The Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday for an injunction to block Texas from enforcing its law banning most abortions.
The request is coming as the law’s constitutionality is debated in lower courts.
In the brief filed with the Supreme Court, Acting Solicitor General Brian Fletcher argued that Texas’ law violates the Constitution and “defies” U.S. Supreme Court rulings, which say states can’t outlaw abortions before fetal viability. That viability usually happens around 22 to 24 weeks.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas ruled that law’s enforcement should be halted while the constitutionality is debated in court.
But Judge Pitman’s order was paused last week by a panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision reinstated the law.
— Dave Mason
