Judge Talwani Ruling on Planned Parenthood Funding a Stew of Logical Fallacies

I’ve previously covered Obama-appointed Massachusetts Federal District Judge Indira Talwani and her efforts to compel Congress to continue funding Planned Parenthood even after it passed a statute specifically refusing such funding. First, Judge Talwani issued an unexplained “temporary restraining order” (TRO) on the first business day after the law passed, just hours after Planned Parenthood filed its complaint and without even waiting to hear the Justice Department’s defense of federal law. Last Monday, she issued an opinion entering a preliminary injunction, claiming that the defunding of Planned Parenthood violated its First Amendment rights. The next day, the Justice Department filed an appeal. That didn’t stop Judge Talwani from issuing an expanded ruling on Monday, after Planned Parenthood asked her to clarify her order, so that she could rule on additional grounds. In this latest order, she claims that Congress passed a prohibited bill of attainder.

The bill of attainder argument fails to address the relevant precedents. The rest of her legal theory is a stew of logical fallacies so obvious that it can be attributable only to a blind determination to keep funding Planned Parenthood with our money no matter what Congress does.

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Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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I’ve previously covered Obama-appointed Massachusetts Federal District Judge Indira Talwani and her efforts to compel Congress to continue funding Planned Parenthood even after it passed a statute specifically refusing such funding. First, Judge Talwani issued an unexplained “temporary restraining order” (TRO) on the first business day after the law passed, just hours after Planned Parenthood filed its complaint and without even waiting to hear the Justice Department’s defense of federal law. Last Monday, she issued an opinion entering a preliminary injunction, claiming that the defunding of Planned Parenthood violated its First Amendment rights. The next day, the Justice Department filed an appeal. That didn’t stop Judge Talwani from issuing an expanded ruling on Monday, after Planned Parenthood asked her to clarify her order, so that she could rule on additional grounds. In this latest order, she claims that Congress passed a prohibited bill of attainder.

The bill of attainder argument fails to address the relevant precedents. The rest of her legal theory is a stew of logical fallacies so obvious that it can be attributable only to a blind determination to keep funding Planned Parenthood with our money no matter what Congress does.