Copyright 2000 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
June 29, 2000, Thursday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 673 words
HEADLINE:
Court sharply divided 'Partial-birth' abortion ban struck down;
Scouts can reject gay leader
BYLINE: Joan Biskupic
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- A deeply split Supreme Court struck down Nebraska's
ban on
"partial-birth" abortions Wednesday, jeopardizing similar
restrictions in 30 other states and reflecting how sharply the
abortion
issue has divided the court and the nation.
Voting 5-4, justices
said the Nebraska ban targeting some mid-term
abortions was too broadly
written and violated a woman's constitutional
right to end a pregnancy. It
was the court's first action on the
politically volatile abortion issue in
eight years. That case,
along with a 6-3 ruling in favor of a Colorado
restriction on
clinic protesters, gave abortion-rights advocates victories.
But the Nebraska ruling also revealed a stark new rift among the
justices. Coming in the middle of a presidential campaign, it
focused
attention on the tenuous nature of the court's rulings
in favor of abortion
rights -- and how that might change with
a new president's appointments to
the bench.
Vice President Gore, the presumed Democratic nominee for
president,
praised the Nebraska ruling and warned that his Republican
opponent,
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, would try to "change the court's
opinion
on a woman's right to choose." Bush said he was "disappointed"
by the ruling.
The abortion decisions came on a suspense-filled
final day of
the court's annual term. There were rulings in two other major
cases and angry statements from the justices that took nearly
an hour.
Resolving a New Jersey dispute that pitted the gay-rights movement
against an institution that has influenced millions of American
youths,
the court ruled 5-4 that the Boy Scouts cannot be forced
to accept an openly
gay scoutmaster. By a 6-3 vote, the court
also upheld a federal law that
provides public funds to parochial
schools for computers and library
equipment, giving encouragement
to groups that want more tax dollars
directed to private religious
schools.
The Nebraska case,
Stenberg vs. Carhart, revealed a new
fault line among the justices
on abortion. Justice Anthony Kennedy,
part of the majority in a ruling in
1992 that affirmed abortion
rights, this time was a dissenter. He voted in
favor of Nebraska's
ban of a rarely used procedure abortion that foes say
illustrates
the cruelty of the practice.
Kennedy said states
should be able "to forbid a procedure many
decent and civilized people find
abhorrent."
Justice Stephen Breyer's opinion for the court
acknowledged the
anti-abortion passion that generated the "partial-birth"
ban.
But he said Nebraska's law could be read as a ban of more than
the
controversial method of delivering part of the fetus into
the birth canal
before collapsing its skull.
Doctors who use a more common
second-trimester procedure "must
fear prosecution, conviction and
imprisonment," wrote Breyer,
joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra
Day O'Connor, David
Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Dissenting
Justice Clarence Thomas said the majority's ruling
was "indefensible" and
amounted to an endorsement of "infanticide."
Writing for the
majority
'Partial-birth' abortion
Rules 5-4
against a
Nebraska law banning 'partial-birth' abortions. "An
undue burden upon a
woman's right to make an abortion decision."
-- Justice Stephen
Breyer
Abortion demonstrations
Rules 6-3
in favor of
a Colorado law that restricts anti-abortion demonstrations
outside clinics.
Free speech should not be "so intrusive
that the unwilling audience cannot
avoid it."
-- Justice John Paul Stevens
Religious
schools
Rules 6-3
that public money can be used to buy supplies
for parochial schools.
The law is not "a law respecting an establishment of
religion."
-- Justic Clarence Thomas
Gay scouts
Rules 5-4
that Boy Scouts may ban gay men as leaders. "It
appears
that homosexuality has gained greater social acceptance. But
this is scarcely an argument for denying First Amendment protection
to
those who refuse to accept those views."
-- Chief Justice William
Rehnquist
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS, Color, AP (4); PHOTO,
Color, Tim Dillon, USA TODAY
LOAD-DATE: June 29, 2000
