Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General of Montana v. James H. Armstrong et al. (520 U.S. 968)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 520 U.S. 968 · 117 S. Ct. 1865
- Decided
- June 16, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 6–3
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. In 1995, the Montana Legislature enacted a statute restricting the performance of abortions to licensed physicians. 1995 Mont. Laws, ch. 321, §2 (codified at Mont. Code Ann. § 50-20-109 (1995)). Similar rules exist in 40 other States in the Nation. The Montana law was challenged almost immediately by respondents, who are a group of licensed physicians and one physician-assistant practicing in Montana. The District Court denied respondents’ motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that they had not established any likelihood of prevailing on their claim that the law imposed an “undue burden” within the meaning of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992). 906 F. Supp. 561, 567 (Mont. 1995). The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the District Court’s judgment, holding that respondents had shown a “fair chance of success on the merits” of their claim, and thus had met the threshold requirement for preliminary injunctive relief under Circuit precedent. 94 F. 3d 566, 567-568 (1996). The case was remanded to the District Court with instructions to reconsider the “balance of hardships” and determine whether entry of a preliminary injunction was ultimately warranted. Ibid. The District Court has not yet reconsidered the merits of the preliminary injunction motion, but it has entered (based on the parties’ stipulations) an…
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