But the Justice Department is suing Texas over the law’s unique enforcement mechanism, which the department claims violates the Constitution by allowing the state to essentially prohibit abortion while technically complying with court rulings that forbid such a ban by a state.
The law encourages private parties to bring lawsuits by granting $10,000 to any plaintiff that successfully sues someone accused of performing or aiding in an abortion that violates the statute.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called the enforcement mechanism an “unprecedented” effort to bar women from their constitutionally protected right to have an abortion.
The department argued in its lawsuit that the Texas law is invalid under the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which gives federal law precedence over state law, and under the equal protection guarantees of the 14th Amendment.
A federal district judge last week granted the department’s request to halt enforcement of the law while the legal challenge makes its way through the court system, delivering a short-lived win to the Biden administration. But two days later, the appeals panel intervened.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/us/politics/texas-abortion-appeals-court.html
Comments