Supreme Court to Hear Procedural Challenges to Texas Abortion Law

What’s the story?

• The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will fast-track a pair of procedural challenges to a controversial Texas abortion law and hear arguments on Monday, November 1st. The law will remain in effect during the interim period.
• The challenges do not ask the Court to examine the substance of the Texas law, which bans abortions after a heartbeat is detected at roughly six weeks of pregnancy and allows individuals to file civil actions against abortion providers to enforce the restriction. No such civil actions have been filed to date, although it’s unclear whether providers have performed abortions that would violate the law since it took effect.
• Rather, the Court will hear challenges that concern whether Texas’s private enforcement scheme can be used to insulate the law from constitutional review by federal courts; and whether the federal Dept. of Justice has the standing to obtain an injunction against the state of Texas and its agents or against all private parties.
• In early September, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision declined to grant an injunction against the law while challenges were heard by lower courts on the grounds that the judiciary can only enjoin individuals who are enforcing a law, not the law itself.
• It’s unclear how quickly the Supreme Court will issue a decision on the challenges to the Texas abortion law. Ordinarily, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case during the fall, a decision is released the following year, although that timeline might be accelerated in this case. 
• The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in another abortion-related case on December 1st when it will evaluate the constitutionality of Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy (except in cases of medical emergencies and severe fetal abnormalities).

RELATED READING

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban Into Law - What Does It Do? (5/21/21)
• Supreme Court Declines to Block Texas Abortion Law While Procedural Issues Are Considered by Lower Courts (9/2/21)

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Douglas Rissing)