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Status of the Rule 60 Motion
to overturn Doe v. Bolton and Roe v. Wade
Supreme Court denies Doe appeal
October 10, 2006 - Today the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Sandra Cano's appeal to overturn its 1973 landmark decision in Doe v. Bolton. " We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has refused to consider the changed factual and legal conditions since 1973 that make Doe v. Bolton and Roe v. Wade no longer just," said Allan Parker, President of The Justice Foundation and lead attorney for the case. "The Supreme Court has frozen abortion law based on obsolete 1973 assumptions," he said.
· Rule 60 Motion to reverse Doe v. Bolton denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia on January 11, 2006
· Motion for rehearing filed on February 1, 2006
· Appeal by petition to the United States Supreme Court for certiorari on July 31, 2006
· Ruling on the Petition of Certiorari on October 10, 2006 - The Supreme Court declined to hear the case
Background
In August 2003, The Justice Foundation filed a Rule 60 Motion in federal district court in Atlanta, Georgia to reverse Doe v. Bolton. The motion was denied by the district court on February 24, 2005 on the grounds that the lower courts must follow the 1973 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, of course, is free to reverse its own opinions and has done so on many occasions.
The motion was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia in February 2005. On January 11, 2006, a three-judge panel of the appellate court denied the motion on the grounds that only the United State Supreme Court can overturn Doe.
The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition for certiorari, asking the Court to take the case, was filed on July 31, 2006. The Court declined to take the case on October 10, 2006.
Doe v. Bolton is the companion case to the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade case because it was decided on the same day and linked to the Roe case by the Supreme Court. Sandra Cano, who was “Mary Doe” of Doe v. Bolton, never had or wanted an abortion.
The last time the Supreme Court granted a Rule 60 Motion (Agostini v. Felton, 1997), the lower courts had also denied the motion at all lower court levels. Rule 60 is a procedurally appropriate way to take a case back to the Supreme Court.
By allowing a health exception for abortion, Doe eliminated the trimester limitations of Roe, resulting in abortion on demand in America. The ultimate tragic effect of Doe is that it allows a mother to kill her unborn child up to the day of birth – including killing the child during delivery in what is known as the “partial-birth abortion” procedure.
Over 5,300 pages of evidence accompanied Cano’s motion to overturn Doe v. Bolton, including sworn testimony by over 1,000 women hurt by abortion, as well as sworn testimony by abortion facility workers, scientific and medical experts, and over 300 citations from scientific and medical articles. The motion also asked that Roe v. Wade be reversed and was accompanied by the affidavit of Norma McCorvey, who was “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade.
The last time the Supreme Court granted a Rule 60 Motion (Agostini v. Felton, 1997),
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