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A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion and the legal consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization blew up during a tense back and forth between Mon. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Berkeley Law Professor Khiara Bridges when the senator questioned her characterization of who can get pregnant.

After Bridges referred to “people with a capacity for pregnancy,” Hawley asked if she meant women. When the professor stated that some women cannot get pregnant and that some transgender men and non-binary people can, Hawley questioned whether abortion is really a women’s rights issue, as it has historically been presented. This led the professor to accuse Hawley of creating a dangerous situation with his question.

“I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic, and it opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing

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Several Colorado cities are suing the state over a new law that would keep them from collecting sales and use tax on building materials for public schools.

HB22-1024 passed the legislature this year with bipartisan support in both chambers. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law in April and it is slated to go into effect in August. In short, lawmakers said they wanted to keep taxpayers from paying extra on school buildings.

“Most times you levy a tax on yourself to build the school and pay off the bond,” sponsored Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat, said. “If there’s another tax on that, you’re now taxing yourself to pay off another tax over 25 or 30 years, and with interest.”

She noted that a sales tax of even just a few percentage points can add millions to projects. A 4% sales tax on $25 million worth of building material

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The independent state legislature theory was first invoked by three conservative US Supreme Court justices in the celebrated Bush v. Gore case that handed the 2000 election victory to George W. Bush.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images


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The independent state legislature theory was first invoked by three conservative US Supreme Court justices in the celebrated Bush v. Gore case that handed the 2000 election victory to George W. Bush.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case that could dramatically change how federal elections are conducted. At issue is a legal theory that would give state legislatures unfettered authority to set the rules for federal elections, free of supervision by state courts and state constitutions.

The theory, known as the “independent state legislature theory,” stems from the election clause in Article I of the Constitution. It says, “The times, places

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The law requires that single-use packaging and plastic single-use food serviceware be recyclable or compostable by 2032. It also requires by 2032 a 25% reduction in the sales of plastic packaging and for 65% of all single-use plastic packaging to be recycled. And it establishes an accountability group, which will include industry representatives, to run a new recycling program overseen by the state.

“Our kids deserve a future free of plastic waste and all its dangerous impacts, everything from clogging our oceans to killing animals — contaminating the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. “No more.”

Stakeholders negotiated the language around the bill, trying to design a law that would significantly cut plastic production, ramp up recycling and composting and shift the burden of plastics pollution to industry.

Newsom signed the law just as the US Supreme
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This is a MedPage Today story.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, doctors across the country are facing an array of legal questions and concerns that are so new and uncertain they once seemed out of the realm of possibility, according to experts.

From determining whether they can provide care when the life of the mother is at risk and whether they must report a patient for a self-induced abortion, to considering how to code certain medical treatments and how to avoid allegations of aiding and abetting, doctors – – and other healthcare providers and staff — are finding themselves caught in a precarious legal framework that is still in flux.

“It is a horrible situation to put doctors in, who really just want to help patients,” Jessie Hill, of Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, told MedPage Today.

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Jul. 2—Georgia State University’s College of Law conferred degrees to more than 150 students at the end of the spring 2022 semester. Law graduates were honored during the college’s hooding ceremony on May 13 at Center Parc Stadium.

Local Law graduates were:

— Daniela Hoolihan of Smyrna (30080), who earned a Master of Laws degree in the Foreign Bar Track concentration

— Narges Nekooei of Atlanta (30339), who earned a Master of Laws degree in the Foreign Bar Track concentration

— Dagem Araya of Atlanta (30339), who earned a law degree (Juris Doctor)

— Othman Awad of Marietta (30064), who earned a law degree (Juris Doctor)

— Shykeena Blanton of Athens (30606), who earned a law degree (Juris Doctor)

— Melissa Davies of Smyrna (30082), who earned a law degree (Juris Doctor)

— Nicole Deloach of Mableton (30126), who earned a law degree (Juris Doctor)

— Robert Evans of Mableton

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If the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, what happens to Texas state laws that were in place prior to the landmark ruling on abortion rights almost 50 years ago?

In Texas, where elective abortions already are restricted already to the first six weeks of gestation, a “trigger law” signed by the Gov. Greg Abbott would outlaw abortion within 30 days of the holding.

A court reversal of Roe would leave it to individual states to establish abortion laws. Texas and 12 other states have trigger laws that would outlaw or almost completely ban abortions if the 1973 decision in the case that originated in Dallas County is tossed in a ruling that could come as soon as this week. Before the court now is the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health case from Mississippi, which had a leaked preliminary opinion indicated justices are ready to overturn Roe.

Shock waves
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An Australian woman has allegedly been bludgeoned to death by her father-in-law with an ax in northern Pakistan after an argument about moving back to Australia with her children.

Sajida Tasneem was allegedly killed in front of her father at a home she shared with her in-laws in the city of Sargodha, 250km south of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on 11 June.

Tasneem’s father, Sher Muhammad Khan, said his son-in-law, Ayub Ahmed, had forced his daughter to travel to Pakistan with her three children from their home in Perth, Western Australia.

Khan told the Guardian that when his daughter arrived in Pakistan, his son-in-law then returned to Perth.

Tasneem’s father-in-law, Mukhtar Ahmad, allegedly confiscated Tasneem’s passport.

“After my daughter’s return, Ahmad started demanding all the documents,” Khan said. “On his repeated insistence the documents were handed over to him.”

He told police that on 11 June he allegedly witnessed Ahmad hurling

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – With the sun shining on the Anchorage Golf Course, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Senate Bill 9 into law last Thursday, which will implement sweeping changes to Alaska’s alcohol statutes.

“I just want to thank everyone who worked hard on this,” Dunleavy said to applause, holding up the signed bill for the cameras. “Congratulations, everybody.”

The signing ceremony was far from certain. It took over nine years and several near misses for the bill to pass through the Alaska Legislature at the end of the last legislative session.

Senate President Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, has been the bill’s primary sponsor and said it was “an exciting moment” to see it signed into law. He explained that representatives of bars, breweries and public safety organizations spent thousands of hours negotiating a compromise agreement despite having vastly different priorities.

“This is an example of how the political process can work,”

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Law enforcement personnel stand outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting on May 24 in Uvalde, Texas. When the gunman arrived at the school, he hopped its fence and easily entered through an unlocked back door, police said.

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP


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Law enforcement personnel stand outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting on May 24 in Uvalde, Texas. When the gunman arrived at the school, he hopped its fence and easily entered through an unlocked back door, police said.

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

Uvalde city officials are using a legal loophole and several other broad exemptions in Texas to prevent the release of police records related to last month’s mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to a letter obtained by NPR in response to public information requests filed by member station Texas Public Radio.

Since the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary

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