Constitutional Law Scholars Urge Supreme Court To Invalidate Louisiana Law Restricting Abortion Access

NEW YORK--()--On December 2nd, 2019, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 15 leading scholars of constitutional law in support of the petitioners in June Medical Services LLC v. Gee. In June Medical Services, which involves a challenge to a Louisiana law that requires doctors who perform abortions in the state to have active admitting privileges at a nearby hospital (and which will likely cause all but one of the State’s abortion clinics to close), the Court will be asked to apply its longstanding precedents in Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, and its more recent decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

In their amicus brief, the scholars argue that a decision to uphold the Louisiana law in light of Whole Woman’s Health, which invalidated an identical Texas law, would effectively gut the undue burden test, with implications not just for abortion rights, but for the rule of law itself. Permitting lower federal and state courts to circumvent binding Supreme Court precedent with which they disagree under the pretext of “balancing” would invite lawlessness across a wide range of subject matter areas governed by balancing tests, and would undercut the Court’s ability to ensure the uniformity and supremacy of federal law.

Orin Snyder, counsel of record for the scholars, stated, “We are proud to partner with some of the country’s preeminent legal minds to urge the Court to continue to protect the right to abortion access, as it has faithfully done for more than four decades.”

The brief’s signatories include Ashutosh Bhagwat (University of California, Davis, School of Law); Lee C. Bollinger (Columbia University); Erwin Chemerinsky (University of California at Berkeley School of Law); Michael C. Dorf (Cornell Law School); Daniel Farber (University of California at Berkeley School of Law); Joanna L. Grossman (Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law); Pamela S. Karlan (Stanford Law School); Leah Litman (University of Michigan Law School); Martha Minow (Harvard Law School); Jane S. Schacter (Stanford Law School); Suzanna Sherry (Vanderbilt Law School); Geoffrey R. Stone (University of Chicago Law School); David A. Strauss (University of Chicago Law School); Laurence H. Tribe (Harvard Law School); and Mary Ziegler (Florida State University College of Law).

Argument is set for March 4, 2020.

The scholars are represented in this matter on a pro bono basis by Gibson Dunn attorneys Orin Snyder, Joshua S. Lipshutz, Greta B. Williams, Katherine Marquart, Lauren M. Blas, Kathryn M. Cherry, Grace E. Hart, and Leah Faith Bower.

Copies of the brief are available upon request.

Contacts

Orin Snyder
osnyder@gibsondunn.com

Contacts

Orin Snyder
osnyder@gibsondunn.com