Above: Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the Biden Administration, argued that “For a half-century, this Court has correctly recognized that the Constitution protects a woman’s fundamental right to decide whether to end a pregnancy before viability.”
Conservative justices—including Chief Justice John Roberts, the swing vote—appeared ready to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, rather than 23 to 24 weeks required by Roe v. Wade for a fetus to become viable as dictated by Roe.
Roberts said 15 weeks was not a “dramatic departure” from viability.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett remarked the core of this case is clearly “stare decisis,” namely whether a long-standing precedent should be overturned.
Justice Clarence Thomas asked what the difference was between Roe and Plessy v. Ferguson — a decision approving racial segregation in public facilities.
Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart argued that “Roe vs. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey haunt our country. They have no basis in the Constitution. They have no home in our history or tradition. They poison the law.”
“For 50 years they’ve kept this Court at the center of a political battle that it can never resolve, and 50 years on, they stand alone. Nowhere else does this Court recognize a right to end a human life.”
| Here’s what to know: • In accepting the Mississippi case, the court said it will decide whether all prohibitions on abortion before viability are unconstitutional. • Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the court would risk losing legitimacy if it overturned Roe. • Justice Samuel Alito, during a discussion of the issue of viability, emphasized that “the fetus has an interest in having a life.” • The case probably will not be decided for months. |
Constitution protects women
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the Biden Administration, argued:
“For a half-century, this Court has correctly recognized that the Constitution protects a woman’s fundamental right to decide whether to end a pregnancy before viability.”
“That guarantee, that the state cannot force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term and give birth, has engendered substantial individual and societal reliance. The real-world effects of overruling Roe and Casey would be severe and swift.”
Lawyers for the Jackson Women’s Health Organization asked the justices to “reject the invitation to jettison a half-century of settled precedent.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked about “safe haven laws” and a woman’s ability to give up children for adoption.
Barrett has seven children. Her last is a son, Benjamin, eight years old, has Down Syndrome. Two other children were adopted from Haiti.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked, “will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts?”
Justice Stephen Breyer asked if the Court wouldn’t seem overly political should it overturn Roe.
The case is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.
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I wrote about the Mississippi judge who struck
down the law.
He’s a black man chosen by our great President Obama. Judge Carlton Reeves.
Reeves said the legislators were gaslighting women and
couldn’t care less about what happens to them.
Even the conservative 5th Circuit Court struck down the law as it violates Roe and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, a 1992 decision that strengthens Roe.
And what about Texas, whose heartbeat law violates Roe?
Roberts voted with the liberals. The other
Conservatives voted for the Texas law.
Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Alito and Clarence
Thomas voted to let the law stand.
As Lisa said how could Thomas replace Thurgood Marshall as the black man on the Court?
( see Netflix Marshall)
Bush the Lesser’s prime motivation in nominating Thomas was Thomas being a black conservative in order to stick it to the liberals. As with every other judicial nomination the Repuglicans has pushed onto the court, qualifications don’t matter, just adherence to party dogma. No matter where or how much that dogma capriciously changes, changes acted upon short-lived circumstances.
Thomas says he rarely (if ever) changes his mind when hearing a case before him. Which makes him nothing more than an empty & earthen vessel to do his party’s bidding.
Back in the days when I used to watch 60 Minutes, during their profile Thomas goes over to a couple of elderly African American women expected to be lauded. Their reaction was along the lines of they had nothing to say to an Uncle Tom. Priceless!
Kryin’ Keg Stand Kavanaugh (rape adjacent), Amy Culty Barrett (from a cult with actual Handmaid’s), Long Dong Silver pr0n aficionado Thomas (married to a 1/6 insurrectionist cheerleader), and Neil “Die for Your Employer and Maybe Take Others with You” Gorsuch will make all kinds of legal-ish-sounding arguments.
They’re lying, just like they all did in their confirmation hearings.
They’re religious zealots and they are without a doubt going to overturn Roe using this case.
Pretending that they’re going to go by the Constitution is just cover.
They also know if they don’t rule the “right” way in this case, the GQP base will give up on the party for not delivering.
LGBTQ rights are next, birth control (there are six Catholics on the court), corporations will gain even more power over employees, schools will not be allowed to teach anything that offends the delicate sensibilities of the religious-right snowflakes, and in between there will be sprinklings of “sure you can keep an anti-aircraft gun on your patio because 2A-merica f’ yeah!.
The world is watching the SCOTUS deliver America to the Talibangicals and taking us back to the 12th century.
“The world is watching the SCOTUS deliver America to the Talibangicals and taking us back to the 12th century.”
Truth. The politicization of SCOTUS will go on unabated unless we get lucky and three conservatives drop dead (from natural causes, of course) in the next year. Not likely to happen.
If SCOTUS effectively overturns Roe v Wade they will also lose whatever credibility they had left and they will be perceived as an institution that serves the conservative movement. It is a hugely diminished status and it will stay that way until the composition of the court changes.
However, the women of 2021 are very different from the women of the 1970s when Roe v Wade was decided. They’ve had these rights for 50 years and they aren’t going backwards without a fight. And I don’t believe the LGBTQ activists will either.
I guess we’ll see what happens. But I’m expecting to see more women competing for power positions in government. Stacey Abrams running for governor in GA is a good sign, AZ has Katie Hobbs. There are ways to fight back.
Women of America, you are obviously incapable of deciding reproduction for yourselves and your family. We need the strong hand of government and the strong hands of some male dominated religious groups to force you to reproduce on their terms. This is called freedom to the right. Beyond disgusting.
It is an old joke that stare decisis is Latin for “stand by things decided when it suits our purposes.” The John Roberts Court has overturned at least two dozen precedents, including some from early in John Roberts stint as Chief Justice.
Prof. David Schultz, in his forthcoming book, “Constitutional Precedent in Supreme Court Reasoning,” points out that from 1789 to 2020 there were 25,544 Supreme Court opinions and judgments after oral arguments. The court has reversed its own constitutional precedents only 145 times – barely one-half of one percent.
I think Clarence Thomas should keep his mouth shut the way he did when Scalia was alive. I failed to mention Thomas voted to overturn Casey in 1992.
George H.W. Bush nominated him in 1991 and he was appointed even though he harassed Anita Hill so badly he should have been thrown out on his ear.
I hate to say President Biden could not understand why that bothered Hill so much. Biden has since apologized.
Yeah, and to think that Thomas was intended as “the black guy” to replace Thurgood Marshall.
Amy Barrett is dumb as a rock. Who needs an abortion when women can just have the baby and dump it off at a “safe haven”? There are more safe havens than ever, so what is the problem?
I understand dumping a newborn onto a safe haven is illegal in some states but these robed charlatans really want to impose the conservative version of Sharia law upon the nation. While loudly proclaiming their institution is not in any way politicized.
Today’s Repuglican party, along with their fellow travelers, is going out of their way to do Putins dirty work of dividing our country for him. While shrieking and beating their collective chests about how patriotic they are. The Repuglican party needs to be treated the way the Communist party was in the 1950s. Shunned, ostracized and swept into history’s dustbin.