New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Monday moved to intervene in Texas’ lawsuit against a New York official who refused to enforce a fine against a doctor who remotely prescribed abortion medication.
The attorney general “has the statutory right to intervene when, as here, a party challenges the constitutionality of a New York state law,” Deputy Solicitor General Ester Murdukhayeva wrote in a letter to Ulster County Judge David Gandin. The attorney general’s office will file a brief by Sept. 19, Murdukhayeva added.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in July sued acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck after he declined to file summary judgment against New Paltz, NY physician Maggie Carpenter, who’s facing charges in Texas for remotely prescribing mifepristone to a Dallas-area woman. Bruck cited New York’s Shield Law that’s intended to protect physicians from investigations from other states after the US Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to an abortion.
Paxton imposed the $113,000 fine in February after Carpenter failed to respond to Paxton’s lawsuit alleging the doctor violated Texas’ near-total abortion ban, and violated state law by seeing patients via telehealth without a license to practice in Texas. The suit marked one of the first challenges to a state shield law.
“Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here. Our shield law exists to protect New Yorkers from out-of-state extremists, and New York will always stand strong as a safe haven for health care and freedom of choice,” James said in a press release.
Paxton said the US Constitution “expressly requires states to recognize the judicial enactments of other states’ courts, and New York, unsurprisingly, is choosing to ignore that constitutional requirement.” Texas’ “pro-life laws will be enforced, and justice will be served” against Carpenter, he added.
The case is Texas v. Bruck, N.Y. Sup. Ct., No. EF2025-2536, letter 9/8/25.
(Adds quote from Paxton in sixth paragraph.)
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