Federal judge blocks Florida law defunding Planned Parenthood News
Federal judge blocks Florida law defunding Planned Parenthood

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida [official website] on Thursday permanently blocked [order, PDF] portions of a Florida law that would stop funding to Planned Parenthood [advocacy website] following Governor Rick Scott’s decision to not pursue further legal action. The judge, Robert Hinkle, had previously enjoined the law [JURIST report] on June 30, and held the law harmed Planned Parenthood “based not on any objection to how the funds are being spent…but solely because the recipients of the funds choose to provide abortions separate and apart from any funding.” The proposed law would have prevented any organization that provides abortions from receiving state or local funding, resulting in a loss of $500,000 according to Planned Parenthood officials. Scott and his lawyers could still potentially appeal the decision.

Abortion in general continues to be a highly controversial subject in the US. A federal court judge in Ohio blocked [JURIST report] similar legislation earlier this month. Last month the Alaska Supreme Court [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the state’s parental “notification law” requiring doctors to inform the parents of minors seeking an abortion is unconstitutional, and cannot be enforced. Also in July 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. Recently the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] 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.