Jayne Bray, et al. v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic et al. (506 U.S. 263)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 13, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 506 U.S. 263 · 113 S. Ct. 753
- Decided
- January 13, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the question whether the first clause of Rev. Stat. § 1980, 42 U. S. C. § 1985(3) — the surviving version of §2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 — provides a federal cause of action against persons obstructing access to abortion clinics. Respondents are clinics that perform abortions and organizations that support legalized abortion and that have members who may wish to use abortion clinics. Petitioners are Operation Rescue, an unincorporated association whose members oppose abortion, and six individuals. Among its activities, Operation Rescue organizes antiabortion demonstrations in which participants trespass on, and obstruct general access to, the premises of abortion clinics. The individual petitioners organize and coordinate these demonstrations. Respondents sued to enjoin petitioners from conducting demonstrations at abortion clinics in the Washington, D. C., metropolitan area. Following an expedited trial, the District Court ruled that petitioners had violated § 1985(3) by conspiring to deprive women seeking abortions of their right to interstate travel. The court also ruled for respondents on their pendent state-law claims of trespass and public nuisance. As relief on these three claims, the court enjoined petitioners from trespassing on, or obstructing access to, abortion clinics in specified…
Excerpt of a 47,378-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.