Federal judge blocks Florida efforts to cut Planned Parenthood funding News
Federal judge blocks Florida efforts to cut Planned Parenthood funding

[JURIST] US District Judge Robert Hinkle issued a preliminary injunction [order, PDF] on Thursday blocking provisions of a new Florida law that would cut state funding to clinics that provide abortions. Though the law was planned to take effect on Friday, Planned Parenthood [advocacy website] affiliates challenged [Reuters report] the law’s constitutionality. Hinkle found that cutting funding to certain abortion clinics would be unreasonable since such clinics provide a variety of other medical services. In response to a provision requiring additional inspections of abortion clinic patient records, Hinkle further found that abortion clinics are already subject to requirements that exceed those of standard medical facilities. Planned Parenthood affiliates praised the judge’s ruling, calling it a victory for women’s health. The Florida Department of Health and Florida Governor Rick Scott [official websites] have yet to comment on the matter.

The Florida law comes in the wake of conservative efforts to adopt new state abortion laws. Also this week a federal judge placed an injunction [JURIST report] on an Indiana law that would have banned women from seeking abortion procedures when they are based on race, sex, or the potential for or actual diagnosis of a disability in the fetus. Earlier this week the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] 5-3 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt [SCOTUSblog materials] that a Texas law [HB2 text] imposing certain requirements on abortion clinics and doctors creates an undue burden on access to abortion, and is therefore unconstitutional [JURIST report]. A collection of Texas abortion providers challenged provisions of HB2 requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and requiring abortion clinics to conform to state standards for ambulatory surgical centers on the grounds that such requirements violated the Fourteenth Amendment as interpreted by the Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey [text]. The Indiana statute contained a similar “admitting privilege” provision.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.