The Texas abortion law is a reminder of the Supreme Court stakes for Democrats

Sometimes doing nothing can be hugely impactful.

That's exactly what happened late Tuesday night, when the Supreme Court refused to intercede to block Texas' restrictive abortion law, making it the most stringent of its kind to go into effect. The law, which was signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in May, bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be before women even know they are pregnant. Opponents of the new law say it would outlaw 85% of abortions in the state. The importance of the law -- and the court's early unwillingness to intercede to block it -- extends well beyond Texas. As CNN wrote at the time it passed in Texas, the legislation "could provide the playbook for red states to pass extreme abortion restrictions -- without having to wait for the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade." The quirk in the law is that it allows any private citizen to sue an abortion provider who does the procedure after six weeks -- or anyone who helped to make that abortion happen.