On Thursday night, the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana can't enforce a law that would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's four more liberal justices; President Trump's two appointees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, were among the dissenting conservative justices. The Louisiana law is similar to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, with former Justice Anthony Kennedy — replaced by Kavanaugh — siding with the court liberals and Roberts agreeing with the three other conservatives.
The Supreme Court may yet hear the case, June Medical Services v. Gee, in its next term, which begins in October. If the law had taken effect, the plaintiffs and a federal judge agreed, there would be only one, maybe two, doctors eligible to perform abortions in Louisiana.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
