The congresswoman says Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch lied under oath to Congress about their views on Roe

Ramon Antonio VargasMon 27 Jun 2022 10.58 EDT

Political pressure is mounting on Joe Biden to take more action to protect abortion rights across the US as firebrand New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for supreme court justices to be impeached for misleading statements about their views on Roe v Wade.

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks took aim at justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Both were appointed by former president Donald Trump and had signaled that they would not reverse the supreme court’s landmark 1973 decision in Roe v Wade during confirmation hearings as well as in meetings with senators.

On Friday, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch formed part of the conservative majority which in effect ended legal access to abortion in most states, and Ocasio-Cortez said “there must be consequences” for that.

“They lied,” the leftwing, second-term representative said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I believe lying under oath is an impeachable offense … and I believe that this is something that should be very seriously considered.”

Ocasio-Cortez added that standing idly by “sends a blaring signal to all future nominees that they can now lie to duly elected members of the United States Senate in order to secure … confirmations and seats on the supreme court”.

She also mentioned impeaching Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife Ginni emailed 29 Republican lawmakers in Arizona as she tried to help undermine Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Thomas has not recused himself from election-related cases, drawing criticism.

“I believe that not recusing from cases that one clearly has family members involved in with very deep violations of conflict of interest are also impeachable offenses,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

House members can impeach a judge with a simple majority vote. But to be removed from office a justice would need to be convicted by a two-thirds majority of the Senate.

Biden’s Democratic party controls the House with a clear majority, but its standing in the Senate is much more tenuous. The Senate is split 50-50, though Biden’s vice-president, Kamala Harris, can serve as a tiebreaker for votes that can be carried by a simple majority.

The president dismissed the overturning of Roe v Wade as “cruel” but stopped well short of calling for the impeachment of any justices. He has also rejected the strategy proposed in some quarters to expand the supreme court in a way that would allow for the addition of more liberals and blunt the bench’s current conservative majority.

Joining Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Thomas as conservatives on the supreme court are justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts. The liberals are Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Breyer is retiring and due to be replaced by Ketanji Brown Jackson, another liberal.

Nonetheless, on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez urged Biden to personally take steps to address what she called the supreme court’s “crisis of legitimacy”.

“President Biden must address that,” she said.

Ocasio-Cortez suggested Biden could order the opening up of abortion clinics on federal lands in states where terminating pregnancies has been outlawed “to help people access the healthcare services they need”, echoing an idea from the Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren.

In states where abortion is no longer allowed because of Friday’s ruling, residents who need to terminate pregnancies must now travel hundreds of miles – if not more – to get access to the procedure.

Many US corporate giants have taken steps to provide support and financial assistance to employees seeking abortions in states where that is outlawed in most cases. But such measures won’t help millions of people who need abortions but are not employed by a large international or national company.

That’s where an order from Biden to allow abortion on federal lands in anti-abortion rights states would come in and help.

Ocasio-Cortez also discussed possibly expanding access to abortion pills that could be mailed to those in need, though Republican politicians are gearing up to limit access to those as well.

For instance, South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, said her state would move to block medical providers in states where abortion is legal from mailing to South Dakotans pills that could end a pregnancy.

The pressure on Biden follows Ocasio-Cortez’s remark earlier this month that she could not yet commit to endorsing him for another run at the White House in the 2024 election.

Her comments on Sunday also came after senators such as Susan Collins of Maine and Joe Manchin of West Virginia said they felt deceived by Friday’s controversial supreme court decision to end nearly 50 years of protections granted by Roe v Wade.

Collins, a Republican, said she felt “misled” after Kavanaugh and Gorsuch had said they would leave in place “longstanding precedents that the country has relied upon” during their confirmation hearings and in meetings with her.

Meanwhile, Manchin said he had trusted both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch when they “testified under oath that they … believed Roe v Wade was settled legal precedent”.

Manchin was the lone Democrat to support Kavanaugh’s appointment.

Topics

• Roe v Wade

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
• US supreme court
• Abortion
• US politics

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/27/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-supreme-court-justices-impeach-kavanaugh-gorsuch-thomas

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

June 27, 2022

from HSUS.org

There’s no reason to force rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats to undergo painful new chemical tests for cosmetics when today’s science allows for non-animal testing methods that are more relevant to human safety. iStock.com

In a victory for rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats and all animals used for testing, Louisiana is the latest state to take steps to end the cruel and unnecessary use of animals to test cosmetics. Eight other states (California, Nevada, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Maine, Hawaii and New Jersey) have already banned the sale of cosmetics that have been newly tested on animals. This win aligns with rising consumer opinion that there is no need to test products like shampoo, aftershave and lipstick on animals. There is also a similar bill that will be heading to the governor’s desk in New York.

As we celebrate the passage of this law in Louisiana, we remain focused on the need for a comprehensive national solution. While we have worked hard to ensure states pass these laws, it’s imperative for animals that we ban animal testing for cosmetics at the federal level. That will do more to bring the United States into greater harmony with the many nations that have prohibited such testing and strengthen the international regulatory frameworks that govern animal testing and the many non-animal methods coming to replace them.

Congress recently had a golden opportunity to end cosmetics animal testing in the U.S. but, sadly, did not seize it. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee recently considered must-pass legislation that grants the Food and Drug Administration additional oversight on cosmetics. We urged committee members to include language from the federal Humane Cosmetics Act into this legislative package. In a major missed opportunity for animals, the language was not included in this legislation. Still more concerning is that the current bill’s language may preempt state laws that end the production and/or sale of cosmetics tested on animals, like the one just passed in Louisiana. We will not rest until this issue is addressed by Congress, and we will not stop until animals no longer have to suffer for these cruel and outdated cosmetics tests.

Some of the strongest support for ending animal testing for cosmetics is coming from the cosmetics industry itself. The Humane Cosmetics Act has the endorsement of the Personal Care Products Council, the trade association representing nearly 600 companies that make and market cosmetics, in addition to more than 375 companies that have individually signed on to support this legislation. Companies want a federal law that aligns the U.S. with the nine states and 41 countries that have already passed laws to end or limit animal testing for cosmetics.

Our thanks to state Rep. Barbara Freiberg (R, 70) for her leadership on this issue. Her work to make Louisiana the latest state to take on the cruelty of cosmetics animal testing will help solidify congressional support for this issue and bring us one step closer to finally relegating animal testing for cosmetics to history.

Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

The post Good news! Louisiana becomes 9th state to ban the sale of cosmetics tested on animals appeared first on A Humane World.

Related Stories

• Testing lab remains silent, but voices demanding beagles’ release grow louder
• Major developments in pivotal Supreme Court case for animals
• Breaking: Lawsuit forces U.S. to rethink bird flu response

Birsay, Orkney: This catastrophe has global significance – at this time of year, Scotland hosts 46% of the world’s northern gannets

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/25/country-diary-avian-flu-is-devastating-the-seabirds-of-the-northern-isles

Cal Flyn

@calflyn

Sat 25 Jun 2022 00.30 EDT

24

Walking the Orkney shoreline, usually such a peaceful and calming activity, has been more disturbing of late. Along the strand, a succession of small bedraggled forms lie prone – victims of the avian flu ripping through the seabird populations of the Northern Isles and up the east coast of Britain.

Crossing over to the Brough of Birsay, the tidal island, via a narrow causeway, I stumble across the first gannet. Its long, streamlined body is immediately recognisable: spectre white, misted with gold at its crown. Its eyes, staring blindly, have that piercing, icy quality of a husky’s, while its beak is the palest powder blue lined in black, as if designed with a felt-tip pen.

It is unusual to be able to admire such a creature at close quarters, but I keep my distance. Best not to touch it. There’s a second bird just a few metres further on, this one sprawled across the strand, wings outstretched. A pitiful sight. It’s the same story all up the coast, affecting many species at once. Last year it was the geese. This year: the gannets, guillemots, great skuas, and more. A catastrophe in our midst, and one with global significance: at this time of year, Scotland plays host to 46% of the world’s northern gannets and 60% of all great skuas.

There is horrifying footage from the famous gannet colonies at Hermaness in Shetland, where more than 1,000 dead birds have been recorded in the waters, and the Bass Rock off East Lothian, – the largest such colony in the world – show scenes of devastation. Birds slide from their rocky perches, hang lodged in crags while their close neighbours continue to feed and fledge their chicks amid the corpses. This annual gathering, where birds feed and fledge their young collectively and in close proximity, is serving as a superspreader event.

Thought to be the worst ever outbreak in the UK, much of the drama is unfolding offshore; the true toll in those remote colonies, where birds crowd tightly together, is not yet fully known. But we can track its progress through the birds washed up on our beaches: should you come across the bodies of suspected avian flu victims, report your findings to Defra on 03459 335577.