Supreme Court returns Texas abortion case to appeals court

[mystery-ak]

Supreme Court returns Texas abortion case to appeals court
By MARK SHERMAN 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has formally returned a lawsuit over Texas’ six-week abortion ban to a federal appeals court that has twice allowed the law to stay in effect, rather than to a district judge who sought to block it.

Justice Neil Gorsuch on Thursday signed the court’s order that granted the request of abortion clinics for the court to act speedily. But the clinics wanted the case sent directly to U.S. Judge Robert Pitman, who had previously though briefly blocked enforcement of the Texas abortion ban known as S.B. 8.

When Pitman ordered the law blocked in early October, the appeals court countermanded his order two days later.

Texas has said it will seek to keep the case bottled up at the appeals court for the foreseeable future.

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https://apnews.com/article/health-texas-lawsuits-neil-gorsuch-d74dbd6deb60e7e9cd1777328c03dee5

[Elderberry]

Court sends Texas abortion case back to 5th Circuit, rejecting challengers’ request to return case to district judge

SCOTUSblog By Amy Howe 12/16/2021

https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/12/court-sends-texas-abortion-case-back-to-5th-circuit-rejecting-challengers-request-to-return-case-to-district-judge/

The Supreme Court on Thursday morning agreed to immediately put into effect last week’s ruling in the battle over a Texas law banning almost all abortions in the state. But the justices rejected a request from abortion providers to send the case back to the friendlier confines of a federal district court in Texas, instead returning the case to the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit – which could mean that the providers’ surviving claims may not proceed for some time, if at all.

Thursday’s order was the latest chapter in the challenge by abortion providers to S.B. 8, which bans virtually all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. On Dec. 10, a divided court ruled that the providers’ lawsuit can go forward against a group of state medical licensing officials, although not against the state-court judges and clerks whom the providers had also named in their lawsuit. The court also left the ban in place while the challenge moves forward in the lower courts, even though it conflicts with current Supreme Court precedent establishing a constitutional right to an abortion up until the point at which the fetus can survive outside the womb.

Under the court’s normal procedures, the ruling would not have gone into effect for at least 25 days after the opinion was released. On Monday, the providers asked the justices to formally issue their judgment and immediately send the case back to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who in October granted the Biden administration’s request to put the law on hold (a decision that was quickly reversed by the 5th Circuit). They stressed that since the law went into effect on Sept. 1, “thousands of Texans have been unable to exercise their federal constitutional right to terminate their pregnancy.”