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National

A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42 — a controversial border policy that has allowed officials to rapidly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border nearly 2 million times.

Why it matters: The administration had planned to end the policy on Monday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have decried the end of the policy — implemented as public health initiative under the Trump administration to block migrants from coming during the pandemic — out of concern that ending Title 42 would exacerbate already record numbers at the border.

Judge Robert Summerhays issued the 47-page ruling granting the injunction to keep it in place. 

"Given the impact of the Termination Order on the Plaintiff States and their showing that the CDC did not comply with the [Administrative Procedure Act], the Court concludes that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction preventing the termination of the CDC's Title 42 Orders," the ruling reads.

The latest: The Department of Justice said Friday it intends to appeal the court's decision.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invoked its authority under Title 42 due to the unprecedented public-health dangers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley said.

"CDC has now determined, in its expert opinion, that continued reliance on this authority is no longer warranted in light of the current public-health circumstances. That decision was a lawful exercise of CDC’s authority."

The big picture: The CDC announced at the start of April the Trump-era border policy would end on May 23, citing declining cases of COVID-19 and improved access to vaccines.

The announcement sparked uproar from Republicans and moderate Democrats concerned the Department of Homeland Security was not adequately prepared to handle an expected rush of migrants once the policy is lifted.

Twenty-four states also asked Summerhays for a nationwide injunction to keep Title 42 in place.

Bipartisan efforts in the Senate to pass an amendment to keep Title 42 in place have also played a role in stalling the latest COVID relief passage.

On the other hand, immigration activists and some Democrats have long criticized the Biden administration for using the policy as long as it had and celebrated the CDC's announcement to end it.

The policy cites the public health emergency as a reason to block migrants from accessing the U.S. asylum system.

What they're saying: “The decision is wrong and we would expect the administration to take immediate action to undo this injunction if the White House is actually serious about finally getting rid of the Trump administration’s unlawful attempts to eliminate protections for asylum seekers," ACLU's Lee Gelernt, who is the lead attorney in the Title 42 lawsuits in DC, told Axios in a statement.

By the numbers: Border officials encountered migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border more than 234,000 times last month — a new monthly record, according to DHS data released this week.

Only last month, Title 42 was used nearly 97,000 times, with 76% of migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador expelled.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and has been updated throughout. 

Federal judge blocks Biden from ending COVID border policy

Title 42 was set to lift on Monday but the order will keep it in place.

 Immigrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing through a gap in the U.S.-Mexico border barrier 

 Immigrants wait to be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Immigration

Politics & Policy

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been barred from receiving communion until she ends her support for abortion, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said Friday.

Driving the news: "After numerous attempts to speak with Speaker Pelosi to help her understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, an the danger to her own soul she is risking, I have determined that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion," Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, tweeted of the California Democrat.

A spokesperson for Pelosi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Diving in: Cordileone explained in a letter to priests of the Archdiocese of San Francisco Friday that his decision to bar Pelosi was "pastoral, not political.”

“I have been very clear all along, in both my words and my actions, that my motive is pastoral, not political," he wrote in the letter.

Pope Francis previously said Catholic bishops should not let their politics influence pastoral decisions.

Context: Pelosi has described herself as a devout Catholic while remaining supportive of abortion rights and Roe v. Wade, per the Catholic News Agency.

She acknowledged that her opinion on abortion is at odds with the Catholic church's teachings.

“This [topic] really gets me burned up in case you didn't notice, because again I'm very Catholic, devout, practicing, all of that. They would like to throw me out. But I'm not going because I don't want to make their day,” she said.  

A leaked draft opinion from Supreme Court showed conservative justices are prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade. Democrats have pushed to codify the ruling into federal law. 

The big picture: Biden said Pope Francis told him to "keep receiving communion” when they met last year. They did not speak about abortion, according to the president.

"We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic and I should keep receiving communion,” Biden said.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops debated whether or not politicians who support abortion should be denied communion or not, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez writes.

Go deeper: What abortion access would look like if Roe v. Wade is overturned 

Nancy Pelosi's Catholic archbishop bans her from receiving communion

The House speaker has described herself as a devout Catholic while remaining supportive of abortion rights.

Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi

Data: Return to Learn; Chart: Axios Visuals

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on virtually every aspect of America's public schools and now parents are pulling their kids out of the system all together. 

Why it matters: With school funding directly tied to enrollment, experts warn that the decline in students may carry deeper repercussions, with some schools potentially forced to close completely. 

By the numbers: Districts in the country with the most remote classes lost 4.4% of their students, compared to a 1.1% drop for those who held school in person, according to a national survey by the American Enterprise Institute and the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College.

New York saw the most significant drop in enrollment statewide from 2020 to 2022, with nearly 6% decline.

Enrollment in New York City's public schools, the country's largest school district, dropped by 9.5% over two years, the Washington Post reports.

Public school enrollment in California for the first time in two decades fell below six million this academic year, per statewide data.

Driving the news: "This school year has had continued uncertainty for parents: 'Will my kid be able to go to school and have stability in their learning environment?'" Thomas Dee, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, said.

"A likely explanation for the sustained or even accelerated enrollment loss is parents looking for safe harbor for their kids, looking for some continuity through this," Dee said. 

The uncertainty of schooling pushed some parents to send their children to private or parochial schools, while others opted for home-schooling.

Other parents delayed their child starting kindergarten, Dee said. The AEI study found that kindergarten enrollment in the most remote districts was hit the hardest, losing 8.1% of kids enrolling.

The big picture: AEI said that districts that offered in-person learning were more likely to experience an enrollment rebound than those that stayed virtual.

Between the lines: Dee sounded the alarm on those students who are not accounted for in statewide enrollment data. 

In California, for instance, public school enrollment over the last two years dropped by 271,000, while private school enrollment increased by only about 12,000 students.

Some of the discrepancy in the data may be attributed to students who switched to an alternative method of learning, such as homeschooling, and were not counted by the state, Dee said. 

"But the other concern is some kids may just be truant and if that's so, these are likely to be our most educationally vulnerable," he said. 

"From my perspective, that's one of the big unanswered questions, ... what do we know about kids who may have fallen through the cracks in the system?"

The bottom line: The decline in public school enrollment is likely to continue, at least for as long as the pandemic persists, Dee said. 

"There's going to be continued health uncertainty and I think parents are going to be concerned about whether public schools can provide a stable learning environment for the kids," Dee said. 

"For the planning horizon that most school districts have, this is the new normal."

Go deeper: Teacher burnout leaves schools scrambling

N.Y. Times, "With Plunging Enrollment, a ‘Seismic Hit’ to Public Schools" 

The pandemic pushed an exodus from public schools

"A likely explanation for the sustained ... enrollment loss is parents looking for safe harbor for their kids."

Education

A teacher interacts with students virtually at Hazelwood Elementary School on January 11.  

More states are expanding Medicaid coverage of maternity services for low-income women, including lengthening the postpartum coverage period, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation report.

Why it matters: Medicaid pays for more than four in 10 births in the U.S., but coverage can be short-lived for women, ending after 60 days postpartum.

Rising rates of pregnancy related deaths, especially in Black and Native American communities, have drawn more attention to the patchwork of maternal health standards.

What they're saying: More than half of states have taken recent steps toward lengthening the postpartum coverage period beyond 60 days, including some states that haven't opted to extend Medicaid benefits to all adults under the Affordable Care Act.

More than half the states cover home births under Medicaid — an option that's gained more attention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coverage for services outside of medical settings is mixed, with most states paying for home visits but limiting coverage for educational classes and home-base lactation consultations.

Very few states offer any coverage for fertility assistance services.

11 states are considering adding doula services as a covered benefit. 

Eight states have initiatives to address substance use or mental health services for pregnant or postpartum beneficiaries.

The findings cover 41 states and the District of Columbia and address benefits implemented as of July 1, 2021.

States expanding Medicaid coverage of maternity services

More than half of states have taken recent steps toward lengthening the postpartum coverage period.

A nurse cares for a newborn baby in the maternity ward of a hospital in Marche-En-Famenne, Belgium. Photo: Vincent Kalut/Photonews via Getty Images

Health care

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Former President Trump has paid $110,000 in fees he owed after being held in contempt of court but must submit more information to have the order fully lifted, New York Attorney General Letitia James' office said Friday.

Why it matters: A New York state judge suspended his contempt order against Trump provided he met three conditions by May 20 related to James' investigation into the Trump Organization. Her office said he met two of the three as of Friday.

Trump was held in contempt of court in late April and fined $10,000 every day he refused to turn over documents for James' investigation into the organization's business practices.

The big picture: Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay his civil contempt fees, for the Trump Organization to provide a description of its document retention and destruction policy and to review pages of documents tied to Trump that can be used as evidence.

James' office said Trump paid the $110,000 fine on Thursday and had reviewed and produced documents but had not provided a description of his company's document retention policies.

Go deeper: New York AG alleges "significant evidence" of Trump Organization fraud

Trump pays $110,000 in contempt fees to New York attorney general

He was fined $10,000 a day for not complying with the New York attorney general's investigation into his business.

 Former President Trump speaking in Austin on May 14.

Former President Trump speaking in Austin on May 14. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Donald Trump

Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, asked Arizona lawmakers to try to reverse former President Trump's loss in the state in the 2020 election by choosing "a clean slate of Electors," according to emails published by the Washington Post.

Driving the news: Thomas — who never specifically named Trump or President Biden — on Nov. 9, 2020, emailed a pair of Arizona state lawmakers asking them to follow their "Constitutional duty" and take steps to "fight back against fraud."

The emails show that Thomas played a role in attempting to keep Trump in power by overturning the 2020 election results.

Details: "Please stand strong in the face of political and media pressure. Please reflect on the awesome authority granted to you by our Constitution," Thomas said in an email to Arizona state Rep. Shawnna Bolick.

"And then please take action to ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen for our state."

Context: The U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to direct how electors are selected in the state.

In Arizona, all state elector votes are given to the candidate that won the popular vote in the state. By asking lawmakers to choose new electors after Biden's victory in the state, Thomas is suggesting that the legislature can potentially undermine the popular vote. 

The big picture: Thomas' support for Trump has raised questions about a potential conflict of interest for her husband. But she has said that the two do not discuss their work.

Thomas, the Supreme Court and both of the Arizona lawmakers that she emailed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Catch up fast: In March, the Washington Post and CBS News released texts that showed Thomas pushed former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election.

Report: Ginni Thomas urged Arizona lawmakers to reverse Trump election loss

The emails show that Thomas played a role in attempting to keep Trump in power claiming electoral fraud.

Supreme Court

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

American investors keep scoring European soccer teams

American investors dominate Europe's top sport in a way that American players never have.

Axios

Friday's top stories

Federal judge blocks Biden from ending COVID border policy

Nancy Pelosi's Catholic archbishop bans her from receiving communion

The pandemic pushed an exodus from public schools

States expanding Medicaid coverage of maternity services

Trump pays $110,000 in contempt fees to New York attorney general

Report: Ginni Thomas urged Arizona lawmakers to reverse Trump election loss

American investors keep scoring European soccer teams

Former Marine Trevor Reed on Russian imprisonment: "I wouldn't let myself hope"

The power of pure luck

The future of the office could look like a Starbucks

Pedestrian deaths hit 40-year high

Jerome Powell is living rent free in my head

Scoop: Sinema pushes to open up mining