1310
Opinion in Chambers
Act, 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 3203-3220 (1990 and Supp. 1993), and continuing its order enjoining the Commonwealth from enforcing various provisions of that statute, see 822 F. Supp. 227 (ED Pa. 1993), was inconsistent with both the mandate of this Court in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833, and that of the Third Circuit on remand, see 978 F. 2d 74 (1992).1 For the reasons set out below, I decline to stay the mandate of the Court of Appeals.
The conditions that must be shown to be satisfied before a Circuit Justice may grant such an application are familiar: a likelihood of irreparable injury that, assuming the correctness of the applicants' position, would result were a stay not issued; a reasonable probability that the Court will grant certiorari; and a fair prospect that the applicant will ultimately prevail on the merits, see generally Rostker v. Goldberg, 448 U. S. 1306, 1308 (1980) (Brennan, J., in chambers). The burden is on the applicant to "rebut the presumption that the decisions below—both on the merits and on the proper interim disposition of the case—are correct." Ibid.
With respect to the first consideration, the applicants assert that enforcement of the pertinent provisions of the Abortion Control Act will, for a "large fraction," Casey, 505 U. S., at 895, of the affected population, interpose a "substantial obstacle," id., at 877, to the exercise of the right to reproductive freedom guaranteed by the Due Process Clause and affirmed in this Court's Casey opinion.2 I have no difficulty concluding that such an imposition, if proven, would qualify as "irreparable injury," and support the issuance of a stay if
1 The Third Circuit panel also denied a motion, substantially identical to the one presented here, to stay its mandate.
2 For the purposes of this opinion, I join the applicants and the courts below in treating the joint opinion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, see 505 U. S., at 843 (opinion of O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, JJ.) as controlling, as the statement of the Members of the Court who concurred in the judgment on the narrowest grounds. See Marks v. United States, 430 U. S. 188 (1977).
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