(Washington) Most U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday sought to block Texas law, which has been the biggest blow to abortion rights in nearly 50 years.
Four of the court’s nine judges – three progressives and the court’s chairman John Roberts – have already stated that they want to block the speech, which severely limits Texans’ right to terminate their pregnancy for two months.
During the emergency hearing, two of their Conservative colleagues, Brett Kavanagh and Amy Connie Barrett, appointed by former President Donald Trump, also expressed their skepticism about the new architecture of the law.
“Judges seem to have recognized that the situation in Texas is very serious and that our constitution threatens the very foundations of democracy,” said Mark Heron, a lawyer for the Whole Women’s Health Organization, which runs four abortion clinics in the United States. Texas. .
“We are comforted by the serious questions posed today,” said Julie Murray, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood. “But the truth on the ground […] Patients continue to suffer, ”he added.
1 toThere is In September, abortion is prohibited in Texas when the fetal heart rate is observed, i.e. after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of sexual or rape.
A dozen other Conservative states have enacted comparable laws, but they have all been overturned in court for violating the Supreme Court’s judiciary.
It recognized the right of women to have abortions in 1973 and in 1992 clarified that it applies until the fetus is out of the womb, i.e. up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
“Denial”
Texas, a real laboratory of very conservative ideas, has developed an exceptional device that complicates the intervention of federal justice.
Its law entrusts the task of enforcing this ban “exclusively” to citizens, by encouraging them to take civil action against individuals and organizations that help women perform abortions beyond six weeks.
If they win in court, these citizens will receive $ 10,000 in damages, the law provides. Its opponents see it as a “bonus to condemnation.”
For the first time in two months, the Supreme Court has sought refuge behind these “new practical questions” that it refuses to intervene.
His inaction, seen as a sign of the influence of the three judges appointed by Donald Trump, was sharply criticized on the left, with Democrat President Joe Biden slamming the decision to “insult the rule of law”.
As the legal battle intensified, the Supreme Court was forced to take full responsibility for the case.
“Genie”
Proponents and opponents of abortion gathered Monday in front of the High Court seat in Washington for this much-anticipated trial – holding up billboards with uncompromising messages such as “Abortion is necessary” or “Let their hearts beat”.
In the white marble building, the nine sages do not discuss this right, but only the legal mechanism developed by Texas.
Controversial about the “genius” who invented this device, progressive judge Elena Kagan said she “did not understand” how her colleagues could say, “We have never seen it, so we can do nothing.”
Conservative Brett Kavanagh, who allowed the law to go into effect in September, was concerned about “implications for other constitutional rights” this time around.
“Could there be a law that demands millions of dollars from anyone who sells an AR-15 rifle?” He asked specifically.
Her colleague, Amy Connie Barrett, insisted that the law could not be blocked at the level of state courts.
The verdict of the Supreme Court can either paralyze the law itself or send the case to the lower court, which is expected to be released very soon.
Whatever it is, the war will not end: the High Court will have to consider 1There is A Mississippi law in December prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Audiences can take advantage of this classic text to begin to unravel its legal framework by returning to the criteria of “fetal authenticity”.
