The Supreme Court is prepared to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court. The draft opinion is a complete reversal of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision—Planned Parenthood v. Casey—that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” A person familiar with the court’s deliberations said that four of the other Republican-appointed justices—Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—had voted with Alito in the conference held among the justices after hearing oral arguments in December, and that line-up remains unchanged as of this week. How Chief Justice John Roberts will ultimately vote, and whether he will join an already written opinion or draft his own, is unclear. Politico
Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted it’s “a truly dark day in America” with the news reports that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. Murphy noted that earlier this year he signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act which codified a woman’s right to choose into state law. “New Jersey will not go backwards on reproductive rights. I want to assure every New Jerseyan that today’s news about the Supreme Court does not change access to abortion in our state. Access to reproductive health care remains available to anyone who needs it in New Jersey,” he wrote. NJ1015.com
Democrats denounced the Supreme Court’s private vote to strike down Roe v. Wade, with some promising to fight to preserve abortion rights. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the top Democrats in Congress, called the draft “one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history….Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation ” The New York Times
State Senate Minority Leader Steven Oroho (R-24) sent a letter calling for a state investigation into claims of misconduct by Sam Wang, head of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. The issue comes after Princeton University launched an internal investigation of Wang due to members of his staff alleging that he was manipulating data to match his personal agenda, and for mistreating people who worked for him. The organization was an advisor to the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission and paid by the state to help determine the legislative map after the 2020 Census. “If Wang cheated to support his personal interest of helping Democrats, his actions could impact the partisan composition of New Jersey’s delegation to the United States House of Representatives and even control of Congress itself. This is extremely alarming,” wrote Oroho in a letter to the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation April 29. North-JerseyNews.com
A federal judge ruled that the Jna. 6 House Select Committee can obtain data from one of the Republican National Committee’s vendors about fundraising and political efforts. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected a lawsuit filed by the RNC in March seeking to stop one of its vendors, Salesforce.com Inc., from turning over records to the Jan. 6 committee. Judge Kelly rejected several arguments made by the RNC, including that the subpoena violated its First Amendment rights by compelling the disclosure of confidential internal strategies, and that the panel’s demands were unduly burdensome. He additionally rejected the RNC’s claims that the Jan. 6 committee itself was invalidly formed and that the panel’s subpoena lacked a valid legislative purpose. The Wall Street Journal
A former New York City police officer who claimed self-defense when he swung a metal flagpole at an officer during the attack on the U.S. Capitol riot was convicted on May 2 of all charges, including assault. The former officer, Thomas Webster, was the first person charged in connection with the riot to defend himself at trial by claiming that the officers protecting the Capitol had used excessive force against the pro-Trump mob that stormed the building. Webster, a former Marine who once served on the protective detail of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, testified that he had gone to Washington to hear President Donald J. Trump speak near the White House and became upset as he walked toward the Capitol and saw people injured by the violence that had erupted. The New York Times
Police and prosecutors who minimize the impact of statements a suspect makes after receiving a Miranda warning run the risk of having those statements suppressed, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a case involving a man who pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child. Statements made by a defendant regarding allegations he had inappropriately touched a minor over a two-year period must be suppressed because the state could not prove the defendant had voluntarily waived his right to self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the court ruled unanimously. The New Jersey case marks the first time the state’s highest court has ruled in a matter involving an adult defendant that police cannot undermine the warnings during an interrogation. NJ Spotlight News
The ban on plastic bags starts tomorrow, May 4. New Jersey residents will no longer be able to carry their grocery items out of a supermarket using a single-use plastic or paper bag. New Jersey stores and foodservice outlets will no longer be able to distribute single-use plastic bags, paper bags, disposable food containers, and cups made of polystyrene foam. Any business found violating the law would receive a warning on first offense, with fines ranging from $1,000 for a second offense and up to $5,000 for third or subsequent offenses. North-JerseyNews.com
Charity organizers want a more permanent carve out for plastic bags, arguing programs that feed the homeless are in jeopardy after they were denied an exemption by the state Department of Environmental Protection to a statewide plastic bag ban. Food banks instead received a six-month extension and are now scrambling to lobby lawmakers to write a new bill that would exclude charities such as theirs. “We were overlooked when this bill was being written,” said Paul Shackford, president of the Family Promise board of trustees. “You have exemptions for newspaper bags and dry cleaner bags. I’d argue that bags for delivering meals to the homeless are also deserving.” New Jersey Herald
New Jersey on May 2 reported two new COVID-19 deaths and 1,339 new confirmed positive tests. There were 510 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals and of those hospitalized, 55 were in intensive care and 25 were on ventilators. New Jersey’s statewide transmission rate was 1.16 with the positivity rate for tests conducted on April 26 was 7.1%. North-JerseyNews.com
A new poll shows a majority of New Jerseyans are in favor of banning smoking inside Atlantic City casinos as a new bill moves through Trenton. The Stockton University poll released April 29 found 62% of Garden State adults support prohibiting smoking on casino floors, while 31% are opposed and 6% are unsure. The survey shows fewer residents in South Jersey (59%)— the region where Atlantic City is located—back the idea compared to those in North Jersey (66%). News12 New Jersey
Demand for U.S. workers remained strong in April, according to private-sector estimates, as employers competed to fill positions in a tight labor market. Jobs site ZipRecruiter said employers had about 11 million job openings last month, down a little from a seasonally adjusted 11.3 million openings reported by the Labor Department for February but still well above prepandemic levels. Employers have reported difficulty hiring from the limited pool of available workers, and millions of employees are expected to remain on the sidelines indefinitely. Many people in the labor market also are finding they have gained leverage, making it easier to switch jobs. The Wall Street Journal
New Jersey bus drivers may not be able to partake in legal marijuana if new legislation introduced by Assemblyman Robert Auth (R-39) and Assemblywoman DeAnne DeFuccio (R-39) is passed, requiring additional random drug and alcohol testing in excess of federal regulations. Under Auth and DeFuccio’s legislation, the testing requirements would be expanded for 100% of school bus drivers, and would be required twice a year. Under current federal laws, 10% of school bus drivers must be randomly tested for alcohol and 50% must be tested for controlled substances including marijuana and opiates. DeFuccio argued the state had a “collective responsibility to protect children,” and would be more challenging as the state’s attitudes towards drugs like marijuana evolved. North-JerseyNews.com
Lawmakers on the Assembly budget committee questioned Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Sue Fulton about the amount of time new drivers are waiting to get an appointment to get their permit. Fulton said the long wait for appointments was only in this transaction for new drivers as more people getting drivers licenses for the first time, including undocumented people, which added to the caseload and people who left mass transit because of COVID and obtained a driver’s license. “Some transactions can be done in a couple of days,” Fulton said. “No one is waiting more than a week unless they’ve never had a driver’s license before.” Fulton said the issue was more about getting enough equipment to process applicants as New Jersey’s MVCs are open 49.5 hours a week, including Saturdays, higher than the national average. But Assemblyman Hal Wirths (R-24) told Fulton “We’ve had this discussion, you don’t get it, that there is a problem. You have to solve their problems. You’re not sympathetic. I feel you’re the problem.” NJ.com
Two Monmouth County Republicans plan to introduce legislation to toughen penalties against car thieves. Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (R-13) and Assemblyman Gerard Scharfenberger (R-13) offered their plans after acting Attorney General Matt Platkin announced April 29 the state is reversing a new policy that had barred police from initiating pursuits of suspected car thieves. They plan to introduce a bill that would require mandatory minimum sentences for car thieves who recruit youth to steal cars; use garage door openers to burglarize the car owner’s home; and place tracking devices on cars to facilitate their theft. New Jersey Monitor
George Laufenberg, a former high-ranking official with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union charged for more than $1.5 million in fraud, is in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, according to a court document. Laufenberg, a former commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts in 2019. Federal prosecutors allege he stole from union benefit plans by using his authority to “to self-deal and benefit himself,” granting himself a $120,000 pension and $180,000 in annual deferred compensation in addition to his roughly $300,000 salary. He also allegedly gave a friend a “low-show job” with the funds that included a full salary, pension, annuity contributions and health benefits. PoliticoNJ
Amalia Duarte will run unopposed for Morris County Democratic Chair when the county committee meets May 9 to pick a replacement for Chip Robinson. Party bylaws require candidates to file letters of intent to run fifteen days before the election—the same bylaws require ten days’ notice for election—and Duarte and her leadership slate are the only candidates who filed. Duarte, a second-term Mendham Township Committeewoman, will become the first woman and first Latina to serve as Morris County Democratic Chair. New Jersey Globe
School and municipal officials are stalemated in their efforts to find out who sent an anonymous “Ramsey Parents Union” email to residents and who provided the addresses. The April 21 email criticizing school policies on books, sex education and transgender students. Mayor Deirdre Dillon and Schools Superintendent Matthew Murphy both say their research indicates the email addresses used by the sender were not obtained by an “insider” hacking into their separate computer lists. The email questioned the inclusion of the book “Lawn Boy” in a school library, and expressed opposition to state-mandated sex education, and specifically transgender issues. The Record
And finally…Asbury Park was named one of the top 25 beaches in the U.S. NJ1015.com
