- The Supreme Court posted, then removed, an abortion-related decision in an Idaho case.
- If interpreted as written, the ruling would allow emergency abortions in Idaho.
- A Supreme Court spokesman confirmed the ruling had been posted online in error.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared to inadvertently release what will be the court’s final abortion-related decision of its current term in a high-profile Idaho case.
Bloomberg News first reported that a copy of the decision was briefly posted on the court’s website before being removed. A Supreme Court spokesman acknowledged that something had been posted online in error but said the court’s final decision remains unpublished.
“The decisions in Moyle v. United States, No. 23-726 and Idaho v. United States, No. 23-727 have not yet been released,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider, referring to two cases related to Idaho law. “The court’s publishing department mistakenly uploaded the documents to the court’s website for a short period of time. The court’s decisions in these cases will be released in the coming days.”
In a document posted online, Bloomberg reported, the court said it would allow emergency abortions to continue in Idaho, after deciding that the case should never have been heard in the first place.
The Biden administration has argued that a decades-old federal law should supersede Idaho’s near-total abortion ban and allow doctors to perform emergency abortions that fall outside the limits of the state ban.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions were only published on the Supreme Court’s official website, but the justices had long ago reverted to the historic practice of announcing their decisions from the bench.
Once announced, the decision will be posted online, according to SCOTUSblog, which focuses on Supreme Court news.
The court announced its final ruling for the day on Wednesday after issuing two rulings: one in a conservative backlash against the Biden administration’s pressure on social media companies to crack down on misinformation, and another on a federal law about bribery of state and local officials.
Neither case was hotly anticipated during the current term: The Supreme Court has yet to rule on former President Donald Trump’s request for blanket immunity from criminal prosecution, but the decision could be one of the most famous in U.S. history.
Opinions on abortion in general are also in the spotlight in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Correction: June 26, 2024 —An earlier version of this article listed the wrong day of the week.Two decisions were announcedIt was a Wednesday, not a Thursday.
