The move means it will be weeks, and perhaps months, before the case is turned over to a federal trial judge, who has ruled against the law in the past – if the case is ever returned. with that judge.
Clinics have vehemently opposed the move to submit – or “certify” – the case to the Texas Supreme Court. The move has been requested by defenders of the law of Texas.
In the opinion piece explaining why the majority of the 5th Circuit Panel – 5th Circuit Judges Edith Jones and Kyle Duncan – sent the case to the Texas Supreme Court, Jones wrote that the US Supreme Court Ky used hedging language in his view to determine that the case could move forward against licensing officials.
Jones writes, “the judges’ argument speaks to the least of the uncertainty and the need to follow state law,” referring to the relevant part of Justice Neil Gorsuch’s comments, where He was joined by other conservatives on the court.
US Judge Stephen Higginson disagreed with the 5th Circuit’s order, writing that it was giving defendants a “second bite” on an issue they lost in the US Supreme Court.
“The second redundancy of conjecture, with no time limit, makes me concerned that justice delayed is justice denied, here in the way of Supreme Court-ordered relief,” Higginson wrote. .
The clinics also have petitions to the US Supreme Court asking the judges to intervene again in the case, based on how Circuit 5 handled it. The judges have yet to take action on that petition.
