Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a85_5h25.pdf
Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2021) 

3 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

§§171.208(a), (b)(3) (West 2021).  The legislature designed 
this scheme to make it more complicated to enjoin the Act.  
Whole  Woman’s Health,  594  U. S.,  at ___  (ROBERTS, C. J., 
dissenting).    To that  end,  S.  B.  8  also purports  to  restrict 
constitutional and procedural defenses, limit the preclusive 
effect  of  court  rulings, and  impose retroactive liability  for 
services provided while the Act is enjoined if the injunction 
is  later  overturned.   See  Tex. Health &  Safety  Code  Ann. 
§§171.208(e)(3)–(5), 171.209. 
  In July 2021, abortion providers and advocates filed suit 
to  challenge  S.  B.  8.    As  relevant,  they  sought  to  prevent 
Texas judges and court clerks from accepting S. B. 8 suits.  
Three days before the District Court’s scheduled hearing on 
preliminary  injunctive  relief,  a  panel  of  the  Fifth  Circuit 
stayed the proceedings.  The plaintiffs applied to this Court 
for emergency relief.  S. B. 8 took effect on September 1, and 
this Court denied relief that evening.  See Whole Woman’s 
Health, 594 U. S., at ___.  The Fifth Circuit later opined that 
“[p]laintiffs’ claims against a state judge and court clerk are 
specious” on the view that the Ex parte Young exception to 
state sovereign  immunity  “explicitly  excludes  judges  from 
the scope of relief it authorizes.”  Whole Woman’s Health v. 
Jackson, 13 F. 4th 434, 443 (2021) (citing Ex parte Young, 
209 U. S. 123, 163 (1908)).  As a result, in the Fifth Circuit’s 
estimation, the abortion providers could not win relief from 
the law. 
  State  sovereign  immunity,  however,  poses  no  bar  to  a 
challenge  by  the  United  States.    See  Alden  v.  Maine,  527 
U. S. 706, 755 (1999).  Accordingly, after this Court issued 
its order in Whole Woman’s Health, the United States filed 
the present suit.  On October 6, the District Court issued a 
113-page  opinion  in  which  it  thoroughly  considered  and 
carefully  addressed  the  procedural  questions  presented, 
held this case justiciable, and enjoined the Texas law.  ___ 
F. Supp. 3d ___, 2021 WL 4593319 (WD Tex. 2021).  But a 
divided Fifth Circuit panel granted the State’s request for