The Times, Dobbs, and SB8

The New York Times had a big piece Friday on the behind-the-scenes events leading to Dobbs. I want to comment on SB8's cameo in the story.

The piece describes the SB8 case as the beginning of the fall of Roe and the failure to stay enforcement before the law took effect as the point at which "Roe was partially undone." I saw one surprising bit in this section--that Justice Gorsuch was incommunicado except through Justice Alito on the evening of August 31 (the law took effect at midnight September 1). He expressed no view until the next day (which Alito relayed to the rest of the Justices), then voted to deny any injunction the following day. Beyond that weirdness, everything the Justices said in internal memos (as quoted in the Times) appeared in the opinions in the stay order--Roberts' view that the existence of the law might create an independent violation and Justice Sotomayor's view that it was a "pity that we cannot do the right thing."

The problem with giving SB8 a meaningful role in the drama leading to Dobbs is that the outcome of the case should have been obvious. The Court had never said the mere existence of the law violates the Constitution independent of enforcement. The Court cannot stop the law from taking effect, because the Court cannot enjoin a law, independent of its enforcement. And the Court could not, in a § 1983/EpY action, enjoin unknown private actors from doing anything. All of this should have been obvious when the private case reached the Court.