Last night, while many of us were about to bed down or already asleep, the Supreme Court released their official ruling refusing to block the Texas abortion law. The vote was 5-4, with John Roberts joining the activist judges who wanted to block it:
AP – The court voted 5-4 to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law that went into effect Wednesday. But the justices also suggested that their order likely isn’t the last word on whether the law can stand because other challenges to it can still be brought.
The Texas law, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before many women know they’re pregnant.
The high court’s order declining to halt the Texas law came just before midnight Wednesday. The majority said those bringing the case had not met the high burden required for a stay of the law.
“In reaching this conclusion, we stress that we do not purport to resolve definitively any jurisdictional or substantive claim in the applicants’ lawsuit. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas’s law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,” the unsigned order said.
Chief Justice John Roberts dissented along with the court’s three liberal justices. Each of the four dissenting justices wrote separate statements expressing their disagreement with the majority.
What really happened here was not a vote on the merits of the abortion law by the majority, but rather they simply refused to block the law because “those bringing the case had not met the high burden required for a stay of the law”. This isn’t a moral victory against abortion, but it does expose how quickly John Roberts will side with the activist judges on the issue.
But even so this ruling is a big victory, at least for now, because abortions in Texas have effectively stopped. There’s no doubt this fight is far from over, as more objections will undoubtedly be brought to try and overturn the law. But at this very moment, the unborn in Texas finally have a fighting chance to live.
Of course, the left is all gloom and doom again this morning:
The same party that demands "freedoms" just offered Texas vigilantes $10,000 bounties to turn in their neighbors who seek abortions. And the Supreme Court greenlit this.
Vote in 2022 like your life depends on it. Because it does.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) September 2, 2021
The filibuster was not available to stop Mitch from stealing a Supreme Court seat and stripping away women’s rights. Now Senate Democrats need to remove the filibuster to restore voting rights and women’s right. NOW.
— Rep. Erick Allen (@erickallen) September 2, 2021
A Supreme Court where 5 of 6 conservative justices were appointed by GOP presidents who initially lost popular vote & confirmed by senators representing minority of Americans are taking away voting rights & reproductive rights from millions of Americans. This is not democracy
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) September 1, 2021
The Supreme Court ended Roe v Wade & endorsed vigilante justice today all without lifting a gavel.
Add the loss of voting rights and we are one step closer to the vision of America in the 1800s.
— Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉 (@ASlavitt) September 2, 2021
A Supreme Court rigged by a Republican Party fighting vaccine mandates essentially overturns Roe in the dark of night
The message of the Republican Party is “our body our choice. Your body also our choice.” https://t.co/TXWpSSW5rG
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) September 2, 2021
A stolen Supreme Court sure looks important today. Good thing all the effort went into infrastructure instead of protecting voting rights, reforming the court & ending the filibuster. Some of our leaders think it’s 1991 or lack imagination. You know who has imagination? Fascists.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) September 2, 2021
It is simply impossible to say that Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land. The Supreme Court just allowed Texas to enforce a six-week abortion ban—giving other states a roadmap to do the same. Roe is no longer good law. The right to abortion has been functionally overturned.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) September 2, 2021
What’s Joe Biden’s Supreme Court Commission up this morning?
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 2, 2021