Supreme Court rules Texas abortion clinics can challenge state's abortion law

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that abortion providers can move forward with a challenge to Texas' extreme abortion law, S.B. 8, though the justices allowed the ban to remain in effect for now, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In an 8-1 opinion, the court concluded that clinics who had sued the state over S.B. 8 "could proceed with at least part of their case," Buzzfeed News writes. It did not, however, "reach the core question of whether the Texas law is or is not constitutional." The justices also rejected a Department of Justice-led effort to challenge the ban, and advised lower courts to consider the matter.
The decision comes not long after the court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case regarding a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That decision "will affect any future legal fight over S.B. 8," adds Buzzfeed News.
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.
Texas had hoped it could "insulate" its abortion law from "federal court review by assigning enforcement power to private litigants," writes the Journal (the ban deputizes citizens to uphold the ban by financially incentivising them to sue anyone who aids or abets an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy). The justices said certain state officials, like the attorney general, cannot be sued, but that abortion providers could sue the head of the state medical board and other licensing authorities in federal court, per the Journal.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote for himself as well as liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer, said the district judge should act quickly, notes The Washington Post.
Sotomayor herself was critical of the decision not to block the law in the first place. "The Court should have put an end to this madness months ago, before S.B.8 first went into effect," she wrote. "It failed to do so then, and it fails again today."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
South Korea highlights: ancient history meets modern culture
The Week Recommends From the bright lights of Seoul to Busan's beaches and the 'living museum' of Gyeongju, this tour offers a taste of a unique heritage
-
July 22 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's birthday wishes for Jeffrey Epstein, Tulsi Gabbard, and renaming the Washington Commanders
-
Are we facing a summer of riots?
Today's Big Question Anti-immigrant unrest in Essex has sparked fears of a summer of disorder
-
Israeli gunfire kills dozens at Gaza aid site
Speed Read The U.N. estimates that at least 875 Palestinians have died while trying to access food in recent months
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflict
Speed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
-
Trump threatens Russia with 'severe tariffs'
speed read The president also agreed to sell NATO advanced arms for Ukraine
-
IDF blames 'error' for strike on Gaza water line
Speed Read Israeli forces attack Palestinians, including children, collecting water in central Gaza
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official says
Speed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
Trump U-turns on weapons to Ukraine
Speed Read Unhappy with Putin, Trump decides the US will go back to arming Ukraine against Russia's attacks
-
Ukraine scrambles as Trump cuts weapons deliveries
Speed Read The halting of weapons shipments was driven by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a Ukraine funding skeptic
-
IAEA: Iran could enrich uranium 'within months'
Speed Read The chief United Nations nuclear inspector, Rafael Grossi, says Iran could be enriching uranium again soon