A week after the Supreme Court declined to block Texas’ new abortion restrictions, the Justice Department has sued the state of Texas.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who announced the lawsuit, says the statute is unconstitutional.
More from The Texas Tribune:
Garland said Texas’ statute is “invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the 14th Amendment, is preempted by federal law and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity.” He called the law a “statutory scheme” that skirts constitutional precedent by “thwarting judicial review for as long as possible.”
Previous laws aimed at restricting or stopping abortions have been struck down over the years by the Supreme Court. But this law uses the novel mechanism of relying on private citizens filing lawsuits to enforce the law, not state officials or law enforcement. This makes it especially difficult to strike down in court because there is not a specific defendant for the court to make an injunction against.
We talk about the new lawsuit — and answer your questions about the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
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