Williams v. Zbaraz Quern v. Zbaraz

• Citation: 60 L.Ed.2d 1033,99 S.Ct. 2095,442 U.S. 1309
• Decision Date: 24 May 1979
• Docket Number: A-967,Nos. A-958,s. A-958
• Parties: Jasper F. WILLIAMS, M. D., et al., Applicant, v. David ZBARAZ, M. D., et al. Arthur F. QUERN, Applicant, v. David ZBARAZ, M. D., et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

442 U.S. 1309

99 S.Ct. 2095

60 L.Ed.2d 1033

Jasper F. WILLIAMS, M. D., et al., Applicant,

v David ZBARAZ, M. D., et al.

Arthur F. QUERN, Applicant,

v. David ZBARAZ, M. D., et al.

Nos. A-958, A-967.

May 24, 1979.

Mr. Justice STEVENS, Circuit Justice.

Applicants seek a stay of an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois enjoining the State of Illinois from refusing to fund under its medical assistance programs medically necessary abortions performed prior to viability.

The plaintiffs in this action are a class of pregnant women eligible for Illinois medical assistance programs for whom an abortion is medically necessary and a class of physicians who perform such procedures and are certified to receive reimbursement for necessary medical services. Their complaint alleged that the Illinois statute, 1977 Ill.Laws, Pub. Act 80-1091, § 1, denying reimbursement for medically necessary abortions vio- lated their rights under both the Social Security Act and the Fourteenth Amendment. After the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the District Court's initial decision to abstain, 572 F.2d 582, the District Judge held that the Illinois statute violated the federal Social Security Act and its implementing regulations, since Illinois' funding of only "life-preserving" abortions fell short of the federal statutory responsibility to "establish reasonable standards" for providing medically necessary treatment. The court rejected the argument that the Hyde Amendment's ¹ prohibition of federal funding of certain categories of abortions limited the state's statutory responsibility, and entered an injunction requiring Illinois to fund medically necessary abortions. The Court of Appeals, after denying a stay of the injunction pending appeal, reversed the District Court decision. The Court of Appeals concluded that the Hyde Amendment was not simply a limitation on the use of federal funds for abortions, but was itself a substantive amendment to the obligations imposed upon the State by Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq. The court recognized the constitutional questions raised by its interpretation, and remanded to the District Court with instructions to consider the constitutionality of both the Illinois statute and the Hyde Amendment.

The District Court held both provisions to be unconstitutional on equal protection grounds. While rejecting the argument that strict scrutiny was appropriate, Judge Grady concluded that the statute's distinction between indigent women in medical need of abortions and those in need of other surgical procedures failed to further any legitimate, articulated state purpose. He was not persuaded by the State's argument that its interest in "fiscal frugality" supported the classification, since the costs of prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care were established to be substantially higher than the cost of abortions. As to the State's asserted interest in the encouragement of childbirth, the court recognized that while this interest was clearly legitimate in certain circumstances, see Maher v. Roe, 432 U.S. 464, 97 S.Ct. 2376, 53 L.Ed.2d 484; Poelker v. Doe, 432 U.S. 519, 97 S.Ct. 2391, 53 L.Ed.2d 528, the State does not have a legitimate interest in promoting the life of a nonviable fetus in a women for whom an abortion is medically necessary. The United States had intervened as a defendant on remand, when the constitutionality of the Hyde Amendment was called into question. The District Court's injunction, however, was directed solely to the State of Illinois, which was ordered to fund medically necessary abortions prior to viability. The District Court refused to stay this order, and applicants—the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Aid and two physicians who intervened as defendants below—now seek a stay from me in my capacity as Circuit Justice, pending their appeal to this Court.

The standards governing the issuance of stays are well established. "Stays pending appeal to this Court are granted only in extraordinary circumstances. A lower court judgment, entered by a tribunal that was closer to the facts than the single Justice, is entitled to a presumption of validity." Graves v. Barnes, 405 U.S. 1201, 1203, 92 S.Ct. 752, 753, 30 L.Ed.2d 769 (Powell, J., in chambers). "To prevail here the applicant must meet a heavy burden of showing not only that the judgment of the lower court was erroneous on the merits, but also that the applicant will suffer irreparable injury if the judgment is not stayed pending his appeal." Whalen v. Roe, 423 U.S. 1313, 1316, 96 S.Ct. 164, 166, 46 L.Ed.2d 18 (Marshall, J., in chambers). In my view, the applica- tions before me do not present the "extraordinary circumstances" necessary to justify a stay.

An initial inquiry where a stay is sought in a case within this Court's appellate jurisdiction is "whether five Justices are likely to conclude that the case was erroneously decided below." Graves v. Barnes, supra, 405 U.S., at 1203, 92 S.Ct., at 754. Applicants' claim that the District Court improperly distinguished our prior decisions in Maher and Poelker is far from frivolous, and may well prevail in this Court. While the District Court's judgment is entitled to a presumption of validity, so are statutes validly enacted by Congress and the State of Illinois. Even so, a stay is not necessary to preserve the issue for decision by the Court: the controversy between plaintiffs and defendants is a live and continuing one, and there is simply no possibility that, absent a stay, our appellate jurisdiction will be defeated. Cf. In re Bart, 82 S.Ct. 675, 7 L.Ed.2d 767 (Warren, C.J., in chambers). The question, then, is only whether the District Court's injunction should be observed in the interim. Unless the applicants will suffer irreparable injury, it clearly should be. See Whalen v. Roe, supra, 423 U.S., at 1317-1318, 96 S.Ct., at 166.

In addressing the irreparable-injury issue, the task of a judge or Justice is to examine the "competing equities," Socialist Labor Party v. Rhodes, 89 S.Ct. 3, 21 L.Ed.2d 72 (Stewart, J., in chambers), a task that involves "balancing th[e] injury [to one side] against the losses that might be suffered by [the other]." Railway Express Agency v. United States, 82 S.Ct. 466, 468, 7 L.Ed.2d 432, 434 (Harlan, J., in chambers). Where the lower court has already performed this task in ruling on a stay application, its decision is entitled to weight and should not lightly be disturbed. Graves v. Barnes, supra; Railway Express Agency v. United States, supra.

Both sides agree as to the consequences of a stay of the District Court's order in this case: if a stay is not granted, indigent women for whom an abortion is medically necessary will be able to have abortions prior to viability; with a stay, many or most of them will not. In support of their argument that the former course will cause irreparable injury, applicants point to two factors. First, is the State's financial integrity, and the losses which Illinois will suffer if forced to fund medically necessary abortions pending appeal, particularly since no federal reimbursement for these expenses has been ordered. I find this argument unpersuasive. Both the findings of the District...