The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in two cases—United States v. Texas and Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson—both challenging the Texas law S.B. 8, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Texas legislators designed the law to evade federal court review by creating procedural obstacles to challenging the law. 

“Though this is in one sense about abortion, it is really about much more. It’s about: Can the state adopt a law that blatantly violates the Constitution and then immunize itself from federal court review? It’s about whether states have to follow the Constitution. It’s about the very structure of American government.”