MSNBC analyst declares Texas abortion law unconstitutional since 'it violates Supreme Court precedent'

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In media news today, Chris Hayes downplays Biden's phone call with ex-Afghanistan president Ghani, ex-CBS anchor Dan Rather gets crushed for tweet comparing pro-lifers to the Taliban, and an MSNBC analyst likens the Texas abortion law to slavery

MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance claimed Thursday that the recently implemented Texas abortion law was unconstitutional because it "violates prior Supreme Court precedent."

Appearing on "Morning Joe," Vance argued the law was illegitimate because it violated the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling making abortion legal across the country, as well as the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case.

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"The law is facially unconstitutional … which means that it violates prior Supreme Court precedent, Roe versus Wade and Casey, but that does not appear to be an operative set of facts any longer, because the majority has said that they don’t believe that there’s a clear chance of success on the merits of the case by the plaintiffs," Vance said, referring to the Supreme Court's Wednesday 5-4 ruling that the Texas law can remain in place. 

Vance predicted that, based on "prior writings," some justices were open to reversing Roe v. Wade with a ruling in the Texas case, or in a separate case involving an abortion law in Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. She also predicted that these types of cases could lead to "gutting the protections that [Roe v. Wade] has provided." 

"The Texas law doesn’t permit abortion even in the case of rape or incest or maternal health. It is a very restrictive law and a dangerous moment for women in Texas," she added. 

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Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz blasted Vance's argument regarding court precedent, declaring that the justices on the court have the discretion on what cases to address, and that not all questions regarding abortion had been answered. 

"The Justices have discretion. They choose which decisions to address. It is juvenile to suggest all the abortion questions have been answered," he said.

Other critics took to social media to mock Vance's analysis, pointing to the 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that effectively overturned prior Supreme Court precedent in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, which codified racial segregation policies as legal if facilities were "separate but equal." 

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Vance previously compared the new abortion law to slavery in a tweet that she later deleted, admitting that it was a "bad take," and that that there was "no comparison to slavery."

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization later this fall, with a decision expected next year.