CVS Health is facing another lawsuit brought by a former employee who claims the pharmacy chain's decision to fire her after she refused to prescribe birth control to patients violated her religious rights under federal law. J. Robyn Strader, a nurse practitioner and Texas resident, worked at a CVS MinuteClinic for six and a half years, according to the lawsuit, which she filed through her attorney in U.S. district court in Forth Worth on Wednesday.

The complaint alleges that CVS terminated Strader's employment illegally, arguing that the company's decision dismissed protections outlined in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The provision, passed as part of a broader package of landmark legislation in 1964, prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. One section of Title VII specifically notes that "[t]he term 'religion' includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business."

Strader claims in the new lawsuit that her Christian faith prevented her from prescribing contraceptive or abortion-inducing drugs to patients at the CVS where she worked. For the majority of Strader's tenure there, she says CVS granted her a religious accommodation that allowed her to personally reject patients' requests for those prescriptions and instead refer them to a colleague or a different MinuteClinic. But, in August 2021, CVS Health revoked a previous policy regarding religious accommodations that ensured all employees' needs would be met, the suit says.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we live in Florida, once the nation’s largest battleground state, and not in South Dakota or some other solid red state where one party doesn’t even bother competing.

That’s a harsh assessment of the state of the Florida Democratic Party, but it’s rooted in recent history. A decade ago, Democrats carried the state in a presidential election for the second time. Then came the disastrous 2022 midterm elections and, now, the resignation this week of party Chair Manny Diaz, who had been under pressure to leave.

Florida, in fact is under one-party rule by Republicans. Money from national Democratic donors has dried up and redirected to states such as Arizona and Georgia. There are no Democrats elected statewide since Nikki Fried left the Department of Agriculture to challenge Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for governor.

Diaz, a former Miami mayor, led the party during its most humiliating performance in recent years. Even before he became chair after another bad year for the party, the 2020 elections, Democrats had been warning that lackadaisical voter-registration efforts and community engagement would doom them in the Sunshine State.

It’s safe to assume that the GOP’s grip on the state — built over the past two decades — will be in place for years. In politics, as in life, you reap what you sow. That’s not to say, however, that Florida is completely out of reach for Democrats. They can, for example, improve their performance with Hispanic voters and regain Miami-Dade County, both of which the GOP flipped in 2022.

Democrats face a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Without cash, they cannot beef up party apparatus. Without showing they can achieve results, the cash won’t flow. There are no miracle workers who can save the Florida Democratic Party. Progress, if it can be achieved, will happen more slowly than many party faithful demand.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we live in Florida, once the nation’s largest battleground state, and not in South Dakota or some other solid red state where one party doesn’t even bother competing.

That’s a harsh assessment of the state of the Florida Democratic Party, but it’s rooted in recent history. A decade ago, Democrats carried the state in a presidential election for the second time. Then came the disastrous 2022 midterm elections and, now, the resignation this week of party Chair Manny Diaz, who had been under pressure to leave.

Florida, in fact is under one-party rule by Republicans. Money from national Democratic donors has dried up and redirected to states such as Arizona and Georgia. There are no Democrats elected statewide since Nikki Fried left the Department of Agriculture to challenge Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for governor.

Diaz, a former Miami mayor, led the party during its most humiliating performance in recent years. Even before he became chair after another bad year for the party, the 2020 elections, Democrats had been warning that lackadaisical voter-registration efforts and community engagement would doom them in the Sunshine State.

It’s safe to assume that the GOP’s grip on the state — built over the past two decades — will be in place for years. In politics, as in life, you reap what you sow. That’s not to say, however, that Florida is completely out of reach for Democrats. They can, for example, improve their performance with Hispanic voters and regain Miami-Dade County, both of which the GOP flipped in 2022.

Democrats face a chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Without cash, they cannot beef up party apparatus. Without showing they can achieve results, the cash won’t flow. There are no miracle workers who can save the Florida Democratic Party. Progress, if it can be achieved, will happen more slowly than many party faithful demand.

A Leon County Circuit Court judge on Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Ron DeSantis brought by a North Miami Beach state senator who has accused Florida’s governor of illegally using taxpayer funds to fly migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last September.

Judge John C. Cooper set a Jan. 30 trial date to hear the constitutional challenge brought by Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat who is suing in his capacity as a private citizen. Cooper rejected attempts by DeSantis’ lawyers to dismiss the case, although he did agree to release Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis as a defendant.

Pizzo argues that the 2022-23 state appropriations bill that financed the controversial flights improperly used the budget to create a substantial new program instead of authorizing it through a separate law. Under long-standing principles of the Florida Constitution, substantial policies and programs must be first authorized in a separate law so that they can be widely discussed and reviewed by lawmakers.

A new Kentucky Supreme Court is charged with issuing a ruling in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s abortion bans.

Though oral arguments took place November 15 in a case brought by the state’s two outpatient abortion clinics challenging the constitutionality of two restrictive abortion laws, the previous court did not issue a ruling in the case before its two new members were sworn in this week. Kentucky’s trigger law criminalizes abortion except in medical emergencies, and a six-week ban prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The question before the high court, spurred by a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center, is whether to reinstate a lower court’s injunction that temporarily blocked both laws from enforcement. Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office has urged the high court not to do so.

In other words, the state Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to temporarily suspend one or both laws as the case winds through court — which would restore some amount of abortion access — or leave the laws in place.

In a Tuesday investiture in the court’s chambers at the Kentucky Capitol, Justice Angela McCormick Bisig was sworn in to replace outgoing Deputy Chief Justice Lisabeth Hughes, who retired after serving more than 15 years on the high court. Retiring Chief Justice John Minton is succeeded by Kelly Thompson, who took his oath on Wednesday. Justice Laurence VanMeter, who was already on the court, was sworn in as chief justice on Monday.

Abortion advocates had a tough 2022. Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer, and southern states like Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama banned abortion entirely. Georgia and South Carolina banned abortions after six weeks (although South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled against that law last week). For some people, North Carolina’s handful of abortion clinics are the only option.

2023 could be just as perilous. The North Carolina House of Representatives is one seat from a Republican supermajority, which means the GOP just needs to flip a single vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power. Republicans have that supermajority in the N.C. Senate, as well as a majority on the NC Supreme Court and the NC Appellate Court after the 2022 midterms.

For Democrats, that means every vote matters — especially when it comes to abortion. But it’s wrong to assume that all Democrats are on board with abortion rights.

Since 2019 in North Carolina, there have been two abortion bills — 2019’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and 2021’s Human Life Nondiscrimination Act — that have made it all the way to the governor’s desk, where they were promptly vetoed. When the 2019 bill initally passed, two Democratic senators and four Democratic representatives sided with Republicans. In 2021, six Democratic state representatives voted for the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act.

Only three of those six Democrat won re-election in 2022 — Reps. Garland Pierce, Amos Quick, and Michael Wray. Of these three, multiple sources within the General Assembly told me that Pierce and Wray are two to keep an eye on with future abortion bills. (Quick’s name did not come up).

Abortion advocates had a tough 2022. Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer, and southern states like Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama banned abortion entirely. Georgia and South Carolina banned abortions after six weeks (although South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled against that law last week). For some people, North Carolina’s handful of abortion clinics are the only option.

2023 could be just as perilous. The North Carolina House of Representatives is one seat from a Republican supermajority, which means the GOP just needs to flip a single vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto power. Republicans have that supermajority in the N.C. Senate, as well as a majority on the NC Supreme Court and the NC Appellate Court after the 2022 midterms.

For Democrats, that means every vote matters — especially when it comes to abortion. But it’s wrong to assume that all Democrats are on board with abortion rights.

Since 2019 in North Carolina, there have been two abortion bills — 2019’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and 2021’s Human Life Nondiscrimination Act — that have made it all the way to the governor’s desk, where they were promptly vetoed. When the 2019 bill initally passed, two Democratic senators and four Democratic representatives sided with Republicans. In 2021, six Democratic state representatives voted for the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act.

Only three of those six Democrat won re-election in 2022 — Reps. Garland Pierce, Amos Quick, and Michael Wray. Of these three, multiple sources within the General Assembly told me that Pierce and Wray are two to keep an eye on with future abortion bills. (Quick’s name did not come up).

John Doe
@fedjudges

6th Circuit joins the 5th and 11th Circuits in holding the federal contractor vaccine mandate is unlawful. It also narrows the scope of the injunction against the mandate.
https://opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/23a0006p-06.pdf

Heavily armed Florida police officers descended on the homes of two men accused of illegally voting and arrested one of them at gunpoint as part of Governor Ron DeSantis’s crackdown on voter fraud, new body-camera footage obtained by the Guardian can reveal.

Both men were in their underwear, unarmed, and placed in handcuffs as police arrested them in front of their Miami-Dade county homes on 18 August.

“Let me put on my pants,” Ronald Miller, 58, said shortly before noon, when he opened the door to find police officers surrounding his home, their guns pointed at him. “What happened?” he asked as officers instructed him to come outside, their guns still trained on him.

As they placed him in handcuffs, agents noted that Robert Wood had taken a long time to answer the door when they knocked on it. “I was asleep,” he said.

Taniel
@Taniel


So, quick story. Gov Mike DeWine has sat on Ohio's redistricting commission, approving GOP gerrymanders.

Maps have gone to OH's supreme court, where his son Pat DeWine sits. Pat refused to recuse himself & voted to keep them.

Now a friend of the DeWines is joining Pat on court.

How good a friend?

Pat DeWine once emailed Prosecutors Joe Deters to ask him to give an internship to his son. Deters obliged. When this became public, he said he was just doing a favor to a friend (as his defense).

Now Mike appointed Deters to join Pat on the supreme court.

That's a lot of intricate personal relationships that will play out on cases that involve the governor's office in the coming years.

Redistricting, which is back as an issue, is just one slice of that.

So wrote about all this in here:

In Ohio’s Redistricting Redo, a New Justice and a New Speaker Will Steer the Ship

In Ohio’s Redistricting Redo, a New Justice and a New Speaker Will Steer the Ship

snip-

Joe Deters, the new justice who shifts the high court to the right

Two days before Christmas, Republican Governor Mike DeWine filled a vacancy on Ohio’s supreme court by appointing Joe Deters, the tough-on-crime prosecutor of Hamilton County (Cincinnati) who is close to the state’s GOP power brokers. “Joe Deters has the right combination of experience, legal knowledge, and passion for public service that will serve the citizens of Ohio well,” DeWine said. Deters was sworn-in this past Saturday, just a week after Justice Maureen O’Connor, one of the court’s anti-gerrymandering crusaders, was forced to retire due to her age. 

The switch greatly alters the court’s ideological balance and likely flips it into a majority willing to uphold Republican gerrymanders.

“It suggests that the minority will become the majority, and there will not be the check on the mapmakers that there was during the 2021-2022 mapmaking,” said Catherine Turcer, who leads Common Cause Ohio, a voting rights organization, about Deters’s arrival on the court.