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Supreme Court Ruling on Abortion Begins to Ripple Across States
One day after the Supreme Court's most important decision on abortion in decades, the Court's ruling is already having an impact on similar restrictions in other states.
The Supreme Court announced today that it would not review two lower court decisions blocking abortion restrictions similar to one of the restrictions struck down yesterday. The two cases the Court refused to hear required abortion providers in Wisconsin and Mississippi to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
NEW YORK
One day after the Supreme Court's most important decision on abortion in decades, the Court's ruling is already having an impact on similar restrictions in other states.
The Supreme Court announced today that it would not review two lower court decisions blocking abortion restrictions similar to one of the restrictions struck down yesterday. The two cases the Court refused to hear required abortion providers in Wisconsin and Mississippi to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
Additionally, late yesterday the Alabama Attorney General announced that the state would no longer attempt to defend its admitting privileges requirement.
Jennifer Dalven, director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, had this response:
"The Supreme Court's decision made crystal clear that laws like Alabama, Mississippi, and Wisconsin's that rely on sham justifications to prevent a woman from having an abortion are unconstitutional. But this is just the start: for many women the constitutional right to an abortion is still more theoretical than real. There is much more work to be done to ensure that every woman who needs an abortion can actually get one."
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America had this reaction:
"As the news in Alabama, Wisconsin, and Mississippi shows, yesterday's landmark ruling was just the beginning. This decision has opened the door to go state by state, legislature by legislature, law by law, and restore access to safe, legal abortion. These unconstitutional laws punish women by blocking safe medical care and they will not stand. We will not stop fighting until every person can make their own personal medical decisions about abortion no matter who she is, or where she lives."
The Alabama and Wisconsin cases were brought by attorneys the American Civil Liberties Union and from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The cases in Mississippi and Texas were brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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DOJ Investigating Omar Called 'Continuation of Trump’s Revenge Campaign'
"Your support is collapsing and you’re panicking," Rep. Ilhan Omar said in response to the president.
Jan 26, 2026
Rep. Ilhan Omar on Monday swiftly hit back at President Donald Trump after he announced that the US Department of Justice had launched an investigation into her family's finances.
In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed that the DOJ is "looking at" Omar, whom the president described as having "left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars."
A detailed analysis of Omar's financial disclosures published by Snopes last week found that that while Omar's family net worth had jumped since she was first sworn into Congress in 2019, practically all of it was due to business ventures founded by her husband, Tim Mynett.
"The majority of value from the listed assets came from two businesses run by Mynett... and were thus labeled as 'Partnership Income,'" Snopes explained. "Omar's filing valued Mynett's winery, eSt Cru Wines, at about $1 million to $5 million. Mynett's venture capital management company, Rose Lake Capital, was valued between $5 million and $25 million."
Omar responded to Trump's claims of DOJ investigation by accusing him of trying to hide his own failures.
"Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking," the Minnesota Democrat wrote in a social media post. "Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of 'investigations' have found nothing. Get your goons out of Minnesota."
Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America, accused Trump of once again weaponizing the US Department of Justice to target his political opponents.
"The Justice Department’s ‘investigation’ of Representative Omar, a longtime critic of President Trump," Harvey said, "looks suspiciously like a continuation of Trump’s revenge campaign against Minnesota’s elected officials and anyone else who disagrees with him."
Trump last year directly pressured US Attorney General Pam Bondi to indict several political opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Comey and James were both subsequently indicted, and the DOJ has since launched criminal probes into other Trump critics, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
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Nearly 3 Days After Killing of Alex Pretti, Feds Have Still Not Released Name of Shooters
"We have an unaccountable secret police force that answers only to Trump," said one White House reporter.
Jan 26, 2026
It has been more than 55 hours since an immigration officer's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday, and still the US government has refused to provide the public with answers about the identity of the agent, or agents, who shot him.
Just as in the case of Renee Good, who was shot by an agent earlier this month, the Trump administration has circled the wagons around the narrative that Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was a "terrorist" planning to “massacre law enforcement” a claim they have provided no evidence for aside from the fact that he was carrying a handgun, which local police have said he owned legally.
Video of Pretti's killing, recorded from multiple angles, directly contradicts the claims of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who alleged that Pretti was "brandishing a weapon" and that agents fired "defensive shots" after Pretti "violently resisted" arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security has not released any identifying information about the people who shot Pretti. Video evidence appears to show two agents firing at least ten shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground. One of the agents appeared to fire shots using an identical handgun to the one federal law enforcement later said Pretti was carrying.
Pretti had been shoved to the ground after attempting to film officers with a cellphone. Video shows him being shoved and later pepper-sprayed by officers, even after holding up his hands in an apparent attempt to signal that he was not a threat.
In what was described as a stunning break from the usual protocol for a law enforcement-involved shooting, Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino said during a press conference on Sunday that all of the agents involved are "still working," though they had been moved out of Minneapolis. Bovino himself is reportedly expected to leave Minneapolis soon, along with other top agents.
David J. Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, described the fact that the agents were still on duty one day after a shooting as "unreal."
"Bovino spirited the murderer out of Minnesota's jurisdiction, yet they are still 'working,'" he said. "I've never heard of that in any real police department. Never heard of that in the federal government either."
He added that "cops shot at people in seven different jurisdictions this year," and that, "in every case, the jurisdiction put the officers on admin leave as part of standard protocol."
During the same press conference, told reporters that the agents had been moved out of Minneapolis "for their safety." He then explained: "There's this thing called doxxing."
Legally speaking, the term "doxxing" refers to the public disclosure of private information like addresses, phone numbers, and other sensitive information with the intent to harm the subject.
However in an effort to justify keeping the identities of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal officers a secret, including through the wearing of masks to hide their identities, the Trump administration and Republican members of Congress have adopted a much broader definition of the term that considers any attempt to identify an agent, even one involved in a shooting, as doxxing.
Last week, Noem harangued a CBS News anchor for even speaking the name of Jonathan Ross, the man who reporters identified as the shooter of Renee Good, live on the air, saying "we shouldn't have people continue to dox law enforcement."
She has previously pledged to prosecute those who reveal the identities of federal agents to the "fullest extent of the law," though so far no charges have been filed.
According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), publishing the name of a law enforcement officer is generally considered First Amendment-protected speech under Supreme Court rulings that protect the publishing of truthful information.
S.V. Date, a White House correspondent at HuffPost, said that the federal government's refusal to identify the agent who shot Pretti essentially "means we have an unaccountable secret police force that answers only to Trump."
"This person has still not been identified," he said, referring to the agent who shot Pretti while wearing a mask to obscure his identity. "In a real police force, that piece of information is released in the very first incident report."
Members of Congress have called for a transparent investigation into the shooting, including some Republicans who are otherwise supportive of ICE.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is not running for reelection in this year's cycle, called for a "thorough and impartial investigation" and said "any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins is doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump's legacy."
Of course, the Trump administration itself has already shut down an investigation into the shooting of Good, stating repeatedly that it would not pursue a probe into wrongdoing by Ross, while freezing out state-level investigators from information.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said that the Trump administration has ignored a court order that would allow state investigators to access evidence in Pretti's killing.
"Our state investigators had to get a warrant to have access to the evidence of the shooting of Alex Pretti," Smith said. "And even then, the federal agents refused to give them access to the evidence. So this looks very much like another cover-up."
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Amid Funding Fight, Sanders Says Unmask ICE, Repeal $75 Billion Giveaway, and More
"ICE is out of control, ignoring the law and our Constitution. Congress must vote NO on any additional funding for DHS," the senator argued as House progressives issued similar demands.
Jan 26, 2026
As the killing of another US citizen by immigration agents in Minnesota increases pressure on senators to reject the Department of Homeland Security funding bill advanced last week by nearly all Republicans and seven Democrats in the House of Representatives, Sen. Bernie Sanders published a clear list of demands on Monday.
"ICE is out of control, ignoring the law and our Constitution," Sanders (I-Vt.) said of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has conducted President Donald Trump's anti-migrant operations with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). "Congress must vote NO on any additional funding for DHS."
Sanders' list targets not only DHS and its agencies, including CBP and ICE, but also the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which Trump has been widely accused of weaponizing against his opponents:
- Get ICE, CBP, and the rest of Trump's domestic army out of Minnesota and Maine NOW;
- No more warrantless arrests, no more stopping people based on race or because of the languages they speak;
- End qualified immunity for ICE and CBP agents to ensure Americans' constitutional rights are protected;
- Unmask ICE and CBP agents and require clear identification;
- End detentions and deportations of US citizens;
- Investigate and prosecute every single DHS officer who broke the law and require DOJ and DHS to cooperate with states and cities investigating immigration agents who broke the law;
- Repeal the $75 billion for ICE and the nearly $65 billion for CBP in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill and restore funding to healthcare; and
- Impose strict standards on all detention centers and hold them accountable for their human rights abuses.
The senator's demands largely align with the reported demands of Senate Democrats, with whom he caucuses, as well as those of House progressives.
"Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward," the chamber's minority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said in a Monday statement. "Senate Republicans have seen the same horrific footage that all Americans have watched of the blatant abuses of Americans by ICE in Minnesota."
Schumer argued that "the appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public. People should be safe from abuse by their own government."
"Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill," he continued, as the January 30 deadline to avert another federal government shutdown looms. "This is best course of action, and the American people are on our side."
Robert Kuttner, co-founder and co-editor of the American Prospect, reported that at a gathering late Sunday, the Senate Democratic Caucus agreed to block the $64.4 billion in DHS funding—including $10 billion for ICE and $18 billion for CBP—unless several conditions are met:
- An independent federal-state investigation, which includes Minnesota officials, of ICE murders and tactics;
- A ban on ICE use of face masks;
- A requirement of body cameras (there was $20 million in funding for body cameras in the current appropriations bill, but they are not mandatory);
- A ban on roving ICE patrols;
- A ban on the invented category of "administrative warrants" that bypass judges in violation of the Fourth Amendment; and
- An end to arrest quotas.
While Republicans have slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, most bills must win some Democratic support in order to get through the Senate, unlike in the House, where the DHS legislation passed in a 220-207 vote shortly before Pretti's killing.
Since the legal observer and nurse was killed in a CBP shooting on Saturday, at least one of the seven House Democrats who backed the bill has suggested he may vote different in the future. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) saidaid Monday that "I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis."
"I hear the anger from many of my constituents, and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE's unlawful behavior, and I must do a better job demonstrating that," Suozzi added. "The senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability."
Meanwhile, expecting they will have another vote, progressive leaders in the House are also discussing their demands.
"Senate Democrats say they won't vote for ICE funding without reforms. Good. Now, we must negotiate hard," said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who chairs the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus.
As Casar outlined on social media Sunday, his five "nonnegotiable" demands are:
- ICE and CBP leave Minneapolis and stops terrorizing American cities;
- We get a full, independent investigation into the killings;
- No more detaining and deporting US citizens;
- The masks come off; and
- The mass arrest quotas and warrantless arrests end.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of several Democrats expected to consider a 2028 presidential run, on Sunday issued a slightly longer list that included the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and US Attorney General Pam Bondi:
- Vote no on DHS funding bill;
- Repeal the multiyear $75 billion funding for ICE;
- End qualified immunity for ICE agents;
- Investigate and prosecute every single ICE agent who broke the law;
- Impeach Noem and Bondi;
- End the Kavanaugh stops with racial profiling and end the militarization of ICE;
- Codify a use of force standard so courts can enforce the law against rogue ICE agents; and
- Tear down and replace ICE with an agency that has oversight.
"Congress is not powerless. Democrats must unify around an actual agenda," Khanna argued. "Trump is engaged in the SYSTEMATIC destruction of the rule of law."
"Only if Congress fights with every legal tool at our disposal including lawsuits in the courts, like we are doing with the Epstein files, can we stop this madness," said the congressman, who's led the fight for unsealing federal documents related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside the only Republican who opposed the DHS bill last week, Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.).
"We owe that to nurse Pretti," Khanna added, "and the hundreds of thousands on the streets risking their lives to stand up for our freedoms."
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