AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Texas heartbeat bill4/20/2023 The Heartbeat Act went into effect at midnight on Sept. The Supreme Court ordered the defendants to file a response in 24 hours, by 5 p.m. The abortion plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to enter an injunction, lift the stay in the district court, or (oddly) vacate the district court’s order in their favor overruling the defendants’ jurisdictional objections so an injunction hearing could proceed in district court. Supreme Court on the afternoon of August 30, 2021. The Fifth Circuit’s denial of the abortion plaintiffs’ request to lift the stay prompted them to seek emergency relief from the U.S. The Fifth Circuit denied the motion to lift the stay and is still considering the motion to dismiss along with Dickson’s stay motion. The abortion plaintiffs asked the Fifth Circuit to lift the stay and dismiss Dickson’s appeal. That temporary stay allows the court more time to consider the motion to stay as to the individual defendant. 27, the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary administrative stay of proceedings as to Dickson, vacating the preliminary injunction hearing set for Aug.30 (which would have proceeded against Dickson only, pursuant to the district court’s order). Dickson, the individual defendant, asked the Fifth Circuit to stay the proceedings against him as well, since he raised some of the same jurisdictional objections that would be at issue in the governmental defendants’ appeal. The district judge granted that request the next day, but only for the governmental defendants. The law also provides that the district court no longer has jurisdiction after this happens, so the defendants asked the district court to enter a stay of proceedings while the case proceeded on appeal. (Courts are supposed to make sure they have jurisdiction-authority to hear a case-before proceeding further.)Įstablished law allows for an immediate appeal if a governmental entity is denied immunity from suit, so that night, the defendants appealed to the U.S. On August 25, 2021, the federal district judge overruled the defendants’ jurisdictional objections. 7, 2021, to file a motion for preliminary injunctive relief.Īfter a flurry of briefing, including on significant jurisdictional objections raised by the defendants, the parties were preparing for the preliminary injunction hearing, which was scheduled for August 30, 2021. The abortion plaintiffs also sued the Texas attorney general and several state agency officials, as well as Mark Lee Dickson, a pro-life activist. They also sued the clerk for the district court of Smith County as a defendant class representative of every Texas court clerk. The plaintiffs sued a state district judge in Smith County, Texas as a defendant class representative of every non-federal judge in Texas. District Court for the Western District of Texas, located in Austin.īecause the law did not allow for enforcement by government officials, the abortion plaintiffs instead tried to sue judicial officials to prevent the private-enforcement suits from being filed or considered, which is unusual. On July 13, 2021-nearly two months after Abbott signed the bill into law-a group of abortion facilities, doctors, and associated organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law in the U.S. The Texas Heartbeat Act was scheduled to take effect on Sept. The Heartbeat Law also provides that abortion providers have a defense if they can show that awarding relief would be an “undue burden” for a woman or group of women seeking an abortion, which is the legal standard given by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. The Heartbeat Law prohibits suits from being brought against women who receive abortions, nor may a suit be brought by someone who impregnated the abortion patient through rape, sexual assault, incest, or other criminal act. Normal rules of civil procedure and Texas precedent apply in terms of the standard of proof involved, confidentiality, and the way the cases proceed in court. The Heartbeat Law allows suits to be brought by any person with evidence an illegal abortion has been performed, but merely bringing a suit does not entitle that person to receive civil penalties or other relief.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |