The Court should rule that the abortion providers and the Department of Justice lose under well-established principles: There is no constitutional right to pre-enforcement review, and the constitutional and equitable constraints on such review bar the relief that petitioners seek. If that creates a problem, it’s a problem for Congress, not the courts, to solve.

Any justices disinclined to simply state these principles could, in the alternative, avoid unintended damage to federal-courts law by saying:

1. The heartbeat threshold conflicts with the viability standard of Roe and Casey, and the Act would thus be inconsistent with those precedents insofar as it would apply against licensed physicians performing pre-viability abortions.

2. Notwithstanding any limitations that the Act might set forth, state courts deciding any civil-enforcement cases brought under the Act have a duty to entertain all federal constitutional defenses that a defendant might assert.

3. We trust that Texas courts will abide by their duties and on that basis we rule that the petitioners in these cases are not entitled to any relief.