Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion restrictions

Louisiana passed legislation several years ago which stated in order for a doctor to perform an abortion he or she had to have admitting rights to a nearby hospital, this law had been challenged in the courts and today the Supreme Court ruled against the law. Here is more:

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law that critics said could have forced all but one of the state’s abortion providers to close, granting a major victory for abortion rights supporters and signaling that the more conservative court isn’t ready to overthrow precedent on the divisive issue.

In a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts casting the deciding vote, the court said the Louisiana law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals created an unconstitutional undue burden for patients seeking an abortion.

  John Roberts claimed he disagreed with the decision however was forced to vote in favor of it due to precedent:

Justice Stephen Breyer, in an opinion joined by rest of the court’s liberal wing, wrote that the Louisiana law would make it “impossible for many women to obtain a safe, legal abortion in the State and [impose] substantial obstacles on those who could.” Roberts, in a separate concurring opinion, disagreed with the liberal justices’ reasoning but said he was bound by the precedent the court set just four years ago when it rejected a similar law in Texas.

“The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons,” wrote Roberts, who had voted to uphold the Texas restrictions in 2016. “Therefore Louisiana’s law cannot stand under our precedents.”

  He seems to have forgotten it was his court which set the precedent in the first place. When can we stop saying John Roberts sided with the four liberal justices and just say the five liberal justices?

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium