One of the cases that the Supreme Court wrapped into its consideration of upholding the partial birth abortion ban took case in California, the Northern District of California, to be specific.

According to Department of Justice insiders, that case was put in place and defended by former U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan. “Ryan wanted to pursue the case, but others in office were horrified,” says a DOJ staffer. “He fought to pursue the case and we let him. His case was the most difficult of the three that we pursued.” The other two appeals were based in New York and Nebraska. The Nebraska appeal was thought to have the best chance of being overturned at the appeals court level.

Ryan went forward with the case, and the result of his — and others’ — efforts are what we have today. Ryan was forced out, in part, due to “morale” and “management” issues in his office. Perhaps one reason morale was so low was that Ryan was pursuing cases like the partial-birth abortion ban, something most folks in San Francisco would oppose.