Updated at 11:45 a.m.

Three justices on Monday accused their colleagues of “abdicating” their judicial duty in declining to review two cases involving Planned Parenthood because of a “tenuous connection” to abortion.

Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Samuel Alito Jr. and Neil Gorsuch, dissented from the court's decision not to review two states' appeals of appellate court decisions that rejected their efforts to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood chapters.