Dear Progressive Reader,

The impact of the leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito continues to be felt, with marches and rallies scheduled today in cities and towns across the country. As cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates, Alito’s selective choice of “precedent” in his argument shows that the high court could well be willing to look back to ancient history to overturn the gains of civil and human rights secured during the past half century. Bill Blum echoes this concern, noting, “After decades of condemning liberal justices for lacking impartiality and engaging in ‘judicial activism,’ the conservative supermajority dominating the Supreme Court appears more than willing to use judicial power to remake the United States into a white Christian nationalist country.”

Republicans in Congress and Justices on the Supreme Court seem more focussed on finding and prosecuting the whistleblower who leaked the document, while everyday people around the country are being forced to make practical decisions about where they can live, based on existing and potential state laws. “I’ll soon be moving to the Lone Star state, and I am feeling my freedom wither more and more each day,” writes Rachel Harmon. Plus, Jeff Abbott chronicles the impacts that rightwing efforts to curtail abortion rights in the United States may have on the countries in Latin America that had recently been seeing an increase in those rights. As if to reinforce Abbott’s report, on May 9, the government of El Salvador sentenced a woman to thirty years in prison for having a miscarriage.

Also this week on our website, James Goodman reports on the scheduled re-opening of the southern border to asylum seekers, and how Republicans are trying to politicize this humanitarian act. Mike Ervin looks at the attempts to restrict the rights of people who are “voting while disabled.” Eleanor Bader examines the role of “Donor Advised Funds” in supporting hate groups. Nolan Higdon issues an impassioned call for media literacy to confront propaganda and disinformation. And Paul Buhle reviews two new books that bring to light the radical history of many activists in the sport of baseball.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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