Posted on 12/01/2021 10:44:15 AM PST by TexasGurl24
It has been nearly 30 years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed the fundamental right to abortion, first guaranteed by the court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. Only one justice who participated in Casey is still on the court now: Clarence Thomas, who joined an opinion by then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist arguing that “Roe was wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled.” After nearly two hours of oral argument on Wednesday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a challenge to a Mississippi law that bans almost all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, it seemed that at least four of Thomas’ current colleagues are inclined to uphold the law. That decision would further curtail the right to abortion and undermine a key component of Roe and Casey. But the justices were once again deeply divided over whether to formally overturn those precedents, as Mississippi and its supporters are seeking.
Enacted by the state’s legislature in 2018, the law – known as the Gestational Age Act – has never gone into effect. Both a federal district court and the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked the law, explaining that Roe and Casey bar states from banning abortions before viability – which occurs at around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Mississippi then came to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to weigh in and, after the court agreed to take up the case, overturn those landmark decisions.
At least three justices – Thomas and Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – appeared inclined to overrule Roe and Casey outright. Kavanaugh suggested that the Constitution does not directly address the question of abortion and that the issue should instead be left to the democratic process. If Mississippi were to prevail, he noted, the majority of states could still opt to allow access to abortion.
Chief Justice John Roberts appeared ready to uphold the law, but he focused primarily on the 15-week ban, rather than on the bigger question of whether to overrule Roe and Casey entirely. Roberts, who in 2020 voted to strike down a Louisiana law that made it harder for doctors to perform abortions on the ground that the law was virtually identical to a Texas law that the court had invalidated four years earlier, suggested that 15 weeks would be enough time for women to decide whether to obtain an abortion. His comments suggest the potential for a ruling that nominally keeps Roe and Casey in place but scraps the viability line – a decision that would allow Mississippi and other states to prohibit abortions at some points prior to when a fetus can live outside the womb.
Kavanaugh is one of three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, who promised as a candidate that he would nominate justices who would overturn Roe. Trump’s other two appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, did not tip their hands as clearly as Kavanaugh. Barrett posited that “safe haven” laws, which allow parents to give up their newborns at designated safe places, might help to ease the burdens of parenting, which both Roe and Casey emphasized – a comment that might signal that she regards the premise of Roe and Casey as having changed.
The court’s three liberal justices — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan — emphasized that overruling Roe and Casey would undermine the court’s legitimacy by creating the sense that the “Constitution and its reading are just political acts” that hinge on the court’s membership at any particular moment in time. Sotomayor made the point most explicitly, asking aloud whether the court would “survive the stench” that overruling Roe and Casey would create. But if there were two more votes to join the liberals and strike down the Mississippi law, it was hard to see them on Wednesday.
Perhaps they are calling for protestors to pressure the court.
Actually, that's what those rulings themselves were the result of, dear justices.
That guy is creepy.......................
LOL: Roberts was doing his best Kabuki act. He will “appear poised” and then drag his two bots (Kavanaugh and Coney Sock Puppet) into a decision that comes up with a technicality as to why the law should be overturned. He will use every fear mongering technique that he can to drag them on over.
Roberts and his bots are creatures of status. Each was a lauded member of the “inside elite club” before they were on the Court. Amy Coney Sock Puppet was the lauded Dean of a prominent law school who was a cookie baking Mom fo boot and became a Judge. Isn’t she so wicked smart!!! Kavanaugh was the longtime DC Circuit Judge who was a coach to boot.
They will never sign onto an opinion that threatens their status as one of the lauded. Kavanaugh already has gotten a taste of what it means to lose status. He would lick Diane Feinstein and Ballsy Ford’s bathroom floors clean if he thought that would get him back into the club. This is his chance.
Who knows what the truth is but the Lord Himself, but its about time that something give all these Supreme Court nominations for almost 40 years and all the drama from the “Right” saying to us in flyover country that the next justice will ‘save the babies’.
On the other hand the “Left” claims that nominees are a “threat to womens lives”.
How many of the nominees from Sandra Day O’Connor to Daivd Souter to Anthony Kennedy to John Roberts have been duds?
We got lucky a few times with Thomas and Scalia and Alito but still no frickin change in abortion law.
Its about d**n time IMHO for something to happen here honestly.
“… the very liberal SCOTUSBlog, which is one of the MSM’s go-to websites…”
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SCOTUSblog always struck me as very factual and not agenda-driven. It has been where I would go to when I would want to avoid the mainstream media’s coverage of the Supreme Court.
I don’t see the big deal really 4 months is pretty far along in a pregnancy.
The most hilarious quote by the liberal justices,the statement that overturning roe will make the court’s decisions appear to be political, when things like abortion and gay marriage were totally political decisions having nothing to do with the Constitution.
Amy Howe and the others over there are definitely doctrinaire liberals. You can read it in the way that they liveblog on arguments and decisions.
“Kavanaugh suggested that the Constitution does not directly address the question of abortion and that the issue should instead be left to the democratic process. “
I’m stunned, and pleasantly surprised if Kav really does rule this way. I had him pegged for an establishment hack who didn’t have it in him to pull off the scab that is Roe. I’ll be thrilled if I was wrong about him.
Other than your crazed rhetoric, can you point to specific things from the oral argument (that you didn’t listen to) that would support your contention?
Also, would you like to wager on the outcome? Predictit has great odds right now, LOL.
The headline is inaccurate. 3 justices signaled disapproval of the law and 2 said nothing. Only in liberal math is 3+2 a majority of 9 justices. The real breakdown was 3 in favor of upholding the state law, 3 opposed, 1 waffling and 2 silent.
Will the Court “survive the stench” of the Wise latina.
Exactly
1. Taking an innocent human life is morally reprehensible, and should be outlawed.
2. The Constitution itself says that these issues are not to be decided by the federal government, including federal courts.
3. Many Supreme Court “precedents” have been overturned by successive Supreme Courts. If a Supreme Court has the power to rule on an issue like abortion then a Supreme Court has the power to reverse its ruling.
The prolife pundits are all calling for a 6-3 decision, apparently believing that John Roberts is one of them. Shows how foolish the punditocracy is. Since it is an open secret that the Chief Justice is ethically compromised, his integrity shattered for all to see by the inexplicable vote on Obama care (and probably others,) I expect at best a 5-4 victory with snide dissents from Roberts and his liberal buddies.
Kavinaugh voices the correct position. But how he will vote, anybody’s guess.
I’m not sure what you listened to, but I’m not sure you listened to the same argument.
Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch are clearly in favor of overturning Roe. Their prior writings say as much. Kavanaugh and Barrett were not silent and their questions tip their hand as to what they are thinking.
Roberts was clearly trying to strike a “middle ground.”
That’s five with one waffling.
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