Court is asked to punish ACLU
Lawyers that aided in migrant’s abortion targeted.
WASHINGTON — In a highly unusual move, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Friday to discipline lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union because they helped a 17-year old migrant obtain an abortion two weeks ago.
The move escalates a legal battle over abortion that arose when Trump administration officials refused to allow the young woman to leave a refugee center with a guardian to see an abortion provider. Administration officials insisted the government need not “facilitate” abortion by allowing her to leave their custody in Texas.
But the ACLU sued on her behalf and a federal judge ruled the federal government must “promptly and without delay” allow the teenager — who has not been publicly identified and is referred to as “Jane Doe” in court documents — to see a doctor to have the abortion she sought.
A U.S. appeals court upheld that ruling on Oct. 24, and she had a privately funded abortion early the next day, before the administration could lodge an emergency appeal in the high court.
Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and other administration lawyers reacted angrily.
“This was a total surprise. And we’re disturbed about it,” Sessions said in a Fox News interview last weekend.
On Friday, White House Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to set aside the lower court’s rulings and consider “disciplinary action” against the ACLU.
They “kept the government in the dark about when Ms. Doe was scheduled to have an abortion,” he told the justices. “Given the extraordinary circumstances” of the case, the court should consider sanctions against one or more of the ACLU lawyers, he said.
The ACLU fired back, saying the blame lies with administration lawyers who failed to act quickly to file their emergency appeal.
“This administration has gone to astounding lengths to block this young woman from getting an abortion,” said ACLU legal director David Cole. “After the courts cleared the way for her to get her abortion, it was the ACLU’s job as her lawyers to see that she wasn’t delayed any further — not give the government another chance to stand in her way.
“Our lawyers acted in the best interest of our client and in full compliance with court orders and federal and Texas law,” Cole said. “That government lawyers failed to seek judicial review quickly enough is their fault, not ours.”
In Friday’s appeal, Francisco said a woman who crosses the border illegally has no right to an abortion.
The ACLU has 30 days to file a response.