Stuart v. Huff
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
706 F.3d 345 (4th Cir. 2013)
Gretchen Stuart, M.D., on her own behalf and her patients' (plaintiffs), sued North Carolina Medical Board president Janice Huff, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and others (defendants) in federal court, challenging a state law requiring physicians to show and narrate a real-time ultrasound to women seeking abortions. The district court preliminarily enjoined the display and explanation requirements but upheld the rest of the law; rather than appeal, Cooper answered the complaint and moved to dismiss. A group of pro-life medical professionals, former abortion patients, and pregnancy-counseling centers (intervenors) then moved to intervene as defendants as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a), or alternatively for permissive intervention under 24(b); the district court denied both motions, and the intervenors appealed.
Whether a party who has the same objective as a defendant but fails to strongly show that the defendant's representation is inadequate may intervene in an action as a matter of right pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a).