The Supreme Court accidentally posted a document related to a pending abortion case on its website, according to Bloomberg Law. The ruling has not been officially released and it is not clear whether the document was a draft decision, the actual decision, or neither. According to Bloomberg, the court seems poised to allow emergency room doctors in Idaho to perform abortions in certain situations by dismissing an appeal brought by Idaho officials, which would reinstate a lower court ruling in favor of the Biden administration.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by two other conservative justices, arguing that the court should not have dismissed the case. The case involves a federal law regulating emergency room treatment conflicting with Idaho’s strict abortion ban. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed frustration over the delay in deciding the case, stating it leaves pregnant patients in Idaho in a precarious position.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett defended her decision to dismiss the case, citing a procedural error in taking it up before an appeals court had a chance to weigh in. Idaho’s law imposes criminal penalties for anyone who performs an abortion and the federal government sued to block provisions of the law that conflict with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue rulings on the abortion case and other pending cases as it nears the end of its current term. The decision in this case will have implications for abortion laws in other states with similar restrictions to Idaho’s.
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