2023—In Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v. Reynolds, a 3-to-3 deadlock on the Iowa supreme court leaves in place an injunction that bars Iowa’s 2018 heartbeat law from taking effect. The three justices who decline to vacate the injunction invoke procedural complexities that would be easier to credit as genuine if they were not accompanied by tendentious rhetoric and flimsy arguments. One of those three justices is Edward Mansfield, who was on Donald Trump’s list of Supreme Court candidates in 2016.
2023—Federal district judge James Patrick Hanlon (in K.C. v. Individual Members of Medical Licensing Board) enjoins Indiana officials from enforcing a state law that bars physicians from altering a child’s sex characteristics through medication or surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria.
In November 2024, a divided Seventh Circuit panel will vacate the injunction.