How Appealing posted an entry late this afternoon that begins:
BREAKING NEWS -- Divided Seventh Circuit panel affirms federal district court order refusing enforcement of the federal government's subpoena to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for medical records of late term abortions: You can access today's ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, issued late today, at this link. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner wrote the majority opinion, in which Circuit Judge Ann Claire Williams joined. Circuit Judge Daniel A. Manion dissented from the court's refusal to enforce the subpoena.Access the entire How Appealing post here. Access the panel's ruling here.
[Update 3/27/04] "Appeals Court Backs Privacy of Hospital Abortion Records," headlines this story this morning in the NY Times. Some quotes:
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Justice Department's demand for abortion records from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, saying the disclosure of the records would compromise the privacy of women who had abortions there.This story, titled "Abortion records protected by court," appears in today's Chicago Tribune. Some quotes from the Trib's comprehensive coverage:The decision, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, was the first time an appeals court has weighed in on the politically charged question of whether the federal government has a right to demand abortion records in its defense of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The ruling followed conflicting opinions from several trial courts around the country. * * * Federal courts in Manhattan, San Francisco, and Lincoln, Neb., are set to begin trials next week in separate lawsuits seeking to block the enactment of the abortion restrictions on the grounds that they would prevent medically needed procedures.
The government also never adequately explained why it needed the 45 patients' records for a New York trial scheduled to start Monday, the court held in a decision written by Judge Richard A. Posner.[Update 3/28/04] Here is a document from the U.S. DOJ titled "STATEMENT OF MONICA GOODLING, SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, REGARDING THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT RULING IN THE PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION CASE." Posted by Marcia Oddi at March 26, 2004 07:41 PMAt oral argument earlier this week, the court noted in its opinion, "We pressed the government's lawyer repeatedly and hard for indications of what he hoped to learn from the hospital records, and drew a blank."