Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled former US president’s contention that columnist defamed him by claiming he raped her did not add up
After the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, abortion rights advocates in Ohio succeeded in collecting enough signatures to put a measure on the November ballot that will enshrine access to the procedure in the state constitution.
Republican lawmakers in the state, who support abortion restrictions passed into law prior to the supreme court’s decision, then moved to change the rules for amending Ohio’s constitution, with a ballot measure that will be voted on in a special election to be held tomorrow.
An under-the-radar election in Ohio on Tuesday has quietly emerged as one of the most high-stakes stress tests for American democracy in recent years.
The question Ohio voters will decide on 8 August is simple: how easy should it be to amend the state constitution? Like 17 other states, Ohio allows citizens to place constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot if they get a certain number of signatures and more than 50% of the statewide vote. The process has been in place for more than a century in Ohio, and in November, voters will use it to decide whether to protect abortion rights.
