The nation may be
debating the
abortion views of President Trump’s
Supreme Court nominee, but another
Trump court nominee – one already
sitting on the bench – made his views
clear on the issue this week.
James Ho was nominated and confirmed
last year to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals after serving as Texas solicitor
general and as an attorney with the First
Liberty Institute, a religious liberty
organization.
In an opinion released on Sunday, he
sided with the Texas Conference of
Catholic Bishops in an opinion and also
called abortion a “ moral tragedy ” –
language that has sparked outrage from
the pro-choice community.
The case concerns a Texas law that would
require abortion providers to bury or
cremate fetal remains and would forbid
them from placing the remains in sewers
or landfills. The Texas Conference of
Catholic Bishops offered to bury the
remains for free. A lower court judge
ordered the Bishops to “discovery
requests” in the case – an intrusive order
for a religious organization that isn’t a
party in the case -- but the Bishops
appealed.
In a 2-1 Fifth Circuit decision released
Sunday, Ho joined Judge Edith Jones in
blocking the lower court’s order.
“The First Amendment expressly
guarantees the free exercise of religion --
including the right of the Bishops to
express their profound objection to the
moral tragedy of abortion, by offering free
burial services for fetal remains,” Ho
wrote. “By contrast, nothing in the text or
original understanding of the Constitution
prevents a state from requiring the proper
burial of fetal remains.”
Ho further wondered if the lower court’s
order was meant to “retaliate against
people of faith for not only believing in
the sanctity of life -- but also for wanting
to do something about it.”
debating the
abortion views of President Trump’s
Supreme Court nominee, but another
Trump court nominee – one already
sitting on the bench – made his views
clear on the issue this week.
James Ho was nominated and confirmed
last year to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals after serving as Texas solicitor
general and as an attorney with the First
Liberty Institute, a religious liberty
organization.
In an opinion released on Sunday, he
sided with the Texas Conference of
Catholic Bishops in an opinion and also
called abortion a “ moral tragedy ” –
language that has sparked outrage from
the pro-choice community.
The case concerns a Texas law that would
require abortion providers to bury or
cremate fetal remains and would forbid
them from placing the remains in sewers
or landfills. The Texas Conference of
Catholic Bishops offered to bury the
remains for free. A lower court judge
ordered the Bishops to “discovery
requests” in the case – an intrusive order
for a religious organization that isn’t a
party in the case -- but the Bishops
appealed.
In a 2-1 Fifth Circuit decision released
Sunday, Ho joined Judge Edith Jones in
blocking the lower court’s order.
“The First Amendment expressly
guarantees the free exercise of religion --
including the right of the Bishops to
express their profound objection to the
moral tragedy of abortion, by offering free
burial services for fetal remains,” Ho
wrote. “By contrast, nothing in the text or
original understanding of the Constitution
prevents a state from requiring the proper
burial of fetal remains.”
Ho further wondered if the lower court’s
order was meant to “retaliate against
people of faith for not only believing in
the sanctity of life -- but also for wanting
to do something about it.”
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