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Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority was straying from the court’s precedent to step in when state laws chill the exercise of constitutional rights while allowing other states to follow suit.
BY JAMES BARRAGÁN AND CASSANDRA POLLOCK DEC. 10, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday allowing Texas’ abortion law to remain intact creates a roadmap for states that may seek to limit other constitutionally protected rights, legal experts warn.
Texas’ law bars abortions before many know they’re pregnant — at roughly six weeks gestation — and empowers private citizens rather than state officials to enforce it by suing individuals and abortion providers. During oral arguments in November, most of the court’s nine justices expressed concerns specifically over the state’s unique enforcement mechanism and how it may be used to curb other constitutional rights, including gay marriage, religious freedom, freedom of speech and gun rights.
The Texas law — which states such as Florida and Ohio have recently tried to mirror with their own proposals — also promises private citizens who sue $10,000 if they win their lawsuit, which critics have denounced as a “bounty” placed on people who seek abortions or help another person get one.
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who agreed to let the suit continue but criticized the court’s decision to leave the Texas law in effect, said the majority was straying from the court’s precedent to step in when state laws chill the exercise of constitutional rights — and allowing other states to follow suit.
“The Court clears the way for States to reprise and perfect Texas’ scheme in the future to target the exercise of any right recognized by this Court with which they disagree,” she wrote.
Orange of Specious
Article URL : https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/10/scotus-texas-abortion-law-constitutional-rights/