Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

People protest June 24, 2022, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., after the court overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case and erased a federal right to an abortion. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday

By: - April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]

U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks during the America First Agenda Summit July 26, 2022, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, D.C.

U.S. House speaker vows vote soon on spending cuts coupled with debt limit increase

By: - April 17, 2023

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to press for the Republican approach to raising the nation’s debt limit in front of a new audience, calling on Democrats to agree to future spending cuts without any tax increases.  McCarthy repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and blamed him for […]

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight. The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]

A glass of water next to pills and the box they came in

DOJ warns Supreme Court of ‘significant chaos’ in health care if abortion pill rulings stand

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration and a company that manufactures the abortion pill on Friday both called on the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve access to mifepristone while a closely watched lawsuit works its way through the appeals process. The U.S. solicitor general wrote in the Department of Justice appeal that allowing  lower courts’ rulings […]

A glass of water next to pills and the box they came in

U.S. Justice Department to ask Supreme Court to reject limits on access to abortion pill

By: and - April 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it will ask the Supreme Court on an emergency basis to keep access to the abortion medication mifepristone exactly as it is now, amid the appeals process in a much-watched case out of Texas. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the department “strongly disagrees” with […]

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall

Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling supported by 69 Republicans in Congress

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — A group of 69 congressional Republicans is backing a federal judge’s ruling that would overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.  The 11 GOP senators and 58 House lawmakers, who filed a brief in the appeals case, broke the relative silence from Republicans in Congress on […]

Supporters of women's reproductive rights gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on May 3, 2022, in protest of a leaked draft ruling that shows the court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services. The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]

People protest June 24, 2022, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., after the court overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case and erased a federal right to an abortion. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling

By: - April 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]

Supreme Court Hears Mississippi Abortion Case

Federal judge orders abortion pill off U.S. market but immediate appeal expected

By: - April 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill Friday, and gave the federal government seven days to appeal the case. Judge Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a nationwide ruling in the case before […]

A glass of water next to pills and the box they came in

As future of abortion pill is weighed, Democrats in Congress see little they can do

By: - April 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats appear lukewarm about pursuing reproductive rights legislation in a divided Congress, even as a federal judge in Texas considers overturning access to abortion pills nationwide. Interviews by States Newsroom with Democrats who control the Senate by a narrow margin found little optimism they could counter a ruling that could potentially […]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for his arraignment April 4, 2023, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City

Trump hit with 34 felony counts of falsifying New York state business records

By: , and - April 4, 2023

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 New York state felony offenses related to what prosecutors say were hush money payments to an adult film star. In a brief but historic appearance in a Manhattan trial court, Trump, the first former president to face criminal prosecution, learned he was charged with falsifying […]

U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services

By: , and - March 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas. The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer […]