Democrats say ‘fight is just beginning’ after supreme court’s temporary reinstatement of abortion pill access – live

Kamala Harris endorsed LA’s mayor, Karen Bass, for re-election, stepping into an unexpectedly dramatic mayoral contest to see who will lead the city as it hosts the 2028 Olympics.

Bass faces two challengers: former reality TV star Spencer Pratt and ally turned rival LA city council member Nithya Raman. Bass has faced continued scrutiny of her leadership since her handling of the 2025 LA fires drew wide criticism.

“Mayor Karen Bass is the leader Los Angeles needs right now,” Harris said. “She has done what so many said couldn’t be done – the first ever two-year decline in homelessness, reducing crime to levels this city hasn’t seen since the 1960s and refusing to back down when the federal government came after our neighbors.”

“She has my full support for re-election,” said Harris, who has a home in Brentwood, an affluent neighborhood located on the west side of Los Angeles. Ballots have already been mailed to voters ahead of the state’s 2 June nonpartisan primary in which the top two vote getters advance to the November general election, regardless of party. Polls show Bass with a steady lead, though many Democrats have expressed frustration with her leadership.

Notably, Harris did not endorse a Democrat in the messy contest for governor – a race many Democrats had hoped she would enter after her devastating loss to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Instead, Harris, the nation’s first Black and Asian American vice-president, has said she’s exploring a third presidential bid. As part of that effort, Harris has worked to retain strong political bond with Black voters, especially women. Bass is the first woman and first Black woman elected to serve as LA mayor.

Earlier this year, Harris endorsed congressman Jasmine Crockett in a closely contested Senate primary, another trailblazing Black woman.

In the governor’s race, Democrat Tom Steyer cast Harris’s lack of an endorsement as a snub of rival Xavier Becerra, who served with her as HHS secretary in Joe Biden’s cabinet. “Becerra’s colleagues in the Biden administration had a front row seat to his incompetence, so it’s no surprise that they are sitting this one out,” said Steyer spokesperson Kevin Liao. Becerra on Monday surpassed Steyer for the first time in a polling survey conducted by the California Democratic party.

The US supreme court went out of its way on Monday to help Louisiana Republicans redraw their congressional maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The procedural move comes less than a week after the court’s landmark decision striking down Louisiana’s congressional map and gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Usually, the court waits 32 days to formally issue its judgment to the lower court. Last week, Louisiana asked the court to speed up that process, citing the urgency with which it needed to redraw its congressional maps. On Monday, the court agreed to do so.

“The date scheduled for the beginning of early voting in the primary election has already passed. The congressional districting map enacted by the legislature has been held to be unconstitutional, and the general election will be held in just six months,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

The decision is likely to offer more legal cover to Louisiana Republicans, who took the extraordinary step of cancelling the 16 May primary for Congress after mail-in ballots had already gone out to overseas voters. There is ongoing litigation challenging that decision and the supreme court expediting its judgment could bolster Louisiana’s legal arguments for the need to hold new elections.

Dissenting from the court’s decision on Monday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ripped the court for departing from its usual procedure. There were only two times in the last 25 years, she wrote, when the court had expedited its ruling.

“To avoid the appearance of partiality here, we could, as per usual, opt to stay on the sidelines and take no position by applying our default procedures. But, today, the Court chooses the opposite. Not content to have decided the law, it now takes steps to influence its implementation,” she wrote. “The Court’s decision to buck our usual practice under Rule 45.3 and issue the judgment forthwith is tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.”

In searing language, she said the court’s majority “unshackles itself from both constraints today and dives into the fray. And just like that, those principles give way to power.”

That accusation prompted a forceful response from Alito, who wrote an opinion joined by fellow conservatives Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. Jackson’s language was “baseless and insulting”, he wrote.

“The dissent goes on to claim that our decision represents an unprincipled use of power. That is a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge,” he wrote. “What principle has the Court violated? The principle that Rule 45.3’s 32-day default period should never be shortened even when there is good reason to do so? The principle that we should never take any action that might unjustifiably be criticized as partisan?”

Following its recent ruling to gut a major section of the Voting Rights Act, the supreme court announced the decision will take effect ahead of schedule, Reuters reports.

The move boosts Louisiana Republicans as they push for a new congressional map before the November midterms. The court’s decision gives lawmakers permission to draw districting plans that weaken the influence of Black and other minority voters.

The supreme court typically waits 32 days before its formal judgment is issued, but the prevailing party, the “non-African American” voters in this case, can ask the court to issue its judgment more quickly.

Amid the recent ruling, GOP lawmakers in several southern states are meeting this week to consider plans that could upend their congressional primaries and redraw US House districts ahead of the November elections.

In 2020, Minnesota sued Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, and the Minnesota-based Koch Industries subsidiary Flint Hills Resources. The lawsuit, which is ongoing, claims that the defendants breached state consumer protection laws by deceiving the public about the climate dangers of their products and seeks an end to allegedly deceptive practices, monetary damages for climate impacts to the state, the creation of a public education campaign on climate issues funded by the industry players.

On Monday, Trump’s justice department filed its own suit, accusing Minnesota officials of trying to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions — something it says only the federal government should be able to do. It names the state itself and its attorney general, Keith Ellison, as defendants, and seeks an injunction to prevent the state’s lawsuit from proceeding as well as a declaration that the climate lawsuit is “pre-empted and unlawful.”

“President Trump promised to unleash American energy dominance, and Minnesota officials cannot undermine his directive by mandating that their woke climate preferences become the uniform policy of our nation,” associate attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a Monday press release about the lawsuit.

The Trump administration’s suit comes less than three weeks after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the state’s lawsuit could advance toward trial. It marks the latest in a series of cases brought by the Trump administration attempting to undermine states’ attempts at climate accountability. In May 2025, the DOJ took the unusual step of filing pre-emptive lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan over their plans to file climate lawsuits. Both states still filed their litigation; judges in both cases dismissed the department’s cases.

Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which tracks and backs climate litigation, called the DOJ’s latest lawsuit a “desperate effort to shield the architects of big oil’s decades-long climate deception from facing accountability.”

In recent years, more than 70 state and local governments have sued oil companies for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis.

The New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration is considering introducing government oversight of new models of artificial intelligence, marking a reversal for the US president, who has previously maintained a hands-off approach to the industry.

US officials told the news outlet that the administration is discussing an executive order to create an AI working group that would convene tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures.

White House officials told leaders from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI about some of those plans during meetings last week, the Times reports.

The newspaper said the change could be prompted by concerns about Anthropic’s new AI model called Mythos, which cybersecurity experts warn could supercharge complex cyber-attacks.

A US judge on Monday apologized to the man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump for the “legally deficient” treatment he has faced in a Washington DC jail, including being placed on suicide watch, separated from other inmates and denied a Bible.

The US magistrate judge Zia Faruqui said he was disturbed by the conditions for Cole Allen, who allegedly fired a shotgun during a foiled attack on Trump and senior officials in his administration at a 25 April press gala. The judge said the conditions were inappropriate for a person with no criminal history.

“Whatever you’ve been through, I apologize,” Faruqui said during a court hearing.

Faruqui said he has an obligation to make sure the 31-year-old Los Angeles-area man is “treated with the basic decency of a human being”. Allen last week agreed to remain detained in the local jail in Washington after his lawyers said they would not contest arguments from prosecutors that he posed a danger. He has been charged with attempted assassination and firearms offenses. He has not yet entered a plea.

Read the full report coming from Reuters:

At the Small Business Summit, Trump accused China of decimating American manufacturing sectors over the decades. He said: “China’s coming in and they’re ripping us, and we have a tariff, it’s 25% but it’s not enough, because, you know, they have certain advantages that you’re not going to have.

“I’m going to put tremendous tariffs… the process has already started. It takes me longer now because of the supreme court decision. I have to go through a process. It’s ridiculous”, Trump said.

Trump once again boasted about his ability to pass cognitive tests designed to detect dementia and mental deterioration. A couple of days ago, he repeated these comments in a speech at a retirement community in Florida. He also went on to insult Gavin Newsom, calling him “stupid”.

His remarks come after calls from lawmakers, including Democratic representative Jamie Raskin, for him to take another cognitive test and publicly release the results.

In an interview with journalist Jim Acosta, former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb called the president “clearly insane” in late March.

Trump also, misleadingly, claims that inflation under his predecessor Joe Biden was the “worst” it has ever been.

Actually, at the end of Biden’s sole term in office, inflation hovered around 2.9% – down from a peak of 9.1% in June 2023.

The latest consumer price index data shows that inflation, under Trump, now sits at 3.3%.

As Donald Trump begins his remarks in the East Room, he repeats claims that US forces have decimated Iran’s capabilities.

“They have no navy, they have no air force,” the president said. “They have no radar. They have no nothing.”

In response to the supreme court’s decision to restore mail access to mifepristone, one of the two-drug regimen needed for medication abortion, Democrats welcomed the news, but noted this is part of a wider fight to further undermine safe and effective access to reproductive healthcare.

“This fight is just beginning,” said Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat. “We will stop at nothing to prevent the Republicans from putting a national abortion ban into effect.”

Since the 2022 Dobbs decision, anti-abortion groups have attempted to limit access to abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, now the most common method to terminate pregnancies in the US.

“I urge the Court to move swiftly to permanently protect access to this critical medication for women,” said Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada.

“As this case proceeds, we must continue to fight back against Republican efforts to try to ban abortion nationwide,” said Democratic representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

Donald Trump is due to speak shortly at a small business summit at the White House. We’ll bring you the latest lines, particularly keeping an ear out for any lines about the ongoing talks in Iran, particularly after the news that the US military destroyed six Iranian small boats amid the naval blockade in the strait of Hormuz.

• Florida governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he has signed into law the state’s new congressional map, which could deliver the GOP an additional four US House seats in November’s midterm elections. “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis said in a post on X, with a map of the new districts attached.

• The supreme court issued a temporary order to restore access to the abortion pill mifepristone by mail on Monday. This comes after two companies who manufacture mifepristone the drug filed an emergency appeal to the court on Saturday asking it to halt a court decision that would require an in‑person exam before the medication can be prescribed. In a one-page order by justice Samuel Alito, the court stayed the fifth circuit’s decision until 11 May, giving the court more time to hear both sides before making a decision.

• During Cole Tomas Allen’s hearing in Washington today, Judge Zia M Faruqui questioned why the suspect had been subjected to such harsh conditions in the DC jail, namely solitary confinement, while detained. Ahead of the latest hearing for the suspect in the White House press gala shooting last month, his lawyers wrote to the magistrate judge to note that Allen had been removed from suicide watch and issued a motion to vacate Monday’s hearing.

• Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, will travel to Rome this week to visit Pope Leo XIV, as the Trump administration’s relationship with the Vatican remains strained. The state department said in a statement that the meeting will be “to advance bilateral relations with Italy and the Vatican”.

• Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was hospitalized with pneumonia and remains in critical but stable condition, “is now breathing on his own”, according to his spokesperson, Ted Goodman. The infection had overwhelmed Giuliani – who Goodman said had been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease in the wake of the 9/11 attacks – and he had required a ventilator to breathe. “He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side,” Goodman said.

In an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump said that Iran would be “blown off the face of the Earth” if they attack US vessels in the strait of Hormuz, while the naval blockade continues.

The president called the blockade “one of the greatest military maneuvers ever done” and that Tehran has become “much more malleable” during recent talks.

This comes after US Central Command (Centcom), said on Monday that it had destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones fired at ships and commercial vessels being “protected” by the US military in the strait of Hormuz.

During Cole Tomas Allen’s hearing in Washington today, Judge Zia M Faruqui questioned why the suspect had been subjected to such harsh conditions in the DC jail, namely solitary confinement, while detained. According to reporters in the courtroom, the magistrate judge noted that January 6 defendants appeared to receive better treatment.

“Pardons may erase convictions but they do not erase history,” Faruqui said, while noting that Allen was enduring “vastly different” treatment compared with others who allegedly tried to attack “elected officials based on their political beliefs”.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he has signed into law the state’s new congressional map, which could deliver the GOP an additional four US House seats in November’s midterm elections.

“Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” DeSantis said in a post on X, with a map of the new districts attached.

With it, Florida becomes the latest state to adopt redrawn districts since Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw their state’s map to favor the GOP last year, sparking a nationwide redistricting battle.

Florida’s new House map aims to boost its GOP congressional delegation from 20 to 24 seats, while reducing Democrats’ eight seats to four.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was hospitalized with pneumonia and remains in critical but stable condition, “is now breathing on his own”, according to his spokesperson, Ted Goodman.

The viral lung infection had “quickly overwhelmed” Giuliani – who Goodman said had been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, adding “complications to any respiratory illness” – and he had required a ventilator to breathe.

“He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side,” Goodman said. “Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter – as he has demonstrated throughout his life – and he is winning this battle … Please keep the prayers coming.”

Goodman announced yesterday that Guiliani, 81, had been hospitalized in Florida, but did not say why, and it remains unclear when he was first admitted to hospital.

In a post on Truth Social yesterday, Donald Trump, called his former personal attorney a “True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR” – before making it about himself, by perpetuating his lie about the 2020 election.

“They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” he said.

Giuliani hosted his online show, America’s Mayor Live, on Friday night from Florida, but said his voice was “a little under the weather”.

As mayor of New York City he garnered acclaim for his response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, earning the nickname “America’s mayor”.

He later worked as an attorney for Trump in his failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, an effort that led to criminal charges against Giuliani in two US states and a defamation lawsuit from election workers. Giuliani has denied wrongdoing in the criminal cases. Trump pardoned Giuliani after he faced criminal charges for his efforts to help try to overturn the 2020 election.

He was also hospitalized last year after a car crash in New Hampshire left him with injuries including a spinal fracture.

Ahead of the latest hearing for Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House press gala shooting last month, his lawyers wrote to the magistrate judge to note that Allen had been removed from suicide watch and issued a motion to vacate Monday’s hearing.

However, the court denied the motion. Instead, Judge Zia M Faruqui said he had “grave concerns” about Allen’s “seemingly unprompted solitary confinement for days and overall conditions of confinement”. The hearing is due to start shortly.