Courts

Supreme Court Erodes Separation of Church and State

At his last game as the Bremerton High assistant football coach, Joseph Kennedy led a prayer at the 50-yard line that had spectators jumping over the fence to join him on the field. This was after the school district told him to stop holding public prayers and right before they fired him. Kennedy sued, arguing […]

Courts

Ketanji Brown Jackson: Making History

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the United States’ 116th Supreme Court Justice by a 53 to 47 vote in the U.S. Senate today. She will be seated as a Justice on the Court after Justice Stephen Breyer retires, which is expected this summer after the end of the Court’s current session. “Ketanji Brown […]

Abortion Courts Reproductive Choice Reproductive Rights

Supreme Court Issues Another Procedural Blow to Texas Abortion Advocates

This Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Texas abortion providers again in the on-going legal battle over the state’s controversial six-week ban, S.B. 8. This week’s decision was made regarding the issue of sending the case back to the original trial judge, an attempt by abortion advocates to move their challenge to the law […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Clinics Courts Reproductive Choice Reproductive Rights

The Supreme Court Must Not Reward Anti-Abortion Violence

by Christian F. Nunes and Eleanor Smeal Political violence as a tool for achieving political goals is on the rise, particularly when it comes to abortion. We’ve seen this before with S.B. 8 in Texas, a law that codifies vigilante anti-abortion extremism, and we’re seeing it again with the Mississippi abortion ban case, Dobbs v. Jackson […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Activism Courts Ms. Magazine Reproductive Rights

Texas’s Six-Week Ban Has Been In Effect for Over Two Months. Is There an End in Sight?

by Roxy Szal for Ms. magazine With a lack of Supreme Court action to block the most restrictive abortion ban in history, Texas abortion advocates are looking to a district court for relief. On Wednesday, a state district judge heard arguments from abortion providers and advocates to block enforcement of Texas Senate Bill 8, the most […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Reproductive Rights

Biden Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Texas Abortion Ban

On Monday, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to block SB8, a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks. The administration claims the measure is unconstitutional, and that it was purposefully designed to evade judicial review.  The law was allowed to be put into effect on September 1, after the Supreme Court refused to block […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Reproductive Rights

Appeals Court Puts Temporary Hold on Judge’s Order to Block Texas Abortion Ban

On Friday night, a federal appeals court placed a temporary hold on a federal judge’s order to block Texas’ SB8, an extreme, near-total abortion ban enacted last month. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Texas’ administrative stay request, after Judge Robert Pitman ruled to block the law last week, responding to a request from […]

Abortion Courts Reproductive Rights

Federal Judge Blocks Texas’ Abortion Ban

On Wednesday, a federal judge granted an emergency request from the Justice Department and blocked enforcement of Texas’s SB8, a law banning abortion after six weeks.  U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman said in his ruling that since SB8 went into effect in September, “women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts

Federal Judge Sets Hearing Date to Rule on Justice Department’s Emergency Request to Stop Texas Abortion Ban

A federal district judge in Texas announced Wednesday that a hearing date for October 1 has been set to rule on the Justice Department’s request for a preliminary injunction to block Texas’s abortion ban. The hearing date comes just after the Department of Justice filed an emergency motion Tuesday asking Judge Robert L. Pitman of […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Reproductive Rights

Justice Department Files Emergency Motion Asking Federal Judge to Block Texas’ Six-Week Abortion Ban

The Department of Justice asked a federal district judge Tuesday to block the enforcement of Texas’ new six-week abortion ban, which effectively eliminates all abortion access in the second-largest state. The Justice Department filed an emergency motion requesting that Judge Robert L. Pitman of the Western District of Texas implement a preliminary injunction and temporary […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Reproductive Rights

Texas Judge Issues New Injunction Preventing Anti-Choice Group from Enforcing Six-Week Abortion Ban

On Monday, a state judge in Texas issued an injunction blocking Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, from suing Planned Parenthood under Texas’s new six-week abortion ban, SB 8. Judge Karin Crump of the Travis County district court issued the injunction, which will stay in effect until April of 2022. It replaces […]

Courts Immigration On the Hill

Biden Administration Appeals Ruling that Found DACA Illegal

The Biden administration appealed a federal district court ruling on Friday that declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program illegal and blocked new applicants from receiving the program’s benefits. The appeal challenges a ruling made by Texas federal district Judge Andrew Hanen in July. Judge Hanen ruled that DACA was unlawful because it […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Health Reproductive Rights

Department of Justice Sues Texas Over Law that Effectively Bans All Abortion

On Thursday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Texas to challenge the state’s new law, SB 8, which prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, effectively banning all abortion in the state. “The Act is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. “The United States has […]

Abortion Activism Courts Global Health

Mexico Supreme Court Rules to Decriminalize Abortion

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that the criminalization of abortion is unconstitutional in a unanimous vote Tuesday. This decision sets a precedent to decriminalize abortion throughout the country, which has the second-largest Catholic population in the world. At question was a law in the northern state of Coahuila which stated people who had an abortion, or […]

Abortion Abortion Providers Courts Health

Texas Judge Temporarily Blocks Anti-Choice Group from Suing Planned Parenthood

On Friday, a U.S. district judge in Texas granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a restraining order against Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group in Texas. The group is temporarily blocked from suing Planned Parenthood under Texas’s newly enacted six-week abortion ban, called S.B. 8. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of the District Court for Travis […]