In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal for a second time to block a Texas law prohibiting most abortions, California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to use the Texas strategy to outlaw what his state characterizes as “assault weapons.”
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s challenge to the Texas law previously known as S.B. 8, which essentially bans all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and delegates enforcement to private citizens. The vote was 8-1, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor being the sole dissenter. Sotomayor argued in her dissenting opinion that the court, by its decision, “effectively invites other states to refine” the Texas model “for nullifying federal rights.”
