In today’s Supreme Court hearing on the Biden administration challenge to aspects of Idaho’s strict abortion ban, US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar put forward arguments seeking to appeal to conservative justices who just two years ago ruled that states should have the ability to prohibit the procedure.
The dispute, stemming from the Justice Department’s marquee response to the high court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, turns on whether federal mandates for hospital emergency room care override abortion bans that do not exempt situations where a woman’s health is in danger but her life is not yet threatened.
Prelogar argued that there was a real conflict between Idaho’s law and the federal statute, known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, but she painted its as a narrow one. She stressed that, in this case, the administration is not trying to interfere with Idaho’s ability to criminalize abortions outside of the medical emergencies addressed by EMTALA.
Key votes: To prevail, the Biden administration will need the votes of two members of the court’s conservative bloc, and with Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaling sympathies towards Idaho, the case will likely come down to the votes of Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett. Two years ago, she was one of five justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The two justices had tough questions for both sides of the case. The court’s far-right wing, perhaps in attempt to bring those swing justices to their side, framed the case as a federal overreach into state power.
The court’s liberals meanwhile focused on the grisly details of medical emergencies faced by pregnant woman that were not covered by the limited life-of-the-woman exemption in Idaho’s ban.