On Wednesday, the Senate voted to advance a GOP-led bill that would overturn Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, along with immediately ending the payment pause. Three Democratic lawmakers — Kyrsten Sinema, John Tester, and Manchin — joined Republicans in advancing the legislation that is headed to a full Senate vote on Thursday.

The House passed the bill last week, and Biden previously said that if it ends up making it to his desk, he will veto the legislation.

Following the procedural vote, Manchin released a statement of support for "overturning reckless student loan plan."

"Today I voted to repeal the Biden Administration's student loan cancellation proposal because we simply cannot afford to add another $400 billion to the national debt," Manchin said in the statement.

"There are already more than 50 existing student loan repayment and forgiveness programs aimed at attracting individuals to vital service jobs, such as teachers, health care workers, and public servants," he continued. "This Biden proposal undermines these programs and forces hard-working taxpayers who already paid off their loans or did not go to college to shoulder the cost. Instead, we should be focusing on bipartisan student debt reforms that reduce the cost of higher education and help all Americans."

Lindsay Durtschi isn’t worried about her kids.

Her children will grow up in a home where they learn how to love and respect those with different viewpoints.

Books that interest them will always be easily accessible.

They will always have someone to talk to if they have questions about difficult topics.

Difficult conversations will be initiated when questions arise.

Durtschi — a Pensacola mother of two, PTA member, optometrist and plaintiff in PEN America's book banning lawsuit against Escambia County Schools — isn’t worried about her kids. But she is worried about the other children who don't have those guarantees.

“At the end of the day, my kids are going to get a healthy, comprehensive collection of — whether it be reading material, knowledge, or history — the good, the bad and the ugly of our country and our state. They're hopefully going to get that at home ... but so many kids aren't,” Durtschi said. “Once I began to learn and think legally what this law was doing for those kids — I couldn't be quiet anymore.”

I don’t know about you, but I was glad to see President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agree on the debt ceiling deal.

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on the legislation to avoid a federal default. The plan, dubbed the “Fiscal Responsibility Act,” would raise the debt limit to last another two years and hold non-defense spending at roughly the same levels next year as this year.

So, let’s see… we reached an agreement to pay our bills and not become a banana republic. Wait, with hoopleheads in Congress like Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene, are we sure we aren’t already a banana republic?

If the deal passes. Some Democrats have voiced their disapproval over parts of the legislation, namely the expanded work requirements for food stamps. But no Democrats have said they want to undo the deal. Their approach is more pragmatic since the agreement delivered far less than what Republicans wanted, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) noted during an appearance Sunday on Fox News.

Extremists in the House Freedom Caucus, however, went into various states of apoplexy, promising to do whatever it takes to torpedo the legislation, which would cause a default. You don’t hear any Democrats threatening to scuttle the deal, but that’s the MAGA crowd for ya. If they don’t get 110% of their demands plus a Swedish massage and a year’s supply of Bubble Yum, they consider it a loss. Heck, they were already rabid even before any deal was struck.

A lawyer for a Texas man urged the Supreme Court late Tuesday to let stand a lower court opinion that critics say will make it easier for domestic abusers to obtain firearms.

The man, Zackey Rahimi, is at the center of the latest Second Amendment case to reach the high court. A federal appeals court ruled in Rahimi’s favor in March. The court held that a federal law that bars an individual subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm is unconstitutional.

Now, the Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to reverse that decision and clarify the reach of a major Second Amendment opinion from last term that marked the most significant expansion of gun rights in a decade.

In court papers filed in March, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices they should take up the Rahimi case next term and reverse the appeals court decision that “threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence.”

The justices are expected to meet behind closed doors in the coming weeks to discuss the case and decide whether to step in and hear the appeal.

After the justices issued New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen a year ago, lower courts began to reconsider thousands of firearm rules across the country, including the federal law at issue in the case at hand. A panel of judges on the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals cited Bruen and held that the statute “is an outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.”

A Planned Parenthood affiliate and a Nebraska doctor have sued the state over its recently enacted law banning most abortions after 12 weeks as well as banning some gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth.

Legislative Bill 574 was signed into law by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen last week. The abortion ban went into effect immediately, and the restrictions on gender-affirming care will be in force October 1. The legislation bans gender-affirming surgery for people under 19 for the purpose of gender transition — genital surgery being rare for young people anyway — and gives the state’s chief medical officer, appointed by the governor, the power to regulate use of puberty blockers and hormones.

The measure violates the Nebraska constitution because it deals with two different subjects, according to the lawsuit, filed by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Sarah Traxler, MD, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States. They are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and its Nebraska affiliate.

The constitution states, “No bill shall contain more than one subject, and the subject shall be clearly expressed in the title.” But in the case of LB 574, the abortion ban was added as an amendment to the gender-affirming care restrictions when separate abortion legislation failed to pass.

There are early signs that Chick-fil-A could become the latest target of a potential boycott campaign.

Fresh off of their successful boycotts against Bud Light (BUD) - Get Free Report and Target, (TGT) - Get Free Report some of the louder voices on the far-right side of social media are now targeting Chick-fil-A, the conservative-leaning fast food chain that is famously closed on Sundays in honor of the Christian day of rest.

Twitter user Joey Mannarino pointed out in a tweet on May 30 that Chick-fil-A could be added to the boycott list, as the company has "just hired a VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion".

https://twitter.com/TonyHussein4/status/1663559946884222976

John Doe
@fedjudges

5th Circuit panel that will consider the stay motion in Braidwood Management v. Becerra, the challenge to the ACA’s preventive services mandate, is Judges Clement, Southwick, and Higginson.

http://ca5.uscourts.gov/oral-argument-information/court-calendars/Details/1668/

I am unsure if this panel will also consider the merits of the appeal or if motions panel orders are precedential in the 5th Circuit.

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Saturday night that they had reached a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a catastrophic federal default with a bit over a week to go before the deadline.

Afterwards, a quick consensus formed among much of the right and left: Republicans got blanked.

The agreement would temporarily freeze a portion of non-defense spending, while temporarily tightening the food stamp program’s work requireme​​nts for childless adults, and enacting modest changes to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

The early details prompted furious reactions from members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, who’d hoped to extract vastly more sweeping budget cuts and changes to the federal safety net in return for hiking the borrowing limit.

“This ‘deal’ is insanity,” tweeted South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman. “A $4T debt ceiling increase with virtually no cuts is not what we agreed to.” North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop tweeted a vomiting emoji after a GOP conference call, and complained about “RINOs congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo.”

“Hard pass. Hold the line,” offered Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde. Texas Rep. Chip Roy, widely viewed as the Freedom Caucus’ intellectual leader, called the agreement a “turd sandwich.”

Republicans also failed to achieve other moonshot goals as well, like repealing Biden’s green energy subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act, or putting new work requirements on Medicaid.

Michael Sasso, a Central Florida attorney, has resigned from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Disney World governing board he joined earlier this year.

Sasso was one of five members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s Board of Supervisors, the governor-appointed board at the center of DeSantis’ dispute with Disney.

Sasso has not publicly given a reason for his resignation. On Tuesday, DeSantis elevated his wife, Meredith Sasso, to the Florida Supreme Court. She was the chief judge of the Sixth District Circuit Court of Appeal.

Spectrum News 13 first reported Sasso’s resignation on Friday night.

Sasso and the governor’s office did not immediately respond Saturday to requests for comment.

The tourism district has a lawsuit against Disney pending in state court that could potentially reach the state’s highest court.