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November 1, 2005
NY Times: Alito confirmation may hinge on abortion case
The New York Times reports that Alito’s confirmation could be strongly affected by a 1991 abortion case. Uh oh.
Here’s some info on the case from NARAL’s fact sheet on Alito:
He was among the Third Circuit judges who heard Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey before it went to the Supreme Court. While the Third Circuit overturned the spousal-notification provision of the statute, it upheld the remaining provisions, including a mandatory delay and a biased-counseling requirement.
Alito concurred in part and dissented in part from the majority’s opinion, arguing that all of the proposed law’s restrictions on abortions were constitutional. Had Alito’s opinion been the majority’s, most married women seeking abortion services would have been required to notify their husbands prior to exercising their right to choose.
Alito concurred in part and dissented in part from the majority’s opinion, arguing that all of the proposed law’s restrictions on abortions were constitutional. Had Alito’s opinion been the majority’s, most married women seeking abortion services would have been required to notify their husbands prior to exercising their right to choose.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the next year struck down the notice requirement as an undue burden. Times reporter Linda Greenhouse notes that an abortion case that is set to be argued later this month touches on similar issues that came up in Casey:
A new abortion case to be argued on Nov. 30, Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, No. 04-1144, poses a variant of the same question. The federal appeals court in Boston extrapolated from the Casey decision and struck down a New Hampshire parental-notification requirement for minors seeking abortions on the ground that because its lack of a provision for a health emergency would place a severe burden on some fraction of teenagers, the burden was "undue" for all.
...If Judge Alito is confirmed, he will vote in this case only if Justice O'Connor has cast the deciding vote, and then only if the court decides after she leaves the bench to break the tie by rearguing the case.
...If Judge Alito is confirmed, he will vote in this case only if Justice O'Connor has cast the deciding vote, and then only if the court decides after she leaves the bench to break the tie by rearguing the case.
Translation: This is one to keep an eye on.
Posted by Jessica at November 1, 2005 8:05 AM
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