The Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments on a Texas law that prohibits most abortions after six weeks for the time being, but it also agreed to hear oral arguments on the statute next month.
In agreeing to hear the case in such a short period of time, the court said on Friday that it will concentrate primarily on the odd manner in which the Texas legislature designed the statute in the first place.
It also said that it would investigate whether the United States Justice Department will be able to challenge the bill in court.
As a result of the legislation, many abortions are prohibited before a woman even realizes she is pregnant.
Officials in Texas are prohibited from enforcing it.
Instead, individual persons from any part of the nation may file a civil lawsuit against anybody who supports a pregnant woman seeking an abortion in contravention of the law, regardless of where they live.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor chastised her colleagues for allowing the statute to stay in force again, despite the short timetable for oral arguments in the case.
"I cannot capture the totality of this harm in these pages," Sotomayor said, adding that Texas, "empowered by this Court's inaction," has "thoroughly chilled the exercise of the right recognized in Roe."
On September 1, the Supreme Court decided to allow the legislation to take effect, despite a sharp split in the court's 5-4 decision, which was issued late at night on the court's emergency docket after a long night of deliberation.
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