On the 20th local time, the US Supreme Court once again rejected a legal challenge against Texas' "strictest abortion law", but did not make any interpretation of this ruling. The ruling was also met with strong opposition from three liberal justices, who called it a "disaster of the rule of law" and a "serious harm" to Women in Texas.
Wall Street Journal: The SPC allows Texas to continue to enforce a 6-week abortion order
Comprehensive CNN(CNN) and the Wall Street Journal reported on the 20th that the ruling was mainly related to a procedural issue of litigation. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to rule that the abortion law remained in force, with a majority vote coming from Republican president-appointed justices, three of whom were appointed by former President Trump. However, the SPC also held that abortion service providers could challenge the courts and listed Texan officials as defendants. The main target of this lawsuit is which level of court the case should return to in this case.
In the view of abortion service providers, the SPC should have sent the case back to the federal district court that supported the legal challenge, but the case was eventually returned to the conservative-dominated U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which sparked strong resentment from abortion service providers. Considering that the Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit added a legal process known as "state certification" in its trial— requiring the Supreme Court of Texas to interpret the law and determine whether state officials could be listed as defendants, such a mechanism was considered to delay litigation and disadvantage abortion service providers.
In this case, the abortion provider demanded that the SPC change its decision and reinstate the case to the federal district court. But on the 20th, most of the justices voted against it.
CNN: The SPC rejected another legal challenge against a Texas abortion order
Even so, three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan — expressed strong dissatisfaction with the ruling, writing a scathing "dissenter" letter.
Liberal Justice Breyer said the Fifth Circuit "ignored our verdict" and made "an unconstitutional abortion ban go into effect in Texas." ”
"This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a serious injury to a Texan woman who has the right to control her own body." Another liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, wrote, "I will not stand idly by while a country continues to invalidate this constitutional guarantee." ”
"Instead of stopping the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from abusing Texas' latest delaying tactics, the Supreme Court allowed the state to manipulate the process to extend the denial of federal constitutional rights to its citizens again."
Sotomayor slammed the conservative judge's vote, arguing that the abortion law "undermines Texas' access to abortion care" and violates "nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent."
CNN noted that, in general, the justices ended with the phrase "I respectfully expressed dissent"; this time, the "opposition" simply stated "I have a dissent".
Women in Texas protest on September 1 last year, the day the abortion law went into effect (The Paper)
Last September, the nation's most restrictive abortion bill, the Heartbeat Act, went into effect in Texas. The bill prohibits pregnant women from detecting fetal heart beats — that is, abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. In addition, the Bill not only does not make exceptions to cases where rape and incest lead to pregnancy, but also encourages individuals to prosecute anyone suspected of helping a woman to have an abortion and to establish a bounty. The plaintiff does not need to have any direct relationship with the defendant, and if the lawsuit is successful, the plaintiff will receive a reward of at least $10,000.
Texas' Six-Week Abortion Ban and Supreme Court Roe v. Wade Wade's rulings conflicted. The latter was a landmark 1973 ruling that recognized the constitutional right of women to have abortions before the fetus can survive on its own, usually before about 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill caused great controversy in the United States before and after its introduction, and the Biden administration has been trying to overturn it through judicial means. On the same day (September 1) that the Texas abortion order went into effect, Biden issued a statement harshly criticizing, saying that "this extreme texas law blatantly violates the constitutionally guaranteed rights established by Rowe v. Wade, breaking the precedent of nearly 50 years." Biden said the law would "seriously compromise women's access to health care, especially for people of color and low-income groups." ”
But Politico has noted that Biden did not say the White House had any response. From the current point of view, the legal challenges to the case have not made any breakthroughs.
"Texans have been without abortion rights for nearly 5 months, and there is no sign of an end in sight at this time, as the Supreme Court has done nothing to stop this unconstitutional ban." Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights of the Anti-Abortion Order, said.
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