Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar again in the spotlight fighting the conservative Supreme Court on abortion
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar again in the spotlight fighting the conservative Supreme Court on abortion
For the fourth time since she became the federal governments top Supreme Court advocate, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar is arguing an abortion-related case.
The dispute before the high court on Wednesday, about whether federal mandates for hospitals override strict state abortion bans in medical emergencies, shows how legal fights over abortion rights did not cease when the conservative majority ended a constitutional right to an abortion in 2022.
In the first two abortion-related cases Prelogar argued as the Justice Departments fourth-ranking official, both heard during the Supreme Courts 2021 term, the conservative majority rejected her calls that abortion rights be protected. But Prelogar has eked out wins on other issues where the Biden administration was seemingly at odds with the courts conservative proclivities, including in tussles over immigration policy and voting rights.
The administrations supporters hope that in the two abortion cases before the Supreme Court this year, Prelogar can bring at least some of the conservative justices to the federal governments side.
Lawyers with experience arguing before the high court cite Prelogars skills in oral arguments, as well as her strategy of putting forward legal points that will attract the support of justices who are otherwise hostile to abortion as an issue and doing so without undermining the larger arguments in favor of access to abortion.