Idaho Statesman: If this is Idaho's response to federal lawsuit over abortion ban, we're in legal tr

Source: Idaho Statesman

If this is Idaho’s response to federal lawsuit over abortion ban, we’re in legal trouble

The Editorial Board
Wed, August 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM·3 min read

The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the state of Idaho — the first such lawsuit the federal government has filed against a state in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade — is based on important matters of life and death, and raises legitimate questions about how Idaho’s abortion ban would be implemented.

In essence, the DOJ lawsuit contends that Idaho’s trigger law is a violation of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act because it “preemptively criminalizes all abortions … even where a denial of care will likely result in the death of the patient,” U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said during a news conference Tuesday.

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Unfortunately, Idaho’s politicians responded to the lawsuit not with their own cogent legal arguments and reasoning, but with mumbo jumbo about state sovereignty, “federal meddling” and claims that the lawsuit is “politically motivated,” in the words of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who said he wished the DOJ would just sit down and talk about it first.

To the contrary, it was Idaho politicians’ response that appeared to be politically motivated, while the Department of Justice seemed to be the adult in the room, informing Idaho that it thinks it’s breaking the rules.

Idaho doesn’t exactly have a good track record when it comes to these kinds of lawsuits. ...

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/idaho-response-federal-lawsuit-over-100000972.html