Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fox Channels May Go Dark on YouTube TV From Wednesday Over Payment Dispute

17 hours ago

California Republicans Sue to Block Congressional Redistricting Plan

17 hours ago

Leaders, Journalist Groups React to Israeli Gaza Strike That Killed Five Journalists

21 hours ago

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

23 hours ago

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

23 hours ago

Fresno County DUI Crash Sends Car Into Embankment Near Highway 99

1 day ago

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Again Detained by US Immigration Officials

1 day ago

Fresno County Wildfire Burns 3,338 Acres, Evacuation Orders Issued

1 day ago
Supreme Court’s Abortion Rulings May Set the Stage for More Restrictions
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 1 year ago on
June 28, 2024

Reporters work outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The Supreme Court said on Thursday that it would dismiss a case about emergency abortions in Idaho, temporarily clearing the way for women in the state to receive an abortion when their health is at risk. (Jason Andrew/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — Superficially, abortion rights had a good run at the Supreme Court this term. Two weeks ago, the justices unanimously let an abortion pill remain widely available. On Thursday, the court dismissed a case about Idaho’s strict abortion ban, which had the effect of letting emergency rooms in the state perform the procedure when the patient’s health is at risk.

But the two rulings were so technical as to be ephemeral. They seemed designed for avoidance and delay, for kicking a volatile subject down the road — or at least past Election Day.

Some supporters of abortion rights called the rulings Pyrrhic victories, ones they feared would set the stage for more restrictions, whether from the courts or from a second Trump administration.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court signaled that it sought to get out of the abortion business. “The authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

The two recent rulings were generally consistent with that sentiment, though Alito himself was eager to address Thursday’s case. “Apparently,” he wrote, “the court has simply lost the will to decide the easy but emotional and highly politicized question that the case presents. That is regrettable.”

The majority took a different view, but its strategy of evasion cannot last, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis.

“What is clear, both in this term and in what is likely to come next, is that the abortion struggle is not being left to the states,” she said. “The executive branch and the Supreme Court are still very much going to have their say.”

David S. Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, said the end of Roe was the beginning of a war in which each side seeks total victory. That means, he said, that the Supreme Court will not be able to duck hard issues in the long term.

“In both of these cases,” he said of this month’s decisions, “the court avoided tackling the morass created by overturning Roe v. Wade. Without a national right to abortion care, contentious cases like these are going to come back to the court again and again. The court won’t be able to sidestep its self-imposed mess forever.”

He added: “Neither side in this debate is going to stop fighting for their preferred outcome — a national rule applicable everywhere. So there is no doubt that we’re going to see more and more cases like this bubbling up to the Supreme Court in the coming years.”

Two Rulings Resolved Near Nothing

The two rulings resolved almost nothing.

The first said merely that the particular doctors and groups challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of an abortion pill had not suffered the sort of injury that gave them standing to sue. The court did not rule on whether the agency’s action was lawful.

Other challengers, notably three states that have already intervened in the case in the trial court — Idaho, Kansas and Missouri — will continue to fight. Their challenge could reach the Supreme Court fairly quickly.

The Idaho case was even more of a nonevent. The court, which had taken the unusual step of agreeing to review a trial judge’s ruling before an appeals court had acted, thought better of getting involved at such an early stage.

The court dismissed the case as “improvidently granted,” the judicial equivalent of saying “never mind.” After the appeals court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, rules, the Supreme Court may return to the case.

Or it might hear an appeal involving a broadly similar Texas law, which has been sustained by the 5th Circuit. The Biden administration has already filed a petition seeking review of that ruling.

“Both decisions strike me as Pyrrhic victories for the Biden administration,” Ziegler said. In the abortion-pill case, Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, she said, the court interpreted conscience protections for doctors opposed to abortion far more broadly than it had in earlier decisions.

Moyle v. United States

In the case on emergency abortions, Moyle v. United States, Ziegler said, Justice Amy Coney Barrett “likewise hinted at the importance of conscience protections and expressed suspicion of mental health justifications for abortion — both of which could be consequential in the future.”

Rachel Rebouché, dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law, said that “these decisions can’t be described as pure wins for abortion supporters.”

“The issues at the heart of both cases are sure to come before the court again,” she said. “The court didn’t rule on the merits in either decision, and there are already cases in the pipeline to test the legality of mailed medication abortion and to uphold state abortion laws that make no exception for avoiding serious injury or threat to health.”

The coming election may have played a role in the Supreme Court’s failures to act. After all, the Dobbs decision, issued months before the 2022 midterm elections, was a political windfall for Democrats.

Greer Donley, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the court’s conservative majority may have wanted to avoid “an unpopular merits-based abortion decision in an election year.”

Ziegler said she was not sure how the election figured in the court’s calculations.

“It would have been extraordinary for the court to issue two major rulings in an election year, and it’s fair to assume that the court’s most institutionalist justices were looking for a way to avoid that outcome,” she said. “At the same time, there were real reasons to postpone ruling on the merits in either case.”

She added: “That means there isn’t a smoking gun pointing to this being an election-year about-face — after all, why take these cases in an election year in the first place? — but it seems quite likely that the upcoming election made it even more attractive to kick the can down the road.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Adam Liptak/Jason Andrew
c.2024 The New York Times Company
Distributed by The New York Times Licensing Group

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Noble Credit Union Teams With Bulldog Foundation to Provide Full-Ride Scholarships

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Garnet Fire Burns 8,500 Acres in Sierra National Forest

DON'T MISS

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

DON'T MISS

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

DON'T MISS

NW Fresno’s Newest Wine Lounge a ‘Quiet Alternative’ for Date Night

DON'T MISS

Renewal of CA Cap and Trade Program to Cut Emissions Fraught With Issues

DON'T MISS

UN Inquiry on Israeli Violence Hampered by Funding Shortfall, Document Shows

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

DON'T MISS

US Threatens to Withhold Funding From States Over Truck Driver English Proficiency Rules

DON'T MISS

Why Did Board Fail to Stop Deficits From Nearly Sinking Fresno EOC?

UP NEXT

Fresno County Garnet Fire Burns 8,500 Acres in Sierra National Forest

UP NEXT

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

UP NEXT

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

UP NEXT

NW Fresno’s Newest Wine Lounge a ‘Quiet Alternative’ for Date Night

UP NEXT

Renewal of CA Cap and Trade Program to Cut Emissions Fraught With Issues

UP NEXT

UN Inquiry on Israeli Violence Hampered by Funding Shortfall, Document Shows

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

UP NEXT

US Threatens to Withhold Funding From States Over Truck Driver English Proficiency Rules

UP NEXT

Why Did Board Fail to Stop Deficits From Nearly Sinking Fresno EOC?

UP NEXT

Trump Takes His Fed Fight to Unprecedented Level With Effort to Fire Cook

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

58 minutes ago

NW Fresno’s Newest Wine Lounge a ‘Quiet Alternative’ for Date Night

1 hour ago

Renewal of CA Cap and Trade Program to Cut Emissions Fraught With Issues

1 hour ago

UN Inquiry on Israeli Violence Hampered by Funding Shortfall, Document Shows

1 hour ago

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

2 hours ago

US Threatens to Withhold Funding From States Over Truck Driver English Proficiency Rules

2 hours ago

Why Did Board Fail to Stop Deficits From Nearly Sinking Fresno EOC?

2 hours ago

Trump Takes His Fed Fight to Unprecedented Level With Effort to Fire Cook

2 hours ago

Visalia DUI Crash Sends Truck Into Carl’s Jr., Driver Arrested

2 hours ago

Trump Media, Crypto.com Announce Deal to Form Crypto Treasury Firm

2 hours ago

Noble Credit Union Teams With Bulldog Foundation to Provide Full-Ride Scholarships

Noble Credit Union has joined forces with Fresno State’s Bulldog Foundation to help grant full-ride scholarships to two student-athletes thi...

18 minutes ago

Noble Credit Union partnering with the Fresno State Bulldog Foundation to help provide students with full-ride scholarships
18 minutes ago

Noble Credit Union Teams With Bulldog Foundation to Provide Full-Ride Scholarships

The Garnet Fire in Sierra National Forest grew to about 8,500 acres overnight, fueled by thunderstorms and strong winds, while firefighters focus on protecting infrastructure and preventing the blaze from crossing the Kings River. (U.S. Forest Service)
18 minutes ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Burns 8,500 Acres in Sierra National Forest

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (not pictured) at the Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
58 minutes ago

Trump Urges Cracker Barrel to Revert to Old Logo

Billionaire California farmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick have listed their Aspen estate for $300 million, a price that could set a U.S. record for the most expensive home sale. (Shutterstock)
58 minutes ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

Eden Wine Lounge
1 hour ago

NW Fresno’s Newest Wine Lounge a ‘Quiet Alternative’ for Date Night

Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California
1 hour ago

Renewal of CA Cap and Trade Program to Cut Emissions Fraught With Issues

Israeli soldiers sit on top of tanks at the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, August 26, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
1 hour ago

UN Inquiry on Israeli Violence Hampered by Funding Shortfall, Document Shows

U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Trump Administration Cannot Sue Maryland Federal Judges Over Immigration Order, Judge Rules

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend