Thread by @RewireNewsGroup

If you’ve been following us here at Rewire News Group, you know that we are positively losing it about Texas #SB8, the 6-week (previability) abortion ban set to go into effect in one week.

Well, we’ve got some news on that front so strap in.

We’ve explained in previous threads that #SB8 is utterly bonkers because it deputizes private citizens to enforce the law by snitching on abortion providers and abortion “aiders and abetters.”

Here's one such thread:

https://twitter.com/RewireNewsGroup/status/1417877478752677890?s=20

Well we’ve got some exciting news on the “challenging this bonkers law” front.

On Monday, the lawyer who won a settlement for gymnasts abused by Team USA doctor Larry Nassar—her name is Michelle Simpson Tuegel—filed a lawsuit.

And we love it because it’s a very smart lawsuit.

.@AngryBlackLady our Senior Editor of Law & Policy breaks down the lawsuit in her new must-read piece:

Texas Doesn’t Want Attorneys Asking Too Many Questions About Its BS Law rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/08/2…

In the lawsuit, Tuegel alleges #SB8 violates a bunch of her rights, including her right to free speech and free exercise of religion—

something conservatives normally care about, but perhaps only when they’re discriminating against LGBTQ people.

~ahem~ rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2017/1…

Tuegel is asking a state court to rule that #SB8 is unconstitutional.

She’s also asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order against @TXRightToLife barring the organization from filing a lawsuit against her under the Texas law.

Tuegel doesn’t KNOW that Texas Right to Life is planning to sue her, but the TRL published a website last week that invites people to help enforce the law by reporting people who may be violating it.

So @TXRightToLife is gearing up for SOMETHING and Tuegel wants no part of it.

Tuegel is primarily a victims’ rights attorney and part of her job is to counsel her clients about abortion.

Some of those clients may go on to get an abortion. And she’s concerned that makes her liable for “aiding and abetting” an abortion and puts her in TRL’s crosshairs.

Tuegel calls #SB8 a “gross and obvious overreach” that “creates a mercenary society” by deputizing private citizens to enforce the law and allowing everyone except government officials to bring a civil lawsuit against those who violate the law.
rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/08/2…

Tuegel also says the law violates the open courts provision in Texas’ constitution.

That provision guarantees all litigants the right to redress their grievances and the right to have their day in court.

But #SB8 makes this virtually impossible.

This is gonna get a little technical and so we encourage you to stop right now and read @AngryBlackLady’s piece.

Go on.

We’ll wait.

rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/08/2…

OK, so now you know how attorneys' fees and lawsuit costs operate, let us tell you how Texas is *intentionally* trying to bankrupt lawyers who challenge any of their abortion restrictions.

It is, pardon our french, nonsense.

Under this law, any attorney who challenges any Texas abortion restriction—not just #SB8 but ANY law—and loses ANY of their claims is automatically jointly liable with their client for the other side’s attorneys’ fees.

This is weird, y’all.

If a court orders the losing side to pay the prevailing side’s attorneys’ fees, that burden almost always falls solely on the litigant—not the litigant’s *attorney.*

But it gets worse.

The law fiddles with the definition of “prevailing party.”

Usually, a prevailing party only needs to win their most important claims.

But #SB8 changes that for abortion litigation.

To prevail in a lawsuit under SB 8, you must win EVERY CLAIM YOU BRING.

So, if you’re an attorney like Tuegel, and you challenge any abortion restriction (not just this 6-week ban, but ANY restriction) you either must prevail on every single claim you bring or risk having to cough up money to pay the other side’s costs if your client can’t pay them.

If your first thought is, "what attorney is going to risk having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees to defend their clients from these frivolous lawsuits brought by abortion snitches?", then congratulations! You get it!

rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/08/2…

Tuegel says she'll keep counseling her clients about abortion even though she risks her entire law practice doing so, but understandably, not many attorneys are willing to do that.

So a lot of people ensnared by this law won’t be able to find an attorney to represent them.

But this is exactly what Texas Republicans intended when they passed #SB8.

They can’t defend this utterly bs law so they’re gaming the system and stacking the decks against pregnant people.
rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/08/2…

We at Rewire News Group will be following this case closely, so smash that follow button here and on Instagram and let’s all hold hands and make our way through this together.