2019-10-21_Time

18 Time October 21–28, 2019

TheBrief News

when The U.S. SUpreme CoUrT an-

nounced on Oct. 4 that it plans to take up its

first abortion case since the appointment of

two new conservative justices, Neil Gorsuch

and Brett Kavanaugh, the news gave some

court watchers déjà vu.

The case, June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee,

is about a Louisiana law that requires doc-

tors performing abortions to have admitting

privileges at a nearby hospital. In 2016, the

court reversed a Texas case involving admit-

ting privileges in a 5-3 decision, saying reduc-

ing the pool of doctors permitted to conduct

the procedure exerted an “undue burden” on a

woman’s right to have an abortion. In the wake

of the Texas ruling, the Supreme Court refused

to hear similar challenges involving laws from

Wisconsin and Mississippi but has agreed to

consider a lower court’s finding that Louisi-

ana’s law was different enough that it could

stand, even if Texas’ was unconstitutional.

Louisiana attorney general Jeff Landry has

applauded the decision, saying that the law is

“designed to protect women.” Others, how-

ever, argue June Medical Services could have

national implications not only for abortion,

but also—because of its similarity to the Texas

case—for the legitimacy of the court itself. “It’s

quite shocking that they scheduled a hearing

when you’ve got a very recent precedent,” says

Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown law professor.

SUCCESSION

Royal reforms

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf removed royal titles from five of his grandchildren

on Oct. 7, shrinking the royal house. Here, other regal revisions. —Rachael Bunyan

POWER DOWN

King Mohammed VI

of Morocco

dramatically

reduced his own

constitutional powers

in June 2011, in

response to the Arab

Spring uprisings. He

transferred executive

powers to the office

of Prime Minister.

LINE OF TAXATION

In June 2013,

Belgium’s royal family

had their incomes

slashed and began

paying income taxes

for the first time,

after the dowager

Queen Fabiola

was accused of

attempting to evade

inheritance taxes.

RANKING WOMEN

Female members

of the U.K.’s royal

family now take

precedence in the

line of succession

over younger males,

following a change

in legislation in

March 2015. The law

also allowed royals to

marry Catholics.

NEWS

TICKER

No health

care? No visa,

Trump says

Immigrants will be

denied visas if they

are unable to prove

they will be covered

by health insurance or

can afford to pay their

own medical expenses,

according to an Oct. 

Trump Administration

announcement. The

policy, effective on

Nov. 3, is expected to

lead to thousands of

denied green cards.

Church may

let married

men be priests

Some married men

could be on their way

to becoming Catholic

priests, overturning

centuries of tradition,

after Pope Francis

on Oct. 6 opened a

controversial summit

at the Vatican. The

proposal was set to

be discussed among

a raft of other ideas

aimed at confronting a

shortage of priests in

the Amazon region.

September

jobless rate

drops to 3.5%

The U.S.

unemployment rate fell

by 0.2%, to 3.5%, as

the economy added

136,000 jobs in

September, according

to numbers released by

the Labor Department

on Oct. 4. The report,

which showed the

lowest jobless rate

since December

1969, comes amid

recession fears for the

U.S. economy.

Gostin believes that if the Supreme Court

upholds the lower-court ruling, it will send

two messages: that states are free to expand

abortion restrictions beyond what was previ-

ously considered constitutional and that “if

you change the political composition of the

court, you can change constitutional rights.”

That composition has abortion-rights

groups worried. “There’s only one reason the

court would not strike down the Louisiana

law, and that is because Justice Kennedy, who

voted to protect abortion access just three

years ago, has been replaced with Justice Ka-

vanaugh,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting

president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, in

an Oct. 4 statement.

But what their verdict is will still come

down to whether the Justices can distinguish

this case from the Texas one. “They’ll have to

do some rhetorical gymnastics” to do so, says

Katherine Franke, director of the Center for

Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law

School. To uphold Louisiana’s restrictions on

abortion, they would have to highlight how the

facts of each case are unique or else find that

they got something wrong in the previous ver-

dict. Otherwise, they would risk creating “the

impression that the rule of law shifts with dif-

ferent Presidents.”

Franke, who believes there are no substan-

tial factual differences between the cases,

says taking that risk could have serious con-

sequences. “Given the way Kavanaugh’s con-

firmation was so politicized, you would think

the court would like to get out from under that

shadow,” she says. “Politicizing this case will

not help.” —Sanya manSoor

GOOD QUESTION

How could Louisiana’s

SCOTUS case affect

abortion in the U.S.?