A group of religious leaders from Christian and Jewish faiths filed a lawsuit this week challenging Missouri’s abortion ban.
Driving the news: The suit argues that the state's abortion ban and related restrictions unconstitutionally impose one narrow religious doctrine on all Missouri residents and violate the separation of church and state, according to the National Women’s Law Center, a partner in the lawsuit.
A potential default on the federal debt "would impose a self-imposed calamity in the United States and the world economy," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview with AP Saturday.
Driving the news: Yellen said she expects that Congress will eventually vote to raise the debt limit, after the Treasury Department announced this week that the U.S. has reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
At least two Democratic senators have openly called for an investigation into President Biden for his mishandling of classified documents from when he was vice president.
The big picture: The senators aren't alone. About two-thirds of Americans favor such an investigation, with a majority of Democrats supporting the idea, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
The Department of Justice signaled Friday that it was unable to share information about ongoing investigations with the GOP-led House, per a letter obtained by Politico.
Driving the news: The letter to House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan comes after the Ohio Republican announced that the GOP-led committee is seeking to conduct "an oversight of the Justice Department's actions" related to President Biden's handling of classified documents.
A federal judge ruled Friday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the First Amendment and the Florida Constitution by removing an elected state prosecutor from office, the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: This is the latest turn in the ongoing saga over DeSantis' decision to suspend Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren from office. Warren alleged in a lawsuit that DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights.
An increase in the number of people from Nicaragua and Cuba arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border last month led to the highest number of illegal border crossings in a given month recorded during President Biden’s administration.
The big picture: The surge in migrants came just before Biden unveiled a policy to curb illegal border crossings, telling migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti to "not just show up at the border."
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from the campaign of Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) by a cybercriminal, his campaign office said in a filing to the Federal Election Commission.
Driving the news: A campaign spokesperson told NBC News that the FBI has opened an investigation into the matter.
A new analysis by the Marshall Project shows that from 2020 to 2021, nearly 80% of cities saw a drop in the number of police officers and government employees.
The big picture: The pandemic pushed Americans to leave crucial jobs — from sanitation workers to firefighters — leaving cities scrambling to fill those gaps.
The Department of Justice is investigating Abbott Laboratories and its infant formula plant in Sturgis, Michigan, multiple outlets report, citing a statement from a company spokesperson.
Why it matters: The facility was temporarily shut down last year after Abbott Nutrition — one of the largest suppliers of baby formula in the U.S. — recalled multiple major brands of its formula due to reports of bacterial infections among several babies who consumed the product. The monthlong closure spurred an infant formula shortage across the nation.
An Illinois judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday stopping the enforcement of the state's new assault weapons ban.
Driving the news: The lawsuit, which lists some 800 Illinois residents as plaintiffs, argues that the ban of certain semiautomatic firearms is unconstitutional.
The big picture: McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, suffered cardiac arrest after Aurora, Colorado, police officers put him in a chokehold and paramedics injected him with 500 milligrams of the sedative ketamine. His death came under renewed scrutiny after nationwide protests against police brutality in 2020.
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plan to meet to discuss raising the debt ceiling after the U.S. Treasury reached its borrowing limit on Thursday, their offices said Friday.
Why it matters: McCarthy is taking a hard line on slashing government spending in exchange for raising the debt limit amid pressure from his right flank — cuts that the White House maintains are non-negotiable.
