A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade that established the right to abortion nearly 50 years ago, according to a leaked draft opinion published by Politico on Monday. National Public Radio could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico published. The draft was written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated in February, according to the Politico report. The report said that Alito was joined by justices Clarence Thomas and all three of former President Donald Trump's nominees – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Politico reported that justices Stephen Breyer, Elana Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were working on dissents. It was unclear how Chief Justice John Roberts voted.
The Minnesota Senate voted Monday to prohibit planning for a new passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Duluth, which is known as the Northern Lights Express. Lawmakers amended the transportation section of a larger supplemental budget and policy bill with the prohibition language. It would prevent the state transportation commissioner and the Metropolitan Council from spending any money on the project. Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, was the author of the amendment. He said the proposed passenger train is not the type of transportation that Minnesota needs. “The Northern Lights passenger rail system is a bad idea that is a 19th century solution to transportation in Minnesota,” Osmek said. “It’s like asking us to spend money on buggy whips.”
What else we're watching:
Minn GOP candidate suggests jail time for Dem elections chief. Leading Republican Scott Jensen has suggested that the Democratic secretary of state should go to prison for his running of the election system, without providing any evidence that he’s done anything illegal.
