The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday night that the case should go to the Texas Supreme Court.
A group of pro-abortion rights protesters march outside the Texas State Capitol.
The Washington Post is pictured.
The 5th Circuit sent the case to the Texas Supreme Court in order to clarify whether state health licensing board officials can enforce the abortion law by punishing doctors or nurses.
In December, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion providers had the right to file a lawsuit against the licensing officials, but they couldn't file a lawsuit against any other Texas officials that were originally named in the lawsuit.
The providers wanted the 5th Circuit to immediately send the case back to the lower district court, which has already ruled against the law once and is more likely to side with them.
If the abortion providers are able to file a lawsuit against the licensing officials, the case will go to the district court.
The Texas Supreme Court having to hear the case first means it will take longer for the case to get through the court system, and the 5th Circuit could sit on their decision and not send it.
The Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement Monday that the decision to send the case to the Texas Supreme Court means it will likely be weeks or months before the case returns to district court.
Even if the district court issues an order against the law, it won't block it entirely.
If the Supreme Court agrees to the request, the lawsuit would be sent directly to the district court. The Supreme Court has yet to respond to the petition, which would mark the third time the court has ruled on the lawsuit.
We don't know what we don't know.
The Texas case will likely be decided by the Supreme Court in June. The case will determine whether states can prohibit abortions even before the fetus is viable, which could overturn the court's precedent in Wade. That would keep the law in place since the abortion providers could no longer argue that getting an abortion is a federal right. The 5th Circuit was accused of trying to "run out the clock" by sending the case to the Texas Supreme Court, and judges on the appeals court mused about doing so during their hearing in the case. Judge Edith H. Jones of the circuit court suggested that we should sit on this until the end of June.
Chief critic.
The 5th Circuit judge dissented from the court's decision, saying it was going against the Supreme Court's ruling. The Supreme Court has the authority to implement its mandate, but we have no authority to reconsider the Supreme Court's holding that the lawsuit against the licensing officials can proceed.
The key background.
Private citizens can bring lawsuits against anyone who aided or abetted an abortion if the abortion is banned by the law. Thanks to its lawsuit provision, the abortion ban has not been struck down in court, but it has made it harder to name defendants that a court could block from enforcement. The Supreme Court and 5th Circuit have upheld the law and refused to block it, despite a district court temporarily blocking it. A growing number of states are introducing bills that mimic the law in Texas, which will likely have consequences beyond Texas.
The federal appeals court ruled that Texas' six-week abortion ban is still in effect.
The Appeals Court is slow-walking the Texas SB 8 lawsuit.
The Supreme Court refused to block Texas abortion law.
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