Supreme Court rejects
abortion-restriction law

April 29, 1996
Web posted at: 2:15 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider reinstating an abortion-restriction law in South Dakota.

The law, struck down by a lower court, would have required a doctor to notify a pregnant minor's parent of her intention to have an abortion 48 hours before the procedure.

The law was never been put into effect because of court challenges.

A federal appeals court threw out the law because it said the restriction would put an excessive burden on many minors seeking abortions and because it did not offer the alternative of having doctors get permission for the abortion from a judge, instead of the parent.

In an effort to reinstate the law, South Dakota asked the Supreme Court to hear the state's appeal against the lower court's ruling. However, the state failed to win the minimum of four Supreme Court votes needed for the court to hear an appeal.

Three justices -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- indicated they wanted to hear the appeal.

Scalia wrote a dissenting opinion criticizing the court for not taking the case, which he said "cries out for our review."

By not taking the case, the Supreme Court has let stand the lower court ruling, invalidating the law.

In other Supreme Court action Monday:

• Apple growers failed to persuade the court to revive their lawsuit against CBS over a report on Alar, a chemical once used to spray apples.

  The court let stand lower court rulings that Washington state apple growers had failed to prove that a 1989 CBS "60 Minutes" report contained an implied message that was false. The report had linked Alar to cancer risks in children. Alar has since been taken off the market.

• The court decided convicted criminals who miss a deadline for requesting acquittal cannot be acquitted, even if they miss the deadline by only one day.

• The court refused to consider whether judges can be forced to make some juvenile-delinquency proceedings open to the public.

Without comment, the court let stand a lower court ruling in Massachusetts, upholding the power of a judge to keep the public out of a hearing to protect a minor from publicity.

Related stories:

• Cardinal implores Clinton to sign abortion restriction - April 2, 1996

Related sites:

• The Judicial Branch
• Justices of the Supreme Court

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