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Skip to content Sections SEARCH Briefing SUBSCRIBE FOR $1/WEEKLog in Friday, April 14, 2023 Today’s Paper SUBSCRIBE FOR $1/WEEK Briefing|Will Abortion Kill the Filibuster? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/briefing/abortion.html * Give this article * * Advertisement Continue reading the main story Newsletter THE MORNING WILL ABORTION KILL THE FILIBUSTER? Courts don’t make laws. Congress does. * Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Give this article * * * Read in app The U.S. Capitol.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times By David Leonhardt April 14, 2023, 6:43 a.m. ET You’re reading The Morning newsletter. Make sense of the day’s news and ideas. David Leonhardt and Times journalists guide you through what’s happening — and why it matters. Get it sent to your inbox. Will abortion be the issue that kills the filibuster? For now, the fight over federal abortion policy is occurring largely in the courts. Judges have issued opposing rulings over the past week related to mifepristone, a drug used in more than half of U.S. abortions today, and the Supreme Court will probably resolve the conflict in coming days or weeks. In the long term, however, court decisions are unlikely to have the final word over abortion policy. Legislation will. Judges merely interpret the law — sometimes aggressively, it’s true — but they cannot write new laws. Only legislators, in Congress and at the state level, can pass laws. The current legal battles over abortion make the point. Each of the court decisions of the past week has interpreted federal laws that affect the use of mifepristone. And Congress could make these cases largely irrelevant by passing a new law that clearly gave — or denied — women access to mifepristone and other drugs used in medication abortions. More court fights would no doubt follow, but they would revolve around different questions. A 2025 SCENARIO The current Congress, of course, is not going to pass any sweeping abortion laws. Democrats control the Senate, Republicans control the House, and the two parties disagree on abortion policy. But the next time one party is in charge of both chambers as well as the White House, the pressure to pass abortion legislation will be immense. Both parties are already talking about what such a bill might include. Advertisement Continue reading the main story For Republicans, it could be nationwide restrictions on abortion, perhaps similar to the laws that 13 states have enacted since the fall of Roe v. Wade last year. A less ambitious Republican bill might restrict the mailing of pills like mifepristone, making the current court case redundant. (The shipping of pills is an important issue to abortion opponents because the practice can allow people to circumvent state restrictions, as this Times story about international mail ordering explains.) For Democrats, a bill could do the opposite: protect the mailing of medications and create a national right to abortion that applies to at least the early stages of pregnancy. American politics is now so closely divided — with Democrats controlling 51 Senate seats — that neither party seems likely to hold the 60 seats necessary to override a filibuster anytime soon. Still, abortion has become sufficiently contested and salient that it could test the practice in a way no other issue recently has. A simple majority of senators can vote to end the filibuster, which is a Senate tradition and not part of the Constitution or any other law. Imagine a President Ron DeSantis taking office in 2025, with Republicans in control of Congress, and signing a national abortion ban that many conservatives consider a moral imperative. (Florida legislators yesterday passed one of the country’s most restrictive abortion laws, and DeSantis, the governor, has said he will sign it.) Or imagine if President Biden were to win re-election while the Democrats kept the Senate and retook the House. In that scenario, the politics of abortion would probably have played a role, given the popularity of at least some abortion access. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In either case, the party in power would have the power to pass a sweeping abortion law — but only if the Senate scrapped or overhauled the filibuster. Many progressives have long favored ending the filibuster. They argue, accurately, that it stymies Democratic legislation much more often than it does Republican legislation. (I walked through the history in a previous newsletter.) The reason is simple: Conservatives tend to be happier with less government, while liberals often favor more. But the filibuster is not likely to die until the debate revolves around a concrete policy rather than theoretical ideas about Senate process. When the filibuster stands in the way of a change to American life that one party passionately supports, the practice will be endangered. Abortion looks increasingly like the issue that might one day fit that description. As Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, told me yesterday, “Pressure continues to mount to jettison the filibuster and the next time either party has the trifecta — White House, Senate, House — I expect the filibuster will be in real jeopardy.” Until then, the political battle will take place mostly in federal courts and at the state level. WHAT’S NEXT On Wednesday night, three Republican-appointed judges on an appeals court panel issued a ruling that would restrict access to mifepristone, but it has not yet gone into effect. Yesterday, a Democratic-appointed judge issued a contrary ruling, ordering the F.D.A. not to restrict access to the drug in certain states. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Justice Department has announced it will ask the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute. If the court agrees to do so, it will likely happen on a faster timetable than many other cases. “It will be on what critics call ‘the shadow docket,’ which means it won’t be a typical case where the court hears oral arguments,” said Abbie VanSickle, a Times reporter covering the courts. “It will happen quickly, although just how quickly is totally at the discretion of Scotus.” You can read the details in this Times story. Related: See where the likely 2024 presidential contenders stand on abortion. THE LATEST NEWS PENTAGON LEAK Image Outside the home of Jack Teixeira.Credit...Haley Willis/The New York Times * The F.B.I. arrested a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman at his mother’s home in the leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents. * The suspect, Jack Teixeira, was the administrator of a chat group called Thug Shaker Central, where the classified materials surfaced. * President Biden sought to downplay the leaks, saying he wasn’t concerned about their disclosures. * How could Teixeira have obtained these documents anyway? The leak has started a conversation about security clearances in the government. POLITICS * Donald Trump was questioned under oath in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, against him and three of his children. * Justice Clarence Thomas and his relatives sold property to a billionaire friend who also funded lavish trips for him. Thomas never disclosed the deal. * The young Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee legislature have modeled themselves after civil rights leaders of the past. * The illnesses of Senators Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein have stalled action in the chamber at a critical time. * A defamation case against Fox News that’s set to go to trial next week will address the limits of journalistic responsibility. OTHER BIG STORIES * Despite cooling prices, economists are worried a recession is on the way — or that the Fed will cause one as it tries to rein in inflation. * Resistance from manufacturers and consumers could complicate the Biden administration’s push to increase electric vehicle sales. * To tackle climate change, we’ll need to electrify not only millions of cars, but also home heaters and stoves. Here’s how that could happen. * An acquaintance was arrested in the stabbing death of the tech executive Bob Lee in San Francisco. OPINIONS We can fix our crumbling democracy by making it more representative, the political theorist Danielle Allen argues on “The Ezra Klein Show.” If President Biden wants to invest in clean electricity, he needs to make sure it’s as clean as advertised, Leah C. Stokes writes. Advertisement Continue reading the main story MORNING READS Image Pineapple lily.Credit...Jenks Farmer Stinky flowers: Pineapple lilies are stunning, and they don’t all smell like rotten meat. New czar: “The rats are going to hate Kathy.” Are chatbots sentient? Maybe a little bit, according to one philosopher. Modern Love: How to fall out of love with yourself. Lives Lived: Mary Quant, the British designer known as the mother of the miniskirt, epitomized the style of the Swinging Sixties. She died at 93. Advertisement Continue reading the main story SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC Washington Commanders: Dan Snyder agreed in principle to sell the football team for an N.F.L. record of $6 billion. Meet the likely new owner, Josh Harris. Tampa Bay Rays: The baseball team won their 13th game in a row. N.B.A. playoffs: The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled all season. Yet multiple coaches and executives see the No. 7 seed as a certain pick in Round 1 of the N.B.A. playoffs. ARTS AND IDEAS Image Nautical reference images in David Grann’s office.Credit...Vincent Tullo for The New York Times AN 18TH-CENTURY MUTINY In 1742, a vessel washed up on the shore of Brazil. The 30 men aboard were survivors of the H.M.S. Wager, which had run aground almost 3,000 miles away along the Chilean coastline. Six months later, a second boat came ashore in Chile with three men who said that the others were dishonorable: “They were not heroes. They were mutineers.” A new book by the New Yorker writer David Grann focuses on the mysteries surrounding the shipwreck. Rather than trying to smooth over the survivors’ conflicting accounts, Grann lets readers puzzle over the contradictions. “This is a story about the disintegration of a floating civilization,” he told The Times. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Related: Read The Times’s review. PLAY, WATCH, EAT WHAT TO COOK Image Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times This miso-honey chicken and asparagus is an easy sheet-pan meal. TRAVEL Go beyond the Strip for 36 hours in Las Vegas. LATE NIGHT James Corden joked about Biden sitting at a tiny Irish desk. NEWS QUIZ How well did you follow the headlines this week? NOW TIME TO PLAY Image The pangram from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was wedlock. Here are today’s puzzle and the Bee Buddy. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Shade of blue (three letters). Advertisement Continue reading the main story And here’s today’s Wordle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David P.S. We are mourning the loss of our colleague Lisa Cowan, a Times editor who died yesterday. Lisa was a cheerful presence, a mentor and a key part of The Times’s nighttime news coverage. Here’s today’s front page. “The Daily” is about “The Phantom of the Opera” ending its run. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Advertisement Continue reading the main story SITE INDEX SITE INFORMATION NAVIGATION * © 2023 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions Support independent journalism. See subscription options