Lawsuits

Attorneys for a pregnant Texas woman who sought court permission for an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. say she has left the state to obtain the procedure. The announcement came Monday as 31-year-old Kate Cox awaited a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court over whether she could legally obtain an abortion under narrow exceptions to the state’s bans. A judge gave Cox permission last week but that decision was put on hold by the state’s all-Republican high court. The court ruled against Cox later Monday. Cox's lawsuit quickly became a high-profile test of bans in Texas and a dozen other GOP-controlled states, where abortion is prohibited at nearly all stages of pregnancy.

After the Texas Supreme Court ruled against a Texas woman seeking permission to obtain an abortion in the state, three other state top courts are scheduled to hear abortion cases this week. In Arizona, the Supreme Court is deciding which of two separate laws banning abortion should be enforced. In New Mexico, the top court is weighing a request by cities and counties to enforce local bans. And in Wyoming, a judge is considering whether a challenge to a ban will go to trial. A Kentucky woman is also asking for immediate abortion access, but it's not clear when a court there might take up the case.

A federal judge is prohibiting the separation of families at the border for purposes of deterring immigration for eight years. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s ruling on Friday in San Diego preemptively blocks resumption of a lightning-rod, Trump-era policy that the former president hasn’t ruled out if elected to a second term next year. It ends a long-running lawsuit between the Justic Department and the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued over a “zero-tolerance” policy on illegal immigration that resulted in more than 5,000 children being separated from their parents at the border during the Trump administration.

A pregnant woman in Kentucky has filed a lawsuit demanding the right to an abortion, the second legal challenge in days to sweeping abortion bans that have taken hold in more than a dozen U.S. states since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The suit, filed in state court in Louisville, says Kentucky’s near-total prohibition against abortion violates the plaintiff’s rights to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, is about eight weeks pregnant and is seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion in the state.

A federal appeals court says lawsuits against Donald Trump brought by Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the U.S. Capitol riot can move forward. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court has knocked down Trump’s sweeping claims that presidential immunity shields him from liability in the lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers. The panel says the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner can continue fighting to prove that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president. A Trump campaign spokesperson called the decision “limited, narrow and procedural.”

Daryl Hall has filed a court declaration that accuses his longtime music partner John Oates of committing the “ultimate partnership betrayal” by planning to sell his share of the Hall & Oates duo’s joint venture without the other’s permission. In the declaration filed Wednesday in a Nashville chancery court, Hall also lamented the deterioration of his relationship with and trust in his musical partner of more than a half-century. The court filing says the joint venture, named Whole Oats Enterprises LLP, includes Hall & Oates trademarks, personal name and likeness rights, record royalty income and website and social media assets. Oates responded in court that Hall had been trying to stand alone outside of the group for years.