Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137 (1996) (per curiam)

Legal Research Home > United States Supreme Court > 518 U.S. > Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137 (1996) (per curiam)

OCTOBER TERM, 1995

Per Curiam

LEAVITT, GOVERNOR OF UTAH, et al. v. JANE L. et al.

on petition for writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the tenth circuit

No. 95-1242. Decided June 17, 1996

Utah law permits abortions under only five enumerated circumstances with respect to pregnancies of 20 weeks or less, Utah Code Ann. § 76-7- 302(2), and under only three of those circumstances with respect to pregnancies of more than 20 weeks, § 76-7-302(3). The law also provides that the legislature "would have passed [every aspect of the law] irrespective of the fact that any one or more provision . . . be declared unconstitutional." § 76-7-317. The Federal District Court held § 302 (2) unconstitutional, but found § 302(3) to be both constitutional and severable. However, the Tenth Circuit concluded that § 302(3) was not severable, reasoning that the Utah Legislature would not have wanted to regulate later-term abortions unless it could regulate earlier-term ones. Held: The Tenth Circuit's severability decision is flatly contradicted by

§ 76-7-317 and, thus, is unsustainable. Contrary to that court's conclusion, Utah law does not require the subordination of severability clauses to the legislature's overarching substantive intentions. Utah cases support the proposition that, where a statute's provisions are interrelated, a court may not select the Act's valid portions and conjecture that they should stand independently of the invalid portions. However, such concerns are absent here. There is no need to resort to conjecture, for § 317 could not be clearer in its message that the legislature intended §§ 302(2) and (3) to be severable. In addition, the two subsections are not "interrelated" in any relevant sense—i. e., in the sense of being so interdependent that the remainder of the statute cannot function effectively without the invalidated provision, or in the sense that the invalidated provision could be regarded as part of a legislative compromise, extracted in exchange for the inclusion of other statutory provisions. Certiorari granted; 61 F. 3d 1493, reversed and remanded.

Per Curiam.

The State of Utah seeks review of a ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit which declared invalid a provision of Utah law regulating abortions "[a]fter 20 weeks gestational age." Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-302(3) (1995).

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