FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom is urging the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite its case against mail-order abortion. ADF is suing the Food and Drug Administration for removing the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone, as part of the agency’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). The group claims that one of the plaintiffs in the case, Rosalie Markezich of Louisiana, was coerced by her boyfriend into taking abortion drugs that he ordered by mail from California. Abortion is prohibited by Louisiana’s law, with few exceptions. The religious liberty law firm filed its first brief with the appeals court arguing why it deserves relief, and it also filed a motion to expedite the case given the urgency of the matter. 2026.06.15 Appellants’ Opening BriefDownload “Every single month, 1,000 lives being taken from this unlawful scheme,” ADF legal counsel Gabriella McIntyre told the Daily Signal. “That’s why we’re asking for a hearing to be expedited, to be moved up, so that we could get relief quicker because of that irreparable harm.” Abortion by mail undermines the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that states can regulate and even ban abortion, McIntyre said, because abortion pills are being mailed into states with pro-life laws. In Dobbs, the Supreme Court ruled there is no national right to abortion, meaning states can pass their own abortion laws including a ban at any stage of pregnancy. A federal district court already upheld Louisiana’s ability to challenge the administration and said the state is likely to succeed on the merits of the case. The court put the case on hold while the FDA conducts a safety study on mifepristone. The FDA launched its review on the safety of the abortion pill, the Wall Street Journal first reported on June 4, to determine if the Biden-era decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirement on the abortion pill is safe. Pro-life advocates have demanded a completed study for a year-and-a-half. After Louisiana appealed to the 5th Circuit, the court ruled in the state’s favor, putting a hold on the FDA’s regulation allowing mail-order abortion. However, drug manufacturers sought emergency relief, and the Supreme Court issued an order allowing abortion pills to continue being mailed into pro-life states. ADF now needs to go through the 5th Circuit hearing on the merits of its appeal. Since a court has said Louisiana and ADF are likely to win on the merits, the question that remains is whether the plaintiffs have the standing to sue. “We really want to continue to press that the courts below have already held that Louisiana not only has standing but it’s also suffering irreparable harm,” McIntyre said, “and we’re likely to succeed on the merits because this entire litigation, the FDA has refused or has at least declined to justify the 2023 REMS decision.”

The Arizona state Legislature has advanced the Secure Elections Act, confirming it will appear on the November ballot to give voters the chance to secure statewide elections. The proposed constitutional amendment requires government-issued voter identification to ensure only American citizens vote in their elections. “For years, Arizonans have watched the same election problems repeat while trust in the system has eroded,” said Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin in a press release. “The Arizona Secure Elections Act puts the rules where they belong: in the Constitution.” Huge Victory for Alex. Arizona will be able to affirm citizen only voting and safeguard our elections from Los Angeles style chaos https://t.co/JtpgtwKKvZ— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) June 13, 2026 Kolodin is an election lawyer and the sponsor of the legislation, also known as the Fast Election Results Act. He originally introduced the amendment with co-sponsor Joseph Chaplik in November. Chaplik has since resigned from the state Legislature to run in the Republican U.S. House of Representatives primary. If passed, the proposed constitutional amendment will require government-issued identification, prohibit foreign nationals from donating to or influencing Arizona elections, and give voters the option to have their vote counted at the polling place rather than being sent elsewhere before being counted. It will also allow voters who are waiting in line when the polls close to cast their ballots and require that mail-in ballots be requested each election to confirm the address. Prior to this, households would receive random ballots addressed to either voters who did not request one or people who did not live at the address. PASS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT! pic.twitter.com/GhlQYOc4P9— Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) June 16, 2026 “Citizens vote. Voters show ID. Foreign money stays out. Voters can see their ballots counted where they vote. Election laws should be written by Arizonans, not dictated by bureaucrats, activists, or outside interests,” Kolodin said. While the ballot language has not yet been released, it will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. If passed, the measure will apply beginning in the 2028 election cycle. “The Legislature has done its job. Now the people of Arizona will decide,” he continued. This statewide election security and voter ID bill is part of a national Republican measure to ensure only American citizens are voting. President Donald Trump and Republicans in the U.S. Congress have been pushing for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) for months. While the House has passed the bill, the Senate has not yet taken it up for a vote. The SAVE America Act can pass with 51 votes and no changes to the filibuster if our senators stay in Washington and debate the bill until enough of them are ready to vote on it.A pathway exists. It’s the will that’s lacking.— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) June 15, 2026 The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and require photo identification in federal elections.

SNAP’s new work requirements are now on display across all states as of June 1. California, the country’s last holdout, began implementing the updated work requirements set forth in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) passed last July. The work requirements were rolled out in waves across the country.   Some politicians on the Left and several media outlets claim the work requirements are harmful. Zohran Mamdani is among those sounding the alarm, with a recent X post stating: “Food stamp work requirements don’t create jobs, they create hunger.” He goes on to advocate for public jobs programs and for a guaranteed living wage. In other words, more government dependence.   Rather than the government dependence promoted by some politicians, the work requirements encourage upward mobility. The requirements shift SNAP from being a one-way transfer program to a program designed to help people build the tools to be successful in the workforce, encouraging upward mobility and self-reliance.   Anyone who was eligible for SNAP before the new work requirements remains eligible today, but now some able-bodied adults must fulfill a work requirement to continue receiving benefits.  Prior to OBBA, only adults ages 18-54 without any children were subject to a work requirement. That work requirement is now extended to able-bodied adults ages 18-65 without a child under 14. The requirements say that these SNAP recipients must work, participate in job training, or volunteer for 20 hours per week.   Some pundits say the new work requirements will lead to drastic cuts in SNAP rolls because people won’t be able to fulfill the work requirement or may get lost in the administrative shuffle. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the 2025 to 2034 period, the new work requirements will lower SNAP participation on average by 2.4 million per month relative to the January 2025 baseline projections over the same period.  Even with those projected declines in SNAP rolls, program participation would remain at historic highs.  SNAP grew dramatically in recent years. In 2025, an average of around 42 million received SNAP benefits. This is higher than average participation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is well above pre-pandemic levels of around 36 million. In fact, the share of the U.S. population on SNAP—more than 12% of the population—is close to what it was in 2010, during the Great Recession.   There are roughly 7.6 million job openings in America today, and there are other ways for people to fulfill a work requirement besides paid employment. States should work to ensure that people are connected with these opportunities.   Work is fundamental for a purpose-driven, fulfilling life. Not only does it positively affect long-term economic well-being, it also improves the social, emotional, and physical well-being of adults, children, and families. With these new requirements, the country’s languishing welfare system can begin to be transformed into one that promotes human flourishing.

The FBI thwarted a potential attack on Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Tuesday morning. That threat involved the use of explosive-laden drones and snipers and, according to Vice President JD Vance, “some serious coordination.” “On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington, D.C., involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement posted on X. “And thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multistate operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold.” On June 10, FBI and our law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region – and thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of… pic.twitter.com/PbWkIk1Lr5— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 16, 2026 Five people are said to be in custody, with the total number of suspects involved reportedly numbering 23. A suspect was arrested in Cincinnati, CBS News reported, and investigators obtained Signal chats where the terror plot was discussed, leading to further arrests. According to ABC News sources, some of those involved in the plot allegedly traveled to Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 12 or 13, just an hour’s drive to Washington, D.C. The alleged plot involved using explosive-laden drones to hit buildings near the event, forcing a mass evacuation that would steer crowds toward a waiting sniper team. A “second wave” of attackers would then storm the White House gate. According to Fox News, one suspect allegedly told investigators the plotters the goal was to target “capitalist elites,” “billionaires,” and politicians who received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. President Donald Trump, at the Group of Seven summit in Evian, France, said he had not heard about the planned attack. Vice President JD Vance said authorities were trying to look at the underground networks that would drive such violence. “Twenty-three people do not get to the point where they’re going to commit a mass terror incident in Washington, D.C., without some serious funding, without some serious coordination,” Vance said in a Fox News interview. “That’s not a few guys doing crazy stuff, that is a coordinated planned terrorist plot,” he said on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program. Reuters contributed to this report.

This is an adapted excerpt from Delano Squires’ new book “The Vanishing Black Family: How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable,” out June 16 from Sentinel.  “Raise your hand if you’re married.” This was the opening line in a 1986 CBS documentary on black families in Newark, New Jersey.   Bill Moyers, the journalist who narrated the television special, asked this question to about ten young black mothers sitting in a semicircle. None of the women raised their hands. He continued by asking how many of the mothers would like to be married to the father of their child. One hand went up.   Moyers, clearly seeking to understand the women, asked “Don’t you think you might need help in raising that baby from a man?”   One mother spoke up, and the camera shot also included her baby. The child—who appeared to be a little boy not quite two—looked up at his mother as Moyers asked the question. He was too young to understand his mother’s answer, but the viewers certainly could. “Not really,” she said. “I didn’t have a father.”   You could see how her experience growing up without a father influenced her ultimate conclusion: “Male figures are not substantially important in the family.”  That documentary, “The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black America,” took an honest look at the breakdown of the traditional family structure in the inner city. Many of the mothers interviewed for the program were on welfare. One of the fathers said providing for his children was the responsibility of their mothers and the government.   According to Moyers, “In cities all over America the traditional family no longer exists. It has vanished and something new is taking its place. Single women and the children they’re rearing alone are the fastest growing part of the black population.”  This scene paints a picture of black family life that some people would rather ignore. Mothers who don’t think men play an important role in the home, dads who come in and out of their children’s lives, and kids caught in the middle of a family drama they had no hand in creating.   While this certainly does not describe every black family, the fact is that 69% of black children today are born to unwed parents. Nearly 45% live with a single mother. This means the traditional family—a husband and wife raising their biological children—has given way to a culture where marriage is obsolete and fathers are optional in far too many neighborhoods.   That needs to change.   Decades of research prove what most people already know: Children raised in homes with their married biological parents do better on a host of outcomes—economic, social, educational—than children raised in other family arrangements, particularly single-parent homes.   No matter the metric, the evidence is clear: A world in which every black child was raised in a loving household with a married mom and dad would do far more to advance racial equality than a new government program or social justice campaign. Marriage matters because families matter and families matter because children matter.   There are only two responses to this reality.   The first is to accept the current state of the black family as the result of complex social, political, and economic forces interacting in ways that are impossible to change. This response consigns more black children to poverty, crime, delinquency, and academic underachievement. Even those who succeed by these metrics will still be left with that painful existential question, “how come he don’t want me, man?”   The second is to pursue the hard work of rebuilding the family, a multi-generational project that requires a cultural commitment to reviving the institution of marriage. Beyond its connection to improved social outcomes, this response will provide more black children with the ultimate privilege: growing up in a loving, stable, and secure home with a married mother and father.  I saw the effects of the second option play out in my own life. As a teenager growing up in New York City, I often wondered why my life and the lives of my friends looked so much different than some of our less fortunate peers. It certainly wasn’t money. Our parents were not rich by any stretch.   The difference is that all of us grew up in homes with parents committed to each other in marriage who raised us according to their Christian faith. Each of us grew up with a father in the home as well as a community of men who took their roles as providers, protectors, and role models seriously. The spiritual foundation our parents laid down in our youth explains why I believe a biblical blueprint is needed to rebuild the black family.  So yes, I am a Christian, husband, and father—in that order and before anything else. But I’m also a black man with a deep appreciation for the template created by African American leaders in past generations. That includes Booker T. Washington’s focus on building and maintaining institutions as well as the moral clarity and conviction of Frederick Douglass.   These men are often characterized as “conservative” in debates about race and politics, but like them, my conservatism is far more concerned with the pursuit of human flourishing in the family, community, and nation than with electoral politics. My work today as a researcher focused on marriage and family reflects these priorities.   This combination of personal experience, professional expertise, and public advocacy are what brought me to this moment and inspired me to write this book.   Thankfully, I am far from the only one who wants to end the injustice millions of black children are forced to endure when marriage becomes obsolete and fathers are seen as optional in the home.   More people are waking up to the truth and know that it is impossible for any group of people to thrive without strong families. They share my desire to see the restoration of the traditional family structure in black America and want every child born into a home with a father and mother who have committed to each other as husband and wife. They want the marriage and family culture that began to unravel in the 1960s but don’t know what must be done today to restore it.  This book is their answer.