Conservative Justices Split in New Supreme Court Order

The Supreme Court denied a request from Oklahoma on Tuesday to reinstate a $4.5 million federal grant for family planning services after the White House rescinded the funding over the state’s refusal to provide pregnant patients with information about abortion options.
The 6-3 decision split the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, according to the court’s order, which said that Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have sided with Oklahoma.
Legal battles over states’ abortion restrictions and federal funding have popped up across the country in light of the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, which gave the green light for several Republican-led states to outlaw abortion access in all or most cases. All six conservative justices voted to overturn federal protections for abortion in June 2022.
According to regulation under the Department of Health and Human Services, family planning clinics are not able to use federal funding for family planning, known as Title X, to pay for abortions, although providers must offer information about the procedure at the patient’s request. Oklahoma argued in a lawsuit that its family planning clinics could not comply with the regulation because its laws make it a crime for a person to advise or perform an abortion.
The state has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country and prohibits the procedure in nearly all circumstances, except in the case where the life of the mother is at risk. Oklahoma’s lawsuit was also shot down by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year.
The Biden administration said it offered Oklahoma officials an accommodation to the Title X requirements by allowing physicians to refer patients to a national hotline that contains information on abortion options, but state officials rejected the exception. Oklahoma is also part of a multistate lawsuit calling to reinstate rules under former President Donald Trump that prohibited Title X recipients from discussing abortion or referring patients for the procedure.
President Joe Biden reversed that ban in 2021. The policy has flip-flopped for years depending on who is in the White House, according to the Associated Press.
The Oklahoma attorney general’s office told Newsweek via email on Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s ruling was “disappointing” but that it plans to explore its options for moving forward with the case.
“While the denial is obviously disappointing, Attorney General [Gentner] Drummond is pleased that three Supreme Court justices were willing to step in and stop the Biden Administration’s lawless overreach at this preliminary juncture,” said Leslie Berger, press secretary for the attorney general’s office. “We will be exploring our options moving forward.”
The state of Tennessee has also filed a lawsuit against the federal government that mimics Oklahoma’s arguments, stating that its family planning service providers are unable to comply with Title X regulations due to the state’s abortion laws. Abortion is banned in Tennessee in nearly all circumstances as well.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Tennessee’s lawsuit last week, writing that the state’s abortion laws do not allow it to “dictate eligibility requirements” for Title X funding. The case is expected to continue in lower courts.
Update 09/03/24, 8:10 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from the Oklahoma attorney general’s office.