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Imagine publishing a list of all of your recent sexual partners in the local paper. That was what one 2001 Florida law, enacted under then-Gov. Jeb Bush, required of some women in the state.

Huffington Post reporter Laura Bassett brought the so-called "Scarlet Letter law" to national attention in a Tuesday piece. Here's a rundown of what exactly that law did, and why it was passed in the first place.

What did the law do?

The law in question was a 2001 overhaul of the state's adoption regulations. Bush wrote shortly after the legislature passed the bill that the law was intended to bring more "certainty" into adoptions. The goal was to "provide greater finality once the adoption is approved, and to avoid circumstances where future challenges to the adoption disrupt the life of the child."

One way to accomplish that was to balance "the rights and responsibilities" of the both birth parents, as well as the adoptive parents, Bush wrote. To the end of preserving the rights of a birth father, the law required a woman, who didn't know who had fathered her child, to put a notice in the newspaper so that a potential father could see it and respond before that child was put up for adoption.

The published notice would have to contain an extensive list of personal information, including potential cities and dates where the act of conception may have occurred, according to a 2004 Notre Dame Law Review article:

"The notice ... must contain a physical description, including, but not limited to age, race, hair and eye color, and approximate height and weight of the minor's mother and of any person the mother reasonably believes may be the father; the minor's date of birth; and any date and city, including the county and state in which the city is located, in which conception may have occurred."

And it wasn't a one-time ad — it had to run once a week for a month, at the expense of either the mother or the people who wanted to adopt the baby, as that 2004 article explains.

Because the law required women to put their sexual history on display, it became known as the "Scarlet Letter law," after the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel in which the protagonist must wear a red A on her dress to signify that she had committed adultery.

Did Jeb Bush want women to be shamed for their sexual activity?

It's true that, years before the law was passed (and before Bush was even governor), Bush had bemoaned what he saw as a lack of social stigma for having children outside of marriage. In his 1995 book Profiles in Character, Bush wrote (in a chapter with the dark title, "The Restoration of Shame"), as Bassett reports:

"One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame."

In that book, Bassett also writes, Bush invokes "The Scarlet Letter" (approvingly) as an example of how society had once condemned people for sexual impropriety.

Those may have been his general thoughts, but it's also true that he didn't wholeheartedly approve of the adoption law. He thought it put too much of the onus on the birth mother to find the father, as he wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Katherine Harris, upon letting the bill pass into law without signing it.

"House Bill 141 does have its deficiencies," he wrote. "Foremost, in its effort to strike the appropriate balance between rights and responsibilities, there is a shortage of responsibility on behalf of the birth father that could be corrected by requiring some proactive conduct on his part."

In fact, immediately after he let the bill become law, Bush was advocating for fixes to it. The Florida House almost immediately passed a law that Bush considered a "better alternative." It cut back on women's reporting requirements and established a paternity registry, for example. These are state-maintained databases that allowed a man to register if he believed he may have fathered a child. Then, if that child were ever put up for adoption, the father would have been notified and he could have a say in the proceedings.

Is the law still in effect?

Nope. Two years after the law passed, Bush signed a replacement law that addressed many of his 2001 concerns, including instituting a paternity registry. This happened just weeks after a Florida appellate panel declared the provision requiring women to list their sexual encounters an unconstitutional, because it was deemed an invasion of privacy, as the L.A. Times reported at the time.

So what does this do to his presidential candidacy?

This early in the game, it's easy to overestimate how consequential pretty much anything is that happens. After all, Bush is expected to only formally announce his candidacy Monday.

However, it's true that this comes during a rough week for the fledgling campaign. In a surprise move this week, Bush reconfigured his campaign staff. And his superPAC, Right to Rise, looks unlikely to raise the $100 million in the first half of 2015 it had expected, as the Washington Post's Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger report.

Looking at the bigger picture, it's possible the issue could come back in a general election, if he gets through the primary. Democrats are pushing it, because it plays into a common narrative of the Republican Party as both parties try to appeal to women.

2016 Presidential Race

Jeb Bush

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Republicans

The Environmental Protection Agency today started what could be a lengthy process: making rules to limit the amount of climate-warming pollution that comes from aircraft engines.

In a statement, the EPA said it's "proposing to find" that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commercial aircraft contribute to "pollution that causes climate change endangering the health and welfare of Americans." The agency hasn't outlined any limits yet; this statement is just an announcement that it's begun the process that would lead to limits down the road.

The EPA pointed out that any rules would not apply to military aircraft or the types of planes used for recreational purposes. Once the EPA's "action" is published in the Federal Register, it will be open for a 60-day public comment period.

The EPA also said it is releasing details of the work by the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization to develop international carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions guidelines for aircraft. Those are expected to be adopted in early 2016. The EPA and the Federal Aviation Administration have been involved in that process on behalf of the U.S., and the EPA says it's working to make sure any standards reached "are equitable across national boundaries."

NPR's Christopher Joyce told our Newscast Unit that EPA rules on airplane emissions will likely parallel any rules coming out of the U.N. Joyce also said the aviation industry has previously fought regulations proposed by international authorities.

But in a statement released in response to today's EPA news, Airlines For America, the industry's trade group, didn't explicitly oppose any of the work of the EPA or the UN. Rather, it argued that U.S. aviation already has an "exceptional environmental track record." A4A says the industry has improved fuel efficiency over 120% since 1978, and saved "over 3.8 billion metric tons of CO2, the equivalent to taking 23 million cars off the road each of those years." Nancy Young, vice president of A4A said, "U.S. airlines are green and we are getting even greener."

The EPA says U.S. aircraft emit about 11% of the U.S. transportation sector's greenhouse gas emissions, and 29% of those emissions from all aircraft across the globe.

The New York Times says this push for action on aircraft emissions is "the latest of Mr. Obama's major initiatives to combat global warming." The Times says next week, the Obama administration will propose rules on emissions for heavy-duty trucks, and in August, it will announce new rules on power plant pollution.

Environmental Protection Agency

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It's believed to be the oldest pub in England – but now Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is facing a call to change its name. Citing modern society's compassion for the birds, the UK's People for Ethical Treatment of Animals suggests an alternate name: Ye Olde Clever Cocks.

From PETA:

"We wrote to the pub owners 0asking them to consider changing the establishment's name to Ye Olde Clever Cocks – in recognition of society's growing compassion for animals and in celebration of intelligent, sensitive chickens."

The owners of the pub that has roots in the 8th century say they won't be changing its name. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks is in St. Albans, northwest of London.

Pub landlord Christo Tofalli tells local newspaper The Herts Advertiser:

"Every time someone comes in to this pub, they are being exposed to a bit of the country's history and we celebrate the fact that cock fighting was abolished more than 150 years ago.

"From the feedback we have received we can see that our customers from wherever they are feel strongly that it's important to preserve our national identity as well as local history."

In its lengthy history, the pub has had at least two other names, including its original title of the Round House. After cock fighting was banned in 1849, the pub was called The Fisherman — but that change was relatively short-lived. In 1872, it was back to Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, according to the pub's website.

On the pub's Facebook page, its owner thanked its customers for their support, summarizing the public's response as "1. History rocks 2. Pubs rock 3. Chicken jokes."

Mashable says, "Feedback on PETA's website ranged from 'you are all completely bonkers' to 'there are more important issues.'"

PETA says that even if the pub's not going to change its name, it wants to raise awareness of the plight of chickens, which it calls "one of the most abused animals on the planet."

More than 10 months after Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian was detained on vaguely defined espionage charges, his trial began Tuesday in a closed court in Tehran. Rezaian is a citizen of both Iran and the U.S.

Noting the trial's start, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency notes that Rezaian, 39, "is accused of espionage for the US government and activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran."

The agency did not note other details about the charges. The Post reports, "The proceedings were adjourned after about two hours," citing IRNA. The newspaper adds that no "family members or independent observers were permitted inside the courtroom — bringing denunciations from press freedom groups and others."

Rezaian is a native of California. He was working as the Post's Tehran bureau chief when he was arrested last July along with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent for Abu Dhabi's newspaper The National, and another person. Salehi was later released on bail; she was in court today, according to The National.

Rezaian's brother Ali tells the BBC:

"They say he was following the internal politics and the foreign politics of the government. So essentially, he was watching the news and reporting on the news – and they're calling that espionage. They also told us that he was collaborating with a hostile power. And their main charge there is that he basically applied for a job with the White House."

At the time of his arrest, Rezaian had filed a story about talks over Iran's nuclear program; the day before, he published a piece about baseball's status as a favorite pastime for some Iranians.

Rezaian has remained in jail since his arrest, with only one visit from a lawyer, the Post says.

His trial is being heard by Revolutionary Court Judge Abolghassem Salavati, who is nicknamed "the judge of death" for the way he hands out sentences, according to NPR's Peter Kenyon.

From Istanbul, Peter recently told Morning Edition that Judge Salavati is "used to handling politically sensitive cases."

An Iranian who fled the country after being in the revolutionary court told Peter that the trial "seemed very scripted with the judge just reading what was put in front of him."

Rezaian's case has lingered amid the prolonged and complicated process of international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program – a process that has also highlighted divisions between Iran's own political system.

President Obama is among those who have urged Iran to release Rezaian, citing his status as a credentialed member of the media. Obama highlighted the case this spring, along with those of other Americans who are being held in Iran — Idaho's Saeed Abedini and Michigan's Amir Hekmati — along with Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared more than eight years ago.

Jason Rezaian

Iran