Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/20/federal-judge-considers-blocki.html
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday
3 Likes
This is an appropriate and necessary measure but it’s also something the people behind this legislation have been counting on. Getting struck down in Federal Court so they can appeal this thing up to SCOTUS and overturn Roe v. Wade is their plan. We have to hope it doesn’t work.
14 Likes
Fingers crossed that there is some serious, high-level kickback against this hateful, hurtful nonsense.
2 Likes
Really sad that I’m putting hope on John Roberts these days. Heard an analysis of him that basically posited that he believes the Supreme Court shouldn’t be political, and that in a couple of cases where he was on the fence he sided with the left wing of the court just to avoid that perception… again, it’s depressing that I’m in this position, but hoping against hope that he comes to his senses if this does reach him… Roe was on solid legal footing considering the constitutionality of equal protection of women and a sensible judge knows that. I hope… ugh. I Hate this timeline…
8 Likes
Right?? I mean he’s definitely a conservative justice but at least he seems to have some baseline level of respect for the institution he’s leading instead of reflexively ruling whichever way the neocons want in every single case (which is enough for the right to brand him a “traitor” just like many of his Republican-appointed predecessors).
8 Likes
From what I’ve read, the SCOTUS is going to be very careful about which of these cases it takes, since most of them are toxic sludge that no judges apart from the Roy Moore types would willingly bring into their courtrooms. I’m hoping most of these anti-choice laws will hit the wall in the federal courts.
6 Likes
My understanding is that SOP in federal courts is to defer to prior SCOTUS decisions, if/when they exist. In the case of abortion law, a SCOTUS precedent certainly exists, so the fed courts should block the BS state laws, presumably kicking it up to SCOTUS once again.
2 Likes
Except that Roe relied on privacy, not equal protection. IIRC, Justice Ginsburg has commented several times that she wished that Roe had been decided on equal protection grounds, because that’d be firmer footing.
2 Likes
Yes, that’s right. The district courts and courts of appeals are bound by Supreme Court precedent. This and the Alabama law plainly violate Roe and Casey, and the one benefit (from the perspective of the left) to putting FedSoc judges on the lower benches is that they are unlikely to buck the Supreme Court.
Also, keep in mind that the Supreme Court doesn’t have to take these cases, and my (somewhat educated) guess is that it won’t. Assuming that district courts in both states correctly reject the laws, and assuming the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits both affirm those rejections (both of which are, I think reasonably safe assumptions), the Supreme Court could simply deny any petition for certiorari on both cases, leaving the decisions of the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits in place as the law across most of the deep South.
4 Likes
SCOTUS doesn’t have to choose to hear the case. If the lower courts uphold Roe and if the Supreme Court doesn’t find any compelling reason to hear the appeal then legal precedent stands and the state laws are struck down.
There are a couple of important “ifs” in there of course.
4 Likes
The phrase “the unborn” suddenly resonated with me. A lot of people are obsessed with Zombies. Zombie films and tv programs are popular. I wonder might it concentrate peoples minds a little if someone produced a film of “The Unborn” - millions of creepy foetuses that eat people (or something)? Or latch onto people and make their lives a misery (you know, like real foetuses!).
There is the danger that it might appeal to the people who think foetuses are always more valid, so it would have to be funny as well as horrific - like “From Dawn to Dusk”. Just a thought…
3 Likes
Of course. “It’s been done!”.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
