Justice Department Sues Texas Over Abortion Ban
“The act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent,” Said Attorney General Merrick Garland during a news conference Thursday.
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The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Texas’ near-total abortion ban as an “unconstitutional attack” on women that deprives them of abortion services “in open defiance” of U.S. Supreme Court precedent, reports Courthouse News Service. The Justice Department had been expected to mount a legal challenge to the ban after the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect Sept. 1. Attorney General Merrick Garland denied he was under any pressure to file a lawsuit by progressive groups or the White House. “We carefully evaluated the law and the facts, and this complaint expresses our view of the law and the facts,” the attorney general said. “The act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent.”
Texas measure bans abortions after six weeks and allows private individuals to sue doctors or anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion procedure, and offers a $10,000 bounty to those who do so—a clause that critics call an invitation to vigilantism. The Supreme Court, in a divided 5-4 ruling allowed the Texas Heartbeat Act to take effect after the conservative majority rejected an emergency appeal from abortion providers.
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