The Biden Dept. of Justice on Thursday unveiled a historic 27-page lawsuit filed against the State of Texas for enacting a law that is “in open defiance of the Constitution.” That law, S.B. 8, the DOJ declares, is also in defiance of “settled constitutional law” on abortion.
The legal reasoning is clear enough for non-lawyers to easily understand.
“It is settled constitutional law that ‘a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,'” the suit begins. “But Texas has done just that. It has enacted a statute banning nearly all abortions in the State after six weeks—months before a pregnancy is viable.”
“Texas enacted S.B. 8 in open defiance of the Constitution,” the lawsuit continues. “The statute prohibits most pre-viability abortions, even in cases of rape, sexual abuse, or incest. It also prohibits any effort to aid—or, indeed, any intent to aid—the doctors who provide pre-viability abortions or the women who exercise their right to seek one.”
“Because S.B. 8 clearly violates the Constitution, Texas adopted an unprecedented scheme ‘to insulate the State from responsibility,’ … by making the statute harder to challenge in court.”
The Washington Post adds: “At a news conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the ban ‘is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent.'”
“This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear,” said Garland, warning that what he called the “bounty hunter” element of the law may become “a model for action in other areas by other states and with respect to other constitutional rights or judicial precedents.”