Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1323_c07d.pdf
Page Number: 117.0

2 

JUNE MEDICAL SERVICES L.L.C. v. RUSSO 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

touching on one of the most controversial topics in contem-
porary  politics  and  law,  exactly  the  context  where  this 
Court  should  be  leaning  most  heavily  on  the  rules  of  the
judicial  process. 
In  truth,  Roe  v.  Wade,  410  U. S.  113 
(1973), is not even at issue here.  The real question we face
concerns  our  willingness  to  follow  the  traditional  con-
straints  of  the  judicial  process  when  a  case  touching  on
abortion enters the courtroom. 

* 
When confronting a constitutional challenge to a law, this
Court  ordinarily  reviews  the  legislature’s  factual  findings 
under a “deferential” if not “[u]ncritical” standard.  Gonza-
les v. Carhart, 550 U. S. 124, 165–166 (2007).  When facing
such a challenge, too, this Court usually accepts that “the 
public interest has been declared in terms well-nigh conclu-
sive”  by  the  legislature’s  adoption  of  the  law—so  we  may 
review the law only for its constitutionality, not its wisdom. 
Berman v. Parker, 348 U. S. 26, 32 (1954).  Today, however,
the plurality declares that the law before us holds no bene-
fits for the public and bears too many social costs.  All while 
sharing virtually nothing about the facts that led the legis-
lature to conclude otherwise.  The law might as well have 
fallen from the sky.

Of course, that’s hardly the case.  In Act 620, Louisiana’s 
legislature found that requiring abortion providers to hold 
admitting  privileges  at  a  hospital  within  30  miles  of  the 
clinic where they perform abortions would serve the public
interest by protecting women’s health and safety.  Those in 
today’s majority never bother to say so, but it turns out that
Act 620’s admitting privileges requirement for abortion pro-
viders tracks longstanding state laws governing physicians
who perform relatively low-risk procedures like colonosco-
pies, Lasik eye surgeries, and steroid injections at ambula-
tory  surgical  centers.  In  fact,  the  Louisiana  legislature