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John Roberts Joins Liberals, but Abortion Law Stands

Supreme Court leaves legislation in place that greatly restricts abortions in Texas
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 2, 2021 2:16 AM CDT
Updated Sep 2, 2021 5:56 AM CDT
SCOTUS Leaves Texas Abortion Law in Place
In this June 30, 2021, file photo the Supreme Court is seen in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

A deeply divided Supreme Court is allowing a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in force, for now stripping most women of the right to an abortion in the nation’s second-largest state, the AP reports. The court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law that went into effect Wednesday. But the justices also suggested that their order likely isn't the last word on whether the law can stand because other challenges to it can still be brought. The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before many women know they’re pregnant.

It is the strictest law against abortion rights in the United States since the high court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and part of a broader push by Republicans nationwide to impose new restrictions on abortion. At least 12 other states have enacted bans early in pregnancy, but all have been blocked from going into effect. The high court's order declining to halt the Texas law came just before midnight Wednesday. The majority said those bringing the case had not met the high burden required for a stay of the law.

  • Majority: “In reaching this conclusion, we stress that we do not purport to resolve definitively any jurisdictional or substantive claim in the applicants’ lawsuit. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the unsigned order said.
  • Dissent: Chief Justice John Roberts dissented along with the court's three liberal justices. Each of the four dissenting justices wrote separate statements expressing their disagreement with the majority. Roberts noted that while the majority denied the request for emergency relief, “the Court’s order is emphatic in making clear that it cannot be understood as sustaining the constitutionality of the law at issue.”
  • 'Stunning': Justice Sonia Sotomayor called her conservative colleagues' decision “stunning.” “Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand,” she wrote. More here.
(More Texas stories.)

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