California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded Saturday to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to strike down a controversial Texas abortion law by announcing plans to adopt that law's legal framework to gun control, Reuters reports.
In an 8-1 decision, the court left Texas' law in place but allowed challenges from the state's abortion providers to proceed.
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The Texas law allows private citizens to sue abortion providers in civil court but provides no enforcement role for the state's criminal justice system. According to The Wall Street Journal, this unusual piece of legislation was designed specifically to "insulate" it from "federal court review by assigning enforcement power to private litigants."
Newsom's proposal would allow private citizens to sue manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of assault weapons and ghost gun kits.
Earlier this month, Rick Henderson wrote a piece for The Week warning of the potential dangers of "hacking" the Constitution in this way. He argued that the Texas law "could be replicated to directly attack any federal constitutional right, including many less controversial than abortion."
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