大象传媒

Well, it happened. The Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade for folks in Texas under cover of darkness. That鈥檚 right鈥攖he biggest abortion rights news in 50 years happened in the shadows.

Instead of issuing a ruling blocking the Texas six-week abortion ban from taking effect, the Court did nothing. But in this case, doing nothing is actually doing everything. Because by doing nothing, the justices said Roe is no longer good law.

You might be wondering: How can the justices doing nothing be the same thing as the justices saying something? I鈥檒l explain.

 bans abortion at . That means it bans abortion well before a fetus is viable. Roe v. Wade says specifically states can鈥檛 do that. Doesn鈥檛 matter. Texas just did that.

Now normally, when Texas lawmakers try to ban abortion鈥攂ecause they have before鈥攖here鈥檚 a big long court fight. It can take years for a case to go from legislation to the Supreme Court.

And that鈥檚 because it takes a long time to develop evidence and go through the arguments. Courts normally take their time deciding big weighty constitutional questions. And, normally, when the Supreme Court is going to do something like overturn鈥攐r substantially change鈥攖he law, it does so after a bunch of briefs and oral arguments. And it does so with a case that is 鈥渙n the docket.鈥�

鈥淥n the docket鈥� is lawyer-speak for when a court formally accepts a case to resolve. It puts it 鈥渙n the docket.鈥� The docket is the public record of legal challenges鈥攊mportant for transparency and a healthy democracy.

It turns out the conservative justices aren鈥檛 the biggest fans of transparency, and so they have developed a side hustle鈥攁 shadow docket, if you will鈥攁nd that鈥檚 the place where they can wreak havoc outside of public view.

The Supreme Court has done all sorts of terrible things via the shadow docket鈥攍ike letting the Biden administration鈥檚 eviction moratorium lapse. And now they鈥檝e gutted abortion rights law.

If the Court was interested in upholding abortion rights precedent, it would have issued an order that basically says, 鈥淪orry Texas, Roe says you can鈥檛 ban abortion at six weeks. Nice try.鈥� The Court didn鈥檛 issue that order.

And by not issuing that order, the Court signaled that the 6-3 conservative majority has no interest in upholding Roe as precedent. And it did so on the shadow docket.

You might remember that there actually is a formal challenge to Roe v. Wade 鈥渙n the docket鈥� for the Court this term鈥�. Well, guess what? The last 24 hours just told us everything about how the Court plans to rule in Dobbs.

A lot could still happen this week. The fight in Texas isn鈥檛 necessarily a done deal. We鈥檙e in the earliest phases of figuring out this new landscape for abortion rights and access.

This article was with permission from , the only media organization dedicated to coverage of reproductive and sexual health, rights, and justice issues. For more stories like this, and to stay informed on the latest in abortion legislation in Texas and other states, subscribe to the聽.听听

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