The case deals with abortion so it could give some indication where the Court, now with Kavanuagh and Gorsuch, wants to go.
Much has been debated about what the US Supreme Court will do with the abortion case coming out of Louisiana. The measure on trial, known as Act 620: Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, requires an abortion clinic to have admitting privileges in a hospital, thereby protecting women in case there is a problem with a surgical abortion. The law, and the court’s decision on it, is looked at as a precursor regarding what the new SCOTUS will do on future cases dealing with abortion regulations now that Kavanaugh has been seated.
On Feb. 1 this year, Justice Samuel Alito temporarily blocked Act 620’s abortion restrictions from going into effect until Feb. 7, pushing off the question for another week as to whether the high court would have to weigh-in on the issue of abortion rights. Now the full Court has placed a stay in order to give it time determine whether to hear the case or simply allow the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to stand.
If SCOTUS accepts the case and allows the decision to stand, pro-lifers in Louisiana win because the Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana, declaring the law constitutional.
According to Phillip Jauregui with the Judicial Action Group in Washington, D.C.:
“The value in this decision is that we will have the opportunity to see how the full court, with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, rules. A similar issue was before the Supreme Court in a 2016 Texas case while Justice Scalia’s seat sat empty. The court in 2016 ruled 5-3 with the abortionists. The three justices dissenting in that case were Roberts, Thomas and Alito.
The facts in this case are distinguishable from the Texas case and the abortionists’ claims are not persuasive, so it is not necessary to reverse the Texas case to rule against the abortionists here. However, reversing the Texas case would be great as well, but right now we are not talking about the merits – only the staying of the law while the merits are decided.”
Clearly, if new additions Gorsuch and Kavanaugh rule with Roberts, Thomas and Alito then the vote would be 5-4 against the abortionists.
Not only will this case shed light into where the new Court will stand, but it also illumines the entire process of laws making it to the US Supreme Court. Act 620 was originally passed in Louisiana, but has been bounced in a number of courts and is finally knocking on the door of its ultimate hearing. Many other pieces of legislation passed by the states are working their way up to SCOTUS.
The scenario is interesting because it was the Center for Reproductive Rights asking for the stay, underscoring that the pro-abortionists have their back to the wall.
