U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday rejected a request by abortion providers to intervene in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of new abortion regulations in Texas that took effect in November.
“Reasonable minds can perhaps disagree about whether the [U.S. 5th Circuit] Court of Appeals should have granted a stay in this case,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the 5-4 opinion. “There is no doubt that the applicants have not carried their heavy burden of showing that doing so was a clear violation of accepted legal standards — which do not include a special ‘status quo’ standard for laws affecting abortion.”
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: “Although the injunction will ultimately be reinstated if the law is indeed invalid, the harms to the individual women whose rights it restricts while it remains in effect will be permanent.”
He added, “the underlying legal question — whether the new Texas statute is constitutional — is a difficult question. It is a question, I believe, that at least four members of this court will wish to consider irrespective of the 5th Circuit’s ultimate decision.”
The 5th Circuit has a hearing scheduled in January to consider the lawsuit, which will proceed as planned.
See here, here, and here for the background. I’m disappointed, but I can’t say I’m surprised. We have got to win more elections, that is all there is to it. You can read the opinion here, and Texpatriate has more.