National
War on Planned Parenthood • After heavily edited videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood staff talk about selling “baby parts,” Republican politicians spent a significant amount of time in 2015 trying to figure out how to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides an array of services in addition to abortion. Republicans even launched an investigation into the organization, and the Senate voted to defund it.
Those videos, it turns out, were doctored, but the fallout has trickled down to Republican states across the nation, including Texas, which have waged mini-wars against Planned Parenthood.
Equality in Love • On June 26, a new case was added to the pantheon of landmark Supreme Court decisions. Now Obergfell v. Hodges, the case that declared same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional, will be mentioned in the same breath as Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education and Korematsu v. United States. The 5-4 decision cleared the way for same-sex couples to marry. In Bexar County, John Truho and Larry Stern, who have been together for 17 years, were the first couple to apply for a marriage license.
Immigration Battle • Two executive orders from President Barack Obama would pave the way for nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants to find deportation relief.
That, however, doesn’t sit well with Republicans. Led by Texas, a coalition of states filed a lawsuit against the executive orders, which has found its way to the Supreme Court.
Republicans tried to stall the case so the court wouldn’t hear it until after Obama is no longer president, hoping that a Republican is elected and repeals the order. However, it’s likely the court will take up the case before Obama leaves the White House.
