Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-463_3ebh.pdf
Page Number: 37

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WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH v. JACKSON 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part 
Opinion of SOTOMAYOR, J. 

term or attempt self-induced abortions outside of the medi-
cal system. 
  The  Court  should  have  put  an  end  to  this  madness 
months ago, before S. B. 8 first went into effect.  It failed to 
do so then, and it fails again today.  I concur in the Court’s 
judgment that the petitioners’ suit may proceed against cer-
tain  executive  licensing  officials  who  retain  enforcement 
authority  under  Texas law,  and  I trust  the District  Court 
will  act  expeditiously  to  enter  much-needed  relief.    I  dis-
sent, however, from the Court’s dangerous departure from 
its precedents, which establish that federal courts can and 
should issue relief when a State enacts a law that chills the 
exercise of a constitutional right and aims to evade judicial 
review.  By foreclosing suit against state-court officials and 
the  state  attorney  general,  the  Court  effectively  invites 
other States to refine S. B. 8’s model for nullifying federal 
rights.    The  Court  thus  betrays  not  only  the  citizens  of 
Texas, but also our constitutional system of government. 

I 
  I have previously described the havoc S. B. 8’s unconsti-
tutional  scheme  has  wrought  for  Texas  women  seeking 
abortion care and their medical providers.1  I do not repeat 
those details here, but I briefly outline the law’s numerous 
procedural  and  substantive  anomalies,  most  of  which  the 
Court simply ignores. 
  S.  B.  8  authorizes  any  person—who  need  not  have  any 
relationship to the woman, doctor, or procedure at issue—
to  sue,  for  at  least  $10,000  in  damages,  anyone  who  per-
forms, induces, assists, or even intends to assist an abortion 
in violation of Texas’ unconstitutional 6-week ban.  See Tex. 
Health & Safety Code Ann. §171.208(a) (West Cum. Supp. 

—————— 

1 See United States v. Texas, 595 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2021) (SOTOMAYOR, 
J.,  concurring  in  part  and  dissenting  in  part)  (slip  op.,  at  4–7);  Whole 
Woman’s Health v. Jackson, 594 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2021) (SOTOMAYOR, 
J., dissenting) (slip op., at 1–3).