It comes after last week they announced their lawsuit against the state.
After announcing its lawsuit last week, the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday evening sought an immediate court order to stop Texas ’enforcement of its restrictive law banning most abortions in the state.
“The state of Texas adopted SB 8 to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights,” the DOJ says in its motion. “This attempt to protect a clearly unconstitutional law from review cannot be supported. The United States is requesting a temporary restraining order or a preliminary measure imposing the enforcement of SB 8.”
Department officials wrote that the order “is necessary to protect the constitutional rights of women in Texas and the sovereign interest of the United States in ensuring that its states respect the terms of the national pact,” and added that ” it is also necessary to protect federal agencies, employees and contractors whose lawful actions are intended to prohibit SB 8 “.
“The United States has the authority and responsibility to ensure that Texas cannot isolate itself from judicial review for its constitutional violations and to protect important federal interests that harm SB 8,” the DOJ motion says.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that the Justice Department had filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas, challenging its abortion law. The move sparked a major legal battle after the Supreme Court allowed the law to come into force earlier this month. Garland also said at the time that the Justice Department was seeking an immediate court order preventing the execution of SB8 in Texas.
The lawsuit accuses Texas lawmakers of enforcing the law, which prohibits doctors from providing abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected or just six weeks after pregnancy, and contains no exceptions for cases of rape or incest defiance of the Constitution “.
And at a news conference, Garland said Texas Republicans are drafting a “legal scheme” through the law “to overturn the U.S. Constitution.”
It is unclear when the judge can rule on the DOJ’s urgent request.