In a pair of rogue rulings in the fall, an Ohio common pleas court judge first entered a temporary restraining order barring state officers from enforcing Ohio’s heartbeat law on abortion and then imposed a preliminary injunction to supersede his TRO. A state appellate court then ruled that Ohio could not immediately appeal the lower court’s preliminary injunction.

In order to put an end to this unjustified intrusion on the state’s authority, the state of Ohio has today filed a petition that asks the Ohio supreme court both to confirm that the state may appeal the preliminary injunction and to reject the challenge to Ohio’s heartbeat law. The Ohio supreme court should grant the relief the state requests.