Martin D. Lambert, Gallatin County Attorney v. Susan Wicklund et al. (520 U.S. 292)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 31, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 520 U.S. 292 · 117 S. Ct. 1169
- Decided
- March 31, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Before a minor has an abortion in Montana, one of her parents must be notified. A waiver, or “judicial bypass,” of the notification requirement is allowed if the minor can convince a court that notification would not be in her best interests. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down Montana’s parental notification law as unconstitutional, holding that the judicial bypass did not sufficiently protect the right of minors to have an abortion. Because the Ninth Circuit’s holding is in direct conflict with our precedents, we grant the petition for a writ of certiorari and reverse. In 1995, Montana enacted the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. The Act prohibits a physician from performing an abortion on a minor unless the physician has notified one of the minor’s parents or the minor’s legal guardian 48 hours in advance. Mont. Code Ann. §50-20-204 (1995). However, an “unemancipated” minor may petition the state youth court to waive the notification requirement, pursuant to the statute’s “judicial bypass” provision. § 50-20-212 (quoted in full in an appendix to this opinion). The provision gives the minor a right to court-appointed counsel, and guarantees expeditious handling of the minor’s petition (since the petition is automatically granted if the youth court fails to rule on the petition within 48 hours from the time it is filed). §§ 50-20-212(2)(a),…
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