The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reaffirm Roe v. Wade when it hears a case challenging Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law later this year, arguing that any other decision would uphold an unconstitutional law and undermine a doctrine that gives power to Supreme Court precedents.
The department also asked for permission to present oral arguments when the case is heard on Dec. 1, an indication of the significance of this particular legal fight in the larger effort to overturn Roe and enact abortion bans across the country.
The briefs, filed by the acting solicitor general, Brian H. Fletcher, are the latest step by the Biden Justice Department to try to protect the legal right to an abortion. They came just weeks after the department sued Texas over a law that prohibits nearly all abortions in the state and asked a federal district judge to temporarily block the statute until the courts determine whether it is constitutional.
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