Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 5.4.22

By Peter Schorsch

Good Wednesday morning.

Breaking overnight — “J.D. Vance’s come-from-behind victory shows the power of Donald Trump’s endorsement” via Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times — Vance, the author-turned-venture capitalist, parlayed an endorsement from Trump into victory Tuesday in the race for the Republican nomination for an Ohio Senate seat, beating a crowded field of conservatives vying to carry the former President’s banner into the November election. Vance’s come-from-behind victory in the race for the seat of the retiring Sen. Rob Portman was a testament to the power Trump still holds with the Republican voting base in Ohio, a state that voted for Trump twice. On the Democratic side, CNN projects Rep. Tim Ryan will win the Democratic primary for Senate in Ohio.

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We suppose we knew what would happen to Roe v. Wade after Republicans stacked the U.S. Supreme Court with justices like Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. It was just a matter of when.

Thanks to a bombshell story from POLITICO, we have a reasonable idea that D-Day will come by the end of June or early July. The website published a leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. It flatly stated, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the

start” and added, “it must be overturned.”

Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the document.

The opinion, supported by four other justices, is enough to overturn nearly a half-century of what Kavanaugh described in his confirmation hearings as “settled precedent.“

That will further empower lawmakers in Florida and other red states to outlaw abortion. Desperate women — and let’s not forget teenagers — will die because of this. They’ll opt for some dangerous back-alley remedy.

Or we’ll have terrified women unprepared for the responsibility of parenthood. To pro-birth (not pro-life) supporters of this decision, which won’t matter.

What we see here is Republican-backed social engineering. Do it their way, or don’t do it at all. The Party stands for freedom as long it’s their brand of freedom. That became clear during the recent Legislative Session. Florida Republicans pushed through a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Sen. Kelli Stargel of Lakeland sponsored the bill, which makes no exception for rape, human trafficking, or incest.

We wish Florida lawmakers cared as much about disadvantaged children after they’re born. Right now, though, they’re too busy telling everyone to live.

We know women who have had abortions, and it’s a deeply personal and painful decision. Men, particularly, can’t understand what that is like. They didn’t terminate the pregnancy because having a baby would be inconvenient. Instead, they were up against an impossible choice.

Soon, they will have no choice. Conservative judges will have made it for them.

And many people who recoiled against mask and vaccine mandates during a pandemic will cheer. Those things saved lives too, but whatever.

We suppose it’s a matter of whose body you’re controlling, right guys?

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court apparently is about to turn control of women’s bodies over to Republican-dominated lawmakers who believe they know best.

Yes, this case won’t be “settled as precedent” until the opinion is published in two months or so. But does anyone believe anything will change?

Dupes, like Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, expressed horror that she got played by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.

“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins said in a statement. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”

Oh, my goodness!

Try explaining that to all the women in your state.

Or, closer to home, explain to Florida women how they will care for a child when they can barely care for themselves. Try not to smugly smile when you do.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@JoeBiden: I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental. Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned. We will be ready when any ruling is issued.

—@McJesse: We let the guy from The Apprentice handpick a third of the Supreme Court.

—@SCOTUSblog: It’s impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff. This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin.

—@LeaderMcConnell: Last night’s stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court. By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law.

—@HeerJeet: It’s extremely telling that in the culmination of a 50-year effort to overturn Roe, very few in GOP are doing a victory lap and instead are trying to make this about the leak (so they continue to play the victim despite getting everything they wanted).

—@WalshFreedom: Republicans focusing on the leak. Democrats focusing on the ruling. Pretty damn telling.

—@JaredEMoskowitz: Justices lied in their hearings. They lied to Senators. They are destroying women’s rights and reversing settled law. But hey, Hillary’s emails.

—@Jbsgreenberg: Worth noting: If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, women in 13 states will be forced to give birth. Meanwhile, there’s no paid maternity leave or universal health care.

—@ChristinaPushaw: Wild to see the mainstream media that attacked COVID treatments for 2 years suddenly start promoting “anarchist DIY medicine collectives”

—@EricMGarica: Given how many people have abortions, millions of men likely know a woman who has had an abortion but don’t know they had an abortion, right?

—@CyndiBrillhart: My daughter no longer wants to go to school in Florida. She was thinking about out-of-state, but that is evolving into out of country.

—@VinceEvans: Is Brown v. Board of Education settled law in America?