Fifth Circuit certifies to Texas Supreme Court

Over a dissent, the panel certifies the following to the Texas Supreme Court:

Whether Texas law authorizes the Attorney General, Texas Medical Board, the Texas Board of Nursing, the Texas Board of Pharmacy, or the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, directly or indirectly, to take disciplinary or adverse action of any sort against individuals or entities that violate the Texas Heartbeat Act, given the enforcement authority granted by various provisions of the Texas Occupations Code, the Texas Administrative Code, and the Texas Health and Safety Code and given the restrictions on public enforcement in sections 171.005, 171.207 and 171.208(a) of the Texas Health and Safety Code.

I think this is nonsense, an obvious attempt to delay resolution of the question of SB8's constitutional validity. And I agree (for once) with Slate's Mark Joseph Stern that the lower courts are trying to run out the clock until Dobbs (they hope) overrules Roe and Casey. But this delay is not keeping abortion a dead letter in the state.

Imagine everyone had not dragged their feet. The case returns to the district court, which declares SB8 invalid (Judge Pitman so held in U.S. v. Texas). Now what? The injunction would prohibit the medical boards from taking administrative actions against any plaintiff doctor or provider who performs a post-heartbeat abortion. That is the extent of the court's remedial power in that limited case. The injunction would not prohibit private individuals, who are not parties to the case, from filing SB8 lawsuits for damages. The injunction would not protect non-medical providers (who are not subject to the boards' regulatory authority) from aiding-or-abetting lawsuits. The decision would provide persuasive precedent as to SB8's constitutional validity and would move the case towards SCOTUS review on that issue. But the judgment would not enable providers to resume post-heartbeat abortions, because it would not protect them from the private suits that is the real cause of the chilling effect.

Meanwhile, three state-court actions remain pending and no one seems to be doing anything in them.