Texas Governor needs a lesson in anatomy & facts…DOJ to file Complaint re TX SB8- updated with lawsuit
If your defense of the most restrictive and onerous law that’s a direct attack on women is “but SB8 will eliminate rape in Texas” then perhaps you need a re-education in reproduction and data,
“Eliminate Rape” guess which state ranks the highest in rape 100,00 per capita?
That’s exactly what Governor Abbott said — puts glasses on, cracks knuckles and approaches keyboard with zest —because it’s on like donkey kong… Greg Abbott is not a true Christian. Greg Abbott is an extreme Alt-Right that governs like a tyrant. He’s a QANON-MAGA dipshit that obviously failed to retain or simply does not know the very basics of biology. Full disclosure I intensely dislike Abbott, he represents everything wrong with the GOP. He’s a complete media whore. The majority of the time he comes off like he’s proselytizing and his consistent self righteous condescending attitude makes him unbearable…
The reign & terror of Greg Abbott…
He’s only been in the Governor’s Mansion since January 20, 2015 —boy has he let his mask fully slip off (pun actually not intended). And at all relevant times I will embed links to reputable fact source(s); CDC, Texas Dept of Public Safety etc because hoarding public documents is weak sauce.
Data Files, FBI -UCR & Texas Dept of Public Safety
Based on actual statistical data originating from Texas Law Enforcement and sent annually to the F.B.I - UCR is Uniform Crime Reporting. Meaning that many state and local governments provide the FBI with data. This data has a variety of purposes but for the sake of the topic at hand, many states like Texas participate in the FBI UCR and that data is then used when applying for public safety grants -—speaking of which, remember during 2017 to 2020 I created several threads concerning the DOJ Byrne Grant.
I can a recall a specific April 2017 thread —I was genuinely shocked that the Trump Administration was (not threatening, but) actually defunding the police. When the 7thCCOAs affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the Trump Administration had violated federal. I was sitting on the deck at the beach and saw the docket alert and I was like; one down seventeen to go 123
Within an hour AG Sessions’ sent a secondary batch of letters which pretty much ignored the various Court Orders. At the time I explained to my followers how the Trump Admin likely violated the law and explained the difference between congressionally appropriated funds and obligated and un-obligated funds. AG Sessions’ illegal “sanctuary city” overreach by attempting to clawing back the funds and/or retroactively adding new conditions which stalled disbursement of the Byrne Grant Funds…which was/is unquestionably and unequivocally impermissible. Moreover this cost tax payers
Numerous State and Local Governments sued the Trump Administration. Unsurprisingly numerous Federal District Courts and at least Two Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump Administration had impermissibly withheld the Byrne Grant Funding, which is exactly what I tweeted in April 2017 —sorry I digress
As the UCR-FBI data suggests, under Governor Abbott’s “leadership” reported cases of rape have steadily increased, there was a .5% fractional decrease in years 2017 compared to 2018. However if you widen the scope of 1994 to 2019, you’ll note an alarming cases of reported rapes. Furthermore according to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Crime Report
Texas’ Cleary Act Reports - this is a Federal Law which requires University and Colleges that receive “federal financial aid programs to maintain and disclose campus crime statistics and security information” based on preliminary research it’s unclear if the rapes reported are accounted for in the UCR data.
Lastly according to the data examined by Statista in 2019 guess which state had the honor of being 1 out of 50 States with reported rapes…oh and you betcha sweet bippy it’s Texas.
Did it feel good to drag Attorney General Garland? Were your pernicious tweets smearing AG Garland worth it?
Now to those who keep dogging and dragging Attorney General Garland —perhaps you overlooked this previous article. Perhaps you think you know the DOJ. Perhaps you’re just in it for the likes & retweets to feed your insatiable ego and appetite for attention. Sure keep ragging the Attention General because most sane and informed individuals literally roll their eyes in utter contempt of your self indulgent mendacity —stick to fictional story telling because there’s always a grift for that. Stick to your day job —oh wait you don’t actually have a job because you’re unemployable. And unlike you I actually attempt to explain the nuance(s), materiality of specific law, what the likelihood of what the DOJ’ argument would be. Most importantly I pointed out on September 6, 2021 that this is an absolute clear signal that the DOJ and by extension the Biden Administration would likely file in a Federal District Court soonish👇🏻
To be filed as early as Thursday September 9, 2021
Because unlike some on social media I’m very attuned to the; how, why, what, when and who of whats actually important in DC. As soon as I saw Attorney General Garland’s Labor Day announcement —typically if Main Justice makes that kind of announcement on a Federal Holiday it is meant to dominate at least 24 hours of a news cycle. When the Department of Justice (likely civil complaint filed in DC) becomes available, I’ll update you. But keep in mind I’m in 2 back to back virtual depos because some donkey decided to ignore my Outlook calendar…
I am also fairly confident that the Biden Administrations in concert with the DOJ, factored in the Three TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders), the egregious SIX YEAR Statute of Limitations. For the life of me I don’t understand why the codified language isn’t getting the same “news worthy” coverage. I’m perplexed by the inanity of it all. Conversely a pretty solid argument could be made, that the six year SOL provision intent is to terrorize women who want a lawful abortion.
The chilling effect for not just the woman but to anyone who helps her, could now be sued by anyone you don’t have to be a resident of Texas hence why last week I tried to explain the parts of SB-8 was/is problematic
AUTHORIZES ANY PERSON…
Sec. 171.208. CIVIL LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OR AIDING OR ABETTING
VIOLATION. (a) Authorizes any person, other than an officer or employee of a state or local governmental entity in this state, to bring a civil action against any person…
If you’re going to ask me -what do I think Main Justice will file, well first I’d argue that DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights will take lead (but it’s possible I’m wrong) but I know for a fact that the DOJ will argue that Texas SB-8 contravenes the FACE Act. because Attorney General Garland’s September 6, 2021 Announcement literally articulates the cause of action. This is also why I walked you through of 18 U.S.C. §248and specifically highlighted the subsection that vest a specific power in the US Attorney General.
So one more time…
This is more important than you’d think and I’ll explain why but first let’s review the plain language of 18 U.S.C. §248 - Freedom of access to clinic entrances -which reads in part:
18 U.S.C. §248 (a)(1) PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
Read the language closely because it is not at all ambiguous, it’s very specific and has a very narrow power that’s vested in the U.S. Attorney General —Whoever—
(1)by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person because that person is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services… shall be subject to the penalties provided in subsection (b) and the civil remedies provided in subsection (c), except that a parent or legal guardian of a minor shall not be subject to any penalties or civil remedies under this section for such activities insofar as they are directed exclusively at that minor.
So if you paid attention to President Biden’s various statements concerning Texas Senate Bill 8
“The Texas law will significantly impair women’s access to the health care they need, particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes. And, outrageously, it deputizes private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who they believe has helped another person get an abortion, which might even include family members, health care workers, front desk staff at a health care clinic, or strangers with no connection to the individual.
My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right.”
“..This all-out assault on reproductive health effectively bans abortion for the nearly 7 million Texans of reproductive age. Patients in Texas will now be forced to travel out-of-state or carry their pregnancy to term against their will... Biden-Harris Administration will always fight to protect access to healthcare and defend a woman’s right to make decisions about her body and determine her future”
“…allowing a law to go into effect that empowers private citizens in Texas to sue health care providers, family members supporting a woman exercising her right to choose after six weeks, or even a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic, it unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts. Complete strangers will now be empowered to inject themselves in the most private and personal health decisions faced by women. This law is so extreme it does not even allow for exceptions in the case of rape or incest. And it not only empowers complete strangers to inject themselves into the most private of decisions made by a woman—it actually incentivizes them to do so with the prospect of $10,000 if they win their case”
21 Attorneys General in Fighting to Protect Access to Abortion Services…
Gosh it’s almost like someone had said, look you really need to keep and eye on the various cases working their way through the gauntlet of Federal District Court, US Circuit Court of Appeals. I specifically singled out the following; 5thCCOAs. the 4thCCOAs, the 2ndCCOAs and used this map to overlay the case. And then I pointed you to SCOTUS’ MAP USCA Assignments. There is a very purposeful intent of “heartbeat bills” —factually speaking (see Mayo Clinic’s Week by Week pregnancy and development)
a “fetus” isn’t actually a fetus— it’s a zygote. Sperm meets Egg, 23 male and 23 female chromosomes mix together to create a single cell embryo called a zygote.It is not viable outside of the uterus.
When the zygote implants into the Uterus then and only then does a zygote morph into an embryo.
and about 11 weeks gestational the embryo becomes a fetus.
And the vulgar disinformation and misinformation by way of the “slight of hand” because these radical and extreme ultra conservative “republicans” can’t say “Yes we are trying to make abortions inaccessible and we want Roe v Wade eviscerated.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson In the newly filed amicus brief
South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban directly harms women’s healthcare.
The District Court’s ruling, which blocked the law, the State AGs argue that the lower court blocking the law should be upheld.
access to safe and legal abortion is an essential component of women’s healthcare and restrictive abortion laws,
fetal heartbeat bills are medically flawed and can be a determining factor to worsening health outcomes for women.
The State AGs also argue that Texas SB-1 -bans nearly all abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat have harmful spillover effects on miscarriage treatment and other healthcare needs.
“[g]iven that numerous states across the country have enacted similarly restrictive or more restrictive legislation than South Carolina’s Act…[and] [i]f access to safe and lawful abortions were banned in large geographic portions of the country, it would create vast “abortion deserts” in which access to abortion care may be unobtainable for many people due to the obstacles created by the sheer distance from lawful abortion care.” 4
Again my work day takes precedence over Substack -unfortunately this week is insane and jammed pack. In the event you have question(s) I wanted to properly set your expectations that my replies won’t be as timely as I typically like them to be. -Filey
Updated on September 9, 2021 at 3:45PM EST
Full disclosure I’ve only skimmed the newly filed Department of Justice Civil Complaint filed against the State of Texas concerning Senate Bill 8. It was filed in the Central District of Texas, Case No 1:21-cv-00796
…Texas enacted S.B. 8 in open defiance of the Constitution. The statute prohibits most pre-viability abortions, even in cases of rape, sexual abuse, or incest. It also prohibits any effort to aid—or, indeed, any intent to aid—the doctors who provide pre-viability abortions or the women who exercise their right to seek one. Because S.B. 8 clearly violates the Constitution, Texas adopted an unprecedented scheme “to insulate the State from responsibility,
Instead of relying on the State’s executive branch to enforce the law, as is the norm in Texas and elsewhere, the State has deputized ordinary citizens to serve as bounty hunters who are statutorily authorized to recover at least $10,000 per claim from individuals who facilitate a woman’s exercise of her constitutional rights. And Texas has mandated that its state judicial officers enforce this unconstitutional attack by requiring them to dispense remedies that undeniably burden constitutionally protected right
…despite this flagrant deprivation of rights,S.B.8 remains in effect…
..its terms purport to prohibit the federal government and its employees and agents from performing, funding, reimbursing, or facilitating abortions in such cases. Moreover, S.B. 8’s unconstitutionally broad terms purport to subject federal employees and nongovernmental partners who carry out those responsibilities to civil liability and penalties.
…violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity…
…seeks a declaratory judgment that S.B. 8 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. The United States also seeks an order preliminarily and permanently enjoining the State of Texas, including its officers, employees, and agents, including private parties who would bring suit under the law, from implementing or enforcing S.B. 8.
The Constitutional Right to an Abortion
yuppers Russo rears it’s head and I like it - a lot
… the Supreme Court held that the Constitution protects “a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” Roe, 410 U.S. at 153.1 Thirty years ago, the Court “ reaffirmed ‘the most central principle’” of Roe— “a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy before viability.” June Med. Servs. L.L.C. v. Russo, 140 S. Ct. 2103, 2135 (2020) (Roberts, C.J., concurring in the judgment) (quoting Casey, 505 U.S. at 871 (plurality opinion)).
Casey confirmed Roe’s “essential holding” recognizing the “right of a woman to choose to have an abortion before viability and obtain it without undue interference from the state, whose previability interests are not strong enough to support an abortion prohibition or the imposition of substantial obstacles to the woman’s effective right to elect the procedure.” Casey, 505 U.S. at 846. State laws that prohibit abortion prior to viability or impose an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to obtain an ,. Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292, 2298 (2016) (citation omitted).
The Sovereign Interests of the United States
Now I kind of expected this would be a viable argument and I have to admit it’s delightful to read a well plead complaint and one that is so tightly written and concise…
… a State seeks to strip individuals of their ability to challenge state action that indisputably violates their federal constitutional rights, the United States has a profound sovereign interest in ensuring that those constitutional rights remain redeemable in federal court. The United States may sue to challenge such constitutional violations that “affect the public at large…”
The prerogative of the United States to seek injunctive and declaratory relief “to restrain violations of constitutional rights . . . has long been recognized.” United States v. City of Jackson, 318 F.2d 1, 11 (5th Cir. 1963). “The Constitution cannot mean to give individuals standing to attack state action inconsistent with their constitutional rights but to deny to the United States standing when States jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Nation.” Id. at 15-16; see also Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. United States, 348 F.2d 682, 685 (5th Cir. 1965)
…United States therefore may sue a State to vindicate the rights of individuals when a state infringes on rights protected by the Constitution…
…such an effort is particularly warranted where, as here, private citizens are—by design—substantially burdened in vindicating their own rights. In light of the attempt by Texas to strip its own citizens of the ability to invoke the power of the federal courts to vindicate their rights, the United States not only has a “quasi-sovereign interest in the health and well-being . . . of its residents in general” but also a “quasi-sovereign interest in not being discriminatorily denied its rightful status within the federal system.”
The Supremacy Clause and Preemption and Intergovernmental Immunity…
Basically the Government is landing a double punch blow to the State of Texas -meaning the State usurped the Constitutional rights of women and then took it an extra step by essentially deputizing private citizens as bounty hunters..
..doctrine of intergovernmental immunity arises from the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and reflects the principle that “[s]tates have no power . . . to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control the operations of the constitutional laws enacted . . . by Congress to carry into effect the powers vested in the national government.”
If you read page 7 of the Complaint then you’ll understand why I was focused on the viable and correct medical categorization of zygote, embryo and fetus because the whole “heartbeat” law is a farce. Because Texas knows they can’t come out and say we want to reverse FIVE decades of law and completely prohibited All Abortions - so they rely on folks at the Judicial Crisis Network to carefully craft unconstitutional heartbeat laws… assholes do you think that women are stupid? That some of us inherently knew the actual purpose of SB8?
Good Lord I didn’t realize just how sloppy the Trump DOJ was - it is actually refreshing to read such a well rationalized and argued Complaint and I’m equally thrilled that the DOJ agrees that the judicial carve outs in SB-8 are incredibly problematic
Look I have to get back to my J-O-B but here you can pull down the Complaint
I also pulled the last few moments of the press conference
Also to all of you who continue to drag Attorney General Garland, I mean this with zero respect intended— go fuck yourselves over a rusty iron gate. You are starting to sound like the QANON & MAGA - also maybe read and educate yourself before you continue on your self aggrandizing bullshit of calling for his resignation. Assholes - you know who you are and I don’t need to name drop. But your continued crusade to remain relevant and insatiable thirst for attention via likes and retweets - you really offer nothing in the way of substance or materiality of a very important issues. Nope the only thing you offer is a miseducation of your followers and daily self beclownment with your condescending and constant interrupting of guest. God you are such an insufferable, uninformed parasite I have zero idea why your followers believe your daily bullshit disinformation tsunami… <smort>
Oh shittlestix -do you mean to tell me that a State Attorney General filed an amici with one of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and it contained numerous misspelt words? (gasp) And had the temerity to include several grammar and punctuation errors? (double gasp) —well that’s it, that Attorney General can not be an attorney. How dare he. How fucking dare he file a brief with numerous spelling, punctuation and grammar errors.. note my extreme sarcasm, and shocker I’m not pulling a grift, scam or in any way compensated. Nonetheless I clearly do not have an editor. Yet unlike some I could actually afford to hire one… dingo dango bingo <snickers at the mendacity and their pathetic failure -if you lack the intellectual capacity to see past the spelling errors to understand the facts —that’s both hilarious and pathetic>.
Clear and succinct per usual. Abbott can “eat rust”, as Alexis Rose once said. You mentioned roe v wade… this morning on CBS This Morning (love me some Gayle) they had the back story of the actual Roe family. Quite interesting! Godspeed today Filey… tomorrow is Friday. Meeting day for me… literally meeting after meeting after meeting with a bit of teaching. 🤪🤪🤪🤪
Clear and succinct per usual. Abbott can “eat rust”, as Alexis Rose once said. You mentioned roe v wade… this morning on CBS This Morning (love me some Gayle) they had the back story of the actual Roe family. Quite interesting! Godspeed today Filey… tomorrow is Friday. Meeting day for me… literally meeting after meeting after meeting with a bit of teaching. 🤪🤪🤪🤪
Excellent piece. You’ve outdone even yourself on this one. A+