The Supreme Court's newest member made her colleagues sit and listen to her dissent Thursday to their ruling that did not decide an Idaho abortion case. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that although doctors in the state will be allowed to provide emergency abortions while the case is considered by lower courts, the decision is "not a victory for pregnant patients," NBC News reports. "It is delay," Jackson said. "While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires."
The court voted 6-3 to dismiss the appeal brought by state officials, so hospitals that receive federal funding must allow emergency abortions to take place even though Idaho laws prohibit almost all abortions. Jackson said the abortion ban clearly conflicts with federal law, though the court sidestepped that issue, wasting a chance to bring clarity to it. Pausing before each word for emphasis, per the Hill, Jackson told her fellow justices, "Idaho's law must yield."
In the meantime, she said, the federal government is impaired in its ability to enforce US law. The one in question requires federally funded hospitals to provide stabilizing care to emergency room patients no matter their ability to pay. "Will this Court just have a do-over, rehearing and rehashing the same arguments we are considering now, just at a comparatively more convenient point in time?" Jackson wrote. "Or maybe we will keep punting on this issue altogether, allowing chaos to reign wherever lower courts enable States to flagrantly undercut federal law, facilitating the suffering of people in need of urgent medical treatment." (More Ketanji Brown Jackson stories.)
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