For Immediate Release
August 12, 2025
Media Contact: Damon Sidur
[email protected]
BOISE — Attorney General Raúl Labrador won a unanimous Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals victory affirming dismissal of The Satanic Temple’s federal lawsuit challenging Idaho’s Defense of Life Act. The three-judge panel upheld a district court ruling that dismissed the case for lack of standing.
“I will always defend Idaho’s laws that protect families and preserve the sanctity of life,” said Attorney General Labrador. “The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals correctly found that the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge Idaho’s laws protecting mothers and their unborn children. This victory ensures that Idaho may continue to enforce our pro-life and pro-family protections.”
The Satanic Temple filed the federal lawsuit in 2022 challenging Idaho’s Defense of Life Act, arguing that requiring women to carry pregnancies to term constitutes slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment and violates property rights under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause.
A federal district court dismissed the case for lack of standing in early 2024, and The Satanic Temple appealed. This week’s Ninth Circuit ruling affirmed that dismissal.
The Court ruled The Satanic Temple lacked both associational and organizational standing to challenge Idaho’s laws. The organization failed to identify any specific Idaho member harmed by the law, instead presenting statistical estimates claiming 27 members might become “involuntarily pregnant” annually. The court ruled these projections too speculative to establish standing. The court also rejected the plaintiff’s argument that spending money on an abortion clinic the organization owns and operates in New Mexico created standing to challenge Idaho’s law.
The case was remanded to determine whether The Satanic Temple could amend its complaint to address the standing deficiencies identified by the court.
Read the court opinion here.
About Raúl Labrador
Raúl Labrador is the 33rd Attorney General of Idaho. The Office of the Attorney General provides legal representation for the State of Idaho. This representation is furnished to state agencies, offices and boards in the furtherance of the state's legal interests. The office is part of state government’s executive branch and its duties are laid out in the Idaho Constitution.
