Teas law can remain in effect, but abortion clinics challenge the law in court.
The Supreme Court said Friday that abortion clinics can move forward with a challenge to the ban on most abortions under a Texas law. While this decision puts the state law in jeopardy, the justices allowed it to remain in effect for the time being.
The High Court said that the head of the state medical board and other licensing authorities could be sued before the law was enforced to test its constitutionality despite Texas’ efforts to insulate the law from federal court review by assigning enforcement power to private litigants.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion in the clinics’ suit over the Texas law, which has been in effect since September 1, halting nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The key issue in the case is not abortion, Chief Justice Roberts suggested. “The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake,” he wrote.
In a separate ruling, the Court turned aside an appeal from the Biden administration which brought a suit on behalf of the federal government to try to block the Texas law. The justices offered no explanation for that decision.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the lower federal courts that will now hear the cases being brought against the Texas law by abortion clinics.
- For the Supreme Court justices as they rule on future cases related abortion laws and states rights.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Politico, CNBC
