Deadline day: Texas response coming to Justice Department asking Supreme Court to block abortion law

WASHINGTON — As the noon ET deadline fast approaches, Texas has only a few hours left to respond to the Justice Department’s emergency application asking the Supreme Court to block the state’s six-week abortion ban.

The Thursday deadline also applies to any person or group looking to submit a brief with additional information or insight regarding the case to the court, nine of which have been filed so far — eight in opposition to the Texas law, known as Senate Bill 8.

On Monday, the Supreme Court signaled interest in providing a quick review of the state’s law, a move that comes a little over a month before the court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on a Mississippi abortion ban that kicks in at 15 weeks. Both cases are posing distinct legal challenges to Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 landmark that stemmed from a Dallas County case.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spearheaded the Biden administration’s challenge to SB 8, filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ban in district court. After a federal district judge in Travis County sided with the Justice Department and blocked the law, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, allowing the six-week ban to take effect again.

Legal scholars, medical organizations and even a group of former prosecutors and law enforcement leaders have filed briefs in support of the Justice Department’s application to have the Supreme Court block SB 8.

While the arguments vary, almost all contend the law is a clear violation of Roe and it’s taking a toll both on Texas women seeking an abortion and the neighboring states they’re forced to travel to to receive one.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other proponents of SB 8 are confident they’ll prevail, however, because the Supreme Court has already already allowed the law to stand once, when it declined to issue an injunction to block it back in September.

Numerous other challenges are playing out in other courts as well. In addition to the Justice Department’s action, oral arguments for the lawsuit filed by Whole Woman’s Health, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers — which in September was the emergency appeal to block SB 8 that the Supreme Court refused to grant — will be heard in December.