U.S. Supreme Court

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined 15 other states and the District of Columbia in a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Texas, urging the Supreme Court to reverse an injunction upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The injunction prohibited the federal government from putting into effect President Barack Obama’s immigration directives that were announced in November 2014.

“President Obama has proposed common sense actions on immigration, which will allow millions of hard-working immigrants to come out of the shadows, contribute to the prosperity of this nation and build their American Dream,” said Attorney General Harris. “I urge the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision, and allow these important immigration actions to move forward.”

This is the fifth multi-state amicus brief that Attorney General Harris has joined in this case, including the friend-of-the-court brief filed in December 2015 supporting the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case. Now that the Court has agreed to hear the case, in this brief the signatories urge the Court to reverse the lower court’s decision. The brief, signed by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and authored by Washington State, asks the Supreme Court to lift the injunction and allow the programs to move forward.

The multi-state brief argues that the President’s immigration directives will benefit the States and further the public interest by allowing qualified undocumented immigrants to work legally and better support their families. This will increase State tax revenue, enhance public safety, and help avoid tragic situations in which parents are deported away from their U.S. citizen children, who are left to rely on State services or extended family. These considerations demonstrate that there is no irreparable injury to the plaintiff States, and that the balance of hardships and public interest strongly favor allowing the directives to proceed without a preliminary injunction.

The brief stresses the overwhelming merits of President Obama’s immigration actions. Reversing the lower court’s decision will allow approximately 5 million people, including 1.2 million Californians, to apply for protection from deportation and work authorization. If enacted, policies designed to strengthen the security of California and the nation will enter into effect, such as requiring eligible individuals to submit biometric data, pass criminal and national security background checks, pay taxes, and meet the specific requirements for the deferred action program, including having resided in the U.S. for at least five years. The federal policies would also expand a preexisting program for certain immigrants who came to the United States as children.

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California, leading a coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia, has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Zubik, et al. v. Burwell et al., urging the Court to protect women’s access to contraceptive coverage under the federal government’s Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The brief, written by California, was joined by Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

“A woman’s right to access contraception should not hinge on the religious beliefs of her employer,” said Attorney General Harris.  “The right to healthcare services is justly protected under federal law, and  the Supreme Court should uphold the ACA’s common-sense accommodation for religious organizations and protect women’s access to essential healthcare.”

The ACA provides an accommodation for religious nonprofit organizations that object to its requirement that employer-provided health insurance plans contain coverage for preventative healthcare, including contraception.  Through this accommodation, these organizations can simply opt out of providing contraceptive coverage to their employees by informing their insurance company or the federal government of their objection to this coverage.  If an organization does opt out, the insurer will then provide contraceptive coverage directly to employees at the insurance companies own expense.  In the Zubik case, several nonprofit religious organizations filed suit against Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that this opt-out accommodation violates their religious beliefs.

Attorney General Harris and the 17 other attorneys general argue in the brief that the Court should not interpret the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in a way that defeats and interferes with the essential and compelling purposes of the ACA and its preventative contraceptive healthcare coverage requirements.  As the brief notes, access to contraceptives is not only essential for public health, but is consistent with the intent of Congress in passing the ACA to ensure that all covered employees have access to no-cost preventive care, free of logistical and administrative barriers. 

The brief argues that the ACA’s opt-out accommodation does not create a substantial burden and therefore does not interfere with or violate the rights of these organizations under RFRA.  The brief also argues that the alternatives to this common-sense accommodation proposed by the religious employers would impose significant financial, logistical, informational, and administrative burdens on women seeking access to contraception.  These burdens would fall hardest on women with the fewest informational and financial resources to overcome them.

The brief urges the Court to interpret RFRA in a manner that would not interfere with States’ goals and prerogatives to protect public health and promote gender equity.

In January 2014, Attorney General Harris authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act, to ensure women have equal access to comprehensive reproductive health care and are able to make informed choices about their health.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect on January 1, 2016.  The Attorney General’s office is vigorously defending the law in federal and state court. 

In January 2106, Attorney General Harris joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in signing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas. 

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia:

"My condolences go out to Justice Scalia's family and his colleagues on the Court who mourn his loss. In his three decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia left a lasting impression on American jurisprudence. Even those of us who vigorously disagreed with his views recognized the power of his intellect."

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released a statement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s order granting a stay of President Obama’s America’s Clean Power Plan, which would limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuel-fired power plants. 

“I am extremely disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision today to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan,” said Attorney General Harris. “The Court’s decision, and the special interests working to undermine this plan, threatens our environment, public health and economy.”

In November 2015, Attorney General Harris joined 17 states, the District of Columbia, and several major cities to intervene in lawsuits filed in opposition to President Obama’s Clean Power Plan and New Source Standards. 

Attorney General Harris has aggressively fought to protect AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which has served as a global model for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Attorney General’s office has also defended challenges to California’s Cap-and-Trade auctions and its precedent-setting Low Carbon Fuels Standard.  

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Texas case evaluating President Obama’s immigration program, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), this term. 

“Today is a great day for California and the entire nation.  The Supreme Court’s decision to grant review in United States v. Texas means that millions of hard-working immigrants – including 1.2 million Californians – will finally have their day in the Supreme Court.  DAPA and expanded DACA, which were a lawful exercise of the President’s authority, will bring law-abiding immigrant families out of the shadows, boost our economy, and make communities safer.  I urge the Court to restore the rule of law by unfreezing these programs and giving millions of immigrants the justice they deserve.”

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued this statement following oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.

“California’s long-term prosperity depends on the right of hard-working Californians – including teachers, firefighters, peace officers and nurses – to negotiate fair wages, benefits and protections. This case is about fairness: While no employee should be forced to pay for a union’s political speech outside the workplace, if a union represents all employees in negotiating and administering a collective bargaining agreement, then all the employees ought to share the costs of that representation. This has been the standard for the last 40 years, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to change course now. We must protect California’s interests, fair and effective bargaining procedures, and public workers’ First Amendment rights.” 

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in signing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision substantially restricting access to abortion services in Texas.

The brief, written by New York, and signed by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia, was filed on Monday.

“Every woman has the right to make informed choices about her health and well-being,” said Attorney General Harris. “I strongly urge the Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit ruling, which undermines both public health and a woman’s right to choose.”

Attorney General Harris and the 13 other attorneys general argued in the brief that the Fifth Circuit erred in its analysis of a Texas statute that requires all abortion clinics to comply with ambulatory surgical center standards and requires any physician performing an abortion to hold admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the location where the procedure is performed. 

The statute has resulted in the closure of half of Texas’s clinics, and further threatens the closure of all but 9 of the 40 clinics operating before the law was passed.   As a result, many women have been left without access to abortion services and other reproductive health care.

While the law was ostensibly passed to promote women’s health, Attorney General Harris and the other signatories of the brief argue that the legislation actually undermined, rather than promoted, women’s health.  The brief also argues that a state cannot restrict access to in-state abortion services simply because the same services are available in other states.

Attorney General Harris authored a multi-state friend-of-the-court brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in January 2014, urging the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling allowing for-profit companies to deny essential healthcare to female employees based on the religious beliefs of the company’s owners.  In addition, in November 2013, Attorney General Harris joined a multi-state amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in McCullen v. Coakley, supporting a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot buffer zone around reproductive health care facilities.

In 2015, Attorney General Harris co-sponsored AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act, to ensure women have equal access to comprehensive reproductive health care and are able to make informed choices about their health.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Brown and went into effect on January 1, 2016.  Attorney General’s office is currently defending the law in federal and state court. 

Attorney General Harris also filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the First Resort, Inc. v. Herrera et al., in support of a San Francisco ordinance prohibiting limited service crisis pregnancy centers in that city from knowingly providing false or misleading information to women regarding their reproductive health.

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that California has joined 14 other states and the District of Columbia in a friend-of-the-court brief, in the case of United States v. Texas, supporting the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision and allow President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration to move forward. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld an injunction, sought by Texas and 25 other states, that prohibited the federal government from putting into effect the new deferred action programs.

The brief, signed by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, asks the Supreme Court to lift the injunction and allow the programs to move forward.  The brief points out the economic, public safety, and humanitarian benefits of President Obama’s immigration actions and argues that Texas and the other plaintiff states did not have standing to challenge the administration’s policies.

“President Obama’s common-sense actions on immigration will allow millions of hard-working immigrants to more fully contribute to the prosperity and security of California and the nation,” said Attorney General Harris. “I urge the Supreme Court to grant review in United States v. Texas and allow these important immigration programs to move forward so that millions of Californians can share in the American Dream.”

President Obama’s immigration actions will allow approximately 5 million people, including 1.2 million Californians, to apply for protection from deportation and work authorization. Eligible individuals will be required to submit biometric data, pass criminal and national security background checks, pay taxes, and meet the specific requirements for the deferred action program, including having resided in the U.S. for at least five years. The federal policies also expand a preexisting program for certain immigrants who came to the United States as children. 

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a high-profile affirmative action case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Fisher v. University of Texas, urging the Court to reaffirm its 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger and allow public universities to consider race as one factor among many in admissions decisions.

In the brief, Attorney General Harris argues that public colleges and universities should be able to consider race not only to increase the numbers of underrepresented students of color admitted, but to also ensure that students at these colleges and universities are reflective of a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.  As the Supreme Court ruled in 2003, there is a compelling interest in providing the educational benefits of a diverse student body at public colleges and universities that can justify considering an applicant’s race as part of a holistic admissions plan.  Additionally, the brief argues that diversity on college and university campuses produces benefits that extend into our society and democratic process.

“To prepare our future leaders to thrive in the global workforce, we must embrace the educational benefits of diversity,” said Attorney General Harris.  “I strongly urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm its decision that public colleges and universities may consider race as one factor in admissions decisions.”

The brief acknowledges the limitations imposed by Proposition 209 on California’s efforts to increase the diversity of its academic institutions.  Proposition 209, among other things, prohibits California from considering race during admissions decisions to its public colleges and universities.  As the brief emphasizes, however, California has a strong interest in retaining the flexibility to change course in the future, and each state should have the broadest discretion permissible to decide how to fashion suitable admission standards.

The U.S. Supreme Court first considered this challenge to the University of Texas admissions plan in 2012 and Attorney General Harris submitted a friend-of-the-court brief at that time.  The President of the University of California and the Chancellors of its campuses have also filed a brief arguing that the University of California is unable to achieve the academic benefits brought by diversity because of Proposition 209, as they did in 2012.

The case is set for oral argument on December 9, 2015.

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges:

“Finally the highest court in the land has acknowledged that marriage is a fundamental right to which no one should be denied. This holding reaffirms the sacred principle that all people are created equal. It's time to end the debate – let the wedding bells ring.”