We’re In For an Unruly Supreme Court Term

October 9, 2024:

This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.

The Supreme Court term kicked off on Monday with a flurry of abortion-related orders that make it very clear the conservative justices are hell-bent on worsening the country’s human rights crisis.

First, the conservative justices denied a request from the Biden administration to intervene in the fight over Texas’ near-total abortion ban and federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requirements that certain hospitals provide emergency abortion care to patients in need. The decision leaves in place a Fifth Circuit ruling saying Texas can deny emergency abortion care to patients in need despite federal law. It almost certainly guarantees the Supreme Court will step back into the EMTALA fight at some point—that’s because Idaho’s quest to also deny patients emergency abortion care continues on at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after the Supreme Court refused to resolve that fight last term.

Monday’s order comes after reports of a dramatic rise in maternal deaths in Texas after the state enacted that ban.

Next, the Court also left in place an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that stated frozen embryos are people under state law. The refusal to intervene means a wrongful death case against Alabama fertility clinics involving the destruction of frozen embryos can continue. The decision also signals the justices’ willingness to leave in place the most extreme anti-abortion decisions from state supreme courts, including ones that recognize fetal “personhood,” because doing so is yet another way to move the national conversation around abortion and reproductive health care generally further to the right.

Lastly, the Court refused to review a decision by the Guam Supreme Court that liberalized abortion laws in the territory. It’s a rare bright spot that likely has more to do with the Court’s reluctance to get involved in a territorial dispute than its agreement with the outcome—still, a win is a win when it comes to this Court and abortion access.

If Monday’s order list is any indication, we’re in for a very long and disruptive term.

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