A Nebraska law that combined abortion restrictions with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate a state constitutional amendment requiring bills to stick to a single subject, a majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The state’s high court acknowledged in its ruling that abortion and gender-affirming care “are distinct types of medical care,” but found the law does not violate Nebraska’s single-subject rule because both abortion and transgender health fall under the subject of medical care.
The majority relied, in part, on a passage from an 1895 ruling to find the state constitution offers wide latitude on what composes a single subject.
Imagine using a ruling from over 100 years ago to base modern interpretations on.
I don’t think there have been any new discoveries about what composes a single subject since then.
(Note that the “single subject” rule has been in Nebraska’s constitution since it was originally written in 1866.)