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DISCUSSION: The discussion requires 10 complete sentences with two examples to support your position. Your examples can be personal or from other stories. No citations are required.
LINK TO ARTICLE : ;
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/
1 The discussion assignments are your opportunity to fully answer the question with your position on an issue and support your position with two different examples.
2 Your post and two responses must each be written with a minimum of 10 complete sentences with two examples that support your position.
3 Your original post must answer the question with two examples and 10 complete sentences.
4 Your two responses will agree or disagree with two examples and 10 complete sentences per response.
The discussion requires 10 complete sentences with two examples to support your position. Your examples can be personal or from other stories. No citations are required.
Please note requirements and rubric for full credit:
POST:
Students are required to post at a minimum of 10 complete sentences that state their position and reasoning on the issue along with two examples that support that position and WHY.
The examples may be from another news source or from personal experience.
Link to Article: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/
U.S. Supreme Court lets enforcement of Texas abortion law continue but allows legal challenges to proceed
Please read the grading rubric and complete the criteria and requirements in the syllabus.
Link to the article to read: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/
The article is also attached as a PDF in case the link does not work.
Question to answer and discuss: Does the Texas law violate or not violate the state’s Constitution – give two examples to support your position.
Things to think about: “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the legal challenge brought forward by abortion providers against Texas’ abortion restriction law may continue, bringing new life into the fight against the statute but also drawing the ire of abortion providers who criticized the ruling for not blocking the law outright. The court allowed the suit to continue on an 8-1 decision but did not stop the law’s enforcement. Instead, the suit will continue in a lower federal court, where abortion providers will resume seeking to block the law, commonly referred to as Senate Bill 8. Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenting vote.
“The high court’s decision… was not on the law’s overall constitutionality, but rather on the procedural woes that plagued legal efforts to challenge it. During the arguments, six out of nine Supreme Court justices expressed concerns specifically over the way Texas enforces the law — and the way it could be used to limit other constitutional rights.”
Some background: “Roe v. Wade was a landmark legal decision issued on January 22, 1973, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas statute banning abortion, effectively legalizing the procedure across the United States. The court held that a woman’s right to an abortion was implicit in the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Texas abortion law_ U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed _ The Texas Tribune
OUTLINE RESEARCH PAPER: The discussion requires 10 complete sentences with two examples to support your position. Your examples can be personal or from other stories. No citations are required.
MLA NATIONAL or TEXAS PAPER – ISSUE, INTEREST GROUPS, POLITICAL PARTY, PUBLIC OPINION
MLA citations are required
1. This paper is a National or Texas-centered issue – you can choose in the federal class.
2. Select an issue that the National or Texas Democratic or Republican parties (depending if you choose a national or Texas issue) are divided on during the 2022 election cycle.Be specific for example – If you writing about a bill for example – you must identify the name of the actual bill.
3.
Paper must be 500 words minimum – double spaced – Times Roman.
4. MLA bibliography page is not part of the 500 words or three pages.
5. MLA citation must be included (in-text) at the end of each paragraph (not introduction or conclusion)
6. MLA bibliography page must be included.
7. MLA Headers for each paragraph – Name the header based on:
1. Introduction
2. The name of the issue
3. Interest groups
4. Party
5. Group or demographic that supports the party
6. Conclusion
7. Both the outline and the paper combine for the overall grade.
These are the six questions you must answer
1. What National or Texas issue are you writing about? (Be specific) – One sentence is enough for this answer.
2. What is the first interest group you have selected and what position do they hold on the issue? Include MLA citation of the interest group. One sentence is enough for this answer.
3. What is the second interest group you have selected and what opposing position do they hold on the issue? Include MLA citation of the interest group. One sentence is enough for this answer.
4. What political party have you selected and what is their position on the issue? Include MLA citation of the political party. One sentence is enough for this answer.
5. What groups of Texans typically support the party? One sentence is enough for this answer.
6. Summarize how important your issue is to this party? One sentence is enough for this answer.
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 1/8
TEXAS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS
U.S. Supreme Court lets enforcement of
Texas abortion law continue but allows
legal challenges to proceed
The court allowed the suit to continue on an 8-1 decision. Abortion providers will
resume seeking to block the law as it progresses through lower court proceedings.
BY REESE OXNER DEC. 10, 2021 UPDATED: 1 PM CENTRAL
COPY LINK
M E N U
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1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 2/8
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the legal challenge brought forward
by abortion providers against Texas’ abortion restriction law may continue,
bringing new life into the fight against the statute but also drawing the ire of
abortion providers who criticized the ruling for not blocking the law outright.
The court allowed the suit to continue on an 8-1 decision but did not stop the
law’s enforcement. Instead, the suit will continue in a lower federal court, where
abortion providers will resume seeking to block the law, commonly referred to as
Senate Bill 8. Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenting vote.
And while the legal challenge against the Texas law was allowed to proceed,
abortion rights remain in peril on more than one front as the Supreme Court
considers a case from Mississippi that could put an end to constitutional
protections on abortions. The high court is set to rule on that case next summer.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed with allowing the suit to continue but
condemned the high court’s decision to leave the law in effect, saying it has had
“catastrophic consequences for women seeking to exercise their constitutional
right to an abortion in Texas.”
“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.”
The justices also allowed the abortion providers to sue some state licensing
officials, but not state court clerks or judges, citing difficulties surrounding
sovereign immunity. Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative-leaning justice,
and all three liberal justices argued that other state officials could be sued — but
lost to the majority vote.
The defendants removed from the suit were a key party whom providers were
seeking to block from enforcing the abortion law. Enforcement was temporarily
blocked for two days in October when a U.S. district judge prevented court clerks
and judges from taking cases under the law, the strongest judicial reprimand to
the statute so far.
Abortion opponents and abortion rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court building ahead of
arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in Washington,
D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-463_3ebh
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 3/8
Now that those defendants are off the table, it’s unclear what path remains for
abortion rights advocates to topple the law.
“By blessing significant portions of the law’s effort to evade review, the Court
comes far short of meeting the moment,” Sotomayor said. “By foreclosing suit
against state court officials and the state attorney general, the Court clears the
way for States to reprise and perfect Texas’ scheme in the future to target the
exercise of any right recognized by this Court with which they disagree. This is no
hypothetical. New permutations of S. B. 8 are coming.”
In a separate decision, the court dismissed a challenge from the Biden
administration.
Abortion rights in jeopardy
Providers and national abortion-rights activists initially saw the decision to let
the legal challenge move forward as a hopeful sign, but they bashed the court’s
order as the details sank in, calling it an opening for other states to enact laws
that violate constitutional rights by allowing them to be enforced by citizen
lawsuits.
“This is a dark day for abortion patients and for physicians and providers,” said
Marc Hearron, senior council for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “It is also a
dark day for anyone who cares about constitutional rights.”
Since the law went into effect, Texas abortion clinics have reported a sharp
decline in procedures and some have gone as far as stopping them altogether in
fear of litigation. The number of abortions in Texas plummeted by half, according
to a study from the University of Texas at Austin.
The decline has put a strain on Texas clinics, which have faced a barrage of
restrictions leading to closures over the years. Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of
Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four clinics in Texas and is the lead
plaintiff in the providers’ lawsuit, said that unless the law is blocked soon, the
future of her clinics “looks bleak.”
“Staying open is not sustainable if this ban stays in effect much longer,”
Hagstrom Miller said.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-588_c07d
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/10/Texas-abortion-providers-scotus-sb8/
http://sites.utexas.edu/txpep/files/2021/10/initial-impacts-SB8-TxPEP-brief ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_austin&stream=top
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/10/Texas-abortion-providers-scotus-sb8/
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 4/8
John Seago, legislative director with Texas Right to Life, called Friday’s ruling a
“partial victory” for abortion opponents.
“We are encouraged that the court has practiced judicial restraint for the past 100
days, as well as today, when they did not enjoin the law,” Seago said. “While this
life-saving law continues in Texas, we will see unborn children and women
continue to be protected in Texas.”
Katherine Franke, a professor of law at Columbia University and director of the
university’s Center of Gender and Sexuality Law, said she was pleased that the
Supreme Court allowed the provider’s lawsuit to continue — but the court
continues to make concessions over a person’s right to an abortion.
“What the [Supreme Court] has done is reiterate what their earlier ruling was,
which is that a majority does not see a constitutional emergency in this case,
even though SB 8 clearly and intentionally violates established Supreme Court
law,” she said.
Franke said allowing the law to stay in effect while court proceedings continue
proves that abortion rights are in jeopardy more than something like religious
freedom. Although Friday’s decision allows the fight against Texas’ law to
continue, she said more should have been done to protect abortion rights.
“The decision could have been much worse than it was … but this decision takes
place within a larger legal landscape where the underlying right that’s at stake —
that the court has not even addressed yet — could very well be eliminated and
overruled,” she said. “It’s not a complete loss. I wouldn’t say it’s a partial victory,
but it’s not a complete loss.”
Legal fights continue
The Supreme Court handed down the decision in the Texas case five weeks after
justices heard oral arguments over the law on Nov. 1. Abortions after about six
weeks of pregnancy have been virtually banned in Texas for over 100 days since
the law went into effect on Sept. 1.
The high court’s decision Friday was not on the law’s overall constitutionality,
but rather on the procedural woes that plagued legal efforts to challenge it.
During the arguments, six out of nine Supreme Court justices expressed concerns
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 5/8
specifically over the way Texas enforces the law — and the way it could be used to
limit other constitutional rights.
“There’s a loophole that’s been exploited here,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh said
during the Nov. 1 hearing. “It could be free speech rights. It could be free exercise
of religion rights. It could be Second Amendment rights — if this position is
accepted here.”
Texas’ law, which bars abortions before many know they’re pregnant, had been
successful in blocking procedures in the state by using the unique tactic. Its
enforcement mechanism has allowed the law to buck judicial review by making it
difficult to sue the law’s enforcers, which is the traditional route to stop a law
from going into effect.
Courts, to block laws, typically order state officials to not enforce them. But
that’s impossible under Texas’ abortion law, which made private citizens the de
facto enforcers of the law by empowering them to sue those who “aid or abet”
abortions past around six weeks of gestation — and promises them $10,000 if
they win their lawsuit.
Melissa Murray, a professor at the New York University School of Law, said the
Supreme Court’s decision Friday was likely made more on the idea that “everyone
should be concerned about the implications of this kind of enforcement
mechanism on the rule of law more generally — not just specifically on abortion.”
The abortion providers’ suit, plus a separate one filed by the U.S. Department of
Justice, had brought Texas’ abortion law back before the high court months after
the justices had declined to grant an emergency relief request seeking to stay the
law while it was challenged in court.
The providers’ suit now returns to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who
previously blocked enforcement of the law for two days. It was resumed by the
5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is known as perhaps the nation’s most
conservative appellate court.
The suit could follow a similar trajectory as before: If Pitman blocks the law
again, abortion opponents will likely appeal to the 5th Circuit as well — and
then, the case could land before the Supreme Court once more.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/02/texas-abortion-heartbeat-bill/
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/30/under-trump-5th-circuit-becoming-even-more-conservative/
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 6/8
The ruling comes a day after a state district judge agreed with 14 abortion
advocates and declared that the Texas law violates the state’s Constitution,
though he didn’t stop it from being enforced. That ruling would likely be used as
precedent in individual lawsuits filed under the statute.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson
Women’s Health Organization, a lawsuit that came after Mississippi passed a law
banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. While the Texas case before
the high court focused on the validity of the unique enforcement mechanism
used by the state’s abortion law, the Mississippi case puts constitutional
protections for abortion access into question — and many court observers believe
the justices are poised to roll back those protections.
The Supreme Court currently has a conservative supermajority, with six out of
nine justices appointed by Republican presidents. Those conservative members
have historically shared anti-abortion positions and, during oral arguments for
the Mississippi case, they seemed open to at least partly overturn Roe v. Wade,
the 1973 landmark case that helped establish constitutional protections for
abortions.
If that happens, it would mean the end of legal abortions in Texas. That’s because
the Texas Legislature passed a “trigger” law this year that would automatically
come into effect if Roe is “wholly or partly” overturned. It would also render
much of the fight over the Texas abortion law moot.
The Supreme Court on Friday also ruled on the case brought forward by the U.S.
Justice Department against the Texas law. In that case, the high court found that
the DOJ does not have standing to sue Texas over its abortion law, commonly
referred to as Senate Bill 8. The court effectively ended the lawsuit and the Biden
administration’s role in the judicial battle over the controversial law, saying it
was “improvidently granted.”
“The Department of Justice brought suit against Texas Senate Bill 8 because the
law was specifically designed to deprive Americans of their constitutional rights
while evading judicial review,” a DOJ statement read. “The department will
continue our efforts in the lower courts to protect the rights of women and
uphold the Constitution.”
Eleanor Klibanoff and Karen Brooks Harper contributed to this report.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/09/texas-abortion-law/
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/30/texas-mississippi-abortion-supreme-court/
1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/05/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court/ 7/8
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1/3/22, 1:18 PM Texas abortion law: U.S. Supreme Court says legal challenge can proceed | The Texas Tribune
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