SCOTUS sides with SC in effort to cut Planned Parenthood funding | The Excerpt
On Friday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Paste BN Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe breaks down the implications of the high court's decision siding with South Carolina in its effort to cut Planned Parenthood funding. President Donald Trump's passport policy was lifted. But some Americans are still in the dark. Protests pop up in Venice before the Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sánchez wedding. Why are people upset? Paste BN National Correspondent Marco della Cava talks about the popularity of Formula One racing and a new Brad Pitt movie - F1 - in theaters today. (Trailer credit: Apple Original Films/Warner Bros. Pictures)
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Friday, June 27th, 2025. This is Paste BN's The Excerpt. Today, the Supreme Court sides with South Carolina in an effort to cut Planned Parenthood funding. Plus Trump's passport policy was lifted, but some transgender Americans are still in the dark. And we hear about a new F1 movie out today.
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The Supreme Court has sided with South Carolina in its effort to deprive Planned Parenthood of public funding. I spoke with Paste BN's Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe to learn more. Thanks for dropping on, Maureen.
Maureen Groppe:
Happy to do it.
Taylor Wilson:
So starting here, how did the high court side with South Carolina and what did the majority argue?
Maureen Groppe:
This case was about Medicaid's requirement that people on Medicaid can choose their doctor if their doctor is qualified. And South Carolina said Planned Parenthood isn't a qualified Medicaid provider because it provides abortions. The Supreme Court wasn't deciding whether or not Planned Parenthood is qualified, they were deciding whether a patient has a right to challenge the state's decision that it's not qualified, and the majority said they do not have that right.
Taylor Wilson:
This is an ideologically divided court. What did we hear from the dissenting justices?
Maureen Groppe:
Yeah, you're right. The decision broke along ideological lines with the court's six conservatives on one side and the three liberals on the other. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the dissent for the three liberal justices and she said Congress had clearly intended to give patients the right to sue and that the court's decision finding otherwise will likely result in tangible harm to real people.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, just backtracking to the lower courts, Maureen, how did we get to this point?
Maureen Groppe:
Well, a number of states have tried to do what South Carolina did, but usually, the lower courts stopped that after lawsuits were brought similar to the one that was brought in South Carolina. And that suit was brought by a woman on Medicaid who uses Plant Parenthood for birth control and other healthcare services.
She had challenged South Carolina's decision and the lower court sided with her and said she could sue and they blocked South Carolina from moving forward with banning Plant Parenthood for Medicaid. So South Carolina appealed those decisions to the Supreme Court and that's how we got where we are today.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. So how is Planned Parenthood, the organization, reacting and how about anti-abortion groups?
Maureen Groppe:
Well, there are opposite reactions, as you might expect. The anti-abortion groups are quite pleased with this decision and Planned Parenthood is sounding the alarm. They expect other conservative states, especially those that have been blocked in the past, from doing what South Carolina did to move forward. And they're also fighting a push by Republicans in Congress for a national ban on Planned Parenthood's participation in Medicaid. They said that a national ban would have, what they call, catastrophic consequences for their clinics across the country. It could potentially cause nearly 200 health centers in 24 states to close, including half the centers that currently provide abortions.
Taylor Wilson:
Maureen, what could the implications be here for limiting care options beyond some of the controversial aspects of reproductive care?
Maureen Groppe:
Yeah, this case wasn't specifically about Planned Parenthood, so it has implications for Medicaid services generally and it weakens the legal protections that allow Medicaid beneficiaries to challenge other violations of federal Medicaid law.
Taylor Wilson:
We know defunding Planned Parenthood is a long-time GOP goal. Might this decision, Maureen, prompt other Republican-led states to take similar action against Planned Parenthood?
Maureen Groppe:
It's definitely expected. I was on a call that the group, Alliance Defending Freedom, that's the conservative group that represented South Carolina in this case, they held a call with reporters after the decision and by their estimate at least 14 states have tried at some point to defund Planned Parenthood and they're hoping that all those states follow through now.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, helpful breakdown for us as always. Maureen Groppe covers the Supreme Court for Paste BN. Thanks, Maureen.
Maureen Groppe:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
Later today, the high court is expected to release six major decisions as it wraps up its term. You can stick with usatoday.com for the latest.
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A federal judge earlier this month blocked the Trump administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and non-binary Americans nationwide that reflect their gender identities after finding it was likely unconstitutional. As of June 17th, the State Department is obligated to process passports requesting the X gender marker or a binary change and is taking immediate steps to implement the court order according to a State Department spokesperson, but many Americans have yet to receive accurate passports and are left in limbo.
The ACLU has received numerous inquiries from people who need to travel internationally urgently, but don't know if they need to resubmit a new application or fill out a form for an error correction. The continued reality of not having a passport isn't lost on those impacted. Patrick was identified by his first name only out of safety and privacy concerns as one of those Americans stuck in uncertainty. At the end of 2024, he applied for a passport renewal as a transgender man so he and his wife could go on a long-awaited honeymoon. In March, he received his passport with his gender listed as female on it. You can read more about Patrick's story and other similar ones with a link in today's show notes.
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Wedding bells will soon be ringing out in Italy for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. They're set to tie the knot in the coming days with a number of A-list guests in Venice. Many details of the wedding still remain under wraps, including the guest list and even precise date, but the pair were spotted there earlier this week, so too were protesters. Local anti-tourist activists, members of Greenpeace Italy and the UK group called Everyone Hates Elon, are among those protesting against the wedding ceremony saying city authorities are prioritizing tourism over resident needs. And there's plenty of backlash online too. You can read our own Charles Trepany's piece about that with a link in today's show notes.
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Formula One, the world's beloved car racing series has exploded in popularity stateside, and fans of a summer blockbuster out today centered on the sport.
Actor:
"Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston, now McLaren, all have a speed on the straights. Our shot is battling it in the turns. We need to build our car for combat.
Actress:
How am I supposed to make that safe?
Actor:
Who said anything about safe?"
Taylor Wilson:
I caught up with Paste BN National Correspondent Marco Della Cava to talk about F1 and his chat with the film star, Brad Pitt. Hello again, Marco.
Marco della Cava:
Good to talk to you.
Taylor Wilson:
Good to talk with you. So just tell us a bit about this new F1 movie.
Marco della Cava:
Yeah, well it's quite the movie. Racing fans have long been sort of plagued with movies that really don't recreate racing well. And this movie actually comes pretty close to giving you a sense of what it's like to drive these amazing Formula One cars at really high speeds. And not surprisingly, it's coming from Joe Kosinski who was also the director behind Top Gun Maverick. The running joke is that this is Top Gun on four wheels.
Taylor Wilson:
I like that. You touched on this a bit, but really how real is it compared to actual Formula One racing? Have we heard from any of the pros or the experts on this, Marco?
Marco della Cava:
Yeah, I did speak with some folks who are very familiar with Formula One and also who know the drivers and they all reported to this source that I had that this really does come the closest of any movie yet, and there's good reason for that. Brad Pitt actually, and his co-star, Damson Idris, were both driving actual Formula One cars that were built by the Mercedes team for the movie production. They're basically Formula One cars that allowed for the placement of a couple of cameras that were miniaturized from Top Gun Maverick that allowed filming to take place during high-speed runs. Brad Pitt apparently drove upwards of 180 miles an hour.
Taylor Wilson:
All Top Gun fans are going to be very excited hearing this conversation. Well, you mentioned Brad Pitt, he obviously stars in this film. How much fun was this for him in terms of making this movie? What did you hear?
Marco della Cava:
Well, I was lucky enough to sit down with him and he basically looked at me and said, "I miss it." And I believed him. He did get to spend four months training to do this and then they actually shot the movie in and around actual Formula One races. So they actually were out on real tracks where the real races take place.
He got tips from all their drivers and by all accounts, he's very good. He was even given an opportunity to race pro like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman did in their later years in Hollywood. When I asked him if he actually was interested in doing this, he's 61, and he said, "If I were 10 years younger, I would be doing this." But he is right in connecting with the fact that you have to be all in on this or it can get pretty dangerous.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, this film's release comes on the heels of a few other racing movies in recent years in just what seems to me like an explosion of Formula One interest, Marco. How is F1 having this moment in a way that we didn't necessarily see in the past, at least in the States?
Marco della Cava:
Yeah, that's absolutely true. We've had occasional F1 races on the calendar, but there were many years when we had no F1 races in the United States. Now we have three, Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin, Texas. It's not an accident. Formula One was bought as a company, as it were, by Liberty Media, which is a US company and they have made it a stated point to grow the interest in the sport in the US. Netflix's Drive to Survive series, huge, huge part of the popularity. And also social media. A lot of these young drivers are super popular. They're fashion plates and they have done an amazing job connecting directly with their fans who are increasingly young and they're actually increasingly also female, so it's no longer just a guy's sport. Those are all reasons that the sport's bigger than ever right now in the US.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, F1 is in theaters today. I have a feeling it's going to be a big summer movie. Marco della Cava is a national correspondent with Paste BN. Thanks, Marco.
Marco della Cava:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.