The U.S. Supreme Court mistakenly posted a draft of a ruling on a key abortion case on its website on Wednesday, but quickly removed it.
The opinion concerns whether hospitals are required to perform abortions in emergencies in Idaho despite state law banning them. Bloomberg News reported that the opinion was briefly posted on its website on Wednesday morning before being removed.
Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed to Fox News Digital that the opinion has not yet been formally published.
“The decisions in Moyle v. United States, No. 23-726, and Idaho v. United States, No. 23-727 have not yet been published,” she said in a statement. “The Court’s publications department mistakenly uploaded the documents to the Court’s website for a short period of time. The Court’s decisions in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States will be published in the coming days.”
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Supreme Court justices, from left, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Samuel A. Alito, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, in a photo taken on September 30, 2022. (U.S. Supreme Court Collection via Getty Images)
Bloomberg reported that the opinion published on Wednesday suggests the court is prepared to side with the federal government. If correct, hospitals in states that ban abortions would be required to perform them on an emergency basis while the litigation continues. The opinion said it was too early to make a substantive decision on the case because the lower courts have not yet ruled, and the matter should be sent back to a federal appeals court.
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It was unclear during the open session how the court would ultimately decide, based on oral arguments in April, in which Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett subjected both to aggressive questioning.
It was unclear in the open session how the court would ultimately decide, based on oral arguments in April, with Justices Brett Kavanaugh (above) and Amy Coney Barrett firing aggressive questioning at both sides. (AP Photo/Sue Oglocki)
Idaho officials argued that because the state has a near-total ban on abortion, with exceptions only to save the mother’s life, the Biden administration cannot force hospitals to perform abortions in potential emergency situations.
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The Justice Department, on the other hand, argued that federal emergency medical procedures and labor laws require health care providers to provide patients with “stabilizing care,” including abortions, when necessary to treat an emergency medical condition, even if that care might conflict with state abortion restrictions.
Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed to Fox News Digital that the opinion has not yet been formally published. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin, File)
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The Supreme Court is set to recess in the coming days, and the Idaho decision could be formally announced later this week.
