Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137, 3 (1996) (per curiam)

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  Next

Cite as: 518 U. S. 137 (1996)

Per Curiam

present suit for declaratory and injunctive relief, the District Court for the District of Utah held § 302(2) to be unconstitutional, but § 302(3) to be both constitutional and severable— i. e., enforceable despite the invalidation of the other provision. Jane L. v. Bangerter, 809 F. Supp. 865, 870 (1992). Upon appeal by the plaintiffs with regard to the latter provision, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that it could not be enforced, regardless of its constitutionality, because it was not severable from the invalidated portion of the law. Jane L. v. Bangerter, 61 F. 3d 1493, 1499 (1995). The State argues that that conclusion is simply unsustainable in light of the Utah Legislature's express indication to the contrary, and we agree.

Severability is of course a matter of state law. In Utah, as the Court of Appeals acknowledged, the matter "is determined first and foremost by answering the following question: Would the legislature have passed the statute without the unconstitutional section?" Id., at 1497 (citing Stewart v. Utah Public Service Comm'n, 885 P. 2d 759, 779 (Utah 1994)). A provision of the abortion part of the Utah Code, to which these two sections were added, answers that question. Section 317 provides:

"If any one or more provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this part or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is found to be unconstitutional, the same is hereby declared to be

"(d) in the professional judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician, to prevent grave damage to the pregnant woman's medical health; or "(e) in the professional judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician, to prevent the birth of a child that would be born with grave defects. "(3) After 20 weeks gestational age, measured from the date of conception, an abortion may be performed only for those purposes and circumstances described in Subsections (2)(a), (d), and (e)." Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-302 (1995).

139

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007