Supreme Court declines to say whether Idaho abortion ruling issued in error will be final

Accidental post marks latest early opinion leak at Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has declined to say whether an opinion “inadvertently” posted and then quickly removed from its website on Wednesday in a high-profile Idaho abortion case represents its final decision.

“The opinion in Moyle v. United States, No. 23-726, and Idaho v. United States, No. 23-727, has not been released,” Patricia McCabe, the public information officer for the Supreme Court, said in a statement.

“The Court’s Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court’s website. The Court’s opinion in these cases will be issued in due course.”

The opinion related to consolidated appeaks in Moyle v US and US v Idaho, which concerned the ability of doctors to provide abortions in the case of medical emergencies.

The accidental opinion, by a 6-to-3 majority, found the appeal shouldn’t have been taken up in the first place, effectively reinstating a lower court ruling allowing hospitals in Idaho to provide abortions in medical emergencies.

A group of doctors join abortion rights supporters at a rally outside the Supreme Court on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)

The justices did not offer a wider ruling on Idaho’s 2022 abortion ban, which criminalizes the procedure except in the case of a vaguely worded exception for doctors providing abortions to protect the life of a pregnant person.

Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch were in the dissent.

Abortion advocates said even if the draft opinion represents the high court’s final verdict, it’s not an overall victory for reproductive rights.

“The abortion bans that are putting people’s lives on the line in the first place will continue to remain on the books,” Reproductive Freedom for All CEO Mini Timmaraju told CNN.

The issue remains a live one in US courts.

In Texas, a challenge to the state’s strict abortion ban, seeking to expand the scope of medical exemptions, has been working its way through trial and appelate courts.

The Idaho decision incident is the latest in a troubled season for the Supreme Court.

In 2022, Politico obtained a draft version of the court’s eventual decision to overturn Roe v Wade’s constitutional guarantees of a right to an abortion, an unprecedented leak from an institution that prides itself on norms of confidentiality.

The court has also been dogged in recent years with allegations that the justices, in particular Clarence Thomas, have accepted innappropriate, high-priced gifts and favors from political activists.