Gonzales v. Carhart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gonzales v. Carhart
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 8, 2006
Full case name: Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, Petitioner v. Leroy Carhart, et al. Docket #: 05-380 Citations: 126 S. Ct. 1607; 164 L. Ed. 2d 296; 2006 U.S. LEXIS 2233; 74 U.S.L.W. 3530
Holding
Awaiting decision of the Court.
Court membership
Chief Justice: John Roberts Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito
Case opinions
Laws applied
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

Gonzales v. Carhart is a United States Supreme Court case brought before the court on November 8, 2006. Three separate federal appeals courts struck down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appealed these rulings, bringing it before the Supreme Court. It is one of three cases dealing with the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act argued by Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Arguments for federal government were presented by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, while arguments for Dr. Carhart et al. were presented by Priscilla Smith.

[edit] History of case

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 5, 2003, and immediately challenged. Three different U.S. district courts, the Northern District of California (Planned Parenthood v. Ashcroft), the Southern District of New York (National Abortion Federation (NAF) v. Ashcroft), and the District of Nebraska (Carhart v. Gonzales) declared the law unconstitutional.^[1] All three cited the law's failure to offer an exception for the health of the woman, while the Northern District of California also argued that the law presented an undue burden for a woman seeking an abortion. This followed precedent set by Roe v. Wade (1973), and upheld in Stenberg v. Carhart (2000).^[2]

The federal government appealed the district court rulings, first bringing Carhart v. Gonzales before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Judges James B. Loken, Kermit E. Bye, and George G. Fagg unanimously upheld the ruling of the Nebraska court on July 8, 2005.^[1] Finding that the government offered no "new evidence which would serve to distinguish this record from the record reviewed by the Supreme Court in Stenberg," they held that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is unconstitutional because it lacks an exception for the health of the woman.

Attorney General Gonzales petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision on September 25, 2005. While the court considered, the Ninth Circuit and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals also found the law unconstitutional, issuing their opinions on January 31, 2006. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases on February 21, 2006.^[2]

[edit] See also

• Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, another U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Timeline for Federal Abortion Ban Case. Center for Reproductive Rights. Retrieved on November 9, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} Wright, Alexi, Ingrid T. Katz (July 6, 2006). "Roe versus Reality — Abortion and Women's Health". New England Journal of Medicine 355 (1): 1-9. Retrieved on November 9, 2006.