Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. It's Saturday, May sixteenth. The time is four p.m. Central. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Good afternoon. We're tracking the Supreme Court's next move on abortion access, immigration enforcement ramping up in two major cities, and a diplomatic visit that's already drawing a lot of symbolic reading. Let's go.

KELI The Dobbs decision two years ago ended the federal right to abortion, but the fight didn't end there—it shifted ground. Now Justice Clarence Thomas is pointing to a law from 1873 called the Comstock Act, which bars mailing of obscene materials, and arguing it could be used to block the distribution of abortion medication by mail. A dissent he published suggests this could be the next legal avenue some states try. Here's what matters underneath: most newsrooms will frame this as Thomas floating a new theory. The structural reality is simpler. Abortion pills are already available by mail in some states and blocked in others, based on existing state law. What Thomas is doing is offering a federal reading that could, if accepted in court, override state-by-state variation and create a single national standard. Watch in the coming weeks whether Republican-led states begin filing suits using this Comstock language. That'll tell you whether this is a real avenue or a legal signal with limited traction.

HAST The medication side of this fight has been running parallel to the clinic side for a while now. Different legal terrain entirely.

KELI Completely different. Now to Dallas. The state's Attorney General Ken Paxton has demanded that Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown enter into a formal partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Brown's office already works with federal immigration authorities on a case-by-case basis, but Paxton is pushing for a structured agreement. She's got until December first to respond. This is part of a broader pattern of state officials pressuring local law enforcement to deepen immigration cooperation—it's been happening in Arizona, Florida, other places. The sheriff's resistance, where it exists, usually centers on trust and community relations, not legal authority.

HAST That December deadline gives some room, but also signals Paxton's willing to escalate if she doesn't get what she wants.

KELI Exactly. Staying overseas for this one. Immigrants detained in Chicago during what federal agents called a targeted operation are now seeking millions in damages. ProPublica reviewed the raid and found it resembled military-style enforcement—predawn entry, no warning, people removed from homes and workplaces. Some of those detained are pursuing civil claims. These cases typically hinge on whether officers followed proper procedure and whether the detention itself was lawful. They can take years to resolve.

HAST On a different front, China and the United States. President Trump visited Beijing this week, and the imagery people are focusing on includes state dinners with beef ribs, walks through the Temple of Heaven, and what analysts are calling deliberate invocations of American power and Chinese cultural tradition. The symbolism matters because it signals something about the relationship—whether it's antagonistic or managed. But symbolism can also obscure what's actually being negotiated in the room. Watch the trade announcements and any policy commitments that emerge in the next few days. That's where you'll find out if this visit produced substantive movement or was mostly theater.

KELI Before we close, one date marker. On this day in 1945, the Levant Crisis began when France attempted to quell nationalist protests in Syria, but backed down after Britain threatened military intervention.

HAST That's the Independent News Drop. We'll be back this evening. From Inkwell.