Justices split, 5-4, as Chief Justice John Roberts joins the court’s liberals in dissent.
A sharply and bitterly divided U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a novel Texas law that opponents say could effectively outlaw abortion in the state.issued just before midnight Wednesday, the justices revealed that they split 5-4 in refusing the request from abortion rights advocates to put the Texas law — which went into force early Wednesday — on hold while litigation over the measure proceeds.
Justice Stephen Breyer said the new law's reliance on private individuals rather than prosecutors to handle enforcement, which would come through civil suits, should not immunize it from litigation in the courts. "Today’s ruling illustrates just how far the Court’s 'shadow-docket' decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process," Kagan wrote. "The majority’s decision is emblematic of too much of this Court’s shadow-docket decision-making — which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend."
The new Texas law bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — a point at which many women may not even realize they are pregnant. It's possible other legal fights over the measure could return to the high court in the coming weeks or months, but abortions may be hard or impossible to obtain in Texas in the meantime. The justices have already agreed to hear one major abortion case this term: a case over a Mississippi law that seeks to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
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