from WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Tuesday, May 5th.

NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray is back with us. She has just released an annotated edition of the United States Constitution,

relevant, obviously, for so many reasons right now, the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding

and so many constitutional questions in the news. So we'll ask her for some legal analysis of things

in the news right now as well, including a federal judge in Louisiana,

banning the abortion drug Miffipristone for the whole country on Friday, but Justice Samuel

Alito reversing that ban yesterday, but only for one week. Also, the Supreme Court basically

gutting the Voting Rights Act last week. Melissa Murray is the Frederick and Grace Stokes

Professor of Law at the NYU Law School. She's a legal analyst for MS Now and co-host of the

Legal Affairs podcast, Strict Scrutiny. And the new book is called The U.S. Constitution,

a comprehensive and annotated guide for the modern reader.

Professor Murray, always good to have you.

Congratulations on the book, and welcome back to WNYC.

Well, thank you for that, Brian, and thanks for having me back.

Can I start on the news headline of the court that placed a nationwide ban on the

telehealth prescriptions of Mephepristone?

Only in-person prescriptions would be allowed. Justice Alito has stayed that order for one week, Justice Alito of all people. But would you

remind listeners of the basis of that case and what question the court will actually be answering in

the next week? Sure. So back in 2021 at the height of the pandemic and its aftermath, the Supreme Court approved the

FDA's decision to remove the in-person dispensing requirements for MIFA pristone, which

is one of the drugs and the two-drug medication abortion protocol.

That obviously was challenged at the court. There was a case back in

...