WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, America First Legal (AFL) filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which asks the federal appeals court to throw out the Biden Administration’s lawsuit over the Texas Heartbeat Act. 

The Biden Administration sued the state of Texas last September after the Texas Heartbeat Act took effect, despite the absence of any law that allows the federal government to sue states over their abortion statutes. Its lawsuit has gone nowhere. Although the Biden Administration briefly obtained a preliminary injunction from a federal district court on October 6, 2021, that ruling was promptly stayed by the Fifth Circuit less than 48 hours after it issued, and the Supreme Court dismissed the Biden Administration’s request for review. The Heartbeat Act has remained in effect continuously since that time, even though President Biden promised a “whole of government response” to the law. His Administration has been unable to restore access to post-heartbeat abortions in Texas, despite his grandiose promises and his misuse of the Department of Justice to sue states over their abortion policies. 

AFL is representing three Texas residents who intervened in the lawsuit to defend their rights under the Texas Heartbeat Act. Its brief seeks dismissal of the Biden Administration’s lawsuit on the ground that the federal government has no authority to sue a state over its abortion statutes, and it cannot sue a state over abortion policy unless and until Congress authorizes such lawsuits. 

The Texas Heartbeat Act has withstood every single court challenge that it has faced in both state and federal court. It remains in effect despite the Biden Administration’s baseless lawsuit, and the time has come for the Fifth Circuit to bring this meritless litigation to an end.

Read the brief here.