Former Texas solicitor general Jonathan F Mitchell’s ‘dangerous’ legal strategy lets legislators pass laws that thwart the judiciary
At the center of the extreme Texas law that bans nearly all abortion care in the second largest state in the US lies a novel legal provision that allows any private citizen to act as vigilantes and sue an abortion provider or anyone who “aids or abets” the procedure. While a federal judge temporarily blocked Senate Bill 8 on Wednesday, after 36 days in effect, the fifth circuit court of appeals temporarily restored the law late Friday.
In a lawsuit against the measure, the US Department of Justice recently called Senate Bill 8 an “unprecedented scheme” designed with the specific objective of evading judicial review of its unconstitutionality. But who crafted this dangerous legal strategy?