Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal The Supreme Court will keep mifepristone available as usual, it ruled in a Thursday order, blocking a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that would reimpose in-person dispensing requirements and prevent the drug from being mailed. The majority was unsigned. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas wrote separate dissents. Thomas staked his dissent on the Comstock Act, a 19th century anti-obscenity law the anti-abortion movement has seized upon as it attempts to ban the mailing of mifepristone nationwide.  “Applicants are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal…

Sky York Journal Black people in America did worse economically in 2025 than at any time since the Federal Reserve began its financial wellbeing survey in 2013, according to some measures published Wednesday. More notable than the depressed financial situation of Black respondents is the gap between Black people and, in some cases, every other racial and ethnic group recorded. The Federal Reserve’s report, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, is the latest data set revealing the ways and extent Black Americans suffered tangible economic harm under the first year of President Donald Trump’s second presidential term, wherein the…

Sky York Journal ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Estelle, who’s long held permanent resident status in the U.S., is a veteran at navigating the reentry process when she returns from visiting relatives in her native France. But on her most recent trip through customs in mid-March, officers detained the 57-year-old Lawrence, Kansas, resident for 30 hours, forced her to spend the night in a holding cell on a concrete slab and threatened her with deportation. Why? Because she acknowledged under questioning by customs officers that…

Sky York Journal This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra and Barbara Rodriguez of The 19th. Meet Shefali and Barbara and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary’s resignation creates a new opening for anti-abortion activists to push for national restrictions on the procedure — and in particular, limit the availability of a key abortion drug. The move comes as anti-abortion groups became angry over what they viewed as his agency’s failure to curb access to the drug.  Makary’s resignation, which multiple outlets reported Tuesday, followed reports of Trump’s growing dissatisfaction…

Sky York Journal The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a stay on an old Alabama map that had been found to intentionally dilute Black voters, likely setting the state up to eliminate at least one Democratic district.  In the ruling, handed down on the shadow docket, the unnamed majority did not bother to explain its reasoning. This is all the more stark given that Justice Samuel Alito in Louisiana v. Callais — the decision that killed the remnants of the Voting Rights Act in late April — took pains to insist that his ruling did not overturn Allen v. Milligan, the…

Sky York Journal In a major loss for Democrats on Friday, the Virginia state Supreme Court rejected, in a 4-3 decision, the state’s recently approved redistricting proposal, which could have given Democrats four additional congressional seats, improving their chances of taking control of the U.S. House this year.  The proposal, which was introduced as a way to offset the impact of the Trump administration’s mid-cycle gerrymandering blitz, was narrowly approved by voters in a special election earlier this month.  The Supreme Court ruled that the process by which lawmakers moved forward the redistricting proposal violated the state’s constitution.   “In this…

Sky York Journal President Donald Trump’s signature economic policy hit another brick wall Thursday evening when the Court of International Trade overturned new tariffs Trump enacted to replace the tariffs blocked by the Supreme Court. The Court of International Trade Chief Judge Mark A. Barnett and Judge Claire R. Kelly ruled Trump’s Section 122 tariffs were unlawful. They ordered a permanent injunction to begin within five days and directed the government to refund the small businesses that sued the Trump administration for any tariffs they’ve already paid, plus interest. Senior Judge Timothy C. Stanceu dissented. On a press call Thursday…

Sky York Journal Louisiana asked the Supreme Court Thursday to speed-run oral arguments in its case — if the Court maintains its stay on a lower court ruling that would reimpose in-person dispensing requirements on abortion pill mifepristone, barring the drug from being sent by mail. The state primarily asked the Court to let the 5th Circuit’s order take effect while the case plays out. But if it doesn’t, the attorneys wrote, the Court should take up the case before the summer recess because “approximately 1,000 abortions are taking place in Louisiana every month, undermining its ‘prerogative of protecting unborn…

Sky York Journal The widening rift between the haves and the have-nots continues to be borne out in federal data, as a Thursday Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed U.S. workers are doing more and reaping less. Workers are earning record low wages and other compensation compared to their labor output, according to the BLS productivity and costs report published Thursday. Called the “labor share,” this indicator essentially measures how much of the nation’s economic earnings is used to pay wages and other worker benefits.  At 54.1%, workers are netting the lowest earnings compared to the income they’re producing since…

Sky York Journal Sebastian Gorka released a new counterterrorism strategy on Wednesday, singling out “violent left-wing extremists,” “extreme transgender ideologies,” and “violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” As with much that comes out of the Trump administration, the messenger needs to be taken into account with the message. At a press briefing on Wednesday, Gorka replied to a question about what impact the Iran war might have on terrorist threats by calling critics of the war “testicularly challenged,” describing it as a “low-T approach to threats to the United States.” Low-T refers to low…