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Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions in Louisiana

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&nbsp;Tuesday, Sep 13th 2022| 3.9kThe Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law regulating abortion clinics – with Chief Justice John Roberts once again joining with liberals on a major decision this term.&nbsp;The court in its ruling reasserted a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era – after Trump had already succeeded in installing two conservatives on the court.Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues ruling that the law requiring doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals violates the abortion right the court first announced in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.In two previous abortion cases, Roberts had favored restrictions.The White House blasted the decision as 'gutting' a Louisiana abortion law – but held back from more bombastic comments at other recent rulings, as when President Donald Trump called an immigration ruling a 'shotgun blasts into the face.' 'In an unfortunate ruling today, the Supreme Court devalued both the health of mothers and the lives of unborn children by gutting Louisiana's policy that required all abortion procedures be performed by individuals with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital,' White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.'States have legitimate interests in regulating any medical procedure—including abortions—to protect patient safety. Instead of valuing fundamental democratic principles, unelected Justices have intruded on the sovereign prerogatives of State governments by imposing their own policy preference in favor of abortion to override legitimate abortion safety regulations,' she said.The 5-4 ruling represented a major victory for Shreveport-based abortion provider Hope Medical Group for Women in its challenge to the 2014 law.&nbsp;The measure had required doctors who perform abortions to have a sometimes difficult-to-obtain formal affiliation called 'admitting privileges' at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.&nbsp;The Louisiana law is virtually identical to one in Texas that the court struck down in 2016. 'The result in this case is controlled by our decision four years ago invalidating a nearly identical Texas law,' Roberts wrote, although he did not join the opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer for the other liberals.In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: 'Today a majority of the Court perpetuates its ill-founded abortion jurisprudence by enjoining a perfectly legitimate state law and doing so without jurisdiction.'&nbsp;&nbsp;'As is often the case with legal challenges to abortion regulations, this suit was brought by abortionists and abortion clinics. Their sole claim before this Court is that Louisiana's law violates the purported substantive due process right of a woman to abort her unborn child.'&nbsp;Roberts' decision to join the court's liberal wing is the latest during a summer when he also joint a 6-3 majority &nbsp;on gay civil rights and 5-4 ruling against Trump abolishing DACA.In the DACA case, Roberts and the four liberals rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA.&nbsp;sharesThat ruling, too, rested largely on procedural grounds. Roberts, nominated by President George W. Bush, wrote for the court that the administration did not pursue the end of the program properly, writing that the government failed to provide a 'reasoned explanation for its action.'The abortion ruling was the first for the Court since the Republican Senate confirmed President Trump's two conservative appointments: Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.On the left, it was Kavanaugh who was coming fire for making his own statements about upholding precedent during his contentious confirmation, with additional heat on Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is pro-choice and accepted his statements about upholding precent. Collins is up for reelection this year – in one of a number of races including the race for the White House where Monday's ruling could be a factor. – Roberts joined four liberals to reject administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA. He wrote an opinion that said the executive did have the right to end the program, but blasted the way the Trump administration carried out the change. The government failed to provide a 'reasoned explanation for its action,' Roberts wrote, in an opinion that noted how it upended lives and plans of immigrants.&nbsp; – The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against gay and lesbian workers. In this case, Roberts joined in the opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee. 'An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,' Gorsuch wrote for the majority. The landmark ruling means that LGBT workers in 21 states where such discrimination is now outlawed now have automatic federal protection. – Roberts joined with liberals to strike down restrictive Louisiana abortion laws in a 5-4 ruling. Roberts authored his own opinion, finding that the restrictions were so identical to a similar law in Texas overturned by the Supreme Court in 2016 that they were illegal. ‘The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents,' Roberts wrote. The majority was comprised of Roberts, Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Trump campaigned heavily on using his presidential power to try to shift the court to the right on abortion and other issues, and promised to choose nominees only from a list of conservative nominees he published before the election.&nbsp;The conservative Heritage Foundation immediately blasted Roberts. 'This is the latest in a series of judicial power grabs from the Chief Justice and the liberal wing of the court,' the group said,' the &nbsp;reported. 'Justice Roberts, a so-called 'conservative,' is clearly no longer running things — it's now the Kagan Court,' the group said, referencing Barack Obama nominee Elena Kagan.&nbsp;Roberts authored his own opinion explaining why he joined the majority, although he did not sign on to the opinion of the four liberal justices.He sought to explain why he dissented agains the court's ruling in the similar Texas abortion cases but joined the majority in the Louisiana case before the court.'I joined the dissent in Whole Woman's Health and continue to believe that the case was wrongly decided. The question today however is not whether Whole Woman's Health was right or wrong, but whether to adhere to it in deciding the present case,' he wrote.He noted the case was 'nearly identical.''The legal doctrine of stare decisis requires us, absent special circumstances, to treat like cases alike. The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents,' Roberts wrote.The writing echoed what he had testified during his confirmation hearings in 2005, when he got grilled by the late Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania about 'stare decisis.''I do think that it is a jolt to the legal system when you overrule a precedent. Precedent plays an important role in promoting stability and evenhandedness. It is not enough that you may think the prior decision was wrongly decided,' Roberts testified.Senators were trying to solicit any scrap of information about how he might rule on whether to uphold the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.&nbsp;'Stare decisis ('to stand by things decided') is the legal term for fidelity to precedent,' Roberts wrote.&nbsp;Trump had already erupted in fury at the DACA ruling earlier this month.'These horrible &amp; politically charged decisions coming out of the Supreme Court are shotgun blasts into the face of people that are proud to call themselves Republicans or Conservatives. We need more Justices or we will lose our 2nd. Amendment &amp; everything else. Vote Trump 2020!' he wrote immediately after the ruling'I will be releasing a new list of Conservative Supreme Court Justice nominees, which may include some, or many of those already on the list, by September 1, 2020. If given the opportunity, I will only choose from this list, as in the past, a Conservative Supreme Court Justice... Based on decisions being rendered now, this list is more important than ever before (Second Amendment, Right to Life, Religous Liberty, etc.) – VOTE 2020!' Trump wrote.&nbsp;Share what you thinkThe comments below have not been moderated.The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.We are no longer accepting comments on this article.Published by Associated Newspapers LtdPart of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday &amp; Metro Media Group&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;Tuesday, Sep 13th 2022| 3.9kThe Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law regulating abortion clinics – with Chief Justice John Roberts once again joining with liberals on a major decision this term.&nbsp;The court in its ruling reasserted a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era – after Trump had already succeeded in installing two conservatives on the court.Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues ruling that the law requiring doctors who perform abortions have admitting...

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Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions in Louisiana

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