Updated
Supreme court rejects bid to restrict mifepristone
The supreme court has rejected a bid to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The decision overturned an appeals ruling that would have restricted mail-order prescriptions of the common abortion drug.
The nation’s highest court arrived at the decision unanimously, in turn marking a win for reproductive rights across the country.
Supreme court to issue at least one decision with major Trump and abortion cases outstanding
The supreme court is set to issue at least one decision on Thursday, with major cases on Donald Trump and abortion rights still outstanding.
It remains to be seen whether the nation’s highest court will decide if Trump is immune to criminal charges in the election interference case surrounding him.
The supreme court still also has to issue decisions on two key abortion cases involving mifepristone pill access as well as Idaho’s abortion ban amid federal emergency room care requirements.
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Should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election, the state department may likely see a mass purge.
The Guardian’s Julian Borger reports:
America’s career diplomats are braced for the threat of a mass purge if Donald Trump wins the November election and for the potential flooding of the state department with loyalty-tested political appointees.
Rather than leading to a seamless change of course in a rightward Trumpist direction, the diplomats’ union and former ambassadors argue, such an attempted takeover would be much more likely to end in legal challenges, gridlock and chaos.
If elected, Trump has threatened to reinstate a policy he unsuccessfully attempted in his first term with the creation of “Schedule F”, a new category of federal employees which would be applied to tens of thousands of civil servants in “policy-related” jobs, robbing them of legal protections and making them liable to be fired at will.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
A crowd of reporters, along with protesters and aides, appears to have gathered outside the Capitol Hill Club – a national social club for Republicans – ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill:
Just a small sample of how many reporters, protestors and staffers are outside the Capitol Hill Club where former President Donald Trump will meet with House Republicans this morning. pic.twitter.com/2Uz966zFA9
— Kyle Stewart (@KyleAlexStewart) June 13, 2024
Nancy Pelosi on Trump's Capitol Hill visit: 'Mission of dismantling our democracy'
Here is former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s full statement that the she released ahead of Donald Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday:
Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, that saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome that Lincoln built.
It was a crime against the constitution and its peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to cling to power. And it was a crime against Members, heroic police officers and staff, that resulted in death, injury and trauma that endure to this day.
With his pledges to be a dictator on day one and seek revenge against his political opponents, Donald Trump comes to Capitol Hill today with the same mission of dismantling our democracy. But make no mistake – Trump has already cemented his legacy of shame in our hallowed halls.
Updated
Donald Trump to visit Capitol Hill for first time since January 6
Good morning,
Donald Trump is set to visit Capitol Hill for the first time since the January 6 riots in 2021.
Trump is expected to address House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club and also meet with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters, Politico reports.
Speaking to NBC, Mississippi’s Republican senator Roger Wicker said the visit from Trump “will be an expression of unity”.
Meanwhile, Democrats including the former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have hit back at Trump’s upcoming visit. In a statement on Thursday, Pelosi accused the former president of being on a mission of “dismantling our democracy”.
Trump’s visit comes after he was found guilty last month of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his historic hush-money trial involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Here are other developments in US politics:
The Republican-led House has voted to hold the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt for withholding audio recordings of Joe Biden in his classified-documents case.
The Democrat-led Senate is set to vote on a bill that would enshrine IVF access and protection across the country.
The supreme court is expected to announce several decisions today as Republicans blocked an ethics bill surrounding the nation’s highest court amid a series of scandals involving justices accepting luxury gifts.
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