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En banc Ninth Circuit takes up Idaho's 'total abortion ban'
https://www.courthousenews.com/en-banc-ninth-circuit-takes-up-idahos-total-abortion-ban/PASADENA, Calif. (CN) — An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will need to decide after a hearing Tuesday whether a preliminary injunction blocking a Idaho law which criminalizes almost all abortions in the state should stay in place.
The hearing before a panel of 11 judges follows a 2023 decision by the customary panel of three appellate judges, all Donald Trump appointees, who allowed the Idaho to enforce its Defense of Life Act.
After the Ninth Circuit vacated that decision pending the en banc review, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed the lower court's injunction at Idaho's request.
However, in June, the Supreme Court ruled in an unsigned opinion that Idaho shouldn't have been granted emergency relief allowing the state to ignore federal health care protections in favor of its abortion ban. That decision sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit, which after almost a year-long delay will now have to decide if the preliminary injunction should stand.
U.S. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, was quick to question whether — what with a new administration coming in, who presumably may not be interested in pursuing the lawsuit brought by the Biden administration, and with the various changes to the Idaho legislature has made to the law since it was passed in 2020 — it might not better to send the case back to a federal judge in Boise to address those changes on the ground.
The hearing before a panel of 11 judges follows a 2023 decision by the customary panel of three appellate judges, all Donald Trump appointees, who allowed the Idaho to enforce its Defense of Life Act.
After the Ninth Circuit vacated that decision pending the en banc review, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stayed the lower court's injunction at Idaho's request.
However, in June, the Supreme Court ruled in an unsigned opinion that Idaho shouldn't have been granted emergency relief allowing the state to ignore federal health care protections in favor of its abortion ban. That decision sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit, which after almost a year-long delay will now have to decide if the preliminary injunction should stand.
U.S. Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, was quick to question whether — what with a new administration coming in, who presumably may not be interested in pursuing the lawsuit brought by the Biden administration, and with the various changes to the Idaho legislature has made to the law since it was passed in 2020 — it might not better to send the case back to a federal judge in Boise to address those changes on the ground.