Supreme Court Hears EPA Challenge, Nikki Haley Remains Defiant, Frozen Embryo Ruling

state borders.

We'll hear what it could mean for states downwind.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has vowed to stay in the GOP presidential

race through Super Tuesday.

The Saturday's primary in her home state is shaping up to be another decisive victory

for former President Donald Trump.

What's her case for staying in the race?

What does a ruling do to fertility clinics and reproductive rights in the state?

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be a good neighbor.

ozone air pollution.

She's here on the line to tell us more about it, Carrie.

This federal rule, tell us more about it and what it was designed to do.

It's supposed to protect people that are subject to downwind pollution from emitters

like coal plants, smokestacks, and natural gas pipelines where chemicals can travel hundreds

of miles across state lines.

It's called the good neighbor rule because the federal government is stepping in here

since pollutants from some of these upwind states cause serious health problems for people

in the downwind states.

And the downwind states can't meet air quality standards because of this pollution that comes

from afar.

All right, so what is the Supreme Court going away today?

justices to block the rule while they appeal.

They say this rule is a disaster in a shell of itself since it was meant to cover 23 states

and right now covers only about half of them because of other court cases around the country.

They say the rule imposes financial burdens on them and that it's unreasonable.

Vicki Patton is general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Here's what she told me.

people who are afflicted by asthma who are at very, very serious risk.

And this case is just about asking those upwind polluters to do their fair share.

now.

The EPA also says some of the biggest parts of this rule don't go into effect until 2026,

so companies and states have a long time yet to prepare.

they're holding oral arguments.

So, I mean, how unusual is that?

Here's what he said.

of these procedural applications.

so the way the court is handling its emergency docket or shadow docket is controversial.

Vladek says he's not sure why this Good Neighbor case is an emergency and why the justices

did not let the case play out more in lower courts before grabbing the issue for themselves.

might they do it?

Ohio and the other states need to show they're likely to win on the merits or the substance

and that they're suffering serious or irreparable harm and that a pause in this rule is in the

public interest.

There's no clear timetable for the justices to rule here.

This is on their emergency docket, but they waited several months to schedule argument

in the case, so anything goes.

Kerry, thanks.

primary.

The state's former governor, Nikki Haley, remains defiant.

I have no fear of Trump's retribution.

I'm not looking for anything from him.

He was in Greenville yesterday when she gave what her campaign called a state of the race

speech, Gavin.

So what message was Nikki Haley trying to put out there?

high odds against her, and she is staying in until, quote, the last person votes.

Her campaign knew that if they announced a big speech like this, pundits and others would

assume she was going to drop out.

She didn't.

She did instead get a big piece of the news cycle.

For example, Fox News carried that entire speech live.

So the message that she's not dropping out is the same as it's been since she lost to

Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire, and if polls are any indication, will face another loss

this time in her home state.

But she's fighting this to the political death because she can.

She's got plenty of money on hand, according to new FEC filings, and her campaign said

it raised $1.6 million in Texas last week alone during a fundraising and campaign swing

in that Super Tuesday state.

So as much as she says she's not gearing up for a future run should Trump lose to President

Biden, as she predicts, which in that case, you always begrudgingly say, I told you so

in the future, but not right now.

And one of the things we've heard from Nikki Haley is that she has not held back on attacking

Donald Trump, but is the method behind the messaging evolving?

She is sharpening that attack.

You know, when people call for her to drop out, she used to say, we don't do coordinations

in this country.

And on Tuesday, that line shifted to this.

style election where there's only one candidate and he gets 99% of the vote.

Vladimir Putin and call for him to speak out against the death of imprisoned Russian opposition

leader Alexei Navalny, whom she's called a hero.

Again, drawing contrast between her and Trump, where he's silent, she's outspoken on so many

international fronts over the course of this entire campaign cycle.

She's been able to flex that international experience of her time at the UN, which, you

know, she was at the United Nations under Trump, to react clearly in real time to major

world events such as wars, invasions, and now the death of Navalny.

is so pro-Trump that it's going to make Nikki Haley look bad.

So what's the reality?

you know, 50 or so folks in her hometown to hundreds and even thousands in bigger cities

on her bus tour, which has been hitting all parts of the state over these past few days.

So she's still seeing enough life here and she's able to reach and attract a broad spectrum

of voters who she says are key to the future of the Republican Party.

She's still got plenty of money.

Like I mentioned, the FEC filings for January came out showing her starting the month with

about $14.5 million on hand.

She spent nearly all of that, but replenished most of it and had $13 million on hand at

the end of the month.

So some of her top fundraisers are saying that we're not prepared to fold our tents

and pray at the altar of Donald Trump.

So those people are clearly not alone at this.

Her campaign is saying that she is the person and that is kind of the reason to keep going.

And to that point, they released her 11-stop schedule over seven Super Tuesday states,

really reinforcing that if she gets blown out in her home state on Saturday, she's still

going forward for as long as she can.

That's Gavin Jackson with South Carolina Public Radio in Clemson, South Carolina.

Gavin, thanks.

Melanie, how did Alabama's highest court get at this decision?

facility in Mobile.

Everything was going on fine until another patient somehow got access to the frozen embryos

and destroyed them.

So the three couples to whom the embryos belong then filed a lawsuit for wrongful death.

Well, a lower court ruled they couldn't do that because they said the embryos weren't

people.

And the Alabama Supreme Court ruled, oh, yes, they are.

The state Supreme Court went so far as to call them extra uterine children.

And of course, this ruling is causing a lot of concern and confusion for couples for whom

in vitro fertilization is their best chance to get pregnant.

incest.

In fact, the state has gone so far as to arrest women who either miscarry or engage in risky

behaviors that could cause damage to a fetus.

You know, the belief that life begins at conception is paramount to the Alabama abortion law.

Moreover, the chief justice in this ruling says destroying that life would, quote, incur

the wrath of a holy God.

And the ruling wasn't even close.

The judges ruled eight to one to create this class of extra uterine children.

Other states have limited wrongful death statutes to apply only to fetuses 24 weeks old or more.

That's around the time that most fetuses could be considered to be viable outside the womb.

So given these new restrictions, what are the options for fertility clinics?

Right now, Alabama's Medical Association says they have grave concerns about the ruling

and some clinics are saying that they would have to shut down.

You know, for IVF or in vitro fertilization, fertility clinics in the U.S. prefer to harvest

as many eggs as they can at a time from a woman in order to give them the best odds

at pregnancy.

And unless lawmakers act, that's a process that is not likely to continue in Alabama.

The case is unlikely to be appealed to a higher court because it was a state Supreme Court

ruling based on a state law.

Critics have long urged the legislature to spell out exactly who all falls under the

state's wrongful death statute.

And it's clear that the state Supreme Court says life begins at fertilization and it doesn't

matter whether that life is in a woman's uterus or in a freezer in a fertility clinic

in Mobile.

And should the state legislature fail to define that, it could soon become a crime in Alabama

to destroy frozen embryos, which could ultimately mean them being frozen forever because it's

not clear yet if those frozen embryos could even be donated to other states or to science

because again, they have the same protection as children.

The irony here is that the very lawsuit filed by the three couples who were upset when their

embryos were destroyed may end up making it way more difficult for Alabamians who are

struggling to conceive naturally.

Melanie, thanks.

I'm E. Martinez.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadav Kalamar, Padma Rama, Susanna Capilouto,

and H.J. Mai.

It was produced by Claire Marishima, Ben Abrams, and Milton Guevara.

We get engineering support from Robert Rodriguez, and our technical director is Nisha Hynes.

Start your day here with us tomorrow.

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