Supreme Court Declines Texas Abortion Challenge
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just scored a major win for conservatives and pro-life advocates in Texas.
At stake are state abortion laws over the federal laws for emergency care.
The court declined to hear arguments challenging the Texas law, leaving abortion rights, at least for the time being, with the state.
Declined
This case hit the court’s docket just a few months after a similar case from Idaho was presented.
The court also dismissed that case, with the court taking criticism that the justices were punting the case due to how close to the election it came across their desk.
What was even more surprising was that Justice Alito was among those who wanted the case heard.
The issue at hand here is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires emergency care to be given to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
EMTALA was invoked after Roe v. Wade was overturned, which led the legislation being challenged on the basis that did not follow the proper rule-making guidelines.
Texas won the case in the lower courts, then prevailed again when the case went before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Texas argued, “This is not the case the federal government says it is.
“The United States has erased two years of litigation history and transformed this case from one about whether the executive branch complied with administrative-law requirements to one about whether the State of Texas has complied with constitutional demands.”
From what we have seen of the current makeup of the court, when a ruling is initially made on what would be considered a state issue and the appeal also falls in the same direction, the Supreme Court allows those decisions to stand, so I am not completely surprised the court declined the case.
