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Supreme Court Reverses Fifth Circuit, Attorney General Jeff Landry Responds

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a narrow 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Louisiana’s admitting privileges law. In response, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued the following statement:

“Today, the Supreme Court continued its heartbreaking line of decisions that places ‘access’ to abortion above the health and safety of women and girls.

By putting precedent over patients, Justice Roberts gave his vote to a decision that ignored the overwhelming bipartisan support of Act 620 and the extensive record of Louisiana abortion providers’ history of medical malpractice, disciplinary actions, and violations of health and safety standards.

It is deeply disappointing that the Chief Justice continues a pattern of inconsistent and groundless decisions. In his misguided effort to convince the public that the Supreme Court is not political, Justice Roberts shows how political it actually is. Just four years ago, he joined the dissenters in Hellerstedt, which struck down Texas’s law; today, the Chief Justice openly acknowledges that case was wrong but then applies it anyway. He picks and choses from a stare decisis “buffet” to avoid admitting his Court is fallible. This is not justice – this is judge-made law at its worst.

Continuing to perpetuate judge-made rules that have no constitutional basis is bad for our country. It is this egregiously wrong practice that maintained decisions like Plessy, Dred Scott, and Korematsu for so long. And it reveals how far removed the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence has become from the rules that apply to all other litigants. We are past due for a course correction.

When laws are passed with nearly unanimous bipartisan support by the elected representatives of a state and with undisputed proof of dangerous conditions and substandard abortion providers, but they cannot survive judicial review – something is drastically wrong with the Court’s case law on this subject.

I will continue to pray for all women and girls who will be exposed to the incompetent abortionists that put profits over people; and I will keep doing all that I legally can to protect the unborn, their mothers, and all Louisiana women.”

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Act 620 attempted to align abortion providers with other professional and regulatory licensing laws in Louisiana. The law required abortion providers be able to admit patients to a nearby hospital in the event of complications. It passed the Louisiana Legislature in 2014 by an 88-5 vote in the House of Representatives and a 34-3 vote in the Senate. Act 620 was previously upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.