Power

Gavel Drop: The Koch Brothers Want to Steal the Next Supreme Court Seat

And in other news, abortion restrictions are being challenged in Louisiana and Montana, and our national immigration agency just keeps being deplorable.

[Photo: Protesters hold up signs that read
If your worst nightmare is the Koch brothers throwing their considerable wealth at filling the next U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, then I have some bad news for you. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Welcome to Gavel Drop, our roundup of legal news, headlines, and head-shaking moments in the courts.

If your worst nightmare is the Koch brothers throwing their considerable wealth at filling the next U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, then I have some bad news for you.

A transgender boy in Ohio is the subject of a custody battle between his parents and his grandparents about the sort of therapy he needs. His grandparents want custody and for him to pursue hormonal therapy. His parents deny he’s transgender and want him to attend Christian-based therapy.

The D.C. Court of Appeals handed a victory to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enthusiasts: The court ruled that the CFPB director cannot be removed without cause. That means that the head of the consumer watchdog organization’s can’t be fired at the political whims of changing administrations.

Louisiana is trying to regulate abortion access out of existence. Lawyers are challenging a slate of abortion restrictions, including a 72-hour waiting period and a provision that permits warrantless, unannounced inspection of abortion clinics, which potentially violates the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. One of the attorneys said in court on Tuesday that “the [undue] burdens are mounting and at some point the branch will break.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU of Montana have filed a lawsuit on behalf of advanced practice registered nurses who are no longer permitted to perform abortions, courtesy of a law allowing only physicians and physician assistants to perform them.

A Christian college and an anti-abortion advocacy group tried to intervene in Massachusetts’ lawsuit challenging the Trump’s birth control benefit policy, which essentially has been little more than decimating Obama’s policy. Intervention is when a third party wants to join an existing lawsuit and, in this case, defend the Trump administration’s birth control benefit roll back. The court said no.

The Trump administration has proposed building a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Nine environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society, have sued to block the road from being built.

A federal judge ruled that Florida’s method of restoring voting rights to felons is unconstitutional. Writing for Mother Jones, Pema Levy explains that Florida’s system is haphazard, and that top state officials make personal decisions about which felons can have their voting rights restored and which cannot.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is making plans to do sweeps for undocumented immigrants in federal, state, and local courthouses. ICE is terrible and should be dismantled.