The positive trial court findings secured by the Center's lawyers had been rejected by a lower federal appeals court, which castigated the trial judge for daring to hold a four-day trial to independently assess the evidence. For her pre-Supreme Court work (which did not involve abortion), Justice Ginsburg has been justly celebrated and is thought of by many as the Thurgood Marshall of women's rights. Despite sweeping vindication of abortion rights in the dry yet powerful majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the favorable outcome was no slam-dunk. The Notorious RBG, skewered as "beyond rational belief" the bogus health justification Texas proffered for the pair of clinic-closing abortion restrictions the Court rejected 5-4, and warned that similar TRAP laws (for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) "that do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion" cannot pass judicial muster going forward. Kevin Lamarque / ReutersIt is altogether fitting that the Supreme Court's term-end affirmation of women's constitutional right to abortion access in Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstadt came with a very brief but valuable separate concurring opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Source: Huffington Post July 02, 2016 15:22 UTC