Posted on 09/08/2008 2:58:33 PM PDT by Conservababe
As I understand it, it only takes a simple majority to ban abortion and leave it to the states laws. Why didn't Republicans do this while they held the majority?
Because even in the majority, we didn’t have the votes.
Because the GOP has no desire to ban abortion.
Because of Federalism. Federalism leaves issues like these up to the States. If Roe V Wade were to be overturned, it would only return the issue to states, where they belong.
2nd, to get anything through the Senate, you need 60 votes.
But I like your post, shows that the democrats are in hyper-panic mode.
The GOP *did* ban partial birth abortion.
Other bans on abortion have been struck down by SCOTUS.
1) Have you heard of a thing called Roe v. Wade? Ring a bell there? They can vote all day long, and it will get shot down all day long.
2) If the federal government wanted to overturn Roe...it could amend the constitution. Not likely to happen.
3) If the federal government voted to ban abortion, as you suggest, the states would not have a choice...Supremacy clause kicks in...
I don’t know, but it wouldn’t have been that easy, since there would be an immediate and probably successful constitutional challenge based on Roe v. Wade’s interpretation of the Constitution. They could of course vote a Constitutional amendment, but that would need to be approved by a certain number of states as well.
Not as simple as it sounds. If Roe V Wade is not overturned, then it will be a purely symbolic vote with no substance. That would then be subject to being overturned in the courts which would set a case precedent against any sort of ban in the future.
To have any legal substance, Roe V Wade must be overturned first. Then, each State can decide legally. When enough States are on board, a Constitutional Amendment or national law can be made.
If the Supremes change clarify that this is not a basic right then it will go back to the states. Until then, Congress and Pres can only legislate around the edges (e.g. partial birth)
However, little know secret is that SCOTUS is not the final arbitrator of constitutional issues. That power it granted itself via Mulberry v Madison. However, Congress under the radar, routinely limits the court from hearing cases on issues. Why would it be so secretive about this? Because it wants to let the court resolve politically charged issues so it can hide under the collective rock come election time.
You still need 2/3 votes, and we didn’t have enough
Uhhhh....so they ban abortion, it gets struck down by the current Supreme Court and accomplishes nothing. Without at least one more definite pro-life justice on the court(or maybe 2), what would the point be?
Read about Ron Paul’s HR 300 bill. It would have taken abortion out of the federal courts and returned it to the states automatically. I don’t know why the Republicans didn’t support this.
You understand wrong. In America the people are not governed by their elected representatives, we are governed by an oligarchy of 9 men and women who go to work in their nightgowns.
Supreme Court ruled. We’ll have to get at least one more vote on the Supreme Court.
When that happens, as you correctly point out, it goes back to the states where it probably belongs.
In any case, not every Repub is pro-life. You should know that; one of the big unknowns before McCain chose Palin as his running mate was whether or not he would choose a pro-choice vp. Giuliani, Lieberman, Ridge, some people have considered Rice and Powell from time to time, and they are all reportedly pro-choice.
Roe v Wade needs to be overturned to have this go back to the states, as it should be.
I tend to agree that it should be in the hands of the states. Look at supposedly blue states and you’ll see that despite democrt leaning legislatures we tend to be conservative on ballot measures.
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