New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is intervening in a Texas lawsuit filed against a New York county clerk that is expected to serve as the first constitutional test of telemedicine abortion shield laws.
“I am stepping in to defend the integrity of our courts against this blatant overreach,” James said in a statement. “Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here.”
In July, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued Taylor Bruck, acting clerk for Ulster County, N.Y., over his repeated refusal to file a summary judgment and court summons for a New York doctor who allegedly sent abortion medication to a woman in the Lone Star State last year.
Bruck cited New York’s telemedicine abortion shield law both times he refused to enforce the Texas lawsuit.
“There’s not much I can say given the ongoing litigation, but I will say that I’m proud to live in a state like New York that had the foresight to pass the Shield Law, and I’m deeply appreciative of Attorney General Tish James stepping in to help in this case,” Bruck said in a statement to The Hill on Monday.
James filed a notice on Monday advising Ulster County Supreme Court Judge David Gandin that she is invoking her “statutory right to intervene” in the Texas lawsuit and will essentially serve as another defendant in the case.
“If someone is going to defend the state, it’s going to be Tish James, she is not leaving anything to chance,” said a source familiar with the matter.
James’s office will submit written arguments by Sept. 19, according to the notice, along with additional court filings later this month. Her office argues Texas cannot “commandeer New York’s courts to enforce its punitive abortion laws” and that the Empire State has the legal right to “safeguard its residents, its providers, and its courts from out-of-state overreach.”
Paxton sued New York doctor Margaret Carpenter in December, and a Texas judge subsequently ordered her to pay $113,000 in penalties and legal fees.
Neither Carpenter nor her attorney responded to the lawsuit or showed up to a court hearing regarding the suit. Paxton’s office then turned to the Ulster County clerk’s office to enforce the judgement in March. asking that it authorize the collection of the penalties imposed on Carpenter.
Bruck refused to do either.
“In accordance with the New York State Shield Law, I have refused this filing and will refuse any similar filings that may come to our office,” Bruck said in a statement at the time.
Paxton’s office urged the county clerk’s office to enforce the judgment and collection of penalties again in July when it sued the clerk. Again, Bruck rejected the request.
“The rejection stands. Resubmitting the same materials does not alter the outcome,” he wrote that month. “While I’m not entirely sure how things work in Texas, here in New York, a rejection means the matter is closed.”
Texas has almost entirely banned abortion, and the state imposes heavy penalties on those who break its abortion law. But abortions are still taking place in the state mainly due to the availability of mail-order abortion medication that Texans can access through telehealth providers practicing in states with abortion shield laws.
Paxton’s lawsuit is part of a broader effort by Republicans in the state to restrict the access of these pills.
Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
