The Roberts Court has ruled 5-4 to strike down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics and the doctors that oversee them.
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues in 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 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.”
Roberts is deeply conservative and probably dislikes Roe and abortion rights. However, he is also very smart and shrewd as a political operator and cares strongly that the public holds the Supreme Court and the judiciary in high regard. The other thing he wants to do is prevent court packing at all costs. Hence this ruling where he states Women’s Health is wrong but he upholds it as stare decisis that most be followed by concurring in the liberals in judgement but not reasoning.
But he also really dislikes bullshit arguments. I read his concurrences in these kind of cases as preventing the conservative movement from committing suicide through extremity.Report
Not sure what combination of words dumped this into moderation, Saul. Lots worse flies through regularly.Report
I’m seconding my brother. Roberts and to a lesser extent Gorsuch want to prevent court packing at all costs. They know that siding with the conservatives on culture war issues like abortion or discrimination against LGBT people would give the Democratic Party a good reason to pack the Court. I think my brother is also rights in noting that Roberts does not like batty arguments. There were times when he clearly agreed with the conservative point of view personally but ruled otherwise because Republicans good not come up with a reasonable explanation for their actions. The census decision and the recent DACA decisions are good examples of this.Report
Agreed, and that bodes very well for what will happen when the ACA reaches the court again. If arguements like what Roberts has struck down here don’t fly he is going to look at the ACA briefs and ask if conservatives are otu of their minds. Heck, I bet it won’t even be a narrow ruling.
Socialcons are pretty pissed. I wonder if this will serve to rile them up to vote or if it’ll discourage them from doing so considering that the swing votes on both these decisions were republican appointees?Report
Socialcons (what a name) will be lied to that he lower court judges Mitch has rammed through will be the ones who will really “solve’ Roe v. Wade when SOCTUS rules with precedent. That gets Republicans maybe two more election cycles before they crash as a party IF Trump looses, Three if he wins.Report
Maybe? I mean a lot of socialcons have been screaming about how they “wuz betrayed” ever since Gorsuch’s ruling on trans rights just a little bit ago and now this?
But yeah, the masses of socialcon voters probably will stay put- they literally have nowhere to go. The libertarians, normally the right wing exit door for disaffected Republicans, are even more stringent on abortion rights than liberals are.Report
Funny how being a single issue voter eventually backs you into a corner.Report
My heart bleeds for them.Report
Mine doesn’t.Report
John Roberts is the smartest strategic conservative in national politics. As Saul & Lee said, he knows the LGBT, DACA, and abortion decisions would’ve lost the GOP the last of the moderate suburbanites they’re still holding on to, while on the other hand, the 5-4 decision next year that kills Chevron won’t really be covered at all.Report