Supreme Court’s Use of ‘Shadow Docket’ in Abortion Ruling Fuels Criticism
- Justices used expedited process to allow Texas abortion law
- Critics decry conservatives’ use of emergency proceedings
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A crucial moment on a question of abortion precedent played out on the U.S. Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” an expedited decision-making process taking up a bigger and what critics say is an unhealthy role in high court jurisprudence.
In a 5-4 ruling issued minutes before midnight Wednesday, the justices refused to block a Texas law prohibiting abortion after around six weeks, leaving in place the strictest abortion limits in the country in a one-paragraph opinion citing procedural defects with an abortion provider’s request.