Daily reads for Dec. 14, 2021

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: U.S. Supreme Court declines appeal challenging Gov. Tony Evers' limits on press event attendance.

Reuters: Johnson & Johnson loses bid to duck talc-ovarian cancer lawsuit.

A 2018 Reuters investigation found that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a carcinogen, was present in its talc products. Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J's raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.

The company said in May 2020 it would stop selling its baby powder talc in the United States and Canada, citing changes in consumer habits and what it called "misinformation" about the product's safety amid numerous legal challenges.

In October, J&J put into bankruptcy tens of thousands of legal claims alleging its talc-based products caused cancer, offloading the potential liabilities into a newly created subsidiary.

The Atlantic: The really weak report from President Joe Biden's Supreme Court Commission may spur reform, not kill it.

When drafts of the commission’s report dropped in October, the results amounted to a call to think hard and do nothing. In its complexity and length (the document is more than one-fourth footnotes), the report smells of the lamp. Nor did the commission undertake efforts to communicate and defend its findings in order to dramatize the momentous stakes for its fellow citizens. In a snarky moment, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island dismissed the results as “faculty-lounge pablum.”

The Baltimore Sun: Women want U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Ocean City's topless sunbathing ban.

CNN: Federal appeals court hears arguments over congressional access to Trump's financial records.

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