ABORTION/GOP/OBAMA/SUPREME COURT/TRAVEL BAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The consequences of President Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court — and the Republican blockade of President Obama’s nomination of Merrick B. Garland in 2016 for that seat — reverberated powerfully on Tuesday as the court’s conservative majority handed down major decisions on Mr. Trump’s travel ban and on abortion rights. Social conservatives cheered the court’s ruling that a California law requiring ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ to provide abortion information likely violates the First Amendment, their latest win to advance their anti-abortion cause since Mr. Trump has taken office. Some conservatives also viewed the ruling as another opportunity for them to energize their base ahead of the November elections. But as conservative Christian political groups rushed to praise the court’s ruling on crisis pregnancy centers, they were relatively silent about the court’s other decision to uphold the Trump administration’s travel ban, a move that prompted outrage and fear just as swiftly from liberal activists and politicians.”
-Elizabeth Dias and Sydney Ember, “Abortion and Travel Ban Rulings Are Victory for G.O.P. Tactics on Gorsuch,” The New York Times online, June 26, 2018