Supreme Court

Jonathan H. Adler | 7.29.2024 11:24 AM

CNN's Joan Biskupic has an inside report on what happened at the Supreme Court behind-the-scenes in Moyle v. United States. The case had presented the question whether EMTALA preempts state laws, such as Idaho's Defense of Life Act, that prohibit abortion. The case was ultimately dismissed as improvidently granted, and the stay of a lower court judgment against Idaho was lifted.

From Biskupic's report:

In January, the court took the extraordinary step of letting Idaho enforce its ban on abortion with an exception only to prevent the death of a pregnant woman, despite an ongoing challenge from the Biden administration arguing that it intruded on federal protections for emergency room care.

No recorded vote was made public, but CNN has learned the split was 6-3, with all six Republican-nominated conservatives backing Idaho, over objections from the three Democratic-appointed liberals.

Oral argument in the case was a bit of a mess. There was confusion over what precisely the Idaho law did or did not allow,........

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