The VLW Blog

The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review the constitutionality of Virginia’s law barring partial-birth abortions.

The case has along history that began with the adoption of the law by the General Assembly in 2003. A physician and a Richmond abortion clinic filed suit challenging the law, and 4th Circuit Judges M. Blane Michael and Diana Gribbon Motz found it unconstitutional in 2005, with Judge Paul V. Niemeyer dissenting.

The U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case to the 4th Circuit after concluding in 2007 while the Virginia case was on appeal that a similar federal law was constitutional. The same 4th Circuit panel, by the same vote, in May once again found the Virginia law to be unconstitutional.

Today, the 4th Circuit issued an order saying “[a] majority of judges in regular active service and not disqualified” had voted to grant en banc review. The order did reflect the votes of the individual judges or disclose the actual vote.

The court set argument in the case for the week of Oct. 18.

By Alan Cooper

Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell says that he will appeal the 2-to-1 ruling by a 4th U.S. Court of Appeals panel that Virginia’s ban on so-called “partial-birth” abortions is unconstitutional. According to the report from the Daily Press (via AP), McDonnell will ask for review by the full appeals court on Monday.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003.

The ruling already is causing a ripple in Virginia. The high court has ordered the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit a ruling from 2005 in which a three-judge panel found a Virginia statute outlawing the same procedure to be unconstitutional, according to the Washington Post.

The Supremes vacated the 4th Circuit’s decision and told the court to reconsider “in light of” its new ruling. The 8th Circuit, which struck a similar law in Missouri, also has been ordered to review its prior decision.