Texas Judge Presses State on ‘Unusual’ Design of Abortion Law

A federal judge weighing whether to temporarily halt a Texas law limiting abortions said it appears to have been crafted to avoid lawsuits against the state.

“I think that’s what this whole statute was designed to do -- to find a proxy for the state that would insulate the state from this sort of judicial oversight that ordinarily would exist,” U.S. District Judge Robert Pitmanin Austin said Friday during a hearing on Zoom.

Pitman didn’t immediately rule on the U.S. Justice Department request to put the law on hold while the case proceeds. The judge said it was “very ...