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 The justices in an 8-1 ruling lifted a block on lower court
proceedings and permitted a lawsuit by abortion providers, which may
pave the way for a federal judge to block the nation's toughest
abortion law at least in part. The conservative-majority court on
Sept. 1 declined to halt the law on the day it took effect. It also
dismissed on Friday a separate challenge by President Joe Biden's
administration.
The law bans abortions at around six weeks, a point when many women
do not yet realize they are pregnant, with no exception for
pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide another major abortion case
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-consider-rolling-back-abortion-rights-2021-12-01
from Mississippi that could lead to the overturning of the landmark
1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.
Mississippi's law, blocked by lower courts, bans abortions at 15
weeks of pregnancy. The conservative justices during arguments on
Dec. 1 indicated https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-consider-rolling-back-abortion-rights-2021-12-01
sympathy toward Mississippi's law and potential support for
overturning Roe.
Abortion providers and Biden's administration had asked the Supreme
Court to block the Texas law while the litigation continues, but the
justices opted to leave it in place for now.
Friday's ruling did not directly address the broader questions
raised in the Mississippi case and the court's decision not to block
the Texas law was another signal that its majority may be inclined
to curb abortion rights.
The Texas law enables private citizens to sue anyone who performs or
assists a woman in getting an abortion after embryo cardiac activity
is detected. Individual citizens can be awarded a minimum of $10,000
for successful lawsuits. Biden's administration has called this a
"bounty."
"It's stunning that the Supreme Court has essentially said that
federal courts cannot stop this bounty-hunter scheme enacted to
blatantly deny Texans their constitutional right to abortion. The
court has abandoned its duty to ensure that states do not defy its
decisions," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for
Reproductive Rights, which challenged the law on behalf of abortion
provider Whole Woman's Health.
The Justice Department said in a statement it would pursue its
challenge in lower courts "to protect the rights of women and uphold
the Constitution."
The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who
defended the law, did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
WAVE OF STATE LAWS
The measure is one of a series of restrictive abortion laws passed
by Republicans at the state level in recent years.
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 "We celebrate that the Texas
Heartbeat Act will remain in effect, saving the
lives of unborn children and protecting mothers
while litigation continues in lower courts,"
said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the
Susan B. Anthony List, a group opposing
abortion.
The ruling authored by conservative Justice Neil
Gorsuch stated that a narrow lawsuit is allowed
under a 1908 Supreme Court precedent that said
state laws can be challenged in federal court by
suing state officials.
Texas had sought to exploit a loophole in the
1908 ruling by saying no state officials could
enforce the law. The Supreme Court said
challengers could pursue their case by naming
state licensing officials including members of
the Texas Medical Board and the Texas Board of
Nursing as defendants.
The lone dissenter, conservative Justice
Clarence Thomas, said he would have tossed the
lawsuit.
Abortion rights advocates said being able to sue
only the licensing officials may not provide a
pathway to fully block the law. A five-justice
majority ruled that neither state court clerks
nor the Texas attorney general could be sued as
Whole Woman's Health sought. Conservative Chief
Justice John Roberts and the court's three
liberals disagreed, saying those officials
should be considered proper defendants.
The case now returns to U.S. District Judge
Robert Pitman. Separately, a state court judge
ruled on Thursday that the law violates the
Texas constitution https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judge-rules-citizen-enforcement-texas-abortion-law-unconstitutional-2021-12-10
with its private-enforcement mechanism.
Roberts criticized the law as specifically
designed to "nullify" the Supreme Court's
precedents on abortion, effectively denying
women a constitutional right.
"The nature of the federal right infringed does
not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court
in our constitutional system that is at stake,"
Roberts wrote.
 Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the
court for failing to "put an end to this
madness" and warning that other states could try
to copy the Texas enforcement mechanism.
"The court thus betrays not only the citizens of
Texas but also our constitutional system of
government," Sotomayor added in an opinion
joined by the other two liberal justices.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung;
Editing by Will Dunham)
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