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It sounds like Mexico is going to step up to the plate and provide the service.

But really...I'm betting this thing gets struck down along and along.

It will have to be after some changes to the Supreme Court, which will take awhile.

There has already been a ruling by the Supreme Court that a state can't delegate law enforcement to non-state actors from 1982, in the Grendel's Den case. So the Justice Department should just be able to file suit in any federal court to get the new Texas law declared unconstitutional. They could file suits in every federal court, if they want, to make it so the Supreme Court can't ignore it.

But is snitching law enforcement? There are no arrests, no interrogations, no one is taken into custody by the snitch.

I think the deputized private citizens have to file a lawsuit against a provider of abortion supporting service providers (abortion clinics, taxi drivers, friends and family, etc.), and win it, before they get the bounty. No snitching involved.

The key nefarious scheme is that the State doesn't have to do the enforcing, which they think gets them around the un-Constitutional muckiness.

The DOJ disagrees.

Ok. I’ll admit snitching isn’t a word I use often and I might have used it incorrectly. (I have to admit, it had a pleasantly vindictive sound!) on the other hand, my question stands: is filing a suit considered law enforcement? Unless I’m misunderstanding Pondering’s post about delegating law enforcement to non-state actors. (Come to think of it, I could be misunderstanding “non-state actors” as well.)

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this an invitation to create an entirely new class of "law enforcement" in which just plain folks suddenly walk around claiming "I'm the law round these here parts" ?
Yes, I understand that the above mention of filing suit and winning applies but let's not forget that "just plain folks" aren't likely to drill very far down to get an understanding of that.
They just hear about "deputizing" and that's all they want to hear "down thar".

---Ain't nuthin gits some Texans quite so excited as a chance to play "lawman".

It's true! I seen it on teevee the way their eyes lights up when the sheriff starts talkin' deputizin'!

Are they really making all these bounty hunters deputies? Doesn’t that kind of degrade the whole concept of law enforcement?

I’ve had another thought on this: if every abaortion clinic also provided other services like Pap smears and mammograms, how could anyone be certain who went to that clinic and why? Privacy laws should protect the records of what actually happened.

Even without that, you can go into a clinic and claim you changed your mind. I don’ really understand how bounty hunters get around that.

Right. It would be a hugely messy and difficult process likely violating a raft of other laws. But the deeper level of nefariousness is that the fear of lawsuits is causing clinics to close down preemptively.

Mission Accomplished!!