Thread by @JuddLegum

Reading through the DOJ's complaint against the State of Texas.

Follow along if interested.

justsecurity.org/wp-content/upl…

2. "It is settled constitutional law that 'a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.'"

Hard to argue with that. Cites Casey and Roe.

This isn't rocket science.

3. "Texas enacted S.B. 8 in open defiance of the Constitution...Instead of relying on the State’s executive branch to enforce the law, as is the norm in Texas and elsewhere, the State has deputized ordinary citizens to serve as bounty hunters"

4. "To date, abortion providers have ceased providing services prohibited by S.B. 8, leaving women in Texas unacceptably and unconstitutionally deprived of abortion services. Yet, despite this flagrant deprivation of rights, S.B. 8 remains in effect."

5. The DOJ says it is filing the lawsuit to protect Constitutional rights. But it also makes this argument: "S.B. 8 conflicts with federal law by purporting to prohibit federal agencies from carrying out their responsibilities under federal law related to abortion services."

6. "The United States therefore seeks a declaratory judgment that S.B. 8 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity"

7. "Senator Bryan Hughes, one of the principal architects of SB 8 in the Texas
Legislature, removed all doubt about this purpose when he informed reporters that SB 8’s structure was intended to avoid the fate of other “heartbeat” bills that have been struck down"

8. "S.B. 8 harms the United States by seeking to foreclose judicial review of a state law that flagrantly infringes the constitutional rights of the public at large and seeks to block the injured members of the public from challenging that law in court."